==== http://www.alphaavengers.com/in_memory.htm#refugio Refugio Teran, left, sits on a couch as his wife, Anna Bertha Teran, looks at a photo of their son, Staff Sergeant Refugio Thomas Teran, whose remains were recently discovered in Vietnam and returned to the United States. - See more at: http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/51396/REFUGIO-T-TERAN#sthash.v4ydsNB7.dpuf ========== The Detroit News Tuesday, March 26, 2002 These medals reflect the military history of Teran, who was killed in 1970 while guarding an ammunition dump in Quang Tri Province. MIA's body returned home after 32 years Jennifer Brooks WESTLAND -- Thirty-two years after he vanished in the jungles of Vietnam, Refugio Thomas Teran is coming home. Home to the parents who never stopped waiting and hoping, home to the friends who never forgot the handsome boy with the generous heart. Home to a hero's burial, with full military honors, in Arlington National Cemetery. "I was praying for this, and I just thank my God for giving me this gift," said his mother, Anna Bertha Teran, 76, as she sat in her Westland home, surrounded by pictures of her lost son. "I only wish I could share what I'm feeling with all the other families who are still waiting." The recovery and identification of Tom Teran -- last seen in the middle of a fierce firefight in the predawn hours of May 6, 1970 as Viet Cong forces overran the munitions dump he was guarding on Henderson Hill, Quang Tri Province -- brings the number of U.S. servicemen still missing in Southeast Asia to 1,932. Teran is the first Michigan MIA to come home since construction began on the new Vietnam memorial in Lansing. His return leaves 60 names among the missing. "Every one of those names is a story. Every one of them is just so important to us," said Marty Eddy, president of the Prisoners of War Committee of Michigan. The U.S. government spends $55 million a year in an effort to retrieve the lost casualties of the Second World War, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War and assorted Cold War skirmishes -- 88,000 missing servicemen in all. Since the United States and Vietnam restored diplomatic ties in 1992, the Defense Department has deployed 69 search teams to Southeast Asia, excavating crash sites and battlefields, interviewing aging civilians and soldiers, tracking rumors of unreturned prisoners of war. "Our boy is found. But we're going to keep looking for the boys who are left," said his father, Refugio Teran, 83. For three decades, the Terans have lobbied the Vietnamese and U.S. governments to search for their son. They collected petitions, traveled the state speaking to groups, searched military records and tracked down anyone who might have been near their son that day. And as the years passed, they watched other parents grow old and die, their questions unanswered. "We're the only parents who show up for the (POW/MIA family) meetings now," his father said. "Every year there were less and less of us." The Terans have their answers now, and the short story of their son's life finally has an ending, even if it's not a happy one. No longer missing, but still sorely missed, Tom Teran was born on Mother's Day 1949 and lost on Mother's Day 1970, two days shy of his 21st birthday. After a brutal firefight, the Americans held the hill. The next day, a search and recovery detail retrieved five injured servicemen and 33 bodies, but found no trace of Pfc. Tom Teran and another rifleman, Larry Kier of Tennessee. In those days, families of the missing were expected to suffer in silence. Not Anna and Refugio Teran, who, when their children were growing up, always insisted that the sleep-overs be at their house, so they could keep an eye on everyone. Who tailed the bus carrying their newly inducted son past the city limits, hoping for one last glimpse of him. Who sent him enormous care packages every week and insisted he write and call whenever he could -- so they would know where he was. The military sent condolences, and a box of medals Teran had never told his parents he'd earned. They promoted him twice during the eight years he was officially listed as Missing in Action. "I don't want any medals, I told them. You stay behind and you find my son," Anna Teran told the officers. They sent the medals anyway, which sit in their velvet case in the living room. "That's all I have left now of my Tommy. My jewels are my children, and right now I have lost one of the biggest jewels I had." And so, when the Department of Defense closed the books on the Teran investigation in 1978, the Terans took over. "For your kid, you do anything," said Refugio Teran. By the time the United States renewed its commitment to retrieving all the war missing in 1992, the Terans knew almost everything about their son's last