The long uncertainty has come to a close for a dozen families.
When Army Sgt. Glenn E. Miller was listed as missing in action after a fierce gun battle in Vietnam in May 1968, his girlfriend figured he had been killed – even though there was never any proof.
Thirty-seven years later, the remains of Miller, a Green Beret, and the 11 Marines who died alongside him have been identified and returned to the United States. It’s the largest group of MIAs identified from the Vietnam War, the Defense Department said Tuesday. There are still 1,815 other MIAs from the war.
All the men’s families have met with representatives of the Marines and Army, said Larry Greer, a spokesman for the Pentagon’s missing personnel office. Five of the soldiers will be buried by their families; the others will be buried as a group in Arlington National Cemetery in October.
[…]
The soldiers were killed May 9, 1968, during a 10-hour battle on a football field-sized area along the Laotian border in South Vietnam, Greer said. They were part of an artillery platoon airlifted in to support a unit that was at risk of an attack from nearby North Vietnamese forces.
Go read for the names of all recovered and the reactions of those who have been waiting for so many years. I can certainly understand the families who have decided to privately bury their returned loved ones, but I also find it especially fitting that seven of the twelve will be interred with the comrades they have been sharing ground with since I was a newborn.
Thank you, gentlemen, for your shared sacrifices. Rest well, at home at last.