DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Uncertainty clouds brother's death in Vietnam

Thirty-six years ago, on a cloudy November day, Liberty resident Tony Gutierrez opened the door to his family's home and saw an "olive drab '57 Chevy" parked out front. With his brother away in Vietnam, he felt a wave of fear.
"I recognized it right away. I knew this was not good news," he recalled. A first lieutenant and his driver brought him, his parents, six brothers and one sister, a telegram.
Sgt. Louis Sam Gutierrez was missing in action.
You might think that after nearly four decades, Tony would have laid his brother to rest. But he's been unable to, both figuratively, and literally. And right now, with the movie "We Were Soldiers" packing theaters, it's more difficult than ever.
Lack of information: Louis became an MIA, then a casualty, during the battle in the Ia Drang Valley featured in the Mel Gibson movie.
But the book upon which the movie is based, "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young" did not list Louis in its roster of those killed in action at LZ-Albany or LZ-Xray (Louis died at the former). When the book was published in 1993, it opened old wounds.
Too much confusion accompanied Louis' death to begin with. Small doubts became straws of hope -- things good brothers did not ignore. Information never came definitively; it trickled in.
In January, a telegram notified the family Louis's MIA status changed to KIA (killed in action). Then, a letter from Gen. William Westmoreland, written in response to Tony's personal inquiry, explained that Louis' body was ready to take to the mortuary when the detail came under attack and the bodies had to be "abandoned."
Eight months later, a closed casket arrived with Louis' supposed remains. An Army major recommended the Gutierrezes leave the casket closed. "'It will give you nightmares,' were his words," Tony recalled. And so, they didn't look at the contents.
Investigation: Twenty-nine years passed, during which Tony and his family enjoyed a sense of closure. But a television show was to change all that.
An ABC program described the battle at LZ-Albany. All bodies were sent home within a week, the documentary claimed. Old doubts surfaced.
Later, Tony requested the government documents -- the death file from Arlington, Va.. -- which verified his brother's death. The eyewitness testimonies seemed stilted to Tony, however.
So he checked the attached dental records taken from the body identified as that of Louis. The family dentist confirmed that at least the jaw and teeth did not match those of Tony's brother.
He questioned soldiers who were at LZ-Albany, trying to confirm what he probably already knew to be true. His confusion only mounted as a soldier insisted he tagged Louis and that his remains were removed immediately and shipped home. "Then someone else got them," Tony replied.
Tony doesn't doubt his brother is dead, or that he died Nov. 18, 1965, in the Ia Drang Valley. The return addresses on his letters confirm that Louis was attached to the 7th Division which fought there. "I'm 99.999 percent sure," he said.
In the name of love: Tony's search for closure has been a struggle more with love than with any conspiracy or incompetency theory.
Tears well in his eyes when asked why he cares if his brother's actual remains are ever returned after all this time or why it matters if a book identifies his brother as having been in the battle. Louis' name is on the Vietnam Memorial wall.
"It's my brother," he said, choking up. "He was there. If you lose your life in defense of your country, following your country's policy, it's something that shouldn't be forgotten."
"Many, many people will see the movie," Tony said. "And then they will read the book. I want them to know Louis Gutierrez was there."
Two other area soldiers lost their lives at Ia Drang along with Louis, Tony is quick to point out -- Robert G. Wright and Elwood W. Davis Jr.
murphy@vindy.com