[agonyea]

Welcome Home its been over 41 years. Thank you for your service and sacrifice from a greatful nation.




Military confirms identity, releases information about soldier killed in Vietnam 41 years ago


Submitted by Chris Dyches

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011, 5:15pm

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.

Previous article: Body of soldier killed in Vietnam 41 years ago to come home

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.

Bergen, NJ. His home of record is Bergen, NJ.


Wald served in the US Army and attained the rank of Sergeant First Class (SFC).

Wald was listed as missing in action on November 3, 1969, when his patrol was ambushed in Laos.

Synopsis (from the POW Network) as to the circumstances behind being listed as MIA:

Gunther entered the US Army in 1967 where he attained the rank of Sergeant First Class. When Gunther entered the Army he had already had four years in service in the US Marine Corps and served in the MACV-SOG, Command and Control North. MACG-SOG (Military Assistance Command Studies and Observation Group) was joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The Fifth Special Forces channeled personnel (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their “cover” while under secret orders to the MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction, which were called, depending on the time of frame, “Shining Brass” or “ Prairie Fire” missions.

It was on such a mission that SSGT Brown, SSGT Gunther Wald, SP4 Donald Shue and two of the six Montagnards went missing. The Americans and Montagnards were members of a patrol operating in Laos. The patrol team was attacked by a numerically superior force 30 miles inside Laos near Ban Chakevy Tai in Saravane Province. Four of the Montagnards escaped and returned to the camp to report the ambush and capture of their comrades

When last seen, Brown had been wounded by a gunshot just below the ribcage. SSGT Wald and SP4 Shue were also seen to receive numerous shrapnel wounds from a fragmentation grenade. The other team members were forced to withdraw leaving the others behind.

Due to bad weather, a recovery team could not reenter the area until November 11. They searched the entire area, but could only find some web gear, which was identified as belonging to three of the indigenous team members and SP4 Shue. There was no trace of any other graves or of the three missing Americans. They were classified as missing in action as of November 3, 1969.

Information provided by POW Network and NJVVMF