Posted on 09/06/2004 2:05:02 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Donald Matocha balked when his sister Linda asked him to be godfather to her soon-to-be-born son. He was being ordered to Vietnam with a reconnaissance unit, Matocha warned, and his chances of returning home to Smithville were not good. Unfazed, his sister stuck with her decision. Months later, on April 5, 1968, the young Marine was killed in action.
Thus, Wayne Masur never met his uncle. But even after death, the Marine fulfilled the mentoring obligations of a godfather. The stories family members told made it seem Matocha never had died.
"He was very caring of others," Masur, now 36, said this week. "He always put others ahead of himself. He was an excellent role model."
Masur, a forester with a Louisiana timber company, followed his uncle to Texas A&M University, the Corps of Cadets and, later, the military. He inherited Matocha's Marine Corps saber. On Sept. 18, he will be front and center at Matocha's long-delayed military funeral in Smithville.
After lying in a makeshift grave on a Vietnamese mountain for more than 30 years, 2nd Lt. Matocha is coming home. His funeral will mark the second this month for Texas Aggies who died in Vietnam. Dallas native Carl Edwin Long, killed in December 1969 when his CV-10 aircraft crashed, will be buried Sept. 16 in Arlington National Cemetery. His remains, recovered in July 2003, were identified through an Aggie class ring engraved with his name.
The recovery of the Aggies' bodies are the latest successes in the arduous process of bringing back the remains of military casualties from Vietnam. More than 58,000 Americans died in the conflict, which ended with Saigon's fall in April 1975. The bodies of more than 200 Marines may remain in Southeast Asia, said Hattie Johnson, Marine repatriation program spokeswoman.
"In a way, this will be a very happy occasion," said Danny Masur, a former Air Force pilot who agreed with his wife when she chose Matocha as a godfather. "The only sad thing is that Donald's mother and father didn't live to see this. They were looking forward to the closure."
A man of purpose Another Matocha sister, Loretta Eiben, a sixth-grade math teacher in San Marcos, recalled that by the time her brother left for Vietnam in October 1967, he had established a family reputation for being a young man of serious purpose. At A&M he completed a four-year degree in civil engineering in just 3 1/2 years.
"Donald wasn't hesitant to serve his country," she recalled. "He believed in military commitment. He wanted to be a Marine, and, of course, to follow the command of the president and chief of the United States. ... It was a tremendously emotional time. While Donald was in Vietnam, my husband was in Vietnam. I was glued to the TV any time the Marines or the military were mentioned."
"He wrote letters to my mom and dad and communicated concerns for the welfare and safety of his men," Eiben said.
Dreaded knock at the door On April 11, 1968, a Good Friday and the eve of the first birthday of Eiben's infant son, a Marine casualty officer knocked on the front door of the Matocha home. Matocha had been killed in an ambush as his unit attempted to assault a heavily defended ammunition bunker, the family was told. "They were under constant, very heavy fire," Eiben said. "They were vastly outnumbered."
"It affected the family traumatically," she continued. "We had no remains to bury. We were told a week later that another Marine had been killed trying to recover the body. My mother asked that no more attempts be made. She felt for the other Marines."
Several days later, the bunker was pulverized by a U.S. air attack. Unbeknown to the U.S. military or Matocha's family, a group of Vietnamese soldiers found Matocha's body and buried it in a bomb crater.
In 1996, one of the former soldiers told Vietnamese officials of the burial, and a search for Matocha's remains began. Two unsuccessful attempts were made, and the search was put on hold in 1999.
Family's 'faith renewed' At the family's request, a final and successful search was begun in early 2003.
"We felt there really was some hope after the case was reopened," Eiben said. "Our faith was renewed. We were just holding on, hoping that some day they would find our brother's remains."
When the body was found and positively identified, Eiben recalled, "We were overjoyed. We were saddened."
On Sept. 15, Eiben's son, Marine Maj. Stacy Eiben, will serve as military escort as Matocha's remains are flown from Hawaii to Texas.
"We really hadn't anticipated all of this being such a public event," Danny Masur said. "We had viewed it as pretty much a private deal. But, you know, I think Donald would have approved of what's happening. My feeling is that Donald, in his own way is still serving his country."
allan.turner@chron.com
soldier isn't a formal title, lady.
Respect the intent of this thread. Knock off the pi**ing contest.
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