After almost 42 years, the remains of Donald Monroe Shue will be returning to Kannapolis.
The U.S. Armyís Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Center has identified Shueís remains and plans to fly them to Charlotte-Douglas Airport April 30.
Whitleyís Funeral Home in Kannapolis will be in charge of a memorial service, tentatively scheduled for May 1. David Whitley said details will be forthcoming.
Shue and two other soldiers went missing on a mission in Laos Nov. 3, 1969. On Jan. 15, 1975, the Army officially listed him as killed in action. DNA testing helped to identify his remains located in 2009.
At the end of Operation Homecoming in 1973, more than 2,600 Americans did not return from Southeast Asia and were unaccounted for. Since then, the remains of 900 Americans killed in the war have been recovered and returned to their families.
Itís expected that Shue will be buried with his parents and brothers at Carolina Memorial Park.
ěSgt. First Class Shue and the more than 58,000 U.S. service members who died in Vietnam will never be forgotten,î U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said in a press release. ěAfter so many years, I know it is a relief to his family that he will be welcomed home.î
Shueís name is on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington and the half-size replica of the wall now open to the public at Frank Liske Park in Concord until 9 p.m. Sunday.
Here are the Vietnam War casualties from Rowan County, Kannapolis and some outlying communities, whose names are on the wall.
In the following list, some men who were Rowan natives but living elsewhere before going off to the war are not listed.
Salisbury ó Cpl. George Franklin Antonitis, Pfc. Robert Maxwell Brown Jr., CWO Frederick Lewis Cristman, LCDR Donald Vance Davis, Lance Cpl. Robert Ervin Gilmore, BMC Daniel Guest, Lance Cpl. Francis Edward Howe, Pfc. Ronald Wayne Lyerly, CMSGT Edwin Everton Morgan, Pfc. Douglas Ray Noel, SA Stanley George Pilot Jr., 1st Lt. Joe Hearne Rufty, SSG Roger Lynn Teeter, Sgt. Carl W. Thompson, Pfc. Scott Terry Welborne, SP4 Walter Alexander Williams, Cpl. Kay William Wright.
China Grove ó Pfc. Ricky Norman Lowder, Pfc. Richard Hugh Propst.
Cleveland ó SSG Jerry Lawrence Moore.
Gold Hill ó Maj. Jimmy Dwayne Sells.
Landis ó SP4 Steven Wayne Wilson.
Spencer ó SP4 Clarence Luther Morris.
Kannapolis ó SSG Raymond Ervin Baumgarner, Lance Cpl. Jimmy Richard Cox, Lance Cpl. John Cornelius Dunlap, Cpl. Robert Lee Hager Jr., Pfc. John Terry McInnis, SFC John Leroy Partee, Pfc. Harold Reed Richardson, Pfc. James Delano Robinson, Sfc. Donald Monroe Shue, Sgt. Herman Victor Sturm Jr., SP4 Larry Wayne Watkins.
Advance ó Pfc. Harvey Richard McCuiston.
Badin ó SP4 Milton Harris Legrand.
Cooleemee ó SP4 Edgar Lee Bowers.
Mocksville ó Cpl. Elvie Bell Jr., Pfc. Carl Lee Doby, Lance Cpl. James Spurgeon Goss, Pfc. John Charles Harding Jr., Pfc. Rodger Dale Howard, Maj. Samuel Edwin Waters Jr.
Mooresville ó SP4 Wallace Wayne Barnette, SP4 Ronald Eugene Robinson.
Mount Pleasant ó Lance Cpl. Eldon Eugene Lambert, Pfc. Glenn Garland Ritchie Jr.
Oakboro ó SP4 Larry Burns Turner.
Stanfield ó SP4 Larry Cecil Hathcock, Lance Cpl. Donny Lynn Tucker.
Concord ó Cpl. Garry Dwight Barbee, EM2 Franklin Harlee Canup Jr., Pfc. Gary Steven Christenbury, Capt. Joe Wofford Eubanks, Lance Cpl. James Henry Furr, SP4 Troy Alexander Galyan, SFC James Junius Gray, Pfc. Norman Perry Howie Jr., SP4 David Henry Mitchell, Pfc. John Thomas Peek, Pfc. Lionel Nesbit Phillips Jr., Lance Cpl. Fred Leroy Roach Jr., Pfc. Melvin Lee Weaks.
Source: The Virtual Wall (www.virtualwall.org)