My beloved big brother and only sibling, Alan L. Boyer, dropped out of college his junior year to join the Army. He told our
parents he would come back to finish school, but now he wanted to enlist and service his country. He joined the Army, was selected for Special Forces, and within SF was part of MAC-V_SOG. Special Operations. He came to see me in October 1967 at the University of Montana, where I was a freshman - I had followed him there to school. Alan was listed as MIA March 28, 1968. The Army cautioned us not to talk about it, because it could harm him. We were led to believe he was a POW. We were not told any details or the location. We were active in the POW/MIA issue - traveling to Washington, D.C., to lobby our senators and representatives for additional funds to support this issue and to raise awareness. And still we prayed and waited for answers. My dad died during open heart surgery, and I told my mom, "Now Dad knows what happened." We were finally told years later that he was MIA in Laos - and that he was on a classified CIA mission. I took my mom to Laos when she was in her late 80s. I was blessed to have her for 93 years. The last word she said as she was dying, was Alan. I told my husband I would know when I died. Then in 2016, the Army called to tell me they had found a tiny bone shard that matched my DNA to his femur! Alan was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on June 22, 2016. The Department of Defense made a video with narration of Alan's funeral. It can be viewed on YouTube. I fly the American flag and the POW flag every day.