Remains of four Americans returned from Vietnam

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N25492331.htm

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The remains of four U.S. servicemen killed in the Vietnam War 38 years ago have been identified and returned to the United States for burial, the Pentagon said on Monday.

They were named as Marine 2nd Lt. Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. of Pearl River, N.Y.; Marine Sgt. James Tycz of Milwaukee, Wis.; Marine Lance Cpl. Samuel Sharp Jr. of San Jose, Calif., and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Malcolm Miller of Tampa.

Ahlmeyer, Tycz, and Miller will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on May 10. Sharp was buried Saturday in San Jose and will be honored at the Arlington ceremony. snip

There are still 1,835 U.S. troops missing from the Vietnam War and 748 Americans have been accounted for.

more

[Worst Username Ever]

1. RIP, heros.

[MaineDem]

2. RIP, gentlemen

I'm waiting for the remains of the USAF Lt whose name I wear on my bracelet to be found.

I'm so pleased that their families now have the remains to bury and a gravesite to honor.

[UpInArms]

3. Vietnam was supposed to be the last

and every day I see more of the damage it caused.

Presently, we are engaged in the same type of destruction - lives, futures and so many refuse to see.

:cry:

[BOSSHOG]

4. They would be grandfathers now

spoiling the grandkids in their backyard. Planting the garden, aggravating their wives; hanging out at the barbershop.

[Pinboy]

5. RIP

Thanks for posting this, Don.

[MaineDem]

6. A Note from The Virtual Wall

Although formally assigned to H&S Company, 3rd Recon Battalion, Petty Officer Miller was with A Company on 9 May 1967, when seven members of "A" Company were assigned a reconnaissance patrol ("Recon Team Breaker") with the mission of gathering intelligence information on suspected enemy infiltration routes near Khe Sanh. Although platoon commander 2nd Lt Heinz Ahlmeyer was among the seven, RT Breaker actually was led by Sergeant James N. Tycz. The team consisted of

* 2nd Lt Heinz Ahlmeyer, platoon commander, Alpha 3rd Recon
* Sgt James N. Tycz, platoon sergeant and team leader
* LCpl Samuel A. Sharp, assistant team leader
* HM3 Malcolm T. Miller, Corpsman
* LCpl Clarence R. Carlson
* Pfc Carl Friery
* Pfc Steven Lopez

RT Breaker was air-lifted onto a ridgeline just south of the DMZ and overlooking a known infiltration route from Laos. As the team began to move they encountered a number of well-constructed but unmanned enemy bunkers, finds reported by radio to the mission monitor at Khe Sanh. The patrol was directed to leave the area and establish a night defensive position on high ground, which they did.

Shortly after midnight an NVA force of 30 to 50 men literally tripped over the Marines, forcing an engagement. Within a short time, four Marines were dead, one was wounded and unconscious, and two were wounded but functional. Pfc Lopez, an 18-year-old on his third recon patrol, took over the task of radio operator and artillery observer, calling in supporting fires. Several attempts were made during the night to extract the patrol, but enemy gunfire was so heavy that helicopters could not land (one, CH-46A BuNo 151923, made it to a 20-foot hover, where it was riddled with 23 hits, killing the pilot and wounding all other crewmen). At sunrise, fixed wing air was brought in and additional attempts were made to get a helicopter into the defensive position. Finally, toward noon, a UH-1 from VMO-3 was able to sneak in while other rotary and fixed wing aircraft suppressed the enemy. While the UH-1 was able to pick up the three surviving team members, it was not possible to retrieve the bodies of those who had died:

* 2nd Lt Heinz Ahlmeyer, Pearl River, NY
* Sgt James N. Tycz, Milwaukee, WI (Navy Cross)
* LCpl Samuel A. Sharp, San Jose, CA
* HM3 Malcolm T. Miller, Tampa, FL

In addition to Sergeant Tycz' Navy Cross, three men were awarded the Silver Star:

* Captain Paul T. Looney, HMM-164, pilot, CH-46A BuNo 151923, posthumous
* Major Charles A. Reynolds, VMO-3
* LCpl Clarence A. Carlson

The commanding officer of Alpha 3rd Recon, Captain Albert B. Crosby, was interviewed on 13 May 1967; a tape of the interview is available on the Internet. Although Joint Task Force personnel have surveyed the location, finding fragments of American equipment, the bodies of the four men have not yet been recovered.

Note:
The remains of the four men from RT BREAKER were repatriated on 27 May 2003. Identification of the remains was announced on 24 Feb 2005.

[blm]

7. Peace to their families. And when the freeper right attacks us on Vietnam

remind them that John Kerry negotiated the normalization of relations with Vietnam especially so that the remains of our missing military men could be recovered.

[Moderator]

8. kick to combine

[paineinthearse]

9. 4 Vietnam War Missing in Action Servicemen Identified

U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release


On the Web:
http://www.dod.gov/releases/2005/nr20050425-2804.html
Media contact: [phone] Public contact:
http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html
or [phone]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No. 398-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 25, 2005

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vietnam War Missing in Action Servicemen Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

They are Marine 2nd Lt. Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. of Pearl River, N.Y.; Marine Sgt. James N. Tycz of Milwaukee, Wis.; Marine Lance Cpl. Samuel A. Sharp Jr. of San Jose, Calif.; and Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Malcolm T. Miller of Tampa, Fla. Ahlmeyer, Tycz, and Miller will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on May 10. Sharp was buried Saturday in San Jose and will be honored at the Arlington ceremony.

