Admin Note: Jeanine Notter contributed this article to our pages based on an interview with Father Charles Shelton, son of Colonel Shelton. Fr. Charles was her priest at St. Thomas Catholic Church. She also became close friends with Marian and spoke to her many times. Jeanine and Marian had many conversations and grew close. "I grew very fond of Mrs. Shelton. She became my 3rd child's Godmother. I named him Paul Shelton. I had him baptized Paul Charles. I usually put the 2 names together."

Jeanine has told us she has more to contribute and we look forward to the additions. Hopefully we can entice her to be a member of our team in "Operation Just Resolution".

On April 29, 1932, Ervin and Agnus Shelton, who lived on a farm near Utica, Kentucky, were blessed with a son. They named him Charles Ervin. He has the title of "Colonel" in the United States Air Force. Up until the mid-1990's, the Pentagon listed him as the only officially listed Prisoner of War from the Vietnam War.

Charles' early years were spent on the farm until his family moved to Owensboro, Kentucky, so he could attend high school. The only school near Utica was a one-room schoolhouse for all elementary grades.

The first football game that Charles ever saw was the first one he played in. Captain of his team, he played offensive right guard, and defensive tackle. He dated a majorette his junior and senior year. They were married when she graduated. They first met at a tennis court when Marian was only 13. She thought to herself that he looked like a man that she could imagine herself married to someday but then dismissed the idea because of her young age.

Although Charles was a Baptist, and had accepted Christ when he was nine-years-old, he agreed to raise his children Catholic in order to marry Dorothy Marian Vollman. Marian insisted that they kids be raised in the Catholic faith. They were married in the Church in 1951. Their first child, Lea Ann, was born in May of 1952.

Having received a football scholarship, Charles attended Evansville College in Evansville, Indiana, where he was active in ROTC. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business in 1954. Charles Jr. was born in August of that same year.

October of 1954 saw the beginning of Charles' active duty in the Air Force. He attended primary jet training in Kinston, North Carolina, and basic pilot training at Bryon Air Field in Texas. The Shelton's third child, John Edward, was born here in December 1955.

Charles attended photo recon school at Lowery AFB in Denver, Colorado, until he was sent to Spangdalem, Germany, which was home to the Shelton family for the next three years. The forth child, Michael James, was born in Germany in 1957.

Charles was sent to Shaw AFB in 1959 and qualified as a RF-101 pilot that same year. In June of 1962 he and his family moved back to Louisville, Kentucky, while he served a 10-month remote tour as a non-flying photo advisor in Saigon. Captain Shelton was such an excellent "spy pilot" that he was selected to teach South Vietnamese pilots aerial photography.

Joan Marie, the baby of the family, was born in South Carolina in October of 1963, where the family lived until 1964, when Captain Shelton was assigned a tour in Okinawa. This was his second assignment in Southeast Asia. On June 4, 1964, he was assigned to the 15^th Tactical Reconnaisance Squadron flying out of Udorn Royal Thai Air Base on a 30-day rotational basis. His family followed him to Okinawa in July of 1964.

The last week that Charles spent with his family was filled with a series of misadventures. Lee Ann broke her leg on April 13^th. Three days later, during a routine instrument check, Cap. Shelton was forced to make an emergency landing with the gear up. Ironically, an article came out in Air Space Safety Magazine after he was shot down, commending him for a job well done. There was only 28 hours of flight damage on the 101.

Cap. Shelton was supposed to leave for Udorn Air Base on the 19^th of April 1965, but the 101's were grounded for a day because of trouble with the landing gear. On that day, for some reason, he felt compelled to provide Marian with a detailed account of their financial status, should he be killed. He listed their assets and debts, where to find all the records, and how to handle funeral arrangements. He even took out a $20,000 life insurance policy effective April 30^th. He also described in detail what kind of house and car (station wagon) to buy and which relatives were reliable, or could be counted on for help.

A few hours after the "emergence list" was completed, an intruder attacked Mrs. Shelton. She walked in and surprised him. The thief beat her over the head, causing injury bad enough to warrant a trip to the hospital for stitches. The following morning, still in a daze from a concussion, she waved good-bye to her husband and "never saw him again," she said.

