1991 Mystery Photo May Show Missing Pilots



My Story
By Roger Taggert

My personal account of how I deciphered the cryptic message revealing the possible hidden message seen in the controversial "mystery photo" making the news in July of 1991. The "mystery photo" showed three missing in action/prisoners of war (MIA/POW), of the Vietnam War, holding a sign which was a cryptic message to the outside world.

I'll start by saying that I was working for the U.S. Army in Stuttgart, Germany at the time. My civilian job was Director of Advertising, Marketing and Printing for MWR activities.

On 18 July, 1991 I read the Stars and Stripes armed forces newspaper about a "mystery photo" showing three missing pilots from the Vietnam War. After reading the front page article and looking at the mystery photo printed with the article, I noticed why nobody could figure out what the cryptic message was saying. The first thing I noticed right off, was that what everyone was calling the "capital letter B" in the cryptic message in the photo was in fact a double letter S symbol used in the German language.

Next I noticed that the cryptic message had individual capital letters and lower case letters along with numbers with a dot separating each letter and number (or set of numbers). I then realized that in the German language, the nouns all start with a capital letter. Example; Datum (date), Kante (border), Karte (map) and so on. Also the stylized manner of most of the letters and numbers in the code were very indicative of old German. By this time I was sure that one of the keys to deciphering the code of the cryptic message was the German language.

So, taking into account the photo showed three Vietnam War MIA/POWs and they were holding this cryptic message with German overtones, I had a good start on deciphering the cryptic message in the "mystery photo".

Something deep down inside of me knew that this was a very important photo revealing something that had to be told. I just knew I could crack the code. And the excitement of knowing I could do it was overwhelming me with anticipation on getting home after work and working on deciphering that coded message. When I got home from work I explained to my wife what I had to do and she understood. I quickly got an old German-English dictionary from my mother in law, the newspaper, some writing paper, pencils and closed myself in a room for about 8 hours.

It took me those 8 hours that evening to decipher the cryptic message. Next day while I was at work it occurred to me that I should get what I had just discovered to somebody. I decide to contact a lady who worked at the MWR Family Services Office there in Stuttgart. I phoned her and asked her if she could help me on finding a phone number and address of any MIA/POW organization, states side. I also mentioned the "mystery photo" everyone was talking about and that I believed I cracked the code that was in that photo. She got as excited as I was about the whole thing and said she would try.

She happened to call the American consulate (embassy) that was there in Stuttgart, Germany at the time. She asked a man at the consulate if he could give her the phone numbers and addresses for MIA/POW organizations in the states. He asked her why. She told him about a man who happened to break that coded message that was being publicized in the news papers and that this man wished to contact someone states side about the discovery.

The man at the consulate immediately changed his tone and said, that this particular man would have to request in writing on an official letter head to the consulate for the information he seeked. Also to include in the letter a justification for the request and turn everything that I had discovered into the consulate with the letter of request attached. He then asked for her name and the name of this man who needed the information from the consulate. She then politely hung up the phone on him. Thank God she was a smart lady.

So, I thanked her for trying to help me and keep my name from the consulate. She mentioned that I should try the local library on post. That evening after work I went to the library and found the address and phone number I needed within minutes. Strange how simple it was to find the information I needed so quickly, that was kept at bay by the consulate as something hard to obtain unless by a need to know basis.

After visiting the library I went home and called the phone number for the National League of POW/MIA Families states side. Mrs. Retha Stevens answered the phone and I introduced myself. I told her about my deciphering the coded message in the photo showing the three POW/MIA pilots holding a sign with a coded message written on it. Retha Stevens was excited and when I explained some of my findings, she asked if I could mail a copy of my findings to her as soon as possible. The next day, 20 July, 1991, I mailed my findings to the address Retha gave me.

Less than a week later Mrs. Retha Stevens and her husband gave me a call at my home. They liked what I sent them. Retha's husband told me that he was a cryptologist in military intelligence in his younger days. He congratulated me on my decoding the cryptic message in the photo. He said, that as far as he saw it, everything I decoded fitted nicely together. He also agreed with me that nobody, so far, could figure out where to start in decoding the cryptic message in the sign. And that my recognizing the German elements in the code was what solved the mystery of the cryptic message. I told him that my being in Germany was the reason why I noticed the German element in the message.

Latter on I received a letter from Mrs. Retha Stevens (dated: 29 July, 1991). She wanted to let me know that she had received my findings in the mail. She mentioned about the upcoming ABC News coverage and that Senator Jesse Helms was getting a copy of my findings. Also that she would keep me informed.

The last time I heard from Mrs. Retha Stevens was when I got a phone call from her a couple of weeks latter. Retha told me that my findings were going to be in a San Fransisco newspaper soon and should be in others also. That Senator Helms and others that could be trusted got what I found. Then she told me that my name could not be mentioned, due to possible reprisals from our government. I was working for the US Army as a civilian at that time and was vulnerable to any government reprisal.
Since then I haven't heard a word about any outcome concerning the three POW/MIA pilots or if any of my findings helped in any way. I did send a copy of my findings to Ann Mills Griffiths, Exec. Dir. National League of POW/MIA Families in 11 September, 2003. No reply came after that.

I have always had a very strong gut feeling that those three pilots were there in the Laotian jungle. That I was at the right place at the right time, because God orchestrated everything to shine a light on where these three men were. It's no coincidence that I was an Aerial Photo/Imagery Analyst, MOS 96D, in Army Intelligence. That anyone who knows me, knows that I have a knack or gift for finding things. When I was a kid I could see things in trees or elsewhere that other people couldn't see or notice. I believe that also my being an artist trained my eyes to notice details. And also my training in photo analysis made me more aware of things in photos or imagery. By the way, my decoding the cryptic message in the photo of the three POW/MIA pilots was the first time ever in my life.




CONTINUE TO PAGE 5- HOW THE CODED MESSAGE GOT DECIPHERED

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