The four men were part of a reconnaissance patrol operating near the U.S. Marine base in Khe Sanh, Quang Tri Province, South Vietnam. They came under enemy attack shortly after midnight on May 10, 1967, while occupying a defensive position. During the firefight Ahlmeyer, Tycz, Sharp and Miller were killed. The patrol’s surviving members were rescued by helicopter later that morning but the bodies of the four men could not be recovered.

In the fall of 1991 several Vietnamese citizens visited the U.S. POW/MIA office in Hanoi claiming to have access to the remains of U.S. servicemen. One of the men provided skeletal and teeth fragments.

Between 1993 and 2004, eight joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) interviewed witnesses and surveyed the skirmish area. Two other joint teams conducted excavations during which material evidence and remains were recovered. After extensive analysis, scientists from JPAC identified Ahlmeyer, Tycz, Sharp and Miller.

Of the 88,000 Americans missing in action from all conflicts, 1,835 are from the Vietnam War, with 1,398 of those within the country of Vietnam. Another 748 Americans have been accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War.

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 or call [phone].

[TahitiNut]

10. Welcome home, guys.

:cry:

[OzarkDem]

11. Great guys

Ahlmeyer was a graduate of SUNY and a intercollegiate soccer player

http://www.virtualwall.org/da/AhlmeyerHx01a.htm

Tycz earned a Silver Star that day

For extraordinary heroism while serving with the First Platoon, Company A, Third Reconnaissance Battalion, near Khe Sanh in the Republic of Vietnam on 9 May 1967. Sergeant Tycz was the patrol leader of a seven-man reconnaissance patrol deep in enemy-controlled territory. Shortly after midnight a North Vietnamese Army unit, estimated to be about 30-50 men, was heard moving toward the patrol's position. Sergeant Tycz cautioned his men to remain silent so as not to be detected; however, several of the enemy troops walked into the patrol's position and started to unsling their weapons after sighting the patrol. One of the Marines quickly took two of the enemy under fire, killing them instantly. Alerted to their location, the enemy immediately began delivering a heavy volume of small-arms fire into the patrol's perimeter. One patrol member was killed instantly and another was wounded. Sergeant Tycz quickly deployed the remainder of his patrol and fearlessly moved among his men directing their fire and shouting words of encouragement despite the heavy volume of enemy fire being poured into his perimeter. Within a few minutes the assistant patrol leader was seriously wounded, as was the corpsman attached to the patrol and the second radio operator. Sergeant Tycz moved to a radio and began calling in artillery fire on the enemy positions. When an armed enemy hand grenade landed near one of the seriously wounded Marines, Sergeant Tycz courageously and with complete disregard for his own personal safety moved forward, picked up the grenade and attempted to throw it back at the enemy. The grenade exploded after traveling only a short distance, and he fell, critically wounded. Throughout the encounter, Sergeant Tycz set an example of calmness and coolness under fire that was an inspiration to the remainder of his patrol. By his unselfish act of courage, he risked his life to save his comrades from injury and possible loss of life and thereby upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service.

Note from his family:

We call him Neil. This is how the three Tycz boys were called, by our middle names. After 38 years Neil is coming home, home to the United States, the country he loved, fought for, and died for. On May 10th 2005 he will find his resting place among his fellow countrymen in a place of honor, Arlington National Cemetery. This, on the 38th anniversary of his death.

Neil may have left this world 38 years ago, but he surely has not left our hearts and our thoughts. Friends and family, some who barely remember him and others who weren't even born when he was killed will be in Arlington to welcome him home. While only four of eight siblings are alive to pay homage on his special day, the number planning to attend has swollen to 48! Could we be more proud?

Sergeant James Neil Tycz will be looking down and smiling with his impish grin at the multitude gathered to pay their respects for a job well done.

Neil, we all love you and miss you.

From his brother,
Phillip Dale Tycz



http://www.virtualwall.org/dt/TyczJN01a.htm

[Pinboy]

21. And many, many more of us will be with them in spirit...

Welcome home, brothers!

If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

--Major Michael Davis O’Donnell
Written 3 months before his death
Killed in Action, Vietnam 3/24/70

[LittleClarkie]

12. Is this a direct result of opening of relations with Vietnam

and the work done by McCain and Kerry to accomplish that. You know, the work that many POW/MIA families hate both McCain and Kerry for, even though I don't think this kind of discovery and identification would be happening without it.

Or am I off the mark.

[ngGale]

14. Nope, you are right on the mark about McCain & Kerry...

Took a long time but welcome home. The families must be so relieved after all this time. Now, they can rest and get a good night's sleep.
At least their door has been closed, no more doubt.:patriot:

[Pinboy]

17. You're dead on again, LittleClarkie! n/t

ed.: typo

[Kerrytravelers]

13. Vietnam, the war that our chimp in office supported but got out of .

It makes my father, a Vietnam Vet, pissed.