The children at that time ranged in age from 18 months to 13 years. Specifically: Lee Ann-13, Charles Jr.-10 ½, John-9 ½, Michael-8 ½, and Joan Marie-18 mos. The boys are 15 and 16 mos. apart.

April 29, 1965, was Cap. Charles Shelton's 33^rd birthday. Armed with only a .45, and clad in a sanitized flying suit, bereft of rank, patches, and other insignia, he "celebrated" his birthday with a reconnaisance mission. Flying over Laos in a camouflaged RF-101, Voodoo, at 11:59 a.m. Capt. Shelton was greeted with anti-aircraft weapons. He had no choice but to eject. Other pilots circling over Sam Neua Province saw him land safely. According to the U.S. Defense Department, Shelton's wingman made visual contact with him after he reached the ground. Charles waved to his wingman, who saw that he was unhurt. The wingman flew over him until he was low on fuel. A 105 pilot flew over Shelton and had radio contact. Shelton responded that he was "in good condition." While Shelton sat on a hill for two hours, waiting to be picked up, the helicopter pilots were waiting for order to attempt a rescue. The orders never came.

After the sun went down, Cap. Shelton removed his parachute from the tree and buried it the next day. He managed to evade capture for three days. Intelligence personnel reported having seen him surrounded by two Pathet Lao platoons. He surrendered his .45 without a shot. The Laotians took his boots to prevent the flat-footed American from running through the sharp jungle grass. He refused to cooperate by making his body go limp. The Communists carried him to a Laotian POW camp, imprisoning him in Tham Sua cave, located south of Ban Nakay Neua, in Houa Pan Province, Laos. Various intelligence reports indicate that he was held there with another POW, David Hrdlicka, from Littleton, Colorado.

Due to his persistency in trying to escape, Shelton was kept in shackles at all times. He was attached to the walls of the cave at night. Nevertheless, he still managed to escape from them.

Capt. Charles E. Shelton was officially listed as a POW on May 24, 1965, after native tribesman verified that he had survived capture. Returned to Mrs. Shelton, from her husband's squadron officials, were his dog tags, military identification card, and Geneva Convention card. Other personal belongs were also retrieved from his locker at Udorn AFB. He put them in there before flying his last mission.

Three months after his capture, Mrs. Shelton moved back to the states with her five children. They spent the first few weeks in Wyoming, with one of Marian's sisters. She thought about moving to Florida, but opted instead for Louisville, Kentucky, to be near two of her other sisters.

In 1973, in the midst of the Vietnam War, Marian bravely, and illegally, entered Laos in a desperate search for her husband. The seven-week mission was sponsored by Voices in Vital America, the same group that produced the POW bracelets.

See Map Here

Mrs. Shelton flew to Saigon, in the company of Leah Larkin, a journalist from the Louisville Courier Journal in Kentucky. From Saigon the ladies went to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, and then moved back to Saigon. The next stop was Bangkok, and then Nakhom Phnom. Since Mrs. Shelton did not have a visa, she gave the Lao Customs border guards $20 and a bottle of scotch to allow her into Laos. In Vientiane, the capital of Laos, she met up with Pop Buell, who just happens to be the real Indiana Jones, according to Fr. Charles Shelton. Buell, a farmer and a missionary from Indiana, was respected by the communists, and everyone else, because he came to Laos and taught the people there how to farm. He also set up hospitals and schools for the Laotians. He worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Buell arranged a flight on Continental Air Lines for Mrs. Shelton to fly as far north to Sam Neua as possible, so she could obtain information about her husband. She pleaded with various Pathet Lao, Viet Cong, and North Vietnamese communists officials. They wouldn't tell her anything, except that perhaps he was eaten by a tiger.

Near despair, she returned home to her children. In 1974, she moved to San Diego, where she resided until she passed away in 1990. In 1987, at the time of this original writing, Lee Ann was 36 and living in their home state of Kentucky. Capt. Charles Shelton Jr. (33), a Roman Catholic priest, was an associate pastor at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, in Riverside, California. John (32) lived in Los Angeles. Michael (31) was raising a family in San Diego, near his mom. His children are: Francis Michael, born in 1983, and Brittany Anne, born in 1987. Joan Shelton, who was only 18-mos. old when her daddy was shot down, was 24 years old in 1987, and was living in Coronado, California, near San Diego.

