I learned recently that this and all the other MIA/POW focused media of the era was based on a conspiracy theory that traces back to a Nixon press conference that tried to reframe Vietnam into a rescue mission for imprisoned soldiers who probably didn't exist to improve support at home.
It’s disturbing how much of the current US political landscape—the fundamental social/perceived-historical identities of the two parties, which are one of two things that determine how people actually vote, the other being “does it seem like (seem like) bad things are happening right now?”, see Democracy for Realists—is based on straight-up fiction. A lot of it from the Nixon and Reagan administrations and associated propaganda efforts, but extending into the Clinton (lies about local work-requirement experiments for benefits being amplified and driving policy, on top of a bunch of 70s and 80s era lies about how those programs work that are to this day considered true by tons of people) and of course Bush II admins. It’s impossible to even start to talk about serious policy with a mixed and representative group of people in the US because you have to start with trying to de-program all the horse shit and wild misconceptions most of them have internalized, and that’s a tall order all on its own.
https://theoutline.com/post/7984/rambo-last-blood-vietnam-bo...
The other tiny detail I liked was the real life POW-rescuing Rambo-type figure was used as the basis of the Hannibal character in the A-team show.