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SFC Alan Lee Boyer, Special Forces Green Beret

If you'd like to talk with one of the founders, please call Nick Parnello at 815-968-1040. 

Missing in Action in Laos, March 28, 1968

"Hey, Ma... I'm home!"

    Those are four little words that Dorothy and Charles Boyer never got to hear from their son.

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Click here for pictures of his funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. June 22, 2016.

 

Pictured above: Dorothy Boyer and her daughter, Judi Boyer Bouchard, at the Vietnow Headquarters with Alan's picture.

 

This is an email from Alan Boyer's sister, Judi Boyer Bouchard.

 

Dear Friends

 

It is with a grateful heart that I am writing to share news about my brother Alan. On March 7, the eve of what would have been Alan’s 70th birthday, the Army (Mr. Michael Mee) called with news: Remains were identified by DNA as Alan’s.

 

On March 16, 2 Army Special Forces soldiers, the Chief of Casualty operations Center for the Army (Mr. Mee) & 2 other Defense Department personnel (one was Gen. (Ret) Michael Linnington, Director Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), and the other Jack Kull, who while working for DPAA became a dear family friend)-5 total-- came to our home to give me the official report.

 

The remains had been given by 3 Lao Nationals (remains traders) to an activist in Laos who turned them in. The DNA match to the samples Mom & I gave many years ago were truly amazing. The lab said it is the strongest match they have seen yet! I received a thick report with many more details. I was also presented with Alan’s medals –including the Silver Star (3rd highest military decoration awarded) & Purple Heart. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors at a later date.

 

 

Thank you for your many years of support & prayers for Alan & my beloved Mom & Dad.

Now we all know.

 

 

I extend my heartfelt thanks for everyone who helped in this endeavor over the years- DPAA, The National League of POW/MIA families & Ann Mills-Griffiths & family members; the analysts, investigators, excavation teams, the JPAC team in Laos who greeted Dorothy & me when we “dropped in” on them in Vientiane, Laos in 2001; Johnie Webb & Dr. Tom Holland (who also graciously showed us around when we also showed up at the lab in Hawaii) Jack Kull for his friendship & support, Linda & Darrell Gilgan & members of VietNow.

 

I could go on and on. I sure I’ve missed some important names & agencies but I thank EVERYONE involved in the accounting effort over the years.

 

 

I will continue to do all I can to support the League of Families in their priority of achieving their longstanding objective --the fullest possible accounting-1)the missing man is returned alive; or 2)his remains recovered & identified; or 3) convincing evidence as to why neither is possible, in which case he will remain forever as unrecovered & all information that relates or may relate will be provided to the next-of- kin who will then have the certainty of knowing the US Government did its very best to bring him home to his family & our Nation. Please remember all the POW/MIAs who still remain unaccounted for. Their families still wait.

 

 

Sincerely,

Judi Boyer Bouchard

 

This is an email from Darrell and Linda Gilgan. Darrell is a Vietnam veteran and he and his wife Linda were best friends with Dorothy Boyer, Alan's mother.

 

Hello Everyone, 

 

Almost everyone in Rockford Charter Chapter VietNow, and VietNow in general, knew Dorothy Boyer as one of our most beloved and active associates. They also knew that Dorothy was an MIA Mom, and her family carried a special heartache. SFC Alan Lee Boyer, Army Special Forces, a Green Beret, went missing on 28 March 1968, while on a reconnaissance mission several miles inside Laos in Savannakhet Province, along with Sgts George R. Brown and Charles G. Huston and seven South Vietnamese soldiers, when they came under heavy enemy fire and requested extraction.

 

Because of rough terrain the helicopter couldn't land, and a rope ladder was extended. The seven ARVN were extracted, and Alan was starting to climb the rope ladder when it either caught on jungle foliage or was shot away, aborting the mission and stranding the three Americans. A subsequent search party two days later found no trace of them. 

 

Alan Boyer has been Missing in Action for nearly 48 years. He has now been found. Although some facts are still classified, what we do know is that the DNA from Alan's mother, Dorothy Boyer, and his sister, Judi Boyer Bouchard, which was given many years ago, is a perfect match with that found in the remains given by an "activist for peace" which she had obtained from 3 Lao Nationals, "remains traders". The remains are more than a mere tooth such as was found and ID'd as belonging to Sgt. Brown in 2001. Judi is convinced that the remains are definitely from Alan. 

 

Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors on June 22nd, 2016, at 1:00 PM. See Judi's original email below, also a photo of her with the five military personnel who came to her and and her husband Ron's home yesterday and a photo taken of Dorothy and Judi a few years back at a Rockford VietNow meeting in the hall named for Alan.

 

Alan's father, Charles "Chuck" Boyer, passed away in 1995. Alan's mother, and a second mother to many who knew her, Dorothy Boyer, passed away in 2013. We do not know the date of Alan's death; we probably never will. What we do know is that he is finally home. Welcome Home, Alan!

 

Take care everyone, and God Bless, Linda & Darrell 

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