Gathering reports from Colonel Shelton's wing commander on Okinawa, and other pilots from the Vietnam War, Air Force intelligence, and others whose identity has been protected here, as requested by Mrs. Shelton, Marian has been able to compile a good amount of information about her beloved spouse:

Released by the CIA was a two-page report dated Jan. 5, 1969, which included an incident that describes the Colonel's amazing courage. On June 10, 1968, Shelton was brought into a North Vietnamese Army office for interrogation. When the NVA soldiers tried to chain him to a desk, he somehow managed to overturn the desk and beat three of his captors to death with the chain.

Mrs. Shelton received a report once from Ernie Meis, a photo recon pilot from Idaho. He disclosed that Shelton was put into a shallow grave covered with bars and rigged with hand grenades. The sentries poked Shelton with bayonets to keep him awake. This was his punishment for escape attempts. Meis was briefed about the shallow grave at Udorn Air Base on August 28, 1968. He was given the order to photograph Shelton's cave so that a rescue could be attempted.

"We flew the mission and got a lot of fire, but we photographed the cave," said Meis.

In 1971, Marian received a highly credible report concerning the cave prison where her husband was first held. Early in 1971, perhaps even sooner, a combined team of CIA, Special Forces, and Hmong fighters successfully rescued Shelton and David Hrdlicka. Hmong troops were native tribesmen fighting on the U.S. side and paid by the CIA.

After being rescued, Shelton and Hrdlicka were debriefed while on the run to Thailand. After about 10 days, they were recaptured, but how and why remains unclear.

It seems that either the Hmong tribesman handed them back over after threats were made against their families and fellow tribesman. Or, that Shelton and Hrdlicka elected to stay behind because they endangered the lives of the small group of rescuers. At any rate, whatever happened, the whole incident was named, "Operation Duck Soup."

According to the Air Force, Shelton, who, as of 1987, had been in captivity for 23 long years, had heroically survived unbelievable torture, excruciating pain, hard labor, and bouts with malaria and pneumonia. He had been shot twice, once in each leg, to keep him from escaping again.

This writer asked Father Charles Shelton if he knew where his father was today. This was in 1987. Father replied, "Oh, I know exactly where my daddy is. He's being held in a maximum-security prison, on an island similar to Alcatrez, called Ho Tac Bai. It is located about 40 miles northwest of Hanoi. 'Ho' means 'lake' and 'Bai' means 'village.' Prior to 1975, the village was called just 'Thac Bai'. So it wasn't on the map as 'Ho Thac Bai' until 1975 when the reservoir was created by damming the tributary of the Red River."

For Mrs. Shelton, her biggest heartache has been the previous administrations' refusal to listen. At the time of this writing, Ronald Reagan was President. He gave Marian more hope than she had in the past that her husband would be coming home.

For many years, Marian was active in the National League of Families, which is comprised of the families of POW/MIA servicemen. During the 1980's Marian joined a suit filed in a U.S. District Court in Fayette, North Carolina, by two Army Special Forces members. Major Mark Smith is a highly decorated Vietnam Veteran. SFC Melvin C. McIntire is a former Army Intelligence Specialists. The suit was filed against the President, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State, then Defense Intelligence Agency Director, and all their predecessors. The suit was filed, not for money, rather, to force the U.S. Government to abide by the Hostage Act. It was a plea to the President to "bring them home," any way short of war. The Fayette judge ruled in the family's favor, but the government appealed the ruling. (This writer is unaware of the outcome of the appeal.)

Marian stated that she did not want to sue Ronald Reagan, because he had done more for the POW issue than any other president had. On the other hand, he was, during his reign in office, ultimately responsible for them. Mrs. Shelton appeared on the Phil Donahue show on Tuesday, November 12, 1985, with Maj. Smith and SFC McIntire to discuss the lawsuit.

