During the Vietnam War more than 1,800 Americans were held prisoner or were missing in action in Southeast Asia. Among them was Army Major Theodore "Ted” Gostas of Sheridan. He was captured in South Vietnam in February of 1968. Prisoners of war were subjected to brutal conditions and horrific mistreatment. Their Vietnamese captors did not abide by the Geneva Convention.
Back in Sheridan, Gostas’ wife, Johanna and their three young children faced the terrible uncertainty of families of prisoners of war. Johanna worked tirelessly on behalf of her husband and the other POW/MIA families as the Wyoming coordinator of the National League of Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Families.
She organized letter writing campaigns. Tens of thousands of letters went out to congress members, foreign embassies and even the President of North Vietnam. Her activism played an influential role in securing the release of her husband in March of 1973.
Learn more in the Johanna Gostas papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.