5 May 2004 You and Fred Godsey are not forgotten. Rest in peace, Green Beret, rest in eternal peace. Elmer Pence 25 Aug 2007 Again you are not forgotten. Rest in eternal peace, my friend and brother From a classmate, Elmer Morris Pence 201 Third Street, Beach Haven, N J 08008 elmerpence@att.net

 

A Note from The Virtual Wall There is some confusion regarding unit assignments and locations for three Special Forces members killed in action in southwestern South Vietnam on 28 June 1967. The three men are 1LT Edwin L. Shubert; SSG Ronald E. Fike; and SP4 Michael G. Brown. First, the primary casualty database says all three were killed in action in Kien Tuong Province, South Vietnam. Second, the Special Forces "Killed in Action" list contains the following for the three men: Edwin L. Shubert, Jr, A-429, Nui Tuong, Kien Tuong Province (later named A-421) Ronald E. Fike, A-433, My An/My Da, Kien Phong Province Michael G. Brown, A-433, My An/My Da, Kien Phong Province The CIL Hawaii database confirms Det A-433 for SSgt Fike but goes no lower than the 5th Special Forces Group for 1LT Shubert and SP4 Brown. Third, Kelley's Where We Were in Vietnam puts the Special Forces Camp at My An/My Da in Kien Tuong Province, and the Special Forces camp at Nui Trong in Chau Doc Province. For information, all three provinces mentioned bordered one another and the SVN/Cambodian border ... northeast-to-southwest, there was Kien Tuong just south of the Parrot's Beak, then Kien Phuong, then Chau Doc. As noted above, the SF/KIA list says 1LT Shubert's unit, A-429, was renamed A-421 ... and it was, according to Stanton's Vietnam Order of Battle, on 01 July 1967. But Stanton places A-421 at Ba Xoai, Kien Tuong Province, on 01 Jul 1967. What to make of all this? The Virtual Wall isn't sure, but it appears that the SF/KIA listing has the wrong Province for Det A-433 at My An ... it should be Kien Tuong Province. Second, Det A-429 at Nui Tuong, Chau Doc Province, was in the process of moving and being redesignated, becoming A-421 at Ba Xoai, Kien Tuong Province. First Lieutenant Shubert was awarded a posthumous Silver Star by General Orders Number 3650, HQ, US Army Vietnam, date 18 July 1967. The award specifies his unit: "Detachment A-433, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne)". The citation for the award states that while serving as Special Forces Advisor to a Vietnamese force during a search and destroy mission in Kien Phong Province, First Lieutenant Shubert volunteered to help evacuate casualties from a Vietnamese company that was engaged in battle with Viet Cong forces; that, under heavy enemy fire, he successfully brought three casualties to the helicopter, and then organized a counterattack and led them in a fierce assault. While picking up a (fourth) wounded man to carry him to the rear, he was mortally wounded. The Citation for the Silver Star clarifies matters: Lt Shubert was indeed involved in the action at Det A-433, My An, Kien Tuong Province - and it therefore seems certain that all three men were involved in the same action. Edwin L. Shubert, Jr, 1st Lieutenant, United States Army, was buried on 10 July 1967 in Section 30, Site 775, of the Barrancas National Cemetery, aboard Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. On 16 March 1976 his father, Edwin L. Shubert, Sr, Lieutentant (jg), United States Navy, (11 Feb 1941 through 29 March 1948), was buried in Section 38, Site 50, of the Cemetery.

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