MIA case still not resolved
by Ray Kisonas
A groundswell of support has risen for the family of Melvin Dye, the Carleton soldier who the Army now officially states was killed in the jungles of Laos more than 40 years ago.
The Monroe County Chapter 142, Vietnam Veterans of America, is not accepting the Department of Defense's decision to change Staff Sgt. Dye's status from missing in action to killed in action.
The VVA board voted to maintain a position of neutrality.
Former chapter secretary Glenn Podhola went to Airport High School with Sgt. Dye and both graduated in 1966. He and the chapter are not willing to change the MIA status despite the Army's decision to bury human remains in Arlington National Cemetery during a ceremony in the weeks ahead.
"As far as we're concerned, it's not over," Mr. Podhola said. "We are going to support the family."
Military officials met this month with members of Sgt. Dye's family, including his sister, Betty Ball, formerly of Carleton. They presented what they determined was evidence that Sgt. Dye was killed Feb. 19, 1968, when his helicopter was shot down during an emergency extraction of personnel deep in the jungles of Laos.
The report presented to the family was highly detailed with many pages filled with text, photos, maps and images of bone fragments and the other items recovered at the site during an excavation.
Although the report concluded that Sgt. Dye's helicopter was shot down and the actual site was located, there was no determination that any of the evidence recovered belonged to the former Carleton resident.
In fact, the report stated that teeth belonging to two other soldiers who were deemed MIA along with Sgt. Dye, Spc. Robert S. Griffith and Staff Sgt. Douglas J. Glover, were recovered.
"I have no reservations in concluding that these (dentures) were probably the teeth that were worn by SFC Glover," the report said. "All evidence reviewed and analyzed adequately support the conclusion that the tooth is that of SSG Robert Smith Griffith."
But no such statements were made regarding Sgt. Dye. And that is why many friends and family members will continue to consider him missing.
Margaret Baltzer was engaged to marry Sgt. Dye. She has since married and raised children, but remembers him fondly. Mrs. Baltzer, now 60, still lives in Carleton and is not pleased with the Army's decision.
"I do not agree with the Army," she said.
"I agree wholeheartedly with the family.
I still say he's missing."
Joe Diaz is on a medical research volunteer mission in South America. A Carleton native who served 40 years in the Navy, he and Sgt. Dye graduated from high school the same year and were deployed to Vietnam around the same time. He said via e-mail that when he returned from his first tour he was upset that Sgt. Dye was considered MIA. He felt the site should have been searched at the time, which would have led to Sgt. Dye's remains being returned instead of him being MIA.
"The sadness made me volunteer to return to Viet Nam," Mr. Diaz said in his e-mail. "I didn't know what I could do but I had to do something."
When told of the Army's recent decision, Mr. Diaz said he was excited at first. Then he read the report and he came away disappointed. Mr. Diaz is not pleased with the decision. It only fortified his anger toward the military for the way it handled MIA cases.
"Melvin, like almost 2,900 MIA's at the time, should not have been left to rot in the jungle for 41 years until now," he said by e-mail. "He deserved to be accounted for before quitting. I'm still upset over that."
Mr. Diaz understands the family's reluctance to accept the Army's decision.
"I would have to assume that Melvin died in the crash," he wrote. "But nothing I have read in the report or in journals proves that fact. That is what the family is having a hard time with."
So even after more than four decades, those who were close to Sgt. Dye still are waiting for absolute proof that he was killed that day when the helicopter he was in was shot down in a fireball deep in the jungles of Laos.
For family members and for Mrs. Baltzer, despite what the military has decided, not having physical evidence to prove he's really gone only rekindles the pain.
"It upsets me very much," she said. "It does not fill a void. Melvin will always be a part of my life. I don't care if I'm 100 years old."