days. They tracked down his buddies, they tracked down the Vietnamese family Tom used to feed from his weekly care packages, they tracked down survivors of the battle. One of his uncles, a career military man, spent a year in Vietnam searching the region where he was lost. That May 5, Tom Teran and his buddies were relaxing at the Eagle Beach Rest and Recovery Area, rejoicing over a larger-than-usual birthday care package from home, crammed with cake and all the fixings for a party. Teran, always happy to share the wealth, strolled over to another serviceman standing nearby and looking lonely, and invited him to join the party. "Hi! I'm Tom Teran from Westland, Michigan, and it's my birthday," he introduced himself, and together the group set off to get ready for the party and do a little Mother's Day shopping. He mailed off a package of presents for home and scrawled a quick note, describing his day, reassuring his mother he'd taken communion that morning, and mentioning the name of his new friend -- a kid named Silva from Holland, Mich. Later, his parents tracked down that soldier, in the V.A. hospital where he lay with his arm gone and half his face blown away in the battle for Henderson Hill. It was he, not the Army, who told them about the alarm that sounded and the helicopters that scooped up all the soldiers on the base to defend the bunker. He gave them the horrific details of the battle, where he had fought, back-to-back with Teran until they lost track of each other in the fighting. The last thing anyone saw of Teran was a glimpse of him running toward a barricade. Now they also have a thick folder from the military's decade-long search for their son. They know now that a villager, scavaging scrap in the area, found their son's body later in 1970 and buried it under a simple marker. Searchers from the military's Joint Task Force-Full Accounting excavated Henderson Hill in 1992, but maddeningly, missed the grave and marker by just 200 yards. His remains were finally located in 1996, but the final identification wasn't complete until last December. "I kept saying, 'All I want for Christmas is to know something about my son,' " said Anna Teran. Tom Teran's return will be marked with a series of memorials around Metro Detroit: in his hometown of Westland; at the VFW post that adopted his cause and supported his family all those years; and at the POW/MIA memorial in Novi, which will add one more return date to the bronze plaque on National POW/MIA Recognition Day in September. Dozens of supporters also plan to join the family at the memorial ceremony in Arlington on April 19. "To me, it's surprising, after all these years, that so many people still remember," said Refugio Teran. "It does something for you. It gives you a little bit of comfort that all these people are there for you." ======== On 06 May 1970 Fire Support Base Henderson, about 9 nautical miles south-southwest of Camp Carroll, was occupied by elements of the 2nd Battalion, 501st Infantry, and the 2nd Battalion, 11th Artillery. FSB Henderson came under attack, first by heavy mortar fire, then assault by a North Vietnamese Army battalion. When Henderson was relieved 24 American servicemen were dead and two were missing. SP4 Refugio Teran of E Company 2/501st, was one of the MIAs; the other was PFC Larry G. Kier of A Company. As time progressed, both men were promoted in MIA status, and eventually were declared dead. On 13 June 1996 their remains were repatriated, and positive identification publicly announced on 28 Feb 2002. Most accounts of the fight at FSB Henderson say 32 Americans were killed in the action. There were 34 Americans killed in Quang Tri Province on 06 May - the 26 known to be at FSB Henderson, seven who died when two UH-1H helicopters collided, and a MACV Advisor. The last eight cannot be positively associated with the action at FSB Henderson. ===== FORMER MIAS LAID TO REST - Spc. Refugio Teran and Pfc. Larry Kier, both listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War 32 years ago, were laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery on April 19. Both soldiers were members of the 101st Airborne Division stationed at Fire Support Base Henderson in Quang Tri province in South Vietnam. When their base was overrun on May 6, 1970, only Teran and Kier were unaccounted for of the 32 Americans killed. Their bodies were discovered in 1993 and sent to the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii where they were identified. The families were informed on January 15, 2002. ==== VFW Post 9885 Cpl. Edward J. Bova-246th Engr. "C" Bn. Post 6440 Hix Rd Westland, MI 48185 ======= Anna Bertha Teran died 23 Dec 2002... mother of Enrique Ricardo aka Rick (Bonnie Marie - Canton, MI) Teran & Vilma (Morris) Llaguno === Enrique & Bonnie - 734-844-3219