SHIMEK, SAMUEL DALE

Name: Samuel Dale Shimek
Rank/Branch: E4/US Army
Unit: Company A, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division
Date of Birth: 03 November 1947
Home City of Record: Uniontown PA
Date of Loss: 09 December 1968
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 113659N 1063245E (XT687848)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1338
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: On December 9, 1968, SP4 Samuel D. Shimek was taking part in a
company-sized operation in Binh Long Province, South Vietnam when his unit
engaged a superior enemy force. Members of the unit stated that they had
seem SP4 Shimek hit by either a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) or a hand
grenade, which caused the M79 rounds that he was carrying to explode. As the
company's position became untenable, SP4 Shimek's body was left behind.

A recovery mission returned to the area, but the body could not be found. A
source observed the remains of a large foot in that vicinity which local
inhabitants claimed was an American foot. This potentially correlates to
Shimek.

Witnesses believe that Samuel D. Shimek was killed on December 9, 1968.
Others who are missing do not have such clear-cut cases. Some were known
captives; some were photographed as they were led by their guards. Some were
in radio contact with search teams, while others simply disappeared.

Since the war ended, over 250,000 interviews have been conducted with those
who claim to know about Americans still alive in Southeast Asia, and several
million documents have been studied. U.S. Government experts cannot seem to
agree whether Americans are there alive or not. Detractors say it would be
far too politically difficult to bring the men they believe to be alive
home, and the U.S. is content to negotiate for remains.

Well over 1000 first-hand, eye-witness reports of American prisoners still
alive in Southeast Asia have been received by 1990. Most of them are still
classified. If, as the U.S. seems to believe, the men are all dead, why the
secrecy after so many years? If the men are alive, why are they not home?

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