He was taken to North Vietnam in 1969, and although he was reportedly released in 1973 along with the other U.S. POWs as part of the Paris Peace Accords, he did not return to the United States until March 22, 1979.
[2] Upon his return, the Department of Defense (DoD) judged him to have acted as a collaborator with the enemy, for which he was subject to a court-martial, stripped of his rank as Private first class and dishonorably discharged.
[1][7] Garwood was assigned to the U.S. Marine Corps base at Da Nang in South Vietnam as a motor pool driver.
On 3 December 1965, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines found a document titled Fellow Soldier's Appeal with Garwood's name on it, on a gate near Da Nang.
A second version of this document was found on 18 July 1966 in the Da Nang area, but it appeared to be on better quality paper and the signature was at a different angle.
As a member of the Military Proselytizing Section of Military Region 5, he taped and wrote propaganda messages, made loudspeaker broadcasts near Marine Corps positions and assisted in guarding and indoctrinating U.S. prisoners in the MR-5 POW camp located in the village of Tra Khe, Trà Bồng District, Quảng Ngãi Province.
[9]: 223–4 On 15 July 1968, a Marine Corps reconnaissance team named Dublin City operating in the vicinity of Troui Mountain near Phu Bai engaged a VC unit.
In September 2011, 43 years later, President Obama awarded one team-member of Dublin City, James Wilkins, a Silver Star for heroism on that day.
[12] Following receipt of the Silver Star, he recalled the white VC incident and stated "Myself and three other Marines looked at about 200 photos of guys who were missing in action.
"[9]: 224–5 In September or October 1969, Captain Martin Brandtner commanded Company D, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines in an operation in the "Arizona Territory" southwest of Hội An.
A Headquarters Marine Corps POW screening board suggested in 1972 that he had "gone to Moscow for training," and concluded that "PFC Garwood is still alive and probably still aiding the VC/NVA in SVN.
"[9]: 226 Garwood is listed as having either volunteered or been forced into a work group repairing a generator at Lien Trai I, one of the Yen Bai reeducation camps near Phan Xi Păng in the Hoàng Liên Sơn mountain range in northern Vietnam.
[13] Other reports describe him as working at an unnamed "island fortress" in Thác Bà Lake, North Vietnam,[2] or having been kept behind in mainland labor camps[14] as a driver and vehicle mechanic.
[15] In early 1979, in Hanoi, Garwood passed a note to a Finnish businessman associated with the United Nations: "I am American in Viet Nam.
On 22 March, 13 years and 6 months after he was captured, Garwood flew from Hanoi to Bangkok and was met by a contingent of diplomatic, press and military officials, including the Marine Corps defense counsel assigned to represent him.
However, he was convicted on 5 February 1981, of communicating with the enemy and of the assault on a U.S. prisoner of war interned in a POW camp, in violation of Articles 104 and 128, Uniform Code of Military Justice.
[9]: 230 During his court-martial, Garwood sought immunity for any offenses he might be charged with having committed between 1970 and 1980 in return for information he claimed to have regarding American POWs still in Vietnamese hands.
[2] The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) investigated Garwood's claim that he saw live U.S. POWs after 1973 at a "motel-shaped masonry building" in North Vietnam.
The Vietnamese government and a former head of the DIA POW/MIA office[17] disputed the finding, stating the structure had not existed when Garwood was a POW.
Some independent investigators claim that Garwood represented an embarrassment to the U.S. government at the highest level for leaving live POW's behind and therefore did everything possible to discredit him.
The film included interviews with Garwood's court-martial attorney, Vaughan Taylor, and fellow former POW David Harker.
The interviews with Garwood were the first in more than a decade and they represented his most complete account to date of the events surrounding his capture and eventual return to the United States.