Dan Heller 
Name: Donald Monroe Shue
Memorials: Find a Grave 1 2 3 4 Vietnam Wall Wall of Faces
Rank/Branch: Sergeant First Class/USA
Unit: Special Operations Augmentation, Command & Control North (MACV-SOG), 5th Special Forces Group 1st Special Forces
Date of Birth: 29 August 1949 (Concord NC)
Home 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
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel in Incident: William T. Brown; Gunther H. Wald and two Montagnards (missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, was a joint service unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled 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. These teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction that were called, depending on the location and time frame, “Shining Brass,” “Salem House,” “Daniel Boone” or “Prairie Fire” missions.
When North Vietnam began to increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some years before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, and was frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains. US forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and supplies from moving south into the war zone.
Oscar Eight was the code name given to a sector of eastern Laos located in rugged jungle covered mountains approximately 25 miles northwest of the infamous A Shau Valley, Saravane Province, Laos. The area encompassed the junction of Highway 92, which was a primary north-south artery of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Highway 922, which branched off and ran directly east where it crossed into South Vietnam at a strategic point near the northern edge of the A Shau Valley. Oscar Eight was also located at the southeastern end of a large and narrow jungle covered valley that had two primary roads running through it, one on each side of the valley. Highway 92 ran along the west side and Highway 919 along the east. A power line ran parallel to Highway 92 and sometimes crossed it. In addition to the roads and power line, the Hoi An River also flowed through the valley passing the road junction roughly 1 mile west of it. More American aircraft were downed in the vicinity of the junction of Highways 92 and 922 than any other place in Laos. This was because burrowed deep in the hills of Oscar Eight and located just to the east of the road junction was North Vietnamese General Vo Bam’s 55th Transportation Group’s forward headquarters. Also contained within Oscar Eight was the Ho Chi Minh Trail’s control center as well as the largest NVA storage facility outside of North Vietnam. Further, this region was defended by consecutive belts of small arms, automatic weapons and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) guns of all sizes that were not only stationed on the ground, but also mounted on platforms in the trees. All of these firing positions, including the AAA batteries, were expertly camouflaged.
On 3 November 1969 SSgt. William T. “Bill” Brown, team leader and demolitions expert; Sgt. Gunther Wald, radio operator; then SP4 Donald M. “Donny” Shue, rifleman; and six Montagnards comprised a special operations patrol operating in the isolated and rugged jungle-covered mountains to locate and report on enemy activity in the northern sector of Oscar Eight. As the patrol moved through the area, it was ambushed by a numerically superior communist force. During the initial burst of automatic weapons fire, SSgt. Brown was shot through the body just below the rib cage. The communists lobbed in grenades, fragments of which struck SP4 Shue. At the same time, as Sgt. Wald was making radio contact for help, he was also struck by grenade fragments. Two of the six Montagnard team members were also wounded in the initial attack. All three Americans were last seen lying wounded on the ground by Pong, one of the four surviving team members, who were forced to withdraw under fire leaving the others behind. At the time he departed the area, Pong did not know the extent or severity of the wounds sustained by the Americans. Further, as the Montagnards were escaping the ambush site, they heard the communists shout: “Capture the Americans!”
They successfully evaded capture and reported the results of the ambush once they made their way back to base. The ambush site was located approximately 3 miles west of the South Vietnamese/Lao border near the village of Ban Chakevy Tai, 10 miles south the 17h parallel that separated North and South Vietnam, 21 miles northeast of Muang Xepone, Savannakhet Province, Laos. It was also located 24 miles northwest of the major American base of Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. Due to bad weather, a search and rescue (SAR) team could not be inserted into the area until 11 November. They searched the entire area in and around the battle site, but could only find some web gear that was identified as belonging to the patrol members. More importantly, no personal equipment, weapons or graves were found in or around the ambush site. Likewise, there was no trace of the men themselves. At the time the formal search effort was terminated, Bill Brown, Donny Shue and Gunther Wald were all listed Missing In Action.
For every insertion like this one that was detected and stopped, dozens of others safely slipped past NVA lines to strike a wide range of targets and collect vital information. The number of MACV-SOG missions conducted with Special Forces reconnaissance teams into Laos and Cambodia was 452 in 1969. It was the most sustained American campaign of raiding, sabotage and intelligence-gathering waged on foreign soil in US military history. MACV-SOG’s teams earned a global reputation as one of the most combat effective deep-penetration forces ever raised.
If Donny Shue, Bill Brown and Gunther Wald died of the wounds they sustained in that communist ambush, each man has a right to have his remains returned to his family, friends and country. However, if they survived, their fates, like that of other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite different. Either way there is no doubt the Vietnamese or Lao could return them or their remains any time they had the desire to do so.
Since the end of the Vietnam War, over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY.
Military personnel in Vietnam were called upon to undertake many dangerous missions, and they were prepared to be wounded, killed, or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they proudly served.
UPDATE: 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. His name is also inscribed along with all his fallen comrades on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC.
