Bio, Miller, Glenn E.

MILLER, GLENN EDWIN
Remains ID announced 08/10/2005 by USG, disputed by family.

From: "Christy Jackman"
To: <info@pownetwork.org>
Cc:
Subject: Special Forces Sgt. Glenn E. Miller
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 13:46:36 -0700

I am writing to correct the record regarding the alleged "identification" of
the "remains" of my brother, Glenn E. Miller.  No remains were ever
recovered that could be identified as Glenn's.  Although mitochondrial
testing was performed on alleged remains with DNA provided by my son,
Michael Nicol, no match was ever made to any remains from the Ngok Tavak
battlefield of May 10, 1968.   All reports of last sightings of my brother
stated that he was in a battle at Ngok Tavak.

I wish to rescind the so-called identification of remains allegedly
belonging to my brother, Sgt. Glenn E. Miller.  He has not been found; there
are no remains!

Name: Glenn Edwin Miller
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Detachment A-105, 5th Special Forces Group
Date of Birth: 13 September 1944 (Berkeley CA)
Home City of Record: Oakland CA
Date of Loss: 12 May 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 152208N 1074541E (YC965009)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 3
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1167

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 2005.

Personnel in Incident: Ngok Tavak: Horace H. Fleming; Thomas J. Blackman;
Joseph F. Cook; Paul S. Czerwonka; Thomas W. Fritsch; Barry L. Hempel;
Raymond T. Heyne; Gerald E. King; Robert C. Lopez; William D. McGonigle;
Donald W. Mitchell; James R. Sargent (members of USMC search team - all
missing); Glenn E. Miller; Thomas H. Perry (USSF teammembers - missing);
Kham Duc: Richard E. Sands (missing from CH47); Bernard L. Bucher; Frank M.
Hepler; George W. Long; John L. McElroy; Stephan C. Moreland (USAF crew of
C130 - all missing); Warren R. Orr (USSF on C130 - missing); Harry B. Coen;
Andrew J. Craven; Juan M. Jimenez; Frederick J. Ransbottom; Maurice H.
Moore; Joseph L. Simpson; William E. Skivington; John C. Stuller; Imlay S.
Widdison; Danny L. Widner; Roy C. Williams (all missing); Julius W. Long
(released POW).

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: Kham Duc Special Forces camp (A-105), was located on the western
fringes of Quang Tin ("Great Faith") Province, South Vietnam. In the spring
of 1968, it was the only remaining border camp in Military Region I. Backup
responsibility for the camp fell on the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal),
based at Chu Lai on the far side of the province.

The camp had originally been built for President Diem, who enjoyed hunting
in the area. The 1st Special Forces detachment (A-727B) arrived in September
1963 and found the outpost to be an ideal border surveillance site with an
existing airfield. The camp was located on a narrow grassy plain surrounded
by rugged, virtually uninhabited jungle. The only village in the area,
located across the airstrip, was occupied by post dependents, camp followers
and merchants. The camp and airstrip were bordered by the Ngok Peng Bum
ridge to the west and Ngok Pe Xar mountain, looming over Kham Duc to the
east. Steep banked streams full of rapids and waterfalls cut through the
tropical wilderness. The Dak Mi River flowed past the camp over a mile
distant, under the shadow of the Ngok Pe Xar.

Five miles downriver was the small forward operating base of Ngok Tavak,
defended by the 113-man 11th Mobile Strike Force Company with its 8 Special
Forces and 3 Australian advisors. Since Ngok Tavak was outside friendly
artillery range, 33 Marine artillerymen of Battery D, 2nd Battalion, 13th
Marines, with two 105mm howitzers were located at the outpost.

Capt. Christopher J. Silva, commander of Detachment A-105 helicoptered into
Ngok Tavak on May 9, 1968 in response to growing signs of NVA presence in
the area. Foul weather prevented his scheduled evening departure. A Kham Duc
CIDG platoon fleeing a local ambush also arrived and was posted to the outer
perimeter. It was later learned that the CIDG force contained VC
infiltrators.

