SHUE, DONALD MONROE

Remains ID announced 03/17/2011.

Name: Donald Monroe Shue
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army Special Forces
Unit: SOA, Command & Control North (MACV-SOG), 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 29 August 1949 (Concord NC)
Home City of Record: Kannapolis NC
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
Refno: 1514

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S.
Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published
sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 2020.

Other Personnel in Incident: William Brown; Gunther Wald (both missing); six
Montagnards (two missing, four escaped).

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Donald Shue was born in Concord, North Carolina on August 29,
1949. He entered the Army at Charlotte in June 1967. When he went to
Vietnam, he 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.

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?


Missing in 1969, his remains have been returned to the US and are scheduled to be buried on May 1 in his hometown, Concord, NC.
 
The following web site might not have completely accurate details:
 
http://concord.wbtv.com/news/people/body-soldier-killed-vietnam-41-years-ago-comes-home/60357


Submitted by ES
 
POW/MIA bracelets a lasting tribute to Donnie Shue
Concord Independent Tribune
These bracelets were the brainchild of Carol Bates Brown, who headed Voices in Vital America, the organization that started the initial POW/MIA bracelet ...
 
Shue procession to exceed expectations
Salisbury Post
He met Shue briefly in 1956 and wore a POW/MIA bracelet honoring Shue for years. Others will travel from New Orleans, Florida, Delaware, Maine and all other ...
 
Donnie Shue Comes Home From Vietnam, 42 Years After Death
WFAE.org
Throughout the 1970s, it was common to see people in Concord wearing a metal POW/MIA bracelet with his name. A cherry tree was planted in front of the post ...
 
Green Beret is finally home
Salisbury Post
Rolling Thunder presented the family with folded black POW/MIA flags. ... The MIA bracelet with Shue's name and date missing that he has been wearing all ...
 
http://www.salisburypost.com/Opinion/042911-edit-about-Shue-qcd
Opinion

Column: Shue missing in action no more

Friday, April 29, 2011 12:00 AM

Donald Shue, for many years listed as missing in action in Vietnam, will be laid to rest in Concord this weekend. John C. Owens served with Shue in Vietnam and wrote the piece below for a college class in 1973. He has given the speech many times through the years and had it published in military magazines. “I sent you my story,” Owens says, “only to show you how strong the bond is of all who serve and the families who wait for their return.”

By John C. Owens

Special to the Salisbury Post

Losing a close friend in combat is a traumatic experience that can haunt you forever. For myself, the loss of my friend, Specialist 4 Donald M. Shue, was an experience that became a double haunting........

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

No. 709-12
August 27, 2012
Soldiers Missing From Vietnam War Identified

 

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of three servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, were recently identified and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

Army Sgt. 1st Class William T. Brown of La Habra, Calif., Sgt. 1st Class Donald M. Shue of Kannapolis, N.C., and Sgt. 1st Class Gunther H. Wald of Palisades Park, N.J., will be buried as a group on Aug. 30, in a single casket representing the three soldiers, in Arlington National Cemetery. Brown and Shue were each individually buried on Sept. 26, 2011, at Arlington and May 1 in Kannapolis, N.C.

On Nov. 3, 1969, the menand six Vietnamese soldiers were part of a Special Forces reconnaissance patrol operating in Quang Tri Province, near the Vietnam-Laos border. The patrol was ambushed by enemy forces and all three Americans were wounded. Brown was reported to have suffered a gunshot wound to his side. Due to heavy enemy presence and poor weather conditions, the search-and-rescue team was not able to reach the site until eight days later. At that time, they found military equipment belonging to Shue, but no other signs of the men.

Between 1993 and 2010, joint United States/Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted multiple interviews on nine different occasions in Quang Tri Province. Additionally, the S.R.V. teams unilaterally investigated this case, but were unable to develop new leads. Among those interviewed by the joint teams were former Vietnamese militiamen who claimed in 1969 they ambushed three Americans in the area near the Laos-Vietnam border. In 2007, a Vietnamese citizen led investigators to human remains that he had discovered and buried near the site of the ambush. In 2008, a military identification tag for Brown was turned over to the U.S. Government from a U.S. citizen with ties to Vietnam. Finally, in April 2010, joint teams excavated a hilltop area near Huong Lap Village, recovering additional human remains, military equipment, another military identification tag for Brown, and a "Zippo" lighter bearing the name "Donald M. Shue" and the date "1969."

Scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial and material evidence, along with mitochondrial DNA - which matched that of some of the soldiers' family members - in the identification of the remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, call 703- 699-1169 or visit the DPMO Web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo.
 

08/30/2012

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0830-green-beret-20120830,0,7101921.story?track=rss

The remains of a soldier from La Habra missing since he disappeared in Southeast Asia in 1969 with two other U.S. troops have been officially identified by the Department of Defense.

Army Sgt. 1st Class William T. Brown was part of a Special Forces unit patrolling in Vietnam's Quang Tri province in November 1969 when enemy forces ambushed the group, which consisted of three American soldiers and six Vietnamese soldiers, according to the Defense Department....

The soldiers will be buried in a single casket at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday.

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02/2020

https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000sjax2EAA

SFC DONALD MONROE SHUE

Return to Service Member Profiles

On March 18, 2011, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC, now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant First Class Donald Monroe Shue, missing from the Vietnam War.

Sergeant First Class Shue joined the U.S. Army from North Carolina and was a member of the 5th Special Forces Group. On November 3, 1969, he was a member of a long-range patrol in Saravane Province, Laos, that was ambushed by enemy forces. Sergeant First Class Shue was killed in the incident, and search teams sent to the area failed to locate his remains at the time. In April 2010, a joint U.S. and Laotian investigative team recovered remains thought to be associated with SFC Shue's patrol from a Laotian local. In 2011, forensic analysis identified some of the recovered remains as those of SFC Shue.

Sergeant First Class Shue is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. 

If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.