A 73-year-old Army master sergeant who was thought to have died in Vietnam apologized to his family for his 26-year absence but offered no details on his mysterious disappearance.
"I disappeared, I guess. I'm sorry I did, about that war and about my situation. It wasn't nice to do and I hope it will be all right again," Mateo Sabog said in a transcript the Army released Friday.Sabog was reunited with three of his brothers at a military hospital near Augusta, where he is undergoing tests. Army officials interviewed the four men and released the transcript.
Sabog, whose name is on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, disappeared in 1970 while traveling from Vietnam to Fort Bragg, N.C. He apparently stepped off the plane when it stopped in California.
He was initially declared a deserter but was declared dead in 1979 after the FBI couldn't find him. For the past 10 years, he had been living under the name Bobby Fernandez in Rossville, just south of Chattanooga, Tenn.
Last month Sabog went to a Social Security Administration office in Rossville to apply for benefits.
Without any personal identification or other records, Sabog referred the office workers to his brother Kenneth, who notified the Army.
Sabog's family lives in Hawaii. Army officials verified Sabog's identity by examining his fingerprints.
Sabog's brothers said the details of Sabog's estrangement didn't matter.
"Whatever transpired, that's history," the Rev. Henry Sabog said in the transcript. "It doesn't matter to us. Someone who was lost is found, someone who was declared dead is alive. What more can we do other than celebrate that?"