View Full Version : CCN, RT Maryland MIAs recovered (VN MIA)
Source RFTW.org
CABARRUS COUNTY - The U.S. military is releasing new details about a North Carolina soldier who was killed during a mission in the Vietnam War.
Last week, WBTV learned that the body of Sergeant First Class Donald M. Shue was found, more than 41 years after he was killed in Vietnam. SFC Shue was killed during a reconnaissance mission in November 1969, the military confirmed to WBTV.
SFC Shue was part of a special forces reconnaissance patrol that was on a mission in Vietnam's Quang Tri Provenance that was "attacked and overrun by enemy forces on a remote hilltop," a spokeswoman for the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command Center told WBTV on Tuesday.
The reconnaissance team retreated, but SFC Shue and two others were injured in the attack and presumed killed. SFC Shue has been listed as "Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered" since the attack.
According to Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) spokesperson Elizabeth Feeney, an investigation into the missing soldiers began in December 1993. In May 2009, a joint U.S.-Vietnamese team correlated the site where SFC Shue and the two other men were last seen. A month later, the team talked with a witness to the attack and found some remains.
It wasn't until March 2010 that the team was able to excavate the hilltop. The bodies were identified in January 2011.
Feeney says Sergeant First Class Donald Shue's remains were positively identified by JPAC. The two men found with him were Staff Sergeant Gunther H. Wald of New Jersey and Staff Sergeant William T. Brown of California. Both men were part of the same special forces reconnaissance patrol as SFC Shue.
According to the head of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle group, the family has asked the group to help lead SFC Shue's body home to Cabarrus County in late April. SFC Donald Shue rode bikes back in the 60's and his nephew, who is listed as next-of-kin, also rides and will be riding the lead with the motorcycle group both days.
SFC Shue is expected to be buried with his parents and brothers in Concord, NC on May 1st.
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Source: Special Operations.com MACVSOG Memorial 1969
03 Nov 69- William T Brown, SSG E-6 of La Habra, CA, Tm Ldr; Gunter Herbert Wald, SGT E-5 of Bergen, NJ, Asst Tm Ldr, and Donald Monroe Shue, SGT E-5, Tm Radio Op, USASF, SOA, CCN, Da Nang, Ops 35, MIA-Presumptive finding of death. The team was attacked by a numerically superior enemy force at night while in their RON position 30 miles inside Laos near Ban Chakevy Tai. The NVA, stripped to their shorts, came in silently with only AK’s and grenades. Brown was wounded in the side, and Walt and Shue wounded by fragmentation. Both were last seen lying wounded on the ground as the team’s position was about to be overran. Due to heavy enemy activity, the remaining team had withdraw leaving the three Americans behind. Adverse weather prevented a search until the 11th. The search team discovered "web gear" belonging to the wounded Americans, but nothing more.
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Source: 1969. MACVSOG.org
Case 1514 Names: WALD, Gunther H.; BROWN, William T.; SHUE, Donald M.
Incident Date: 3 November 1969
UTM Coordinate: 48Q XD 643 674
Country: Laos Province: Savannakhet
Unit Assigned: Reconnaissance Team Maryland, Special Operations Augmentation (CCN), 5th Special Forces Group.
Background: On 3 November 1969, SSG Gunther H. Wald (10), SSG William T. Brown, and SP4 Donald M. Shue (12) were members of Reconnaissance Team (RT) Maryland operating in Laos near the border with Vietnam. RT Maryland consisted of three U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers and six indigenous soldiers. The nine men were in hasty defensive positions during a heavy rain storm in the vicinity of grid coordinate 48Q XD 643 674 inside Laos, approximately two kilometers west of the Vietnam/Laos border. At approximately 1500 (local), they were attacked by a 30 man enemy force from the high ground to the east and southeast. The three Americans were gravely wounded and had to be left behind when the other team members were forced to withdraw. One of the indigenous soldiers was also killed while evading.
