High on a mountain in Vietnam, a mountain whose name she struggles to pronounce, Marjorie Mitchell lost her son Donnie, on May 10, 1968. And now, after 37 years of waiting for peace, she will lay her son to rest in Cedar Hill Cemetery.
The U.S. Government recently contacted Mitchell to say they have has positively identified the remains of Donnie Mitchell who lost his life while fighting with the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War.
Representatives from the Joint Task Force -— Full Accounting, including DNA and forensic specialists, visited the South Jefferson Street home of Mitchell July 11 to tell her that after years of searching, they found her son’s remains.
“We’ve mourned his death for over 30 years. Now to have him coming home, this is a time for celebration,” said Brenda (Mitchell) Scott, Donnie’s sister who was 16 at the time of her brother’s death.
When Donnie Mitchell graduated from Caldwell County High in 1965, he had plans for his future, his mother said. But with the Vietnam War raging, he knew his future would more than likely be put on hold.
“He thought he would be drafted, so he decided instead of going to college to join. At least that way he could choose what he would be doing,” said sister Brenda Scott.
“He was also joining up at the same time with his best friends Bill Hutchinson and Russell Heaton. They all were going to go through it together.”
Mitchell headed to the Marines and planned for a two-year stay. He was stationed in Hawaii and was able to start some college courses there at the University of Hawaii.
“He thought he could ride out the war there and get a jump on college,” said Scott.
But following the Tet Offensive, the war escalated and Mitchell was sent into the action.
“We have a letter from him dated May 2, 1968. He was waiting to be flown to this place where the battle occurred,” said Scott.
That place was Ngok Tavak, a sub camp of the larger Special Forces camp, Kham Duc. Ngok Tavak was an old French Foreign Legion fort that was used as a hilltop Laotian border observation and fire base. From there, patrols were sent out to locate divisions of the North Vietnamese Army.
Ngok Tavak proved to be “one of Vietnam’s deadliest but least-known battles” according to the Vietnam Veterans of America, Inc.
Mitchell, who was trained as a field radio operator, was sent on a special mission to provide artillery support at Ngok Tavak. Tensions there were rising as the North Vietnamese Army could be heard moving nearer and as some of the South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG), who were there to support the U.S. troops, were being suspected of sabotage.
According to statements made by other troops at Ngok Tavak, the CIDG platoon commander stated his intentions to withdraw on May 9. He and his platoon left, but soon walked into an ambush by the North Vietnamese.
Under the threat of death, the CIDG platoon returned to Ngok Tavak and attacked the American troops there on May 10.
Former hospital corpsman Scott Thompson who was at the battle said the American defenders were confused by cries of “friendlies, friendlies” from the CIDGs.
“Then they threw the satchel charges, took out our 30s (.30 caliber machine guns) and 50s and then all hell broke loose.”
“All hell” included the North Vietnamese moving in. The U.S. Special Forces, Marines and local mercenaries were overwhelmed, but those still standing were able to fight clear of entrapment.
However, they were forced to leave the dead behind. Lance Corporal Donnie Mitchell, 20, was one of 32 men whose bodies were not recovered.
Scott recalls on May 13, 1968, she went home from school for lunch. When she arrived, she found her mother in the living room speaking with two Marines.
They explained, as did a letter from Donnie’s commanding officer soon to follow, that he was killed during the attack “as he fought to defend his position.”
The day following the attack, an attempt was made to evacuate the dead. However, two of the helicopters sent in were shot down. The commander on the scene made the decision that he could not risk the lives of additional men to bring out the bodies.
In a letter dated June 10, 1968, from the Marine Corps, the Mitchell family was told that because of the “tactical situation” at that time, it would not be possible to recover Donnie’s body; but “if any change in the situation should take place and a recovery attempt is made, you will be notified immediately.”
No word came until 1993.
“That’s when the government really started looking for these guys,” said Scott. “Mom and Dad (the late Herman Mitchell) would get notifications of what they were doing. They would let them know when they had interviewed Vietnamese soldiers and things like that.”
