Finally home
From Brian Todd
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Irene Healea always knew what happened to her brother, but had no finality. On an idyllic morning at Arlington National Cemetery, she got it.
"My brother was a great guy. He was a hero," Healea says.
Healea and members of three other families waited 38 years to the day for this moment.
It's been that long since her brother, Marine Lt. Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr., landed on one of those un-takable hills in Vietnam.
On May 10, 1967, Ahlmeyer and six others moved onto a ridgeline near the Laotian border. Recon team "Breaker," as they were called, was ordered to gather intelligence on enemy infiltration routes.
Ahlmeyer had been in the country only about two weeks and was on his first combat mission.
One member of his team knew how dangerous it would be.
In a letter home, written the night before, Sgt. James Neil Tycz told his parents:
"Our lieutenant passed me the word that we go in at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. None of us want to go, but that's our job and I pray I will never fail to do it."
The next day, on that hill, published reports say a force of at least 30 North Vietnamese troops practically stumbled over the seven Americans. The Marines fought nobly, but couldn't withstand the onslaught.
"Before we could take them out, had a blast that wounded Lt. Ahlmeyer and wounded Sgt. Tycz as well," says Breaker member Britt Friery.
Ahlmeyer, Tycz, Navy corpsman Malcolm Miller and Marine Lance Cpl. Samuel Sharp Jr. were killed almost immediately.
At least one helicopter that moved in to evacuate them was shot down. The hill was napalmed, and a survivor on the ground frantically radioed for help.
"He kept saying, 'You gotta get us out. We're burning up. We're burning up. You gotta come in. You got to get us out,'" says Ron Zaczek, who was a member of the helicopter team.
The remaining Marines were rescued. But the hill was so dangerous the military said that the bodies of the dead must be left there.
What no one imagined was that they would stay there for more than 30 years. Combat during the war and hostility between Vietnam and the United States afterward made it impossible to get them out.
"I really didn't think that after all these years that they would find my brother, but I am very grateful," says Healea.
Earlier this year, Healea and relatives of the three others who were killed got the word that diplomacy had paid off. Excavation teams were finally allowed on that hill and remains of teeth and other markings had been identified.
Her brother was coming home.
Ahlmeyer Jr., Tycz and Miller now rest at Arlington. Samuel Sharp Jr., honored in the same ceremony, was buried back home in California.
Another man who was on that hill remains haunted.
"I didn't think I would get out of there. When we went in there we thought we wouldn't get out of there," says Britt Friery.
And so many remain. According to the Department of Defense, more than 1,800 Americans are still listed as missing from the Vietnam War.