On the afternoon of 4 November 1969 an AH-1G Cobra helicopter overflew the loss area and observed several trails through the elephant grass, but no signs of activity or signals were detected. Extremely bad weather prevented the insertion of another RT until 11 November 1969. That team found load bearing equipment belonging to three of the indigenous members of RT Maryland and SP4 Shue. However, efforts to locate the three missing Americans or their remains proved negative.
A post-incident board of inquiry was convened by 5th Special Forces Group on 28 November 1969. According to testimony from the Team’s interpreter, PONG, all three Americans were unconscious. SSG Wald and SP4 Shue were wounded by grenade fragments. SSG Brown was shot through the body by an AK-47 round and was most likely dead. PONG also stated that as he was withdrawing, he heard someone in the attacking force shout, “Hurry, forward, capture all of the Americans.”
The limited information contained in the board of inquiry report named the six indigenous soldiers on RT Maryland as: PONG (team interpreter), THE (KIA, while evading), CAM PHAN, TAHON, DE and RONG.
The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) and Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) continue research and investigative efforts to resolve this case. Any additional information that you can provide may improve our chances of bringing home these three Americans.
Information Requirements:
1. What is the status of the remaining five indigenous soldiers on RT Maryland?
2. What are their full names?
3. Did any of them survive the war?
4. Does anyone know their current whereabouts?
5. Some post-war information suggests that only four indigenous soldiers survived the incident. Can anyone confirm and identify the second indigenous soldier killed in this loss incident?
6. Provide any additional information about the RT Maryland loss incident.
RIP Warriors, Vaya con Dios..
Harsh lesson learned for the first RT Maryland when they were hit in their RON by a specially trained counter-recon unit that had been tracking them.
RIP guys. :( Welcome home.
Richard :munchin
mark46th
04-12-2011, 09:26
RIP, Brothers...
I've worn Shue's POW/MIA bracelet since the 90s. Only since the losing friends in this war have I switched it. I have it here in the Stan with me and will wear it on patrol tomorrow. RIP Warriors!
greenberetTFS
04-12-2011, 14:25
Gone,but not forgotten.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn_iz8z2AGw - Cached
God Bless,Rest in Peace Warrior.....:(
He was just a simple soldier and his ranks are growing thin
But his presence should remind us; we may need his like again,
For when countries are in conflict, then we find the soldier's part
Is to clean up all the troubles that the politicians start.
If we cannot do him honor while he's here to hear the praise,
Then at least let's give him homage at the ending of his days.......:(
Perhaps just a simple headline in the paper that might say:
OUR COUNTRY IS IN MOURNING, FOR A SOLDIER DIED TODAY. (author unknown)
The passing of our soldiers often go unnoticed and unsung by most of the world, remembered only by family and friends. Wish it were not so. May he RIP, his family will be in my thoughts and prayers.........:(
I realize it's a Canadian song,however I believe most appropriate for this occasion..:(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrkgV5bl7kQ
Glad more of our men were found. Warriors...may your trip home be peaceful, may you Rest in Peace and may your families and friends find comfort in your homecoming.
Red Flag 1
04-12-2011, 18:26
Rest In God's Peace Warriors.
Welcome home!
The Reaper
04-12-2011, 19:12
Welcome home, RT Maryland.
Rest In Peace.
You kept the faith, and now we have as well.
Your service and your sacrifice will not be forgotten.
TR
Stingray
04-13-2011, 02:16
Welcome home and may you Rest in Peace.
Thank very much for your service.
Sincerely,
I've worn Sgt Shue's red MIA bracelet since the early 70's. Will continue to wear it in his memory. RIP RT Maryland.
Rick
Trip_Wire (RIP)
04-24-2011, 12:57
RIP Brothers.
Rest In Peace and Thank You
Op-Ed piece by John Stryker Meyer (1-0 RT Idaho, CCN) in the NY Times on Shue's homecoming.