[Pinboy]

18. From a fellow Kerry Traveler...

(I drove from CA to OH to work the final 6 weeks of the campaign in Columbus, Franklin County.)

Tell your dad "Welcome home!" from another Vietnam vet angry about having a Prez and CiC who hugs a firefighter to be a hero by association, while trashing a real hero.

Here's an excerpt of what I wrote to applaud Dan Rather and CBS' "60 Minutes" for pursuing the B*sh TANG story:

"I knew more than 60 guys who were killed in Vietnam, including a couple of roommates from Army training (one of whom was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously after serving what some might call a "mere" three months in combat).

"The show triggered old feelings of loss and grief . . . and then, anger.

"That the sons of privilege, the elite, the wealthy, the powerful, the connected were able to avoid service and send others in their place to risk their lives and to die fills me with outrage. That one of these "fortunate" sons has gone on to become a self-proclaimed "war President" who is attempting to win re-election by lying about his own record while smearing the honorable and valorous combat service of his opponent offends my sense of justice.

President Bush has led a life of privilege, "entitled" to be above the rules, while a lot of the friends I had never had the chance to live life at all."

[Kerrytravelers]

31. I always wonder what man was sent in *'s place and if he died.

I don't think I ever want to know the answer to that question.

[Charon]

25. The war

The war that President's Kennedy and Johnson started.

[MADem]

15. Rest in peace. The accounting continues.

I'm feeling sadness and irony, both at the same time.

I'm guessing this will be yet another funeral that the chimp skips. He really doesn't dare turn up at this one, even though it is right down the road from the people's house that he occupies.

[Pinboy]

22. And in the People's Cemetery...

where I have many friends.

This conjures news from Iraq (KIA, 1573, WMD, 0). Why am I feeling a sense of deja vu?

[The_Casual_Observer]

16. They didn't find them alive?

That stupid black MIA flag would indicate that those guys are still being held as prisoners of war or something.

[Chango]

19. Welcome home, brothers.....

"Who wants to be the last man to die for a mistake?"

- John F. Kerry

[Pinboy]

20. Welcome home...

And a couple more quotes:

“We are also here to ask, and we are here to ask vehemently, where are the leaders of our country? Where is the leadership? We are here to ask where are McNamara, Rostow, Bundy, Gilpatric and so many others. Where are they now that we, the men whom they sent off to war, have returned? These are commanders who have deserted their troops, and there is no more serious crime in the law of war. The Army says they never leave their wounded.

“The Marines say they never leave even their dead, These men have left all the casualties and retreated behind a pious shield of public rectitude. They have left the real stuff of their reputations bleaching behind them in the sun in this country.”

And:


"Finally, this administration has done us the ultimate dishonor. They have attempted to disown us and the sacrifice we made for this country. In their blindness and fear they have tried to deny that we are veterans or that we served in Nam. We do not need their testimony. Our own scars and stumps of limbs are witnesses enough for others and for ourselves.

"We wish that a merciful God could wipe away our own memories of that service as easily as this administration has wiped their memories of us. But all that they have done and all that they can do by this denial is to make more clear than ever our own determination to undertake one last mission, to search out and destroy the last vestige of this barbaric war, to pacify our own hearts, to conquer the hate and the fear that have driven this country these last 10 years and more, and so when, in 30 years from now, our brothers go down the street without a leg, without an arm, or a face, and small boys ask why, we will be able to say "Vietnam" and not mean a desert, not a filthy obscene memory but mean instead the place where America finally turned and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning."

--John F. Kerry
Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, 1971

[Pinboy]

23. One kick,,,Lest we forget...

[Pinboy]

24. Kick again. Does nobody care?

[Pinboy]

26. Kick

[Moderator]

27. kick to combine

[malmapus]

28. Remains of U.S. troops returned from Vietnam

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/04/26/remains.returned.ap/index.html">Remains of U.S. troops returned from Vietnam

TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- The remains of a Navy medic and three Marines killed in a Vietnamese firefight nearly four decades ago have been identified and returned to the United States for funerals.

Navy medic Malcolm "Mac" Miller, who was killed less than a month into his second tour in Vietnam, and two other team members will be buried next month at Arlington National Cemetery, the Pentagon announced Monday.

The funeral date -- May 10 -- marks the 38th anniversary of their deaths.

"Without having his remains actually here, there's always been that mystery of 'Is he still alive?"' said Miller's niece Dana Fisher, of Madison, Georgia. "This is a new beginning, because we know we can kind of go on with our lives and know that he's here and he has a home."


-----------------------------------

I remember a post before about the POW / MIA flag. Although I don't believe there are any POWs in Vietnam, this is what that flag stands for.

Welcome home guys, rest in peace...

[DearAbby]

29. Thank you, Welcome home, and Rest in Peace

[myrna minx]

30. May you finally have peace,heros.

And may your brothers and sisters who are still missing, may they return home soon.

[Adelante]

32. Thanks to Kerry and McCain

RIP troops.