Ngok Tavak was attacked by an NVA infantry battalion at 0315 hours on May
10. The base was pounded by mortars and direct rocket fire. As the frontal
assault began, the Kham Duc CIDG soldiers moved toward the Marines in the
fort yelling, "Don't shoot, don't shoot! Friendly, friendly!" Suddenly they
lobbed grenades into the Marine howitzer positions and ran into the fort,
where they shot several Marines with carbines and sliced claymore mine and
communication wires.

The defenders suffered heavy casualties but stopped the main assault and
killed the infiltrators. The NVA dug in along the hill slopes and grenaded
the trenches where the mobile strike force soldiers were pinned by machine
gun and rocket fire. An NVA flamethrower set the ammunition ablaze,
banishing the murky flare- lighted darkness for the rest of the night. SFC
Harold M. Swicegood and the USMC platoon leader, Lt. Adams, were badly
wounded and moved to the command bunker. Medical Spec4 Blomgren reported
that the CIDG mortar crews had abandoned their weapons. Silva tried to
operate the main 4.2 inch mortar but was wounded. At about 0500 hours, Sgt.
Glenn Miller, an A-105 communications specialist, was shot through the head
as he ran over to join the Marine howitzer crews.

The NVA advanced across the eastern side of Ngok Tavak and brought forward
more automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. In
desperation, the defenders called on USAF AC-47 "Spooky" gunships to strafe
the perimeter and the howitzers, despite the possible presence of friendly
wounded in the gun pits. The NVA countered with tear gas, but the wind kept
drifting the gas over their own lines. After three attempts, they stopped. A
grenade fight between the two forces lasted until dawn.

At daybreak Australian Warrant Officers Cameron and Lucas, joined by
Blomgren, led a CIDG counterattack. The North Vietnamese pulled back under
covering fire, and the howitzers were retaken. The Marines fired the last
nine shells and spiked the tubes. Later that morning medical evacuation
helicopters supported by covering airstrikes took out the seriously wounded,
including Silva and Swicegood. Two CH46's were able to land 45 replacements
from the 12th Mobile Strike Force Company, accompanied by Capt. Euge E.
Makowski (who related much of this account to Shelby Stanton, author of
"Green Berets at War"), but one helicopter was hit in the fuel line and
forced down. Another helicopter was hit by a rocket and burst into flames,
wrecking the small helipad. The remaining wounded were placed aboard a
hovering helicopter. As it lifted off, two Mike Force soldiers and 1Lt.
Horace Fleming, one of the stranded aviation crewmen, grabbed the helicopter
skids. All three fell to their deaths after the helicopter had reached an
altitude of over one hundred feet.

The mobile strike force soldiers were exhausted and nervous. Ammunition and
water were nearly exhausted, and Ngok Tavak was still being pounded by
sporadic mortar fire. They asked permission to evacuate their positions, but
were told to "hold on" as "reinforcements were on the way". By noon the
defenders decided that aerial reinforcement or evacuation was increasingly
unlikely, and night would bring certain destruction. An hour later, they
abandoned Ngok Tavak.

Thomas Perry, a medic from C Company, arrived at the camp at 0530 hours the
morning of the 10th. He cared for the wounded and was assisting in an
attempt to establish a defensive perimeter when the decision was made to
evacuate the camp. As survivors were leaving, Perry was seen by Sgt. Cordell
J. Matheney, Jr., standing 20 feet away, as Australian Army Capt. John White
formed the withdrawal column at the outer perimeter wire on the eastern Ngok
Tavak hillside. It was believed that Perry was going to join the end of the
column.

All the weapons, equipment and munitions that could not be carried were
hastily piled into the command bunker and set afire. The helicopter that had
been grounded by a ruptured fuel line was destroyed with a LAW. Sgt.
Miller's body was abandoned.