Richard :munchin
Homecoming For A Veteran Of The ‘Secret War’ In Southeast Asia
NYT, 31 May 2011
Thousands of people in the quiet towns of Concord and Kannapolis, N.C., will remember the weekend of April 30 and May 1 for a long time.
Yes, they shared the jubilation on May 1 with the rest of the country when news broke that members of the Navy Seals had killed Osama bin Laden with rounds to his head and chest.
Sgt. First Class Donald Monroe Shue
But in these boroughs a short distance from Charlotte, many residents will remember it as the weekend that the remains of a native son, Sgt. First Class Donald Monroe Shue, were returned home after he and two fellow Special Forces soldiers disappeared during a highly classified mission in Laos on Nov. 3, 1969, part of the secret war in Vietnam.
Forty-one years later, Sergeant Shue’s remains were put to rest in Carolina Memorial Park in Kannapolis, formally ending four decades of agonizing pain and uncertainty for his sisters, Betty Jones and Peggy Hinson, nephew Micky Jones and a handful of Special Forces veterans who served in Sergeant Shue’s unit.
As a Green Beret, Sergeant Shue was part of a deadly eight-year war that was hidden from the public, not unlike the Seal members who conducted the successful mission in Pakistan. Like the Navy Seals, Sergeant Shue and his teammates prepared for their mission in a secret compound before flying in helicopters from a secure base deep into enemy territory. And, like the Seal team, his team’s fate remained shrouded in secrecy until commanders deemed it safe to reveal the mission.
The Seal team’s success, however, was announced just hours after completion of its mission. Once the team members were safe and the president was briefed, the killing of Bin Laden was reported to the country.
But in Sergeant Shue’s case, it would take many years before the Army revealed his mission and what had happened to him.
During the early morning hours of Nov. 3, 1969, his unit, Reconnaissance Team Maryland, was inserted into the eastern side of Savannakhet Province in Laos. The team consisted of three American Special Forces soldiers and six Montagnard troops. Staff Sgt. Gunther Wald was the team leader, Sgt. Bill Brown was the assistant team leader and Sergeant Shue was the radio operator. The team’s mission was a general reconnaissance to determine if reports of increased enemy troop activity were accurate.
Sgt. First Class Terry Lanegan of the Special Forces was flying with the forward air controller when Team Maryland was inserted, without incident. Sergeant Lanegan flew over the team twice during the day. The last time he spoke to Sergeant Shue was shortly before 3 p.m., when the team was on Yen Ngue Hill in the Huong Lap Village. Shortly after Sergeant Lanegan left the area, enemy soldiers attacked: Sergeant Brown was hit by AK-47 fire and Sergeants Wald and Shue were mortally wounded by enemy fragmentation grenades, according to the final report issued by the Department of Defense’s Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, or JPAC, in Hawaii.
The accounting command’s report was based partly on interviews with the North Vietnamese troops who attacked Team Maryland.
In 1969, bad weather prevented searchers from entering Savannakhet Province to search for Team Maryland. Finally, on Nov. 11, a search team located Sergeant Shue’s web gear. But they found no evidence of his body or those of Sergeants Wald and Brown.
The fate of Team Maryland was reported through the chain of command to the White House, but there was no report to the public. Other than those senior officials, only fellow special operators knew that Sergeant Shue’s team had been lost and could not be recovered. Sergeant Shue was 20. His father had signed a waiver enabling him to enter the Army when he was 17.
Sergeant Shue’s family was told only that he was missing in action during combat in South Vietnam. Ten years later – after the sergeant’s father had died — officials told the Shue family that the young soldier’s status had been changed to presumed killed in action. Thirty years later – after Sergeant Shue’s mother had died — a farmer in Laos found human remains that JPAC officials determined were the three Americans from Reconnaissance Team Maryland: Sergeants Shue, Wald and Brown. A forensic report confirmed that teeth recovered from that area matched Sergeant Shue’s dental records. They also recovered his cigarette lighter.
