TYCZ, JAMES NEIL Remains identified late 2004
Name: James Neil Tycz Rank/Branch: E5/USMC Unit: A Co., 3rd Recon BN, 3rd Marine Division, Khe Sanh, South Vietnam Date of Birth: 10 April 1945 Home City of Record: Milwaukee WI Date of Loss: 10 May 1967 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 163706N 1064404E (XD845485) Status (in 1973): Killed in Action, Body Not Recovered Category: 2 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Refno: 0676
Other Personnel in Incident: Heinz Ahlmeyer Jr.; Samuel A. Sharp; Malcolm T. Miller (all missing)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 April 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 2005.
REMARKS: KIA WHN PTRL ATKD, WNDD RCV-J
SYNOPSIS: Third Class Petty Officer Malcolm T. Miller was a hospital corpsman assigned to H & S Company at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam. He was working with A Company, 3rd Marine Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division at Khe Sanh on May 9, 1967.
On that day, Miller joined a reconnaissance patrol from A Company that had the mission of gathering intelligence information on suspected enemy infiltration routes near their base. The patrol was helicopter lifted into an area just south of the DMZ, where they found signs of recent enemy activity, and moved to high ground to establish a night defensive position.
Shortly after 12 p.m. the patrol came under heavy small arms fire, and several of the team were wounded. Twelve hours later, after numerous unsuccessful attempts, a helicopter was finally able to land and retrieve the wounded. It was not possible to retrieve the bodies of those who had died, including Miller, LCpl. Samuel A. Sharp, Jr., Sgt. James N. Tycz, and 2Lt. Heinz Ahlmeyer, Jr. All were said to have died during the action from wounds received from enemy small arms fire and and grenades.
The four men left behind near the DMZ were never found. The government of Vietnam has been consistently uncooperative in releasing remains they hold or in allowing access to known loss sites.
Even more tragically, evidence mounts that many Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia, still prisoners from a war many have long forgotten. It is a matter of pride in the armed forces, and especially in the Marines Corps, that one's comrades are never left behind. Many men have been killed trying to bring in a wounded or killed buddy. One can imagine the men missing from A Company, as well as Malcolm Miller, had they survived, being willing to go on one more patrol for those heroes we left behind.
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The Dallas Morning News Thursday, February 24, 2005
Marine who died a hero heads home After 38 years, remains of sergeant killed in Vietnam positively ID'd PAUL MEYER
PLANO - James Neil Tycz died a hero May 10, 1967, when a hand grenade exploded near his face in Khe Sanh, Vietnam. Of his seven-member reconnaissance patrol team, only three Marines survived the early-morning firefight with the North Vietnamese army, according to military records. The others were buried under elephant grass on Hill 665, unrecovered but not forgotten.
On Wednesday, over a kitchen table in Plano, Sgt. Tycz's family heard the news they've waited 38 years for: The sergeant's remains - three teeth - had been located in Vietnam and positively identified. He was coming home.
"It was a mixed blessing for me," said Phillip Dale Tycz, Sgt. Tycz's brother who lives in Plano with his wife, Ruth.
"I was happy they could find the remains so he could finally be repatriated. But I also knew some of my family would have a very mixed reaction. They put it behind them and didn't want to know anything else."
Mr. Tycz, heading family efforts to keep abreast of the search for their relative in recent years, was first notified of the discovery Jan. 10 by telephone. Hattie Johnson, head of the U.S. Marine Corps' POW/MIA Affairs office, flew in from Quantico, Va., to brief the family on details of the discovery.
The search
The search for the four Marines buried on Hill 665 is a story of science, detective work and perseverance that began in 1991, when two Vietnamese entered a U.S. POW/MIA office in Hanoi saying they had access to the remains of 10 U.S. servicemen, including Sgt. Tycz, according to military records.
The two men never substantiated their claims, but a month later another Vietnamese made a similar assertion in Hanoi. He produced three teeth, one bone fragment and identification for Sgt. Tycz but left after being told of military policy not to pay for remains.
From 1993 to 1998, teams worked in Vietnam on six occasions in search of the men.
They found circumstantial evidence, evidence of a firefight, but no burial.
A break came in 2003 when a team returned to the hill and recovered several fragments of teeth and bone. Last year, an excavation of the site near the border of Vietnam and Laos was completed.
In all, 31 teeth and tooth fragments were found and used in a Hawaii laboratory to identify the four Marines. Military officials met recently in Tennessee, Georgia and Washington state with the families of the three other Marines.
"So many people don't realize what the government does for these men and women," Mr. Tycz said Wednesday. "They don't give up on them."
More than 1,800 Americans from the Vietnam era are still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, according to the most recent statistics. Of those, about 970 are still being actively pursued.
Navy Cross
Sgt. Tycz was 22 when he died. He was awarded the Navy Cross, the Navy's second-highest medal, for his actions on Hill 665.
A live grenade had landed near a wounded Marine. The sergeant moved toward it, picked it up and attempted to throw it back at the enemy.
The grenade exploded after a short distance and Sgt. Tycz fell, critically wounded.
In the coming weeks, his three teeth will be flown in from Hawaii and placed in a container inside a flag-draped silver metal casket. A full uniform will rest alongside it.
Sgt. Tycz's remains will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery, per his family's wishes.
"He will be under full military escort, just like it happened yesterday," said Timothy Nicholson, assistant program director for Navy Mortuary Affairs.
In addition to his brother in Plano, Sgt. Tycz is survived by another brother, Peter Carey Tycz of Milwaukee; and two sisters, Rita Blount of Escondido, Calif., and Patricia Kriesher of Downey, Calif.
Just a day after he died, Sgt. Tycz's mother received a letter from him. In it, he wrote:
"I had an interruption just now. 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...."
=================== March 1, 2005 National League of Families
POW/MIAs - VIETNAM WAR: There are now 1,836 Americans listed by the Defense Department as missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War - 1,399 in Vietnam, 375 in Laos, 55 in Cambodia and 7 in PRC territorial waters. The League was informed today that the remains of four US personnel, previously listed as KIA/BNR in South Vietnam have been recovered and identified. The four Americans were all lost on May 10, 1967, and their remains were recovered May 27, 2003, though identified late last year and accepted by their families recently. Those now accounted for include 2LT Heinz Ahlmeyer, USMC, of NY; HM3 Malcolm T. Miller, USN, of FL; LCpl Samuel A. Sharp, USMC, of CA; and SGT James N. Tycz, USMC, of WI. In addition, the League recently confirmed that COL Sheldon J. Burnett, USA, from NH, and CWO (3) Randolph J. Ard, USA, both listed as MIA in Laos March 7, 1971 are now accounted for. Their remains were jointly recovered October 4, 2004, and recently identified. Still others have been ID'd, not yet announced by DPMO, perhaps due to delays in scheduling ID consultations with the primary-next-of-kin (PNOK). The reality is that PNOK no longer retain decision-making capability before official ID, but the pretense has been retained.