40 years later, DNA helps identify missing MarineÕs remains
By RYAN J. FOLEY | Associated Press Writer
MADISON Ñ A Marine who disappeared during the Vietnam War will be buried next week after his remains were recently identified with DNA testing.
Lance Corporal Richard W. Fischer was declared missing in action in January 1968 while conducting military operations in VietnamÕs Quang Nam Province. The graduate of MadisonÕs East High School was 20 years old.
FischerÕs remains were recovered in 1994 but they werenÕt positively identified until earlier this year, the Marine Corps said Thursday.
The remains are expected to arrive at the Milwaukee airport on Friday from Hawaii, where a military laboratory works to identify missing soldiers and Marines. They will be driven to Madison, where FischerÕs family has scheduled a memorial service for Monday. Fischer is expected to be buried later Monday with full military honors.
Glen Reichelderfer, a pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church who is helping plan the service, called the identification Òreally quite an amazing thing.Ó
ÒItÕs the diligence of the military that has allowed this to happen,Ó he said. ÒThey did an incredible job in finding his remains. It was sort of ÕCSI.Õ ItÕs a very interesting story.Ó
Reichelderfer would not elaborate. Marine spokesman Capt. Brian Ahrens said the remains were identified using DNA testing but he had no other details.
The military has increasingly used DNA samples from maternal relatives to identify remains in recent years, said Ann Mills-Griffiths, executive director of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia. The Hawaii laboratory identifies about 100 missing U.S. personnel from various wars every year, she said.
She said FischerÕs family had long been members of her group.
ÒItÕs the uncertainty that motivates people and getting an end to that uncertainty is very important for each of these families,Ó she said. ÒI know what this means to the family so itÕs good news, even though it can be very emotional like it just happened.Ó
Some 1,767 soldiers, Marines and civilians remain missing in southeast Asia from the Vietnam War-era, according to statistics from the Department of Defense. The remains of 817 Americans have been returned since the end of the war in 1975, Mills-Griffiths said.
Fischer enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966 after one year of college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, according to his obituary. ÒDickÓ Fischer had worked as a lifeguard at MadisonÕs beaches and enjoyed sailing on the cityÕs lakes.
He went to Vietnam in October 1967 and was declared missing in action as a result of hostile fire just months later. While he was missing, Fischer was promoted to the rank of gunnery sergeant. He was classified as presumed Òkilled in actionÓ in 1978.
FischerÕs father had died in 1958. His mother died in 2002, never learning for sure whether her son was killed. He is survived by his sister, Ann Fischer, who did not respond to an interview request made through Reichelderfer.
Reichelderfer acknowledged next weekÕs memorial service would be Òvery unusual.Ó
ÒBut our faith is one that says there is hope and there is life after death,Ó he said. ÒAnd for the family, there is a time for mourning and a time for celebrating a life. ThatÕs true of every memorial service. This one will be a little bit different, though, as you can well understand.Ó
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