I, too, was a Special Forces soldier during Vietnam, and I knew Donald Shue. We worked in complete secrecy. Even the official name of our unit cloaked our mission in the secrecy of bureaucratese: Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observations Group — or S.O.G., as we knew it.
Because our missions were top secret, and because we had signed agreements with the government promising not to talk about S.O.G. for 20 years, I knew that I couldn’t go home and tell Sergeant Shue’s mother what had really happened to her son, or where he was actually killed. Compounding that gnawing frustration was the knowledge that if I were killed in Laos, my family would be kept in the dark. And, if our reconnaissance team had a successful mission, I couldn’t sit down and tell my folks about how we wiretapped enemy phone lines, placed Air Force sensors along jungle trails and roads to monitor enemy movement or killed enemy troops during brutal battles deep in the jungles of Laos, Cambodia or North Vietnam.
As a student who studied American history — especially the Revolutionary War and one of George Washington’s top spies, John Honeyman — I wondered if anyone would ever read about the exploits of the Green Berets who fought in America’s secret war in Vietnam. Years later, as I listened to veterans tell their war stories, I wanted to chime in about SOG missions, but we were the “quiet professionals.” I remained reticent.
The large majority of men who volunteered to serve in Special Forces did so knowing they would live in a secret world where simply knowing about a successful mission was one’s reward. There would be no bragging rights. There was no phalanx of media personnel to tell our story. It was Special Forces, operating in the dark, far away from public knowledge and snoopy reporters.
Fast-forward to the end of April 29, 2011, when a flag-draped casket rolled down a cargo ramp underneath the Delta Air Lines jet that flew Sergeant Shue’s remains from Hawaii to Charlotte. The casket was greeted by a Special Forces honor guard and the sergeant’s family members.
Finally, he was home.
Finally, his sisters and family members had closure.
And, finally, several Special Forces soldiers who served with Sergeant Shue were relieved that one of their own was finally returned to loved ones.
Thousands of spectators attended memorial services for Sergeant Shue in Concord and Kannapolis, and the funeral on Sunday. Thousands more lined the roads holding flags as Sergeant Shue’s procession passed, escorted by more than 4,000 motorcyclists from the Special Forces Association, the Patriot Guard, Rolling Thunder, Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club and Combat Veterans Association.
Leading the procession were a former Green Beret who served with Sergeant Shue, and members of the Special Operations Association who traveled from California, Louisiana, Maine and Florida to attend the service. Peggy Hinson, Sergeant Shue’s sister, said through tears that she had never seen anything like it.
The men who fought in the secret war were grateful that he was home. But we also reflected on the fact that 51 Green Berets who fought in Southeast Asia remain listed as missing in action, grim reminders of how deadly that war was. So deadly, indeed, that the casualty rate for many Special Operations teams exceeded 100 percent — a statistical anomaly made possible when soldiers were wounded more than once in the line of duty.
On April 4, 2001, at a small ceremony at Fort Bragg, N.C., a Presidential Unit Citation — the equivalent of a Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest military decoration — was awarded to the Special Forces soldiers and the many helicopter units and tactical air units that supported S.O.G. A copy of that citation was presented to Sergeant Shue’s sisters, Betty Jones and Peggy Hinson, shortly before his funeral.
At the funeral in 2011, Lt. Gen. John F. Mulholland Jr., the current leader of the Army’s Special Operations Command, knelt to present the sisters something else: tightly folded American flags. “On behalf of a grateful nation,” he said.
Then General Mulholland returned to Fort Bragg, where he received news about the Navy Seals in Pakistan.
http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/homecoming-for-a-veteran-of-the-secret-war-in-southeast-asia/?scp=1&sq=john%20stryker%20meyer&st=cse
Cowboy 1968
09-17-2011, 21:22
SSGt William Brown will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetary at 0900 hrs on Monday, September 26th. I, some members of RT Idaho and other fellow SFers will be attending the service. From what I was told, SSgt Brown had no immediate family so anyone in the DC area would be welcome to attend. No further info at this time.
