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As I think of all the times
My life has gone astray
And all the times I've hurt so bad
I couldn't find my way
I wonder how I came this far...
It seems so distant now
That forgotten place from where I came
The Questions all ask: How?
How did the righteous dreams I've dreamt
Shrink back beyond my sight?
Reality and Truth appeared
In morning's cold, clear light.
And how did all the hopes get lost
All along the way?
Where did they go? Where are they gone?
Can anybody say?
I think somewhere within myself
The hidden answer lies.
I'll seek to find its True Reflection
Within Another's Eyes
Copyright © 1996, 1997
Rod L. Hinsch and Anne M. Cox Publications...
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Mr. President & Congress:
Bring Him Home... He is NOT Forgotten
Name: William Theodore Brown. Rank/Branch: E6/US Army Special Forces Unit: SOA, Command & Control North, (MACV-SOG), 5th Special Forces Group. Date of Birth: 20 February 1945 (Chicago IL). Home City of Record: La Habra CA. Date of Loss: 03 November 1969. Country of Loss: Laos. Loss Coordinates: 154800N 1064700E (XD643674).
Status (in 1973): Missing In Action. Category: 2. Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground. Other Personnel in Incident: Gunther H. Wald; Donald M. Shue (both missing); six Montangards (two missing, four escaped).
SYNOPSIS: Bill Brown was born in Chicago, Illinois February 20, 1945, the youngest of three boys. When Bill was two, his family moved to California, where they remained, and where he attended Cerritos College. Bill was an excellent swimmer and golfer.
In September 1965, Bill joined the Army and earned his Beret and paratrooper badge. He was sent to Vietnam on December 14, 1967. He is a demolitions expert and fluent in the Vietnamese language. In Vietnam, he helped train Montagnard tribesmen, and was so drawn to them that he reenlisted after his tour and returned to Vietnam in May 1969.
On his second tour, Bill was attached to MACV-SOG, Command and Control North. MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group) was a joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channelled personnel into MACV-SOG (though 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.
It was on such a mission that SSgt. Brown, SSgt. Gunther Wald, SP4 Donald Shue and two of the six Montagnards went missing. The Americans and Montagnards were members of a patrol operating in Laos. The patrol team was attacked by a numerically superior force 30 miles inside Laos near Ban Chakevy Tai in Saravane Province. Four of the Montangards escaped and returned to camp to report the ambush and capture of their comrades.
When last seen, Brown had been wounded by a gunshot just below the rib cage. He was lying on the ground as the attackers shouted, "Capture the Americans." SSgt. Wald and SP4 Shue were also seen to receive numerous schrapnel wounds from a fragmentation grenade. The other team members were forced to withdraw leaving the others behind.
Due to bad weather, a recovery team could not reenter the area until November 11. They searched the entire area, but could only find some web gear which was identified as belonging to three of the indigenous team members and SP4 Shue. There was no trace of any graves, or of the three missing Americans. They were classified as Missing In Action.
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[ Out of Courage ~ William Theodore Brown ~ Talk'n' About My Guy ]
The U.S. did not negotiate for the release of any of the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos. No American serviceman held in Laos has been released.
Tragically, the U.S. has received over 6000 reports indicating that many Americans are still held prisoner today. Many men were seriously wounded and survived captivity. No one saw Brown, Shue or Wald die. They could be among the hundreds many authorities believe to be alive today. If so, what must they be thinking of us?
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to keep pushing this issue inside the Beltway... The need to get specific answers is more important now than ever before. If still alive, some MIAs are now in their 70s... They don't have much time left. We have to demand the answers from the bureaucrats and keep standing on their necks (figuratively speaking) until they get the message that THEY work for US and that we are serious about getting these long overdue responses. Diplomatic considerations aside...
