Re: MIA then AWOL, Mis-ID'd and Finally Coming Home

Date: May 18, 2004

"Finally, vet can rest in peace

Mis-ID'd after death in Vietnam, Wadleigh to get proper burial

By Ken Thorbourne Journal staff writer

Thirty-six years after military brass mistakenly labeled Army Spc. 4th Class Carl Wadleigh of Jersey City a Vietnam deserter, Wadleigh's five siblings are set to gain a long overdue measure of exoneration for him.

Tomorrow, with all the pomp and circumstance of a full military funeral, Wadleigh's remains will be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

"We are anticipating closure and yet have to let go of the dream that (Carl) is going to come home one day," said Michelle Wadleigh, Carl's sister.

Carl Wadleigh's parents - Clifford Sr. and Mary - died several years before Army officials reversed their conclusions about their youngest son.

Michelle Wadleigh, who lives in Florham Park, said several extended family members planned to attend the funeral and the Army is paying for the siblings' airfare.

In addition to Michelle, Carl Wadleigh's siblings are: Myrtle Lovero of Cape May, Maryjane Kweselait of Branchville, Margaret Radlinger of Black Hawk, S.D. and Clifford Wadleigh Jr. of Jersey City.

The Jersey Journal revealed in an article published in March that in 1972, Army officials mistook Wadleigh's remains for another soldier who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1968.

When they couldn't account for his whereabouts after 1968 - the year the other soldier died in battle - the military concluded that Wadleigh went Absent Without Leave.

Army brass carried out a search for Wadleigh in this country, visiting his parents at their North Bergen home and some of his siblings.

Army officials didn't reverse their conclusion until 1989, when, equipped with more effective methods for examining forensic evidence, they definitively identified a new set of remains received from Vietnam as that of Master Sgt. Frank Parrish, the soldier they confused with Wadleigh 1972.

They then exhumed from a Texas grave site the remains previously thought to be Parrish, and eventually figured out that those were Wadleigh's, who had died at 21.

Military officials contacted Wadleigh's siblings in November 2001 to take blood samples to compare DNA. In February, family members were told the Texas remains were Wadleigh's and, given the circumstances of his death, the military was convinced he died fighting.

Army officials told family members they still believe Wadleigh disappeared from his unit for 13 days in 1968, having taken off with a Vietnamese girlfriend.

U.S. Army Specialist E4 Michael Madison said the funeral will begin at 11 a.m. In keeping with military tradition, once the casket is lowered into the ground, a firing squad of six to 12 soldiers will fire their rifles in the air six times, Madison said.

A flag covering the casket will be folded and presented to the oldest remaining sibling, he said.

On May 31, Memorial Day, Wadleigh's name will be attached to the Vietnam memorial rock at Pershing Field in Jersey City, said David Cline, president of the Jersey City Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee.

Born and raised in North Bergen, Wadleigh lived in Jersey City before he was drafted into the Army in 1964, a family member said.

His name will be the 65th added to the Pershing Field rock, Cline said.

Family members said his name will also be attached to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

©2004 The Jersey Journal"