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Posted on 09/27/2004 3:21:43 PM PDT by Conservababe
Waller was an airman, not a soldier.
Same thing here.
How does one go MIA and then KIA within five years?
Would that mean that some information came back in 1978 to have him reclassified? I used to know this, but the Scott Spiecher situation has called off all bets for POW/MIA knowledge on my part.
Died while missing?
Is this mean what I think it means?
That he died while POW?
It seems his family put his real age of death in the obit, and not when he was declared dead by the military.
Nam will never be finally over for families such as this, but why do we have to have Kerry reminding them that he called their sons baby killers? And no, it was not just in 1971. He still does.
Kerry, the Viet Nam hero and traitor at the same time. Guess I'll never understand.
Now, I am curious too about the "died while missing". Know any vets to ping to explain this? I could understand if his remains were found in 1978, but they were not found until 2003.
We owe it to this man (RIP) and all the others like him to make sure Kerry goes down in November.
He and all his brethren did not die just so Mr. Kerry could make our troops wear blue beanies.
Can either of you guys help us out with this question?
That makes sense. If he was MIA, he would have continued to be promoted on time, until eligible for retirement or remains were located.
My real question is why was he declared dead in 1978 after being declared MIA in 1966. Does this mean that our government just got more information as to the situation? His remains were not discovered until 2003.
Can you help with this "died while missing" part?
Careful, they attract bungi jumpers.
It's an obituary. The reporter was probably just using what the family or funeral home provided.
Family recovers soldier's remains from Vietnam War
Sept 29, 2004
By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian
Diane Buescher of Jackson was only 9 years old when her brother, Morris Waller, died in Vietnam. Her big brother was 22 years old when he died on Feb. 3, 1966. Thirteen years separated the two siblings.
And after his death, so did half a continent and the Pacific Ocean.
Finally, thanks to an ongoing national effort to recover the remains of U.S. soldiers who were killed in battle, Buescher's brother is coming home. Thirty-eight years later.
Waller will be buried Saturday at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield with full military rites.
The ceremony will be the first memorial for Waller. His family grieved plenty, but never had a service.
"There was no body," said Delphine, Waller's mother. "I didn't have a body. I didn't have anything. We were just waiting for this."
Buescher, who lives in Jackson and works in a pharmacy in Cape Girardeau, reaches back into her memory, trying to recall the sights and sounds of 38 years ago when the family lived in Portageville, Mo.
She remembers snooping into his bedroom when she wasn't supposed to, even after he put a lock high on the door where she couldn't reach.
She remembers the men in Air Force uniforms coming home to deliver the bad news. She remembers the grief but not much else.
But other people remember her brother, and that gives Buescher comfort.
Thirty of Waller's high school friends have called the family, and said they are going to attend the service, Delphine Waller said. Thirty is a lot considering Waller's graduating class consisted of about 55 seniors. They're coming from as far away as Arizona, Texas and Kansas City.
"You would've thought people would have forgotten by now," Buescher said. "It's very touching."
Morris' parents remember their son as a well-liked and well-behaved boy who played football and ran track.
He also was a good mechanic, and his skills served him well in the Air Force.
Chief Master Sgt. Waller was assigned to the 311th Air Command Squadron. He was the crew chief, carrying out a supply mission when his plane crashed into the jungle.
Delphine Waller has said her son is the first thing she thinks about when she wakes up and the last thing she thinks about when she goes to sleep at night.
And, in a different way, the same can be said for the 600 men and women who work daily to bring bodies back home.
Larry Greer, a spokesman for the POW/MIA office in the Pentagon, said a heartfelt passion goes into recovering the lost soldiers. The POW/MIA office is still looking for the remains of 1,849 Vietnam soldiers. So far, they've found 734.
"It's a mission," Greer said. "It's a special commitment with everyone I know. Some of those who do it do so dangling from helicopters, dangling from cliffs, dealing with poisonous vipers in the jungle. Virtually all of us who do this work are in the military or were in the military. We know what it's like for our families to be anxious."
Eighty percent of the bodies are identified through DNA. That was the case with Waller.
His discovery was comforting to the family, Buescher said.
"It's nice to have him home and it's nice to know that he wasn't captured and tortured," she said. "That was our biggest fear growing up."
Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the John W. German Funeral Home in Hayti.
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