Dan Heller 
Name: Harold William Kroske, Jr.
Memorials: Find a Grave 1 2 3 Vietnam Wall Wall of Faces
Rank/Branch: Major/USA
Unit: Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MAC-V) Studies and Observation Group (SOG)
Command and Control South (CCS) 5th Special Forces Group 1st Special Forces
Date of Birth: 20 July 1947 (Trenton NJ)
Home of Record: Trenton NJ
Date of Loss: 11 February 1969
Country of Loss: Cambodia
Loss Coordinates: 115923N 1063331E (XU697258)
Status in 1973: Missing in Action
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel In Incident: None
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: MACV-SOG, or Military Assistance Command Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, was joint service high command unconventional warfare task force engaged in highly classified operations throughout Southeast Asia. The 5th Special Forces channeled personnel into MACV-SOG (though it was not a Special Forces group) through Special Operations Augmentation (SOA), which provided their “cover” while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. These teams performed deep penetration missions of strategic reconnaissance and interdiction that were called, depending on the time frame, “Shining Brass,’ “Salem House,” “Daniel Boone” or “Prairie Fire” missions.
When North Vietnam began to increase its military strength in South Vietnam, NVA and Viet Cong troops again intruded on neutral Cambodia and Laos for sanctuary, as the Viet Minh had done during the war with the French some ears before. This border road was used by the Communists to transport weapons, supplies and troops from North Vietnam into South Vietnam, and was frequently no more than a path cut through the jungle covered mountains. US forces used all assets available to them to stop this flow of men and supplies from moving south into the war zone.
On 11 February 1969, then 1st Lt. Harold Kroske, team leader; SP4 Bryan O. Stockdale, assistant team leader; and 4 indigenous team members comprised a reconnaissance patrol that had been inserted by helicopter into Cambodia to locate, observe and report on NVA activity infiltrating through this region into the acknowledged war zone. The LZ was located in a generally flat and open region covered in elephant grass just east of a forested area. It was approximately 1½ miles north of the Cambodian/South Vietnamese border and 2½ miles east of QL 13, the primary northwest to southeast highway running through Cambodia into South Vietnam. It was also roughly 12 miles west of the Bu Dop Special Forces Camp.
After insertion, the team moved off the landing zone (LZ) toward their objective and made contact with five enemy soldiers. Harold Kroske killed several of the enemy along the trail and then motioned the point man, Diep Chan Sang, to follow him. As he did so, SP4 Stockdale established radio contact with the aircrew that had just inserted the team apprising them of the situation and requesting an emergency extraction. Suddenly another burst of gunfire erupted. Other team members watched as 1st Lt. Kroske dropped his weapon, grabbed his stomach, and fell to the ground.
SP4 Stockdale tried to reach his wounded team leader, but intense and accurate NVA gunfire prevented it. In an attempt to ascertain if Harold Kroske was alive, Bryan Stockdale called out his name several times from a distance of 20 feet, but received no response. The remaining team members were forced to break contact and withdraw from the area under heavy automatic weapons fire. Shortly thereafter, the rest of the team was successfully extracted. Due to the tactical situation, no search and rescue (SAR) mission was possible. At the time the other team members were rescued, Harold Kroske was reported as Missing in Action.
There is no question that Harold Kroske was wounded during this firefight, however, the severity of his wound was not known. If he died from it, he has a right to have his remains returned to his family, friends and country. However, if he survived, his fate like that of other Americans who remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, could be quite different. Either way there is no doubt the Vietnamese know the answers and could return him or his remains any time they had the desire to do so.
Since the end of the Vietnam War well over 21,000 reports of American prisoners, missing and otherwise unaccounted for have been received by our government. Many of these reports document LIVE American Prisoners of War remaining captive throughout Southeast Asia TODAY. Military men in Vietnam were called upon to fight in many dangerous circumstances, and they were prepared to be wounded. killed or captured. It probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly served.
