thedrifter
04-26-05, 06:56 AM
Remains of Tampa sailor, 3 Marines killed in Vietnam sent home
Associated Press
Posted April 26 2005, 6:36 AM EDT
TAMPA -- The remains of a Tampa native 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 laid to rest May 10 at Arlington National Cemetery on the 38th anniversary of their deaths, the Pentagon announced Monday.
Miller, 20, was attached to a Marine reconnaissance unit near Khe Sanh in 1967 when the squad on night patrol found an empty Viet Cong bunker on top of a hill and waited for the enemy to return, said Miller's brother Wes, who has reviewed reports of the firefight.
The families of the Americans reported missing after the firefight with dozens of Viet Cong were told they were dead but their bodies could not be recovered because of heavy fire.
Three surviving Marines were rescued by helicopter. A helicopter pilot, Capt. Paul T. Looney, was shot to death while hovering 20 feet above ground and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Survivors reported Miller was firing at the enemy when he was killed by a Viet Cong grenade.
The battleground has been surveyed by several joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams since Vietnamese citizens offered the first evidence of the remains to U.S. officials in 1991, and two excavation teams found the remains. The four families were told earlier this year that the remains had been identified and would be returned.
The last time they met, Mac Miller told his brother that he knew the casualty rate for Navy medics attached to Marine squads was high _ nearly 95 percent. The sailor said Viet Cong soldiers targeted radio operators first, then medics and platoon commanders.
``Without having his remains actually here, there's always been that mystery of 'Is he still alive?''' said his niece Dana Fisher, 32, of Madison, Ga. ``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.''
The remains have been identified for Miller, Marine 2nd Lt. Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. of Pearl River, N.Y., Marine Sgt. James N. Tycz of Milwaukee, and Marine Lance Cpl. Samuel A. Sharp Jr. of San Jose, Calif., the Pentagon's POW-Missing Personnel Office said. Sharp was buried Saturday in San Jose.
A total of 748 Americans listed as missing in Vietnam have been accounted for since the end of the war.
Ellie
Welcome Home!
May They Rest In Peace
Associated Press
Posted April 26 2005, 6:36 AM EDT
TAMPA -- The remains of a Tampa native 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 laid to rest May 10 at Arlington National Cemetery on the 38th anniversary of their deaths, the Pentagon announced Monday.
Miller, 20, was attached to a Marine reconnaissance unit near Khe Sanh in 1967 when the squad on night patrol found an empty Viet Cong bunker on top of a hill and waited for the enemy to return, said Miller's brother Wes, who has reviewed reports of the firefight.
The families of the Americans reported missing after the firefight with dozens of Viet Cong were told they were dead but their bodies could not be recovered because of heavy fire.
Three surviving Marines were rescued by helicopter. A helicopter pilot, Capt. Paul T. Looney, was shot to death while hovering 20 feet above ground and was posthumously awarded the Silver Star. Survivors reported Miller was firing at the enemy when he was killed by a Viet Cong grenade.
The battleground has been surveyed by several joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams since Vietnamese citizens offered the first evidence of the remains to U.S. officials in 1991, and two excavation teams found the remains. The four families were told earlier this year that the remains had been identified and would be returned.
The last time they met, Mac Miller told his brother that he knew the casualty rate for Navy medics attached to Marine squads was high _ nearly 95 percent. The sailor said Viet Cong soldiers targeted radio operators first, then medics and platoon commanders.
``Without having his remains actually here, there's always been that mystery of 'Is he still alive?''' said his niece Dana Fisher, 32, of Madison, Ga. ``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.''
The remains have been identified for Miller, Marine 2nd Lt. Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr. of Pearl River, N.Y., Marine Sgt. James N. Tycz of Milwaukee, and Marine Lance Cpl. Samuel A. Sharp Jr. of San Jose, Calif., the Pentagon's POW-Missing Personnel Office said. Sharp was buried Saturday in San Jose.
A total of 748 Americans listed as missing in Vietnam have been accounted for since the end of the war.
Ellie
Welcome Home!
May They Rest In Peace