Flags at Half Staff for Palisades Park Soldier Missing since November 3, 1969

A President who promised to end the war, a nation bitterly divided and young Americans dying overseas in a war that some thought would never end. This was our country in 1969.

Today we fly our flags at half-staff for Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald of Palisades Park, N.J. We honor Wald, 25, a radio operator and Special Forces soldier who went missing on November 3, 1969. He and two other soldiers -- Sgt. 1st Class William Brown of La Habra, Calif. (Team Leader) and Sgt. 1st Class Donald M. Shue of Kannapolis, N.C. -- were on a reconnaissance mission near Quang Tri Province in North Central Vietnam near the Laos border. This was a strategic area and a principle battleground during the Tet Offensive, The Battle of Khe Sanh (1968) and The First and Second Battles of Quang Tri (1972).  

It is believed the men were part of an unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations. The team was patrolling 30 miles west of the South Vietnamese, Laos border in isolated, deep, rugged mountains and jungle when they were ambushed by a larger, numerically superior communist force. Brown was hit by automatic weapons fire and Wald and Shue took grenade fragments. They were last seen lying wounded on the ground, left behind by the Montagnard (People from the Mountains) survivors in the patrol. 

The weather took a turn for the worse and a search and rescue team could not get to the site until November 11. When reaching the site the search team found no personal gear or bodies and the men were listed as Missing In Action.  

In 2007, a Vietnamese citizen led investigators to a site near the ambush area where human remains had been buried. In 2008 an ID tag for Sgt. 1st Class Brown was found. In 2010, the site was excavated and additional personal effects were found including a zippo lighter bearing the name Donald M. Shue, 1969. Through advances in DNA the remains have been conclusively identified.

Sgt 1st Class William T. Brown, 24, was accounted for May 19, 2011, Sgt. 1st Class Donald M. Shue, 20, was accounted for March 18, 2011 and Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald, 25, was accounted for May 30, 2012.  

All 3 Heroes will be buried today as a group in a single casket with full Military Honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald was a career soldier. Prior to entering the U.S. Army in 1967 he had spent 4 years in the United States Marine Corps. He was most likely involved in top secret interdictions known as "Shining Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.

Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald is a Great American and a True Patriot.

Lest We Forget