Roguish Lawyer
09-18-2011, 08:55
RIP
http://www.modernforces.com/veteran_Schue_mia.htm
Cowboy 1968
09-27-2011, 18:41
SFC William Brown was buried with full military honors on Monday 09/26/2011. His caisson was preceded by the US Army marching band followed by an honor guard of members of the US Army Old Guard and eight military pallbearers. SFC Brown's attending family was comprised of his nephew, great neice and sister-in-law as well as four other family members. Also represented were members of RT ASP, RT Idaho, RT Virginia and four other QPs. Following the funeral, those SF members attending were invited by the family to return with them to learn more of Bill's SF history from those of us who were his military family. When thanked for coming, we informed the family that it was our honor to see off a brother. According to a member of RT Idaho, there is the possibility that SFC Gunther H. Wald (also of RT Maryland) will be buried next to SFC Brown. If so, may they rest in peace forever, SF brothers surrounded by other heroes of our current conflict.
Cowboy 1968
07-05-2012, 20:52
I got a call today from "The Frenchman" of RT Idaho. He informed me that the funeral service for SFC Gunther Wald will be conducted at Arlington National Cemetery on August 30th at 1100 hours. He told me that there will also be a memorial service on August 29th at a local (Va) funeral home (to be determined). As it seems that Doug and I only meet at funerals for our SF friends these past 40+ years, we hope our fellow QPs live long and healthy lives. I will post any further details I receive as the date draws nearer. It is always a sad occasion when we attend the internment of a comrade but also a reminder to be the kind of person he died believing we were.
airbornediver
07-17-2012, 14:46
RIP Warriors and Welcome Home.
I wonder how many of the remaining MIAs are SF/MACV-SOG guys.
Going home to family, RIP....time in country 43+ years.
I wonder how many of the remaining MIAs are SF/MACV-SOG guys.
If you're really interested, you can go here and cull the lists for yourself.
http://www.pownetwork.org/bios.htm
Gutes lesen!
Richard :munchin
XngZeRubicon
08-22-2012, 20:53
I know this is over a year later, but welcome home and Rest in Peace. Happy to see this sub-forum.
SFC William T. Brown, RT Maryland. RIP.
Richard :munchin
Remains of La Habra Soldier Found In Vietnam
OCRegister, 27 Aug 2012
A farmer, a lighter and an unlikely dog tag led searchers to the remains of a La Habra Green Beret who died fighting more than 40 years ago on the border of Laos and Vietnam.
Sgt. 1st Class William T. Brown – "Bill" to everyone who knew him – was shot in the side when his patrol was ambushed in November 1969. His brother, his mother and his father died without knowing exactly what happened to his body
"You always have hope – hope that there's an outside chance that he would be alive," his father, William Brown, told the Register in a 1997 interview. "You never really give up ... so I don't."
Brown had volunteered for his second tour in Vietnam. He was part of an elite and secretive unit called the Studies and Observations Group, which carried out covert special missions in Vietnam.
He and two other Green Berets were on a reconnaissance patrol with six Vietnamese soldiers in Quang Tri Province when they were ambushed, according to the Department of Defense. Afterward, torrential rainstorms and North Vietnamese soldiers kept back search-and-rescue teams. When they reached the site eight days later, all they found was some equipment.
Back home, William Brown was preparing to celebrate his birthday when news arrived that his son was missing in action. He and his wife, Shirley, fought for years for more information about what happened. She died in 2004, the same year as Bill's brother. William Brown died in 2006 and was buried with a headstone for Bill in his casket.
