When I was starting my sophomore year at Irvin High School in El Paso, Texas, I rode the bus with a galby the name of Carolyn Burns. She was a senior and one of the things I learned about her was that herbrother, Michael had served in Viet Nam...and had not come home. This touched me deeply. It isn't untilnow that I can 'honor' our friendship with this page.
Here are the details
Name: Michael Paul Burns
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army Special
Forces
Unit: C & C North, MACV-SOG,
5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 25 April 1947
(Oconto Falls WI)
Home City of Record: El Paso
TX
Date of Loss: 31 July 1969
Country of Loss: Laos
Loss Coordinates: 162700N 1065200E
(YD003191)
Status (in 1973): Missing In
Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel In Incident:
Dennis P. Neal (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: In Vietnam, SP4 Michael
P. Burns and Capt. Dennis P. Neal were
assigned through the 5th Special
Forces to MACV-SOG (Military Assistance
Command, Vietnam Studies and
Observation Group). MACV-SOG was a joint
service high command unconventional
warfare task force engaged in highly
classified operations throughout
Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled
personnel into MACV-SOG (although
it was not a Special Forces group)
through Special Operations Augmentation
(SOA), which provided their "cover"
while under secret orders to
MACV-SOG. The teams performed deep penetration missions
of strategic reconnaissance
and interdiction which were called, depending
on the time frame, "Shining
Brass" or "Prairie Fire" missions.
On July 31, 1969, Capt. Neal
was the team leader on a reconnaissance
mission with a six-man patrol
just inside Laos due west of the South Vietnam
city of Hue. The team had completed
its mission and were awaiting extraction
along with 4 indigenous team
members. It was at this time that one of the
indigenous opened fire on 5
enemy personnel trying to crawl up to their position.
The enemy signalled and the
result was heavy enemy fire, including B40
rocket and machine gun fire.
A B40 rocket hit their position, killing Capt. Neal
and SP4 Burns and two of the
four indigenous. The other two indigenous team
members were slightly wounded.
Neal had been wounded in the chest.
Burns was also severely wounded
in the head by the same B-40 rocket
blast, and was last seen lying
on his back, possibly dead, by Pan and Comen, the
surviving commandos.
When Pan and Comen turned Neal
over to take off one of his emergency UHF
radios prior to retreating because
of wounds and intense fire, forward air
control aircraft heard an emergency
radio transmit, "Help, help, help, for God's
sake, help."
The two commandos were ultimately
extracted, and search teams were later
dispatched to the area, but
no trace was found of Neal and Burns. When
all details were compared, both
from the surviving commandos and the FAC
aircraft, it could not be determined
that Burns and Neal had, in fact, died. The
two were classfied Missing In
Action.
You can learn more about Dennis P Neal .
So what is going on?
It is my goal to find out what
actually happened to Michael and to Dennis.
They served their country.
They never came home.
Why has our country turned its
back on them,
the other almost 2000 still
missing from Viet Nam?
You can help, too.