MAX14_2001-09-14

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Minnesota native, last man to leave Vietnam, feared dead at Pentagon

By Doug Grow, Star Tribune

Last update: September 13, 2001 - 11:00 PM

It's feared that the last U.S. combat soldier to leave Vietnam is buried in the rubble of the Pentagon.

Family members of retired Master Sgt. Max Beilke have been told by officials that Beilke, who grew up on a farm near Alexandria, Minn., is missing and presumed among those killed by Tuesday's terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

Beilke officially was listed by the Army as the last combat soldier to leave Saigon on March 29, 1973, after the truce, though the dramatic fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese army and the evacuation of the U.S Embassy did not occur until April 29, 1975.

"We could see him leaving on television," recalled Beilke's sister, Lucille Johnson, who lives in Evansville, Minn. "We all just beamed because we knew he'd soon be home safely. We saw him land in California. There were all sorts of photographers and reporters there.

"When he saw them he said, 'I'm sorry, I don't have time to talk. I have to get home to Minnesota.'"

Amid sobs and prayers, family members have been talking since the terrorist attack of the awful irony: The last soldier to leave that war is feared dead, killed while at his office job at the Pentagon where he worked on veterans' issues.

Beilke, 69, graduated from Alexandria High School in 1950, according to his sister. The kid who'd always had a fishing pole in his hand joined the Army and he saw the world. He met his wife, Lisa, in Germany. They have three grown children and five grandchildren and live in Maryland.

Every day he was at his office, Max called his wife at precisely 10 a.m. "just to see that she was OK," Johnson said.

"I turned on the television [Tuesday]," Johnson said. "I called Lisa. It was after 10 and I said, 'Have you heard from Max?' He hadn't checked in, but we thought maybe it was just because of all the turmoil. But at 6:30, we hadn't heard anything. And the next morning we still hadn't heard anything.

"A general came to see Lisa [on Wednesday] and told her he'd been to hospitals but he couldn't find Max," Johnson continued. "We knew then -- but we still pray for a miracle."

Family members are used to praying for the old soldier. Never were those prayers so fervent as in the final days of the Vietnam War.

An Associated Press account of his departure from Saigon read: "At a 20-minute stand-down ceremony at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut air base, departing commander Gen. Frederick C. Weyand said U.S. forces had accomplished their mission to prevent a Communist takeover by 'raw military force.' ...

"Officially last [to leave] was Master Sgt. Max Beilke of Alexandria, Minn. ... Just before [Beilke] got on, North Vietnamese Lt. Col. Bui Tin walked up, put out his right hand and said, 'Peace.' Bui Tin handed Beilke a rattan table mat bearing a painted pagoda scene."

Johnson said now they pray that Beilke is identified soon.

"We're praying again for Max," she said. "It's so awful, but it isn't only our family, it's hundreds and hundreds of families going through this. God has been busy listening to all those prayers that are going up."

-- Doug Grow is at dgrow@startribune.com .