The next year, a Vietnamese farmer led investigators to human remains that he had discovered and buried. Investigators later recovered a Zippo lighter etched with the name of one of the other men lost in the ambush, and two dog tags for Brown – which he would not typically have carried on a clandestine patrol. They also used DNA – including some from Brown's cousin – to show that the remains were those of the ambushed patrol.
"I just remember him as this bright-eyed young man who was very enthusiastic, very proud to serve his country," said Brown's sister-in-law, Carolyn Brown. He was so proud to wear the Army uniform, she said, that he bought her 2-year-old son a replica – minus his green beret.
Brown was 24 years old when he died. He was a demolitions expert, spoke good Vietnamese and was the assistant team leader on the patrol he was on.
He was also "the happiest guy I ever met," said Ken Van Arsdel, who served with Brown in Vietnam. He remembers coming back from a mission and finding Brown in the door of his hut, belting out a favorite song: "Proud Mary," by Credence Clearwater Revival.
"He was just a really good-hearted guy," Van Arsdel said. "It broke my heart when I heard he was lost."
In his letters home, Brown would always ask his family to send clothes for the people he met in the villages where he stayed. When his sister-in-law begged him not to return to Vietnam for a second tour, he told her he felt an obligation to those people.
After his death, his parents spent decades fighting for answers, even traveling to Washington DC in an effort to learn more about how he died. He was listed for years as missing in action; the Department of Defense later changed that to killed in action before it announced this week that his remains had been found and identified.
"I'm glad this has finally come to an end," said Brown's cousin, Rocky Maggio, who lives in Wisconsin. But he added: "There's a lot of people over there we can't forget."
Brown and the two other men – Sgt. 1st Class Donald Shue of North Carolina and Sgt. 1st Class Gunther Wald of New Jersey – will be buried as a group at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday. {30 Aug}Some of Brown's remains were buried at the cemetery last year.
His headstone reads: "Beloved son who was never forgotten."
http://www.ocregister.com/news/remains-369669-brown-three.html
reminded me.
One of the SAS Bravo 22 guys visited 5th Gp after the first gulf war...he told me
"We knew we were on our own"..."It's not like you Yanks, you'll do anything to get your own out"......no matter what the time and space.
Welcome home boys...RIP
Remains of 3 Special Forces soldiers missing since Vietnam to be buried at Arlington
http://fayobserver.com/articles/2012/08/28/1200210?sac=fo.military
"The recovered remains of three soldiers who went missing in the Vietnam War will be buried Thursday in Arlington National Cemetery.
The Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office announced the identifications of Special Forces soldiers Monday.
Sgt. 1st Class William T. Brown of La Habra, Calif.; Sgt. 1st Class Donald M. Shue of Kannapolis; and Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald of Palisades Park, N.J., went missing on Nov. 3, 1969, according to officials.
The remains will be buried in a single casket with full military honors, according to the Department of Defense. Funerals for the individual soldiers were held previously............."
Today
RIP Troops
Cowboy 1968
08-30-2012, 20:01
Today, 08/30/2012, at 1130 hrs. SFC Donald Shue, SFC Bill Brown & SFC Gunther Wald were laid to rest in a single coffin at Arlington National Cemetary, VA. Attending were those of us who knew Gunther from Trng Gp. as well as those members of SOG who knew him, Donald & Bill. Some of those in attendance were MG Eldon Bargewell, Bob "Spider" Parks, Doug "the Frenchman"Letourneau, Frank "Namu" McCloskey, Lou Deseta as well as numerous SFA members. Also in attendance were members of the three families and active duty Officers and Senior NCO members from Ft. Bragg. At the reception which followed, we had a chance to speak with members of the families. Gunther's family was from Germany and was accompanied by an interpreter. It enabled the family members to get a better idea of the closeness of our membership and our dedication to one another. It was the first time I had the opportunity to meet Donald Shue's wife as I had not attended his funeral in NC. The families were each presented a flag which had touched the coffin, by Col Zeegers from Bragg.