VIETNAMESE COMMANDOS AWAIT BACK PAY.

Byline: Carolyn Jung Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire

Last year, when Congress approved $20 million in compensation for hundreds of Vietnamese commandos abandoned by the U.S. military, these men thought that finally, after 30 years, the government would make everything right.

But now, six months later, the frail former commandos continue to wait for restitution - all because the legislation didn't contain the proper wording to begin the payments.

Susan Hansen, a Department of Defense spokeswoman, said the agency has every intention of paying up to $50,000 to each of the commandos - once the wording of the law is made clearer.

But John Mattes, a Miami lawyer who represents the 350 commandos and their families, called the delay a fiasco. He said time is of the essence for these men. Already, three have died in the past three years, he said.

``The Pentagon has been stonewalling,'' Mattes said. ``They have discounted and disregarded these men. In America, we don't allow soldiers to be left behind, but they left these men behind. In America, we don't cover up, but they covered up. To hide behind technicalities now is just atrocious.''

The delay has only added to the grief and bitterness felt by Mai Van Hoc of San Jose, 54, one of the commandos recruited by the United States for that secret mission to infiltrate North Vietnam during the war.

``When I fought in the war, I fought not just for Vietnam, but for the freedom of the world,'' said Hoc, who was imprisoned by the Viet Cong for 14 years and beaten so badly that he now has trouble walking and hearing. ``We worked for Americans, and Americans betrayed us. They didn't help us when we helped them.''

The problem, Hansen explained, is that in its annual budget authorization bill, Congress ordered the government to pay each commando. But in its annual appropriations bill, Congress merely ``urged'' but did not order the federal government to do so. And both bills were signed into law.

``People can urge us to do a lot of things, but unless they give us permission to do it, we can't take action,'' Hansen said. ``This is not clear enough for us to expend the money.''

The Pentagon has since made a request for stronger language in the law that is now before Congress.

The agency has yet to establish regulations governing how the commandos would be paid, even though the legislation outlined a six-month deadline to do so. But Hansen said those regulations are nearing finalization.

Mattes said the entire situation is typical of the outrageous manner in which the Defense Department has mistreated the men for years.

The men who survived thought they already had lived through the worst after enduring years of torture and imprisonment by the Viet Cong. But they were stunned, they said, when the U.S. government declared all the commandos dead to avoid paying their salaries to their families.

Initially, the Defense Department had refused to even acknowledge the commando mission, but Mattes uncovered 500,000 pages of classified documents at the National Archives. Those documents included pay rosters that showed the Army systematically listed the commandos as being killed in action when they actually were in prison.

By declaring the commandos dead, Mattes said, the Army was able to pay their families only a minimal death payment of a few hundred dollars, not the $2,000-a-year salary the commandos had been receiving.

Two years ago, Mattes filed a lawsuit against the government for the soldiers' back pay. That suit had been put on hold, pending the outcome of the congressional legislation. But on Feb. 28, the Pentagon asked the judge to dismiss the commandos' claims because the Pentagon said the commandos have no standing to pursue them in court. Last week, though, the Pentagon asked that its motion be withdrawn. Justice Department spokesman Joe Krovisky would not comment on why the Pentagon had changed its mind on the matter.

Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and decorated Vietnam veteran who sponsored the original legislation, as well as Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and former POW, and Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Garden Grove, have fired off letters to Defense Secretary William Cohen urging him to remedy the situation.

``Many of the commandos are elderly and in poor health and should not be asked to continue waiting patiently while the bureaucracy drags its feet,'' Kerry and McCain wrote. ``The commandos have spent an average of 20 years in prison and we, as a nation, owe them a debt that can never be repaid. We strongly urge the Defense Department to move immediately . . . in order that these brave men may get the recognition they deserve.''