Scott said it took years for the search to begin because the North Vietnamese took over the area right after the battle. And then “it just took years before anyone ever went back up on that high mountain.”
Scott and Marjorie Mitchell said they both understood why the search took so long — normalizing government relations, finding people who knew about the battle, dealing with translations, etc. — but the years of waiting for Donnie have been trying.
“The government is silently looking for these guys all over the world — men from World War II and Korea as well as Vietnam,” said Scott. “I think every family would say it’s never soon enough.
“I think we are just fortunate that my mother is still living. A lot of parents don’t get this kind of peace and closure.”
While Scott said she trusted the government was doing what they could to recover her brother’s remains, that didn’t keep her from trying to find answers for herself.
“We had received different information through the years. One said that Donnie wasn’t killed that day, that he was sent in after the battle with a scouting group. So that left the possibility that maybe he had been captured. In the back of my mind, I thought maybe he was still alive,” said Scott.
“It was really difficult to find out anything for years,” she said. “The guys who were there and survived were told they couldn’t contact family members.”
Scott and Mitchell were contacted by the government in 1998 and asked to give blood samples.
“We knew they were searching. They just requested samples to have in their database in case they found something,” said Scott.
Then in 1999, Marjorie Mitchell received documents with photographs of personal effects and was asked if she could identify any. She also received a phone call asking if Donnie had a partial dental plate.
As it seemed the government was making progress, Scott was too.
“I started searching on the internet,” she said. “Then one day I clicked on something that got me in contact with Tim Brown. He was in Donnie’s platoon.”
Brown, the co-founder of the Vietnam Veterans Foundation of Texas, has long been active in the Vietnam Veterans of America.
“He could not let go that they had left these guys behind. He’s spent his entire life trying to get them back.”
In 2000, Scott and her husband Ronnie attended a POW/MIA family update in St. Louis.
“That’s where we first met Hattie Johnson. She was the caseworker assigned to Donnie,” said Scott. “During our meeting she informed me that remains had been found and they were waiting on DNA identification.”
Johnson visited Princeton July 11 to present Scott and Mitchell with two notebooks containing the government’s findings.
“They walked us through page by page and showed us everything they found down to boots, belt buckles, button and bone fragments,” said Marjorie Mitchell.
“I accepted their findings and signed the paperwork telling them I accepted it. They didn’t have to search for Donnie anymore.”
Mitchell said she is inclined to be a private person and has been private about the loss of her son for many years.
“I haven’t gone out and tried to keep it alive all these years. It happened so long ago— I guess he would be 58 now — and so many people don’t know what happened or they don’t remember.
“But this is bringing me peace. He is coming home and we can bury him in the burial plot, under the monument that has been in place for him since 1968.”
Scott said she admires her mother “more than anyone in the world.”
“She has carried on with such grace and dignity all these years,” she said. “It’s a parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child and she has had to carry this load for so many years.”
Mitchell said when she sees the current war raging on in Iraq, she “feels a connection to the families.”
“I hope none of them have to go through what I have gone through,” she said.
Donnie Mitchell will be laid to rest at Cedar Hill Cemetery Aug. 27 at 2 p.m. Visitation will be conducted at Morgan’s Funeral Home that day beginning at 8 a.m. Any person who would like to help celebrate the life of Donnie Mitchell is welcome to attend.
Scott said she and her husband Ronnie will be traveling to Washington, D.C., Oct. 11 where the remains of other soldiers from Ngok Tavak will be laid to rest at Arlington.
“They recovered 12 bodies, but only five were positively identified. Those bodies will be buried together at Arlington along with some of Donnie’s remains that could not be positively identified,” she said.
“I am also hoping to get to meet some of the other men who served with Donnie and knew him.”
In all her research, Scott read somewhere that the spot where her brother has lain the past 37 years, high on a mountain in Vietnam, is now revered as a holy place by the Vietnamese people.
