Identification of MIA's

[DMZ-LT]

Thirty seven years after they died , the remains of Army SGT. Glen Miller , a Green Beret , and the 11 Marines who died with him have been identified and returned to the United States.. The servicemen were killed May 9 , 1968 , during a 10 hour battle along the Laotian border in South Vietnam. They were part of an artillery platoon that had been airlifted in to support a unit that was at risk of an attack from nearby NVA forces. Five of the servicemen will be buried by their families and the others will be buried as a group in Arlington National Cemetery. It's the largest single group of MIAs identified since the Vietnam War ended. Welcome Home Brothers I

[Advisor]

AMEN

[Bandman]

May the day come when all are accounted for and home to rest in peace, Welcome home at long last, you were never forgotten brothers.

Welcome Home.

[Jerry D]

Welcome Home Amen an RIP

[VIETNAM 1968]

Welcome Home Army Sgt. Glen Miller and the eleven Marines who were fighting alongside him.

May you all finally REST IN PEACE in your HOMELAND where you belong.



To all of my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I again state:


WELCOME HOME


VIETNAM 1968

[urbsdad6]

God Bless and Welcome Home brothers. May you all rest in peace. God bless your families that have waited so long for your return.

Doc Urb

[darrels joy]

Twelve MIAS from Vietnam War are Identified


The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today the identification of the remains of 12 U.S. servicemen missing in action
from the Vietnam War. Five of those identified are being returned to their
families for burial, and the remaining seven will be buried as a group in Arlington
National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.



The men who were individually identified are: Cpl. Gerald E. King, of
Knoxville, Tenn.; Lance Cpls. Joseph F. Cook, of Foxboro, Mass.; Raymond T. Heyne,
of Mason, Wis.; Donald W. Mitchell, of Princeton, Ky.; and Thomas W. Fritsch, of
Cromwell, Conn., all of the U.S. Marine Corps. Additional group remains are those
of: Pfcs. Thomas J. Blackman, of Racine, Wis.; Paul S. Czerwonka, of Stoughton,
Mass.; Barry L. Hempel, of Garden Grove, Calif.; Robert C. Lopez, of Albuquerque,
N.M.; William D. McGonigle, of Wichita, Kan.; and Lance Cpl. James R. Sargent, of
Anawalt, W. Va., all of the U.S. Marine Corps. Additionally, the remains of U.S.
Army Sgt. Glenn E. Miller, of Oakland, Calif. will be included in the group burial.



The Marines were part of an artillery platoon airlifted to provide
support to the 11th Mobile Strike Force, which was under threat of attack from
North Vietnamese forces near Kham Duc in South Vietnam. On May 9, 1968, the Strike
Force had been directed to reconnoiter an area known as Little Ngok Tavak Hill near
the Laos-Vietnam border, in the Kham Duc Province. Their base came under attack by
North Vietnamese Army troops, and after a 10-hour battle, all of the survivors were
able to withdraw from the area.



Six investigations beginning in 1993 and a series of interviews of
villagers and former Vietnamese soldiers led U.S. recovery teams in 1994, 1997 and
1998 to specific defensive positions within the large battle site. Additionally,
maps provided by American survivors helped to locate some key areas on the
battlefield. Three excavations by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in
1998 and 1999 yielded human remains, personal effects and other material evidence.



JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory
specialists used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify
the remains.



Of the 88,000 Americans missing in action from all conflicts, 1,815 are
from the Vietnam War, with 1,381 of those within the country of Vietnam. Another
768 Americans have been accounted for in Southeast Asia since the end of the war.
Of those, 540 are from within Vietnam.



For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to
account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo