THE WALL OF FACES

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

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1015-08

15 December 2008

SIX SERVICEMEN FROM VIETNAM WAR ARE IDENTIFIED

The Department of Defense POW / Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the group remains of six U.S. servicemen, missing from the Vietnam War, are soon to be buried with full military honors.

They are

Major BERNARD LUDWIG BUCHER
of Eureka, Illinois

Major JOHN LEE McELROY
of Eminence, Kentucky

1st Lieutenant STEPHEN CRAIG MORELAND
of Los Angeles, California

and

Staff Sergeant FRANK MONROE HEPLER
of Glenside, Pennsylvania

all U.S. Air Force.

These four men were buried as a group on 18 December in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Two other servicemen, who were individually identified in October 2007, are also represented in this group.

They are Captain WARREN ROBERT ORR JR
U.S. Army, of Kewanee, Illinois

and

Airman 1st Class GEORGE WENDELL LONG
U.S. Air Force, of Medicine, Kansas

Representatives from the Air Force and the Army mortuary offices met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Air Force and the secretary of the Army.

On 12 May 1968, these men were on board a C-130 Hercules evacuating Vietnamese citizens from the Kham Duc Special Forces Camp near Da Nang, South Vietnam.

While taking off, the crew reported taking heavy enemy ground fire.

A forward air controller flying in the area reported seeing the plane explode in mid-air soon after leaving the runway.

In 1986 and 1991, U.S. officials received remains and identification tags from sources claiming they belonged to men from this incident.

Scientific analysis revealed they were not American remains, but it was believed the Vietnamese sources knew where the crash site was located.

In 1993, a joint/U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Kham Duc and interviewed four local citizens concerning the incident.

They led the team to the crash site and turned over remains and identification tags they had recovered in 1983 while looking for scrap metal.

During this visit, the team recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage at the site.

In 1994, another joint team excavated the crash site and recovered remains, pieces of life-support equipment, crew-related gear and personal effects.

JPAC scientists used forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence in the identification of the remains.

Photo courtesy of the Peoria Journal Star

"An God said who shall we send.I answered I am here,send me."

Isaiah 6:8

Ar Dheis De Go Raibh A Anam

TWO SERVICEMEN MISSING IN ACTION FROM THE VIETNAM WAR
ARE FINALLY IDENTIFIED AND RETURNED FOR BURIAL


U.S. Department of Defense

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)

IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1180-07

02 October 2007

TWO SERVICEMEN MISSING IN ACTION FROM VIETNAM WAR ARE IDENTIFIED

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

They are Captain WARREN ROBERT ORR JR, U.S. Army,
of Kewanee, Illinois
and
Airman 1st Class GEORGE WENDELL LONG, U.S. Air Force,
of Medicine, Kansas

Long was buried on 30 September in Medicine and Orr's burial is being set by his family.

On 12 May 1968, these men were part of a crew on a C-130 Hercules evacuating Vietnamese citizens from the Kham Duc Special Forces Camp near Da Nang, South Vietnam.

While taking off, the crew reported taking heavy enemy ground fire.

A forward air controller flying in the area reported seeing the plane explode in mid-air soon after leaving the runway.

In 1985 and 1991, U.S. officials received remains and identification tags from sources claiming they belonged to men in this crew.

Scientific analysis revealed they were not American remains, but it was believed the Vietnamese sources knew where the crash site was located.

In 1993, a joint U.S. / Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) team, led by the Joint POW / MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Kham Duc and interviewed four local citizens concerning the incident.

They led the team to the crash site, and turned over remains and identification tags they had recovered in 1983 while looking for scrap metal.

During this visit, the team recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage at the site.

In 1994, another joint team excavated the crash site and recovered remains, pieces of life-support equipment, crew-related gear and personal effects.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

FOREVER REMEMBERED

"If you are able, save for 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....
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...."

Quote from a letter home by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell
KIA 24 March 1970. Distinguished Flying Cross: Shot down and Killed while attempting to rescue 8 fellow soldiers surrounded by attacking enemy forces.

We Nam Brothers pause to give a backward glance, and post this remembrance to you, one of the gentle heroes lost to the War in Vietnam:

Slip off that pack. Set it down by the crooked trail. Drop your steel pot alongside. Shed those magazine-ladened bandoliers away from your sweat-soaked shirt. Lay that silent weapon down and step out of the heat. Feel the soothing cool breeze right down to your soul ... and rest forever in the shade of our love, brother.

From your Nam-Band-Of-Brothers