Family recovers soldier's remains from Vietnam War

Diane Buescher of Jackson was only 9 years old when her brother, Morris Waller, died in Vietnam. Her big brother was 22 years old when he died on Feb. 3, 1966. Thirteen years separated the two siblings.

And after his death, so did half a continent and the Pacific Ocean.

Finally, thanks to an ongoing national effort to recover the remains of U.S. soldiers who were killed in battle, Buescher's brother is coming home. Thirty-eight years later.

Waller will be buried Saturday at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery in Bloomfield with full military rites.

The ceremony will be the first memorial for Waller. His family grieved plenty, but never had a service.

"There was no body," said Delphine, Waller's mother. "I didn't have a body. I didn't have anything. We were just waiting for this."

Buescher, who lives in Jackson and works in a pharmacy in Cape Girardeau, reaches back into her memory, trying to recall the sights and sounds of 38 years ago when the family lived in Portageville, Mo.

She remembers snooping into his bedroom when she wasn't supposed to, even after he put a lock high on the door where she couldn't reach.

She remembers the men in Air Force uniforms coming home to deliver the bad news. She remembers the grief but not much else.

But other people remember her brother, and that gives Buescher comfort.

Thirty of Waller's high school friends have called the family, and said they are going to attend the service, Delphine Waller said. Thirty is a lot considering Waller's graduating class consisted of about 55 seniors. They're coming from as far away as Arizona, Texas and Kansas City.

"You would've thought people would have forgotten by now," Buescher said. "It's very touching."

Morris' parents remember their son as a well-liked and well-behaved boy who played football and ran track.

He also was a good mechanic, and his skills served him well in the Air Force.

Chief Master Sgt. Waller was assigned to the 311th Air Command Squadron. He was the crew chief, carrying out a supply mission when his plane crashed into the jungle.

Delphine Waller has said her son is the first thing she thinks about when she wakes up and the last thing she thinks about when she goes to sleep at night.

And, in a different way, the same can be said for the 600 men and women who work daily to bring bodies back home.

Larry Greer, a spokesman for the POW/MIA office in the Pentagon, said a heartfelt passion goes into recovering the lost soldiers. The POW/MIA office is still looking for the remains of 1,849 Vietnam soldiers. So far, they've found 734.

"It's a mission," Greer said. "It's a special commitment with everyone I know. Some of those who do it do so dangling from helicopters, dangling from cliffs, dealing with poisonous vipers in the jungle. Virtually all of us who do this work are in the military or were in the military. We know what it's like for our families to be anxious."

Eighty percent of the bodies are identified through DNA. That was the case with Waller.

His discovery was comforting to the family, Buescher said.

"It's nice to have him home and it's nice to know that he wasn't captured and tortured," she said. "That was our biggest fear growing up."

Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. at the John W. German Funeral Home in Hayti.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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