In Texas, Mrs. Mellin received yet another letter from the head office of the Veterans Administration in Washington, D.C.
Dear Mrs. Mellin:
Thank you for your letter of March 6 inquiring about the possible whereabouts of your husband, Daniel E. Mellin, who has been missing since the fire at an offshore drilling rig in the South China Sea. I fully empathize with your frustration at not receiving any solid information regarding your husband’s whereabouts beyond the information given us earlier by the Royal Bruneian Government that the fire at the scene was so intense that many bodies were burned beyond recognition. We are of course continuing to investigate the matter, but given the present hostilities between China and the USVUN forces, our inquiries to date have been met with silence.
On another front — that of the MIA status of Mr. Mellin’s sister Angela — there is the possibility, albeit a faint one, that increased contacts between the Republic of Vietnam and the United States necessitated by the USVUN coalition, will yield long-awaited information on some of the more than two thousand MIAs and suspected POWs still held in Vietnam.
The director has asked me to assure all those family and friends of MIAs and POWs that the department is doing its utmost in this matter. He has also suggested that public appeals through the media, phone-in shows, and privately written letters to the government in Hanoi tend to inhibit our inquiries rather than help. Rest assured, however, that we will not cease in our efforts to ascertain the whereabouts of Mr. Daniel Mellin and Ms. Angela Mellin.