Bio, Mulleavey, Quinten E.

Name: Quinten Emile Mulleavey
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit:
Date of Birth: 16 December 1948
Home City of Record: North Woodstock NH
Date of Loss: 29 January 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: BR943909
Status (in 1973): AWOL SEE 2015 NOTE BELOW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:
Refno: 2057
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 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 2020.

SYNOPSIS: In Vietnam, military experts devised a system to try to relieve
the battle fatigue experienced in earlier wars by those who served long
tours with their units intact. In Vietnam, soldiers were rotated after
roughly one-year tours. The practice had noble intent, but it served to
isolate the soldier and interrupted continuity. Virtually as soon as a man
learned the ropes, he was shipped home and a green replacement arrived to
fill the gap. Some were quite literally, in the jungles one day and at
home the next. The emotional impact was terrific and thousands of veterans
are dealing with it two decades later.

Vietnam was also a limited political war, and had peculiar problems: a
vague enemy, restrictive rules of engagement, an uncertain objective,
non-military State Department minds directing many aspects of the war. In
certain periods of the war, military morale was lower than perhaps any
other time in our history.

Adding to these factors was the extremely young age of the average soldier
shipped to Vietnam. For example, the average combatant's age in World War
II was 25 years, while Vietnam soldiers were 19. The young fighters became
jaded -- or old -- or died -- long before their time.

For various reasons, some soldiers deserted or even defected to the enemy.
Their counterparts in the U.S. fled to Canada, manufactured physical or
mental problems, or extended college careers to escape the draft.

There are only a handful of American deserters or AWOL (Absent Without
Leave) maintained on missing lists. At least one of these was known to
have fallen in love with a woman whom he later learned was a communist.
Another fled because he had scrapped with a superior and feared the
consequences. This man was ultimately declared dead, and his AWOL record
expunged.

There is little information regarding those listed as AWOL on the missing
lists. For instance, SP4 Quinten E. Mulleavey disappeared on January 29,
1968. Through the years since then, Mulleavey's name has appeared and
disappeared from U.S. Government missing lists. At times, he is listed as
AWOL, others not. U.S. Army records as of 1988 indicate his status is
AWOL. Details concerning his disappearance are not public information.
Without this information, it is impossible to know if Mulleavey deserted.

Some of the reports among the over 10,000 received relating to Americans
missing or prisoner in Southeast Asia have to do with deserters, although
there is no evidence they have been asked if they want to come home. In
light of the amnesty granted draft dodgers by the United States
Government, can we be less forgiving of them?

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF FAMILIES
FOR THE RETURN OF AMERICA'S MISSING SERVICEMEN
WORLD WAR II - KOREA - COLD WAR - VIETNAM

DOLORES ALFOND - VOICE/FAX 206-881-1499
LYNN O'SHEA ---- VOICE/FAX 718-846-4350
BITS 'N' PIECES JANUARY 27, 1996

ON APRIL 3RD 1968 QUENTEN MULLEAVEY OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY
DISAPPEARED. HIS NAME DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE DIA POW LIST DATED OCTOBER
11, 1979. NOR DOES IT APPEAR ON THE CHRONOLOGICAL LIST DATED APRIL
1980. HIS NAME DOES APPEAR ON THE BRIGHTLIGHTS LIST, DATED APRIL 1988,
WITH THE CASE NUMBER 2057. (NOTE: THIS CASE NUMBER WAS ASSIGNED OUT OF
SEQUENCE. IT WAS NOT ASSIGNED AT THE TIME OF LOSS, BUT WELL AFTER THE
WAR ENDED, PROBABLY IN THE LATE 1980'S.) THE DESCRIPTION FOLLOWING HIS
NAME READS "MISSING (W)." TRANSLATION: "CARRIED BY SERVICE AS DEAD BUT
JCRC ANALYSIS INDICATES INDIVIDUAL TO HAVE BEEN A DEFECTOR/
COLLABORATOR, NOW CARRIED AS DEAD."

LET'S SEE IF JTF-FA (FORMERLY JCRC) CAN EXPLAIN THIS?. MESSAGE TRAFFIC
200315Z JUL 92 (JULY 20 1992 3:15 A.M.) "SUBJ: SUMMARY REPORT OF 18TH
JOINT FIELD ACTIVITY IN VIETNAM 19 JUN-18 JUL 92." PAGE 21 ITEM E:
"CASE 2057: ON 14 AND 15 JUL 92, IE3 INTERVIEW TWO WITNESSES WHO
PROVIDED INFORMATION GERMANE TO CASE 2057. THE INTERVIEWS WERE
CONDUCTED IN THE MY DUC VILLAGE PEOPLE'S COMMITTEE HOUSE, PHU MY
DISTRICT. THE WITNESSES PROVIDED CORROBORATING FIRSTHAND TESTIMONY
REGARDING THE CAPTURE AND DEATH AND SU BSEQUENT BURIAL OF AN AMERICAN
SERVICEMAN DURING THE DRY SEASON OF 1967 OR 1968. THE AMERICAN WAS
LURED ALONG THE BEACH BY THE FEMALE WITNESS TO A VILLAGE WHERE HE WAS
TAKEN INTO CUSTODY. THE AMERICAN WAS SHOT AND KILLED AS U.S. ARMORED
FORCES APPROACHED THE AREA WHERE HE WAS BEING HELD. THE WITNESS LED THE
TEAM TO THE AREA OF THE ALLEGED BURIAL SITE WHIST IS LOCATED IN A 6X10
METER AREA OF A PLOWED FIELD. THE SITE WILL BE RECOMMENDED FOR
RECOVERY.

QUENTEN MULLEAVEY -- POOR JUDGMENT, PROBABLY.... DESERTER, HARDLY. YET,
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT CARRIED HIM IN A DESERTER STATUS UNTIL WELL INTO THE
LATE 1980'S.

At age 19, Quinten Emile Mulleavey fought amidst the horror of the Vietnam
War. His platoon was ambushed and a firefight led to the unit's evacuation
from under the thick shrubs of South Vietnam. Through the chaos, military
helicopters flew out of the battle zone without hesitation leaving at least
one soldier behind on that grim raining day in 1968...

The soldiers had already begun slogging up a mountain in Bong Son, Vietnam,
when they realized Spc. Quinten Mulleavey wasn't with them. Walking back,
they found his pack, his rifle and helmet, an empty package of cigarettes
and a packet of Kool-Aid near a stream. But Mulleavey, 19, of North
Woodstock, was never found.......

SP4 QUINTEN EMILE MULLEAVEY

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Conflict
Service
Status

VIETNAM WAR
UNITED STATES ARMY
Unaccounted For

Specialist 4 Quinten Emile Mulleavey entered the U.S. Army from New Hampshire and served with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade. On April 2, 1968, his platoon was conducting a search and destroy mission in Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. His squad was sent downhill from the platoon's laager site to set up an ambush position in a bomb crater. At some point during this action, he went missing and could not be accounted for. Today, Specialist 4 Mulleavey is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Deferred.

If you are a family member of this serviceman, DPAA can provide you with additional information and analysis of your case. Please contact your casualty office representative.

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SP4 QUINTEN EMILE MULLEAVEY

Unit CO C 2 BN 503 INF 173 ABN BDE
Historical Country of Loss
South Vietnam
Current Country of Loss
VIETNAM
Home of Record NH