This is my cousin, Roger Smith. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and is such a good man. After the war, he remained in the Army Reserves, and was at the Pentagon during the first Gulf War for a short time, and was also a Civil Engineering Professor at A&M for years (now retired). He was featured on KBTX this week.
http://www.kbtx.com/video?vid=413355923
Roger wrote this post on Facebook this week because he had hoped more would be said about it in the news story:
http://www.kbtx.com/video?vid=413355923
Roger wrote this post on Facebook this week because he had hoped more would be said about it in the news story:
Quote:
Family Assistance Officer
After returning from Vietnam in Feb 1971, marrying the love of my life, and completing Engineer Office Advance Course in Ft. Belvoir, VA, I was assigned as the advisor to the US Army Reserve 389th Engineer Battalion in Dubuque, IA. One of my "extra duties" was serving as family assistance officer to the Palen family. Their son, Carl Anthony "Tony" Palen, was an avionics mechanic with the 61st Assault Helicopter Company of the 17th Aviation Group. On 3 Jan 1971, he left Qui Nhon with six others on a U6 "Beaver" in route to Ban Me Thout, where he was to repair a helicopter and return with the crew to Qui Nhon. The plane never arrived in Ban me Thout; all seven men are still listed as Missing in Action (MIA), presumed Killed in Action. I was in the Pleiku area not that far distant at the time this happened.
As the commander of a combat engineer company in Vietnam, I lost men to enemy activity and an equipment accident. I wrote letters to each of their families, and while that will always weigh heavy on me, at least I knew that their remains would be returned to their families.
AS family assistance officer, I accompanied Tony's parents on a couple of briefings from the Department of Defense. I remember one time when his mother asked me questions trying to understand why her son was the one who ended up as an MIA. It made me remember those I had lost, and I remember telling her something like it is true that the "good die first", because we sent those out who we could trust to do a good job when something important needed to be done.
Although there have been occasional pieces of information come that seemed to be related, none of them have ever been fruitful. Tony's father passed away a few years back, but his mother, brothers, and their families are still waiting for a resolution. I am deeply saddened that they still don't know the fate of Tony.
As I have recently become involved with the local Vietnam Veterans of American Chapter and Post 159 of the American Legion, I have talked with others who served, and I think most of us wonder why we returned alive while others returned in caskets and others are still missing. I think most of us agree, that with a few exceptions, there are no answers to those questions. As we reach retirement age, many of us start trying to find ways to serve and honor all veterans and those now serving. I hope serving on the honor guard that provides final military services, mostly grave side services, does that to some small degree.
For anyone who wants to know more about Tony, I suggest that you start first at the Virtual Wall - <http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/39272/CARL-A-PALEN>. A Google search will return more information. For more information on POW/MIA's, I suggest that you start at the National League of Families site, < http://www.pow-miafamilies.org/>, and you might consider becoming an Associate Member.
I have purposely left out the names of Tony's family for their privacy, but they are forever engrained in my mind and prayers.