After survivors had gone about 1 kilometer, it was discovered that Perry was
missing. Efforts were conducted to locate both Perry and Miller, including a
search by a group from Battery D. They were searching along the perimeter
when they were hit by enemy grenades and arms fire. Neither the men on the
team nor Perry was ever found. Included in this team were PFC Thomas
Blackman; LCpl. Joseph Cook; PFC Paul Czerwonka; LCpl. Thomas Fritsch; PFC
Barry Hempel; LCpl. Raymond Heyne; Cpl. Gerald King; PFC Robert Lopez; PFC
William McGonigle; LCpl. Donald Mitchell; and LCpl. James Sargent. The
remaining survivors evaded through dense jungle to a helicopter pickup point
midway to Kham Duc. Their extraction was completed shortly before 1900 hours
on the evening of May 10.

In concert with the Ngok Tavak assault, the Kham Duc was blasted by a heavy
mortar and recoilless rifle attack at 0245 hours that same morning. Periodic
mortar barrages ripped into Kham Duc throughout the rest of the day, while
the Americal Division airmobiled a reinforced battalion of the 196th
Infantry Brigade into the compound. A Special Forces command party also
landed, but the situation deteriorated too rapidly for their presence to
have positive effect.

The mortar attack on fog-shrouded Kham Duc resumed on the morning of May 11.
The bombardment caused heavy losses among the frightened CIDG soldiers, who
fled from their trenches across open ground, seeking shelter in the bunkers.
The LLDB commander remained hidden. CIDG soldiers refused orders to check
the rear of the camp for possible North Vietnamese intruders. That evening
the 11th and 12th Mobile Strike Force companies were airlifted to Da Nang,
and half of the 137th CIDG Company from Camp Ha Thanh was airlanded in
exchange.

The 1st VC Regiment, 2nd NVA Division, began closing the ring around Kham
Duc during the early morning darkness of 12 May. At about 0415 to 0430
hours, the camp and outlying positions came under heavy enemy attack.
Outpost #7 was assaulted and fell within a few minutes. Outposts #5, #1 and
#3 had been reinforced by Americal troops but were in North Vietnamese hands
by 0930 hours.

OP1 was manned by PFC Harry Coen, PFC Andrew Craven, Sgt. Joseph Simpson,
and SP4 Julius Long from Company E, 2nd of the 1st Infantry. At about 0415
hours, when OP1 came under heavy enemy attack, PFC Coen and SP4 Long were
seen trying to man a 106 millimeter recoilless rifle. Survivors reported
that in the initial enemy fire, they were knocked off their bunker. Both men
again tried to man the gun, but were knocked down again by RPG fire.

PFC Craven, along with two other men, departed the OP at 0830 hours on May
12. They moved out 50 yards and could hear the enemy in their last position.
At about 1100 hours, as they were withdrawing to the battalion perimeter,
they encountered an enemy position. PFC Craven was the pointman and opened
fire. The enemy returned fire, and PFC Craven was seen to fall, with
multiple chest wounds. The other two men were unable to recover him, and
hastily departed the area. PFC Craven was last seen lying on his back,
wounded, near the camp.

OP2 was being manned by 1Lt. Frederick Ransbottom, SP4 Maurice Moore, PFC
Roy Williams, PFC Danny Widner, PFC William Skivington, PFC Imlay Widdison,
and SP5 John Stuller, from the 2nd of the 3rd Infantry when it came under
attack. Informal questioning of survivors of this position indicated that
PFC Widdison and SP5 Stuller may have been killed in action. However, the
questioning was not sufficiently thorough to produce enough evidence to
confirm their deaths.

The only information available concerning 1Lt. Ransbottom, SP4 Moore, PFC
Lloyd and PFC Skivington that Lt. Ransbottom allegedly radioed PFC Widner
and PFC Williams, who were in the third bunker, and told them that he was
shooting at the enemy as they entered his bunker.

