Professional Soldiers ® - 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.