Of the four people onboard, three did not emerge from the sinking wreck. The fourth crew member survived and was rescued by a passing barge. Ms. Schantag isn’t aware of any public records that mention cannibals. Her concerns are for those who were missing and for those they left behind.
“What about the other men in the plane?” she asked, referring to the impact the president’s comments may have on the families of the fallen soldiers.
Ms. Schantag of Branson, Missouri, and her late husband, Chuck Schantag, a U.S. Marine Corps Purple Heart recipient, founded the POW Network in 1989. Their goal was to educate people about the 2,500 American soldiers sent to Vietnam who were still Missing in Action (MIA) or prisoners of war (POW).
They wanted to help families of missing service members get information and closure from the military, which can be daunting for anyone not accustomed to dealing with government bureaucracy.
Over the years, the POW Network’s mission expanded to helping families of missing service members from all conflicts, exposing fake POWs and other cases of stolen valor, and also thanking thousands of veterans during the annual Veterans Homecoming Week in Branson.
Chuck Schantag and his team were ambushed by the North Vietnamese Army on Jan. 31, 1968, the second day of the Tet Offensive.
Corporal Schantag was medevaced out of Vietnam, but he didn’t know what happened to his buddy. He never found out.
“One of his best friends was MIA,” Ms. Schantag told The Epoch Times. “He’s still not home.”
Chuck Schantag spent six months in the hospital, then was discharged from the military.
Later, he tried to help other veterans find their friends. He kept crossing paths with Mary, who had been gathering information about MIA/POW service members, even though she never served in the military herself.
They married in 1991. At the same time, the internet was becoming popular. Mr. Schantag, a computer programmer, built a searchable database of all the information they’d gathered about the 2,500 American MIAs and POWs from the Vietnam War.
What the data revealed was gratifying, but it also put them on alert.
“We started getting questions,” Ms. Schantag recalled. “Someone said, ‘My neighbor is a POW and you don’t have his story. That was our first phony.”
In the beginning, the POW Network investigated six cases a year in which someone falsely claimed to be a POW or lied about their military service. Now, Ms. Schantag said, they receive six to 12 reports a day.
Only 633 American POWs returned from Vietnam alive, she said, but the POW Network has investigated thousands of phonies through its Fake Warrior Project.
“Phony SEALs, phony POWs, phony Medal of Honor recipients. All day, every day, I’m getting emails from someone—widows being scammed and conned. It’s really just crazy.
“Phonies have not settled down. They don’t know when to quit.”
According to the U.S. Attorney in Minnesota, Mr. Wicker used a fake DD-214 Certificate of Discharge and fake commendations to steal $146,287 in medical and education benefits from the Veterans Administration (VA).
“He wasn’t one of ours,” said Ms. Schantag, meaning she didn’t investigate him. “Another amazing liar. Why is the VA not checking records?”
The POW Network checks military records all the time, she said. They do not charge for their assistance, although the organization does accept donations.
If the person is alive, Ms. Schantag needs their name, age, and current address in order to request records.
If the person is deceased, she needs proof of death, such as an obituary or photo of a headstone.
The request is made under the Freedom of Information Act.
“You can get the person’s name, rank, when they went into the service, when they got out, their training, assignments, sometimes court-martials, awards, and decorations,” Ms. Schantag said. Personal information, such as military insurance records, is not released.
When the person didn’t serve at all, she receives a letter saying there is no record.
Like Mikhail Robin Wicker, many phonies use fake DD-214 papers as “proof” of their military service.
Ms. Schantag has binders full of them, which she brings with her when she sets up the P.O.W. Network booth at Branson street fairs and other events.
The first fair of the season, Branson’s Plumb Nellie Days Festival, took place on April 21-22.
Ms. Schantag and Jeanne Cooper, an Air Force widow from Branson, spent the cold, windy days promoting Veterans Homecoming Weekend in November and educating people about fake warriors.
On display next to their booth was “Juan A Bee,” a mannequin wearing military fatigues and an impossible collection of patches and medals. He represents a military “wannabe.”
“It makes people stop, and we can make a comment,” Ms. Schantag explained. “You can see the shock in their faces.”
Ms. Schantag said military frauds and phonies are telling lies, making false claims, and “screwing up history.” Even worse, they’ve overwhelmed what she really wants to do—the POW and MIA work.
Of the 2,500 soldiers designated as MIA in Vietnam, Ms. Schantag said, 1,600 are still not accounted for.
“They’re known to be captured, thought to be captured, missing in action with no answers, or known killed in action, but their bodies were never recovered.”
Ms. Schantag worries that time is running out to recover bodies from Vietnam. “The soil is so acidic that it’s eating the remains away. Nothing is left but metal buttons or tips of shoelaces.”
The POW Network also tries to help the families of soldiers from Korea and World War II who are still missing.
“World War II was the start of trainloads of POWs being moved, never coming home, going into gulags and stalags. There’s never been an answer,” she said.
“From World War II and Korea, our military was a witness. They knew what happened. They knew he died on a trail, was buried.
“Why wasn’t the family given that information? Yes, he was on a forced march, but you let them worry for the next 50 years of their lives?”
This is the issue that James Marape, prime minister of Papua New Guinea (PNG), brought up in response to President Biden’s “cannibals” comment.
“Perhaps, given President Biden’s comments and the strong reaction from PNG and other parts of the world, it is time for the USA to find as many remains of World War II in PNG as possible, including those of servicemen who lost their lives like Ambrose Finnegan.”
The POW Network has been able to help countless families get information about their missing loved ones. In fact, once a record is 62 years old, everything is public.
“The entire thing is releasable without restriction,” Ms. Schantag said. “They get to see where the soldier enlisted, the training, the pay, where he was sent, if he was wounded, when he went to a hospital—everything.”
In fact, Ms. Schantag delivered 258 pages of information to the family of a deceased Korean War veteran on May 8 at a reunion of Navy veterans who served in the western Pacific Ocean.
“That’s when I get to recharge and hug my good guys,” Ms. Schantag said.
The reunion is now in its 28th year, and the POW Network has participated almost since the beginning.
“It’s what makes Branson what it is,” Ms. Schantag said. “This week is not replicated anyplace in the U.S. with the focus on veterans. We dedicate the week to them.”
The POW Network is involved with 10 to 12 events, including the opening and closing shows; reunions for veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam; the “Sandbox” for anyone who served in the Gulf War or later; reunions for POW/MIA spouses; and the formal gala.
Finally, on Nov. 11, Branson holds its Veterans Day parade, as it has for 91 years.
“We do appreciate their service, do want to tell them ‘thank you.’ Nobody ever said that before,” said Ms. Schantag, who was elected chair of the POW Network after her husband’s passing in 2012.
“They come and show up. They bring their kids, bring their grandkids, bring their neighbors.
“It’s the camaraderie that they found in the service. We can bring back the memories.”