SP4 Juan Jimenez, a rifleman assigned to Company A, 2nd of the 1st Infantry,
was occupying a defensive position when he was severely wounded in the back
by enemy mortar fire. SP4 Jimenez was declared dead by the Battalion Surgeon
in the early morning hours of May 12. He was then carried to the helipad for
evacuation. However, due to the situation, space was available in the
helicopter for only the wounded, and SP4 Jimenez'remains were left behind.

At noon a massive NVA attack was launched against the main compound. The
charge was stopped by planes hurling napalm, cluster bomb units and 750
pound bombs into the final wire barriers. The decision was made by the
Americal Division officers to call for immediate extraction.

The evacuation was disorderly, and at times, on the verge of complete panic.
One of the first extraction helicopters to land was exploded by enemy fire,
blocking the airstrip. Engineers of Company A, 70th Engineer Battalion,
frantically reassembled one of their dozers (previously torn apart to
prevent capture) to clear the runway. Eight more aircraft were blown out of
the sky.

PFC Richard E. Sands was a member of Company A, 1st Battalion, 46th
Infantry, 198th Light Infantry Brigade being extracted on a CH47 helicopter
(serial #67-18475). The helicopter was hit by 50 calliber machine gun fire
at an altitude of 1500-1600 feet shortly after takeoff.

Sands, who was sitting near the door gunner, was hit in the head by an
incoming rounds. The helicopter made a controlled landing and caught fire.
During the evacuation from the burning helicopter, four personnel and a
medic checked PFC Sands and indicated that he had been killed instantly.
Because of the danger of incoming mortar rounds and the fire, personnel
attempting to remove PFC Sands from the helicopter were ordered to abandon
their attempt. The remaining personnel were evacuated from the area later by
another helicopter.

Intense antiaircraft fire from the captured outposts caused grave problems.
Control over the indigenous forces was difficult. One group of CIDG soldiers
had to be held in trenches at gunpoint to prevent them from mobbing the
runway.

As evacuation was in progress, members of Company A, 1/46, who insisted on
boarding the aircraft first, shoved Vietnamese dependents out of the way. As
more Americal infantry tried to clamber into the outbound planes, the
outraged Special Forces staff convinced the Air Force to start loading
civilians onboard a C130, then watched as the civilians pushed children and
weaker adults aside.

The crew of the U.S. Air Force C130 aircraft (serial #60-0297) consisted of
Maj. Bernard Bucher, pilot; SSgt. Frank Hepler, flight engineer; Maj. John
McElroy, navigator; 1Lt. Steven Moreland, co-pilot; George Long, load
master; Capt. Warren Orr, passenger, and an undetermined number of
Vietnamese civilians.

The aircraft reported receiving ground fire on takeoff. The Forward Air
Control (FAC) in the area reported that the aircraft exploded in mid-air and
crashed in a fire ball about one mile from camp. All crew and passengers
were believed dead, as the plane burned quickly and was completely destroyed
except for the tail boom. No remains were recovered from the aircraft.

Capt. Orr was not positively identified by U.S. personnel as being aboard
the aircraft. He was last seen near the aircraft helping the civilians to
board. However, a Vietnamese stated that he had seen Capt. Orr board the
aircraft and later positively identified him from a photograph. Rescue
efforts were impossible because of the hostile threat in the area.

At the time the order was given to escape and evade, SP4 Julius Long was was
with Coen and Simpson. All three had been wounded, and were trying to make
their way back to the airfield about 350 yards away. As they reached the
airfield, they saw the last C130 departing. PFC Coen, who was shot in the
stomach, panicked and started running and shooting his weapon at random. SP4
Long tried to catch him, but could not, and did not see PFC Coen again. Long
then carried Sgt. Simpson to a nearby hill, where they spent the night.

