Vietnam homecoming

BLOOMFIELD, Mo.

After 38 years, Morris Waller is finally at rest. So too are fears and uncertainty of his surviving family and friends, now that their lost son is finally home.

On Saturday, more than 100 of Waller's family and friends came together at Waller's full military funeral at the Missouri State Veterans Cemetery. There the remains of the Air Force chief master sergeant were laid to rest after almost four decades, during which he was declared missing and, later, killed in action with whereabouts unknown.

Now that his remains have been found, identified and returned home, family and friends celebrated Waller's life and took comfort in the closure the burial provides.

"This means there's an end to it," said Waller's mother, Delphine Nance. "At least there's a closure."

Nance, her husband, Bill Nance, and Waller's three siblings sat and silently and watched as Waller's classmates and fellow Air Force servicemen shared memories and paid respects. Then after a 21-gun salute, the flyover of two C-130 airplanes and the bugling of taps, Delphine Nance accepted the flag from her son's casket, a symbol of her sacrifice of her son.

Watching from two rows behind the family, Melvin Schultz of Portageville, Mo., also took comfort.

On the evening of Feb. 4, 1966, it was Schultz who delivered the telegram to the Nances' house in Portageville. The message said that Waller had been listed as missing in action.

"It was a telegram of regret," said the former Portageville railroad agent and family friend of the Nances. Schultz's wife, Juanita, worked as Bill Nance's secretary when he was unit administrator for Portageville schools.

"I delivered more than a few of those," Schultz said. He said the funeral was a sobering event for him.

"This was a sad experience, but I know it helped his family."

When Schultz came to the door that evening, he was met by Waller's 9-year-old sister, Diana. Even today, Diana Buescher of Jackson remembers that night.

"We were just getting ready to eat supper when Mr. Schultz came to the door," Buescher said. "I answered, but he wanted to talk to my dad. My mom overheard him ask for Dad, and she immediately started crying."

Over the following days and years they would learn more. They would learn he was a crew chief aboard an Air Force C-123 Fairchild Provider. That while on a supply mission between Da Nang Air Base in the socialist north and Dong Ha in the democratic south, his plane went down somewhere over the Quang Tri Province. But until his remains were identified in June 2004, they didn't know for certain where his body was.

The remains of the plane and part of its crew were located in the Quang Tri Province in 2003 as part of an ongoing national effort to recover the remains of U.S. soldiers killed in battle. Waller's remains were identified through DNA.

"There's not much in that casket," Delphine Nance said. "But there's enough to put this to an end. Now we know at least he wasn't captured and tortured."

Also in attendance were more than half of the 55 members of Waller's graduating class of 1962 from Hayti High School. Mike Kelly was president of that class, and he was one of three classmates who spoke at the funeral.

"The rest of us are old and gray, but Morris is still 22," Kelly said. "We've all grown older, met new friends and made new memories. All this time Morris has been waiting to come home. Well, Mrs. Nance, Morris is home."

Buescher said she's glad her brother was given a Christian burial and that she was given a chance to pay her respects.

"At least my mother will have a grave site to visit."

trehagen@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137