DNA test proves Vietnam man is not missing Army sergeant

A man who claimed in a controversial documentary that he was U.S. Special Forces soldier lost during the Vietnam War is an imposter, according to the missing soldiers family, which cited DNA test results.

In Unclaimed, Dang Tan Ngoc alleged he was Army Sgt. 1st Class John Hartley Robertson, who went missing following a helicopter crash over Laos in 1968. The film, which premiered in the U.S. last year at the annual GI Film Festival, evoked impassioned responses from all sides of the POW/MIA issue.

Directed by Emmy Award winner Michael Jorgensen, it followed the journey of Vietnam veteran Tom Faunce as he looked into Ngocs claims and laid out an intriguing circumstantial case that he could be Robertson, despite government denials.

At the time of the documentary, friends and members of Robertsons family were convinced he was the missing GI. But, it was not to be.

We have received the results of the [nuclear] DNA test, and sadly there was NOT a match, Robertsons niece, Cyndi Hanna, wrote on her GoFundMe webpage that raised money for the test. This is very disappointing.

Hanna could not be reached for comment, but wrote that an Alabama-based forensics laboratory compared a recent sample from Robertsons nephew with a blood stain collected from Ngoc.

Gail Metcalf, daughter of Robertsons sole surviving sister, Jean Robertson-Holley, who was featured during an emotional reunion with Ngoc in the film, thanked Faunce and others for bringing Ngoc to their attention, something they have accused the government of neglecting to do. The family members reiterated that they believe the man is an American and will continue to seek his U.S. family.

Regardless of DNA test results, my family does believe the man weve met is an American, a strong likelihood bolstered by the oxygen isotope analysis performed on his tooth Metcalf wrote in a statement on behalf of her mother.

As my mother has said, we only want to do right by my Uncle John, and if that means exploring the possibility that the U.S. government has made a mistake or that the man claiming to be my uncle is actually another lost American and doesnt know who he is, we intend to seek the truth on our own terms.

She said the family would not speak publicly again.

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DNA test proves Vietnam man is not missing Army sergeant