During the night, the airfield was strafed and bombed by U.S. aircraft. SP4
Long was hit twice in the back by fragments, and Sgt. Simpson died during
the night. SP4 Long left him lying on the hill near the Cam Duc airfield and
started his escape and evasion toward Chu Lai, South Vietnam. SP4 Long was
captured and was released in 1973 from North Vietnam.

The Special Forces command group was the last organized group out of the
camp. As their helicopter soared into the clouds, Kham Duc was abandoned to
advancing NVA infantry at 4:33 p.m. on May 12, 1968. The last Special Forces
camp on the northwestern frontier of South Vietnam had been destroyed.

Two search and recovery operations were conducted in the vicinity of OP1 and
OP2 and the Cam Duc airfield on July 18, 1970 and August 17, 1970. In these
operations, remains of personnel previously reported missing from this
incident were recovered and subsequently identified. (SP4 Bowers, PFC Lloyd,
Sgt. Sisk, PFC Guzman-Rios and SSgt. Carter). However, extensive search and
excavation could not be completed at OP1 and OP2 because of the tactical
situation.

It was assumed that all the missing at Kham Duc were killed in action until
about 1983, when the father of one of the men missing discovered a Marine
Corps document which indicated that four of the men had been taken prisoner.
The document listed the four by name. Until then, the families had not been
advised of the possibility there were any American prisoners taken other
than Julius Long. A Vietnamese rallier identified the photograph of Roy C.
Williams as positively having been a POW.

Until proof is obtained that the rest of the men lost at Ngok Tavak and Kham
Duc are dead, their families will always wonder if they are among those said
to still be alive in Southeast Asia.

================
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 820-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug 10, 2005
Media Contact: (703)697-5131
Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

Twelve MIAS from Vietnam War are Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced
today the identification of the remains of 12 U.S. servicemen missing in
action from the Vietnam War.  Five of those identified are being returned to
their families for burial, and the remaining seven will be buried as a group
in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

The men who were individually identified are: Cpl. Gerald E. King, of
Knoxville, Tenn.; Lance Cpls. Joseph F. Cook, of Foxboro, Mass.; Raymond T.
Heyne, of Mason, Wis.; Donald W. Mitchell, of Princeton, Ky.; and Thomas W.
Fritsch, of Cromwell, Conn., all of the U.S. Marine Corps.  Additional group
remains are those of: Pfcs. Thomas J. Blackman, of Racine, Wis.; Paul S.
Czerwonka, of Stoughton, Mass.; Barry L. Hempel, of Garden Grove, Calif.;
Robert C. Lopez, of Albuquerque, N.M.; William D. McGonigle, of Wichita,
Kan.; and Lance Cpl. James R. Sargent, of Anawalt, W. Va., all of the U.S.
Marine Corps.   Additionally, the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. Glenn E. Miller,
of Oakland, Calif. will be included in the group burial.

The Marines were part of an artillery platoon airlifted to provide support
to the 11th Mobile Strike Force, which was under threat of attack from North
Vietnamese forces near Kham Duc in South Vietnam.  On May 9, 1968, the
Strike Force had been directed to reconnoiter an area known as Little Ngok
Tavak Hill near the Laos-Vietnam border, in the Kham Duc Province.  Their
base came under attack by North Vietnamese Army troops, and after a 10-hour
battle, all of the survivors were able to withdraw from the area.

Six investigations beginning in 1993 and a series of interviews of villagers
and former Vietnamese soldiers led U.S. recovery teams in 1994, 1997 and
1998 to specific defensive positions within the large battle site.
Additionally, maps provided by American survivors helped to locate some key
areas on the battlefield.  Three excavations by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting
Command (JPAC) in 1998 and 1999 yielded human remains, personal effects and
other material evidence.

JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory specialists
used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the
remains.

