BARRY DANIEL MURPHY
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army Special Forces
Unit: Command & Control South, MACV-SOG, 5th
Date of Birth: 07 January 1947 (New York NY)
Home City of Record: Cutler Ridge FL
Date of Loss: 18 March 1969
Country of Loss: Cambodia
Loss Coordinates: 124059N 108329E (XT441912)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 1410
Source: Compiled 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 in 1998.
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS: In Vietnam, SP4 Barry D. Murphy was
assigned through Special Operations Augmentation
from his regular unit in 5th Special Forces to
Command & Control South, MACV-SOG.
MACV-SOG (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam
Studies and Observation Group), was a 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 (although it was not a
Special Forces group) through Special Operations
Augmentation (SOA), which provided their "cover"
while under secret orders to MACV-SOG. The teams
performed deep penetration missions of strategic
reconnaissance and interdiction which were called,
depending on the time frame, "Shining Brass" or
"Prairie Fire" missions.
On March 18, SP4 Murphy was serving as the
assistant team leader of a 10 man team which had
been inserted by helicopter on a reconnaissance
mission in Kampong Cham Province, located in
south central Cambodia. Soon after leaving the
helicopter and moving on to the objective, the
team was ambushed by an unknown size enemy force.
During the ensuing fire fight, Murphy was hit
several times from small arms fire and died.
Three other team members were killed before the
helicopter could extract the survivors. Because of
enemy fire, all remains were left behind.
Subsequent air search for the remains failed to
There are several discrepancies in the case of
Barry D. Murphy. First of all, even though the
U.S. Army indicates that four team members'
remains were lost in the fire fight and not
recovered, only Murphy is missing from the action.
Further, Defense Department lists indicate that
the coordinates of loss for Murphy are located at
Ban Me Thuot, South Vietnam, some 110 miles from
the closest province border point of Kampong Cham
Province, Cambodia, and about 35 miles from the
closest border point of Cambodia itself.
It is not surprising, because of the nature of the
missions conducted by MACV-SOG, that some earlier
records were distorted to conceal the location of
Murphy's loss. It is also quite possible that the
Murphy's Army casualty file does not contain all
the after action reports and could be missing one
which indicates the recovery of the three other
personnel lost the same day.
After all, Murphy was said to be dead, and there
would be no pressing need to track each report as
dilligently as if he were thought to have survived.
In 1988, the communist government of Cambodia
announced that it had several sets of U.S. remains
it would like to return to the U.S. (In fact, the
number of remains exceeds the number officially
listed as missing in that country.) Because the
United States has no diplomatic relations with
Cambodia, no formal reply was given.
Despite the efforts of several concerned U.S.
Congressmen, diplomatic pandering has prevented
the remains of those said to be U.S. servicemen
from being returned home. SP4 Murphy could be one
of them. The only fitting tribute he can be paid
is to be buried in the soil of his homeland.
More tragic still is the horror that hundreds of
Americans may be still alive in captivity. After
examination of thousands of classified documents
relating to the missing in Southeast Asia, many
Congressmen and other government officials were
forced to conclude that Americans had been left
behind, and that they were still alive today.
There can be no honorable end to the Vietnam war
until all our men are home.
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