Unclaimed

With the publicity of Unclaimed, the identity of the man who claimed to be Robertson was challenged. In the documentary, the Toronto Star reported the case made, "There is physical proof of Robertson's birthplace, collected in dramatic fashion onscreen; a tearful meeting in Vietnam with a soldier who was trained by Robertson in 1960 and said he knew him on sight; and a heart-wrenching reunion with his only surviving sister — 80-year-old Jean Robertson-Holly [sic]." Leading up to the film's premiere, Jorgensen said Robertson's American wife and two children had volunteered to participate in DNA testing but withdrew their intent. The filmmaker said, "Somebody suggested to me maybe that's (because) the daughters don't want to know if it's him. It's kind of like, that was an ugly war. It was a long time ago. We just want it to go away... I don't know. What would compel you not to want to know if this person is your biological father?"[3]

The film is already generating heated debate online, along with allegations the man claiming to be Robertson is a fraud.

— Toronto Star[4]

After the reunion, the Toronto Star said of the man who claimed to be Robertson, "He is back in Vietnam and has no desire to leave, having fulfilled his one wish: to see his American family once more before he dies." The sister, Robertson-Holley, said it was "not necessary" to conduct DNA testing since she confidently identifies the man as her brother.[3] Some groups of Vietnam War veterans and groups that advocate the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue questioned Robertson's identity.[4] The Toronto Star reported, "The film is already generating heated debate online, along with allegations the man claiming to be Robertson is a fraud." Robertson-Holley's daughter (Robertson's niece) Gail Metcalf said in response, "I don't blame people. I think some of the vets who say that are truly trying to protect us. They don’t want us to be scammed and their hearts are in the right place."[4] Robertson-Holley subsequently alleviated her adamant stance on DNA testing. Metcalf spoke for her mother, "We plan to do it when we can. We haven't been able to do it yet. In the beginning, mom's position was we don't care if people doubt. We're not spotlight kind of people." Expensive medical bills related to her parents' critical injuries was cited as a reason for delaying DNA testing. The Toronto Star said in April 2013 pressure would likely increase when the documentary screens at the GI Film Festival in May 2013. Metcalf said, "Of course we're more than willing. The bottom line is even if the DNA test came back negative, he’s still proven to be an American. My mother will never believe he is not her brother."[4]

On May 1, 2013, a day after the film's premiere, The Independent reported that a memo based on a 2009 report from the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) said that the man who claimed to be Robertson was actually Dang Tan Ngoc, "a 76-year-old Vietnamese citizen of French origin who has a history of pretending to be US army veterans". The memo said Ngoc came to the attention of the U.S. military in 2006 due to his claim of being Robertson. Ngoc withdrew his claim at the time, but he made the claim once again in 2008. He was taken to the U.S. embassy in Cambodia to be fingerprinted, and his fingerprints did not match Robertson's on record. The Independent said, "Reports suggest Ngoc could have been impersonating Sgt Robertson since around 1982, with some Vietnam War veterans saying he could have possibly conned veteran groups out of thousands of pounds over the last 30 years." According to the newspaper, in 1991, Paramilitary Operations Officer Billy Waugh led an investigative team to Ngoc and was able to retrieve his DNA.[1] The Toronto Star reported members of the surviving family said they never submitted DNA samples.[5] A DPMO statement, quoted by Soldier of Fortune magazine, indicates "...mitochondrial DNA sequences from the hair samples obtained were compared to family reference samples taken from Robertson’s brother and one of his sisters."[6]

In response to the controversy, the GI Film Festival, which exhibited Unclaimed after the Toronto premier, posted a disclaimer on its site.[7]

When Jorgensen was asked by the Toronto Star if he believed the man's identity, he replied, "It does not matter what I think. There's no doubt in the family."[3] Jorgensen did confirm to Maclean's magazine, however, he believes "the circumstantial evidence strongly indicates this man is John Hartley Robertson."[8]

In the wake of the controversy, the Robertson family raised funds in late 2013 to conduct their own independent DNA test. With results in hand, the family, on their funding site, GoFundMe[9] admitted the DNA of the man claiming to be Robertson did not match the DNA of Robertson's nephew.

The filmmaker Michael Jorgensen in an interview with Stars and Stripes suggested people should not focus on the failed DNA test but an isotope test conducted on Ngoc's last remaining tooth.[10] Jorgensen believes isotope test suggests Ngoc is likely an American. Stars and Stripes noted the isotope results match other areas of the world and failed to eliminate the possibility Ngoc grew up in another non-American location that matches the isotope levels measured in the tooth. In comments to the Stars and Stripes article a responder suggested the test could say nothing definitive as the filmmaker only tested one tooth. The responder suggested one needs to test two teeth that form at different times. If both teeth share similar isotope levels then one could say the person definitively grew up in a given geographic area. One cannot, by testing only one tooth, eliminate the possibility the man in the movie was moved around as a child and the isotope levels represent an "average", which just happen to correspond to some place in the U.S., an area with very diverse geography where one is likely to find a match within error bars.

Unclaimed was re-released in May 2014, playing in New York City and Los Angeles. Martin Tsai of the LA Times notes "Michael Jorgensen...doesn't do serious investigative work to check [Ngoc's] claim that he's John Hartley Robertson".[15] The Hollywood Reporter assess the film's commercial potential as "slim for a doc that...seemingly has little interest in uncovering the truth."[16] The Village Voice calls Unclaimed "a nakedly manipulative film".[17]