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

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.