Of the 88,000 Americans missing in action from all conflicts, 1,815 are from
the Vietnam War, with 1,381 of those within the country of Vietnam.  Another
768 Americans have been accounted for in Southeast Asia since the end of the
war. Of those, 540 are from within Vietnam.

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

===================
San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
August 13, 2005

MIA's remains weren't found, family learns
C.W. Nevius

In May, the U.S. Army gave the two sisters of Special Forces Sgt. Glenn
Miller some welcome news. Finally, 37 years after he died in a ferocious
battle in the Vietnam War, their brother's remains had been identified. A
burial service could be held.

There was just one problem.

It wasn't true.

"They have decided that they want to close these MIA cases out," says Marion
Miller Alschuler of Orinda. "And they think this is the way to do it."

In simplest terms, this is a disagreement over semantics. The official press
release from the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office this
week says it was "announcing the identification of the remains of 12 U.S.
servicemen," including Miller, who grew up with his sisters in Oakland.

But when Johnny Johnson, a mortician from the Army Human Resources
department came to Christy Miller Jackman's home in Sacramento, the Miller
sisters tried to pin him down on specifics.

"Did you find a fingernail?" Alschuler says she asked. "Anything? He finally
admitted that they didn't."

Instead, Johnson told them that, like seven of the 12 missing men, Miller
had been placed at the site by circumstantial evidence and they would be
part of a group burial in Arlington National Cemetery. Although the sisters
have no doubt that Miller, a Green Beret, was killed on May 9, 1968, they
object to the idea that this ceremony will be putting his "remains" to rest.

All of which would have been an interesting debate until the story was
released to the public and reporters were told by Larry Greer, spokesman for
the Pentagon's POW and Missing Personnel Office, that members of the Miller
family did not want to speak publicly.

"It is a total, total lie," says Alschuler. "How dare he? Oh, he's not happy
with me, not happy at all. I called him and told him he was a boorish
bureaucrat."

"Oh yes, she did," Greer said yesterday. "She said that I inferred in the
media stories that the remains were identified by DNA. I said that I do not
write the newspaper stories."

And that's where it stands now. Two sides, glaring unhappily at each other
over what was supposed to be a heartfelt gesture of respect for the young
men who died in that jungle fight on the Laotian border. Most of them were
just kids then, 18 or 20. Miller was 23.

Jim McLeroy, a Special Forces officer, took Miller on his first combat
mission.

"Miller was totally fearless," says McLeroy, 66, who lives in Phoenix today.
"In fact I had to pull him back sometimes. He was not your ordinary bear."

So it was perfectly logical that when the small force at Gnok Tavak (knock
ta-VAK) was overrun, and the platoon leader and sergeant were badly wounded,
that Miller took over command. He repeatedly sprinted through a hail of
bullets to organize defense and medical treatment.

"I spoke to a Marine," says McLeroy, who was not at Gnok Tavak, "and he said
Glenn should have been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (the Army's
second-highest award) for what he did that day."

As he ran across the battle zone, Miller came upon medic Scott Thomas, who
was wounded, in a foxhole.

"He made sure I was OK," said Thomas, who now lives in Massachusetts, "and
told me to keep my head down. Then he stood up to move and took a round in
the head. He wasn't more than two arm-lengths away. I went over but there
was nothing I could do."

In the chaos of that battle, reinforcing helicopters were shot down and it
became impossible to recover the bodies. Days passed, then years. The bodies
lay there untouched -- McLeroy says the villagers believed the hillside was
haunted -- until the efforts of Tim Brown, a member of the Vietnam Veterans
Association, who vowed when he left Gnok Tavak that someday he would bring
those bodies out.

In 1998, a task force was sent in. McLeroy pulled some strings and went
along. They found teeth, which allowed them to ID five Marines, and some dog
tags (although not Miller's). And, McLeroy says, they found a wallet they
could confirm as Sgt. Glenn Miller's.

