Scope and Contents

Over three linear feet of photographs, postcards, VHS tapes, audio reels, periodicals, and research materials document a deep understanding of various aspects of the POW/MIA issue. All materials were collected by Malcolm McConnell in his research for his work, 'Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives: Solving the MIA Mystery," much of which was collected from archives in Hanoi. Documents include manuscript drafts and over 1,600 pages of prisoner related records which McConnell scanned directly from those cited in Vietnam's "Red Book" index at the Central Military Museum, People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), Hanoi, Socialist Republic of Vietnam. There are also documents about the transfer of U.S. prisoners to the Soviet Union, PAVN "Blue Files" (i.e., dossiers) original interviews and field agent reports, POW/MIA statements by Barry Toll, and Ted Schweitzer correspondence and interview notes.

The 1,634 photographs are former PAVN photos and include U.S. aircraft crash sites and debris, KIA (killed in action) U.S. pilot remains and their gear/papers, prison activities, and hundreds of U.S. prisoner of war (POW) mug shots, including those who were documented as imprisoned but were not returned in 1973. Collection materials date from the war period. [VNCA NOTE: Some images are Graphic Content.]

Other VNCA collections that relate to the POW/MIA issue include the Garnett Bell Collection (1127); the U.S. Air Force POW Oral Histories Collection (005); the interrogation reports in the Douglas Pike Collection: Unit 03-POW/MIA Issues (220); the Shirley Johnson Collection (1003); the George J. Veith Collection (367); and the National Vietnam Veterans Coalition (NVVC) Collection (Burch Collection, 162).

Biographical / Historical

Malcolm McConnell (1939 - 26 September 2020) published 24 books and co-authored several autobiographies with U.S. Generals.

"At the age of 18 he enlisted in the United States Army and was honorably discharged after two years. Malcolm attended the University of Wisconsin, where a chance encounter assisting a visiting State Department official across campus in a snow storm led to an invitation to sit in on an exam the next day. Achieving the highest score, after graduation he left Wisconsin at the young age of 21 to work for the State Department in Washington, D.C. as a Foreign Service Officer; he was placed in Africa for 8 years. At age 30 he resigned from the State Department and he and his wife Carol moved to Rhodes Island in Greece.

Malcolm and Carol returned to the United States where he taught creative writing at four different universities, while continuing his writing career" and spent their summers in Greece running a charter sailboat company and sailing.

[NVCA Note: Excerpt and information from Malcolm McConnell's obituary: https://www.myeasternshoremd.com/qa/obituaries/malcolm-mcconnell/article_3915c4a7-2b91-5a84-b821-6e890cce6303.html ]