We can no longer allow questionable protocols established by pseudo-aristocratic armchair strategists, to determine or influence the fate of the men who were in the trenches while the diplomats were sharing sherry and canapes and talking about "Their Plans" for the future of SE Asia....Gunny 
Bring Our Heroes Home Mr. President & Congress
Anne M. Cox
Adopt a POW/MIABackground by Bimsan's Web Graphics Patriotic Graphics by Ron Fleischer
Write To Heal
May 24, 1997
Anne, You have some great pages
but you out did yourselves on your MIA Page.
It's perfect and doesn't need anything.
Please accept this small token of my gratitude
and keep up the good work.
Gunny -- George M. "Gunny" Fallon
Thank you for caring about America's Missing Servicemen.
"A Man is not dead until he is forgotten!"
Adopt a POW/MIA
Operation Just Cause
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May 26, 1997 -
E-mail: Anne M. Cox
~ Out of Courage ~
~ Talk'n' About My Guy ~
This page created and launched: May 23, 1997
Worth
by
Sgt. Rod L. Hinsch
Vietnam/Cambodia 67-69
5th Special Forces GP OMEGA B-50
U.S. Army MACVSOG 34
Rod L. Hinsch and Anne M. Cox Publications...
Write To Heal
The year was 1968. The
war wasn't going well and my base located near the Cambodian border had
taken many casualties. I had started thinking about the statements I had
read in the U.S. newspapers -- about the soldiers who were fighting in
Vietnam were wrong, that the U.S. shouldn't be involved in a war against
communism in a foreign country, even though that country asked for our
help in a fight for survival, with enemy forces aided by numerous other
communist countries.
The questions being asked began to spark a question
inside me: Was what we were risking our lives for, what we were fighting
for, really worth the price; after all, the people making the case against
our aid to the South Vietnamese government were very reputable and intelligent.
I, on the other hand, was only a twenty-two-year-old soldier. Could they
be right? Maybe they knew something I didn't.
Well I didn't get much time to consider any of
these possibilities. Our forward base camp had come under fire, and I
was sent as part of a reinforcement/rescue team.
The battle for the camp raged for a day-and-a-half,
after which we cared for our wounded. Among those I gave medical attention
to was a young sergeant. I could see his wounds were critical, and, as
I applied bandages, he regained consciousness, looked up and asked if
he was going to be okay. I lied and told him that he was going to be just
fine.
Maybe it was something in my eyes, or my voice,
or maybe he just knew, but he grabbed my sleeve, looked straight into
my eyes and told me that if things didn't work out and he didn't live,
he would like someone to tell his parents that no matter what fate had
brought his way, he would always believe his decision to fight for the
freedom of the Vietnamese people was worth any cost or sacrifice he may
have to make.
Sadly, a few hours later, he died. I kept my word
to him. I wrote his parents and told them what little I knew about him,
along with his last message to them.
The letter I received as a response from his parents
was, for me, a source of inspiration, for which I will be grateful the
rest of my life: As I read the letter, I began to realize how privileged
I was to have known this soldier, even for a little while.
It seems that quite early in his short life he
had recognized and appreciated just how lucky he was to be an American.
He wanted the freedoms, rights, privileges and opportunities this country
offered to always be available -- preserved and protected for generations
of yet unborn Americans.
He, quite correctly, recognized these freedoms
-- we all take mostly for granted -- had a price, and sometimes a very
high price.
Freedom, it should be remembered, isn't free!
When he became old enough, he volunteered for
military service in the U.S. Army, and, when an opportunity arose, he
applied for the duty in the elite Special Forces. He was accepted and,
after training, he proudly accepted a Vietnam assignment, hoping that
his efforts could help make a difference.
In the end, however, world opinion and history
would be left to coldly decide whether the many sacrifices made by brave
men and women were "worth it."
However, we, as individual Americans can and should
make this decision for ourselves and from our hearts. If we, each one
of us, would do this, I think our answers would surprise us, as it did
me. I know now that any sacrifices, large or small, I make or have made
for my country are "worth" it and will always be "worth"
it.
Questions
by
Sgt. Rod L. Hinsch
Vietnam/Cambodia 67-69
5th Special Forces GP OMEGA B-50
U.S. Army MACVSOG 34
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