The Miller sisters know their brother died that day. And they know
circumstantial evidence has been found to show where his body lay. But what
they don't want is for a generic mortician to come by and throw up a
smokescreen. (Brown says the Marines sent a forensic scientist to the
families of the Marines to answer questions.)

Or to have a Pentagon spokesman say they don't want to talk about this.
(Greer says, rather lamely, that the Millers hadn't specifically said they
wanted to talk, so he told reporters they "declined.")

"It sounds as if," says Brown of the Vietnam Veterans Association, "the Army
did a really unprofessional job compared to the Marines."

And it sounds to the Millers as if the Army thinks this is something to be
cleared off the books so we can move on. That this isn't that important
anymore.

And the Green Beret's sisters just want to say that, 37 years later, it
still is.

-----------------------
Sat, Oct. 15, 2005
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/12912290.htm

Group identifications leave some families unfulfilled

MARTHA MENDOZA
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - It's a wrenching day when somber officers in crisp
suits and uniforms knock on the door of a soldier's family, but Sgt. Glenn
Miller's sisters were actually looking forward to the casualty officer's
visit.

Thirty-seven years after their beloved brother, a Green Beret, was last seen
during a battle in Vietnam they were ready for the truth, for real answers,
for closure at last.

They set out some drinks and snacks and turned on the video camera to record
this dramatic family story for generations to come. But the story they
recorded during the visit in May was not one of closure.

The "identification" that the military said it made left them disappointed,
they said, because it was based on circumstantial, not physical evidence.

For families like Miller's, there is some inherent comfort in a fragment of
bone, fingernail or skin. For decades, using dental and medical records and
more recently DNA technology for verification, the Pentagon has been
bringing that comfort to those who lost loved ones in conflicts - from World
War II to Iraq - after bringing home for burial bits of service members'
bodies.

However, The Associated Press has found that one-tenth of official
identifications lack any biological evidence.

Miller's case was one of these, and for his sisters, that realization was
hard.

Army mortician Johnny Johnson, professional and empathetic in a black suit,
had flown across the country for this momentous day. He was joined by Army
Maj. Anthony Koopman, a local college ROTC director who was assigned on this
day to be the casualty assistance officer.

Johnson opened an inch-thick book about Miller's case and began a dignified
presentation about the military's proud practice of pursuing remains, no
matter how old. He described an investigation in the 1990s that led
archaeologists to a battlefield near the Laos border.

"They excavated the hill," he said on the sisters' video, which they showed
The AP. "Out of that excavation site the remains that they were able to
identify through dental and mitochondrial DNA was, first of all, it was Sgt.
Glenn Miller."

He went on to name 11 Marines who also reportedly died in the battle in May
1968.

Christy Jackman wiped sweat from her forehead as he spoke. Her sister,
Marion Alschuler, sipped a cool drink, her hands fidgeting with the bottle.
Her daughter Caroline Jackman bent low, stroking a cat at her ankles as she
remembered her handsome uncle. Then, quietly at first but soon more
aggressively, they began to ask questions.

"What did you find of Glenn specifically?" they asked. "A bone? A tooth? A
fragment?"

Johnson asked for patience, and asked them to listen to "the authenticated,
official government version," but they pressed him to jump ahead.

"Was he burned?" they asked.

Johnson tried again, shifting the subject to a burial of the group remains
that would be held in Arlington.

"And what are they?" interjected one sister. "But what's in there?" asked
another.

"If you'll hold your questions," Johnson begged, "I will get to it. It's
just a matter of me explaining to you cut-and-dry."

But the women, their voices rising, tears starting to well in their eyes,
didn't hold back.

Eventually Johnson dropped his even tone and blurted: "We didn't find
anything for Glenn! We have no remains for Glenn! We have a bunch of
remains!"

There was a moment of silence.

"You don't have any remains at all?" asked Jackman.

"No. No remains," he said.

"Then how do you know he's there?" she asked......

(use the above link for the rest of the story)