Colonel Shelton had an advantage over other POWs since he was the only one remaining "officially listed." The decision to keep his file open was debated in October of 1980. The Status Review Hearing convened at Randolph Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas. Three Air Force Colonels, with duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, reviewed classified documents before they voted on whether Col. Shelton was alive or dead. The hearing officers reported that the documents had no bearing on their 2-1 decision "that Col. Charles E. Shelton can reasonably be presumed dead."

Although Mrs. Shelton and her attorney, Walter E. Shjeflo, of San Mateo, CA, were present at the hearing, the classified documents were not made available to them. Shjeflo argued at the hearing that Shelton's status could not be accurately determined unless every bit of information was reviewed.

"The Air Force," said Shjeflo, "doesn't know everything the CIA does, and the CIA doesn't know all the facts that the Defense Intelligence Agency does, but everyone knows that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam really knows."

Hearing transcripts quote Shjeflo saying, "We are dealing with a real person, not a pile of reports, and this is the man."

Previous hearings for other POWs ended with the same results: PRESUMED DEAD. The last name on the list was Charles E. Shelton, Casualty Ascension Number 1088. The board's decision had to be approved by the Secretary of the Air Force. Due to all the "red tape" involved, it wasn't until 1984 that Verne Orr, then Secretary of the Air Force publicly stated that Col. Shelton's status of being a POW wouldn't change unless positive evidence proved otherwise, according to President Reagan's order.

More public recognition came Col. Shelton's way during the 1980's. At the University of Southern California, an Arnold Air Squadron was named after him. It was for this squadron that this work was originally drafted. Marian Shelton was pleased and appreciative. She made copies and sent it all over the country to anyone who was willing to read it.

At the time of this writing, there was a room at the Officer's Club at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, named after the Colonel, and also a street there: Shelton Court. The Vietnam Veterans Association dedicated a hospital to Col. Shelton, and, in Lexington, Kentucky, a VVA chapter. Author Scott Barnes dedicated his book BOHICA to the Shelton family and included pictures of all of them. I'm sure that now there are many other references to Col. Shelton, memorials, namesakes, etc.

Col. Shelton gained a kind of legendary status among communist interrogators from around the world who had taken turns in trying to break him. His name in known among terrorists who trained in Vietnam, Cuba, the U.S.S.R, and East Germany.

Mrs. Shelton has been quoted as saying, "Whether my husband is alive or dead, I don't know. I do know that there are Prisoners of War over there and I'm told almost daily that Charles is alive.

"Since I am Catholic, I was taught that we were all put here on earth, by God, for a purpose. So, if Charles is gone, then he has served his purpose here on Earth.

"I'm very worried about the future and honor of this country and believe that all of our men who fought for this country should be brought home with honor. For, as President Reagan once said, 'A country that forgets its fighting men, is a country that in itself will be forgotten.' "

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Written by: Jeanine M. Notter, with extensive input by Marian Shelton and Father Charles Shelton. April 1988

Bibliography available upon request: snotter@adelphia.net

Revised in 2003 by Jeanine M. Notter

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Update: My son's godmother, Dorothy Marian Shelton, died in 1990, by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. She now rests in Arlington National Cemetery, an honor not often granted to civilians. Marian was a remarkable woman in many ways.

She lobbied the government to pass a law that requires the military to deposit a portion of a POWs paycheck into a special account. The money can not be touched by anyone other than the said POW. Interestingly enough, once Col. Shelton was declared dead, he was a millionaire.

Mrs. Shelton was very dear to me. I was 21 years old when I met her. Age 33 seemed like it was a long way off then, but once I reached it, I knew that Col. Shelton was still young when he was shot down. Marian was in her 50's when I knew her. She was still beautiful and I wished so much that she could have her husband back again.

I know a journalist who once followed a lead that perhaps Col. Shelton was indeed returned to the United States, but with a new identity. Although the man in question did indeed have many similarities, a positive ID was inclusive. I asked the journalist if the man had flat feet. He didn't think to ask that question. I am still curious to know if he ever went back to check. I would love to be able to meet the legendary Col. Charles E. Shelton so I can give him the POW bracelet that has his name on it. I would like to tell him how much is family loves him and how his wife spent the rest of her life trying to get him home. She was a woman who loved her spouse completely. May she rest in peace.