George Joe Buck Eisenberger was an American Indian.

Name: George Joe Buck Eisenberger
Rank/Branch: E5/US Army
Unit: Company B, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry, 1st Infantry Division
Date of Birth: 02 March 1940
Home City of Record: Pawhuska OK
Date of Loss: 05 December 1965
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 112552N 1063324E (XT690473)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Other Personnel In Incident: Morris F. Dibble; Edward C. Opner; (both missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 October 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.

REMARKS: KIA GND COMB - REMS NOT LOC - J

SYNOPSIS: PFC Morris Dibble and SSgt. Edward C. Opner were squad members of a team lead by Sgt. George J. Eisenberger on a ground combat mission in Binh Duong
Province, South Vietnam on December 5, 1965.

The unit came under hostile fire from what was believed to be a Viet Cong encampment, and in the first burst of fire, the three men were mortally wounded.  When the unit was able to withdraw from the combat area, it was not possible to recover Dibble, Upner and Eisenberger.

When the enemy threat abated, the squad reentered the area in an attempt to find the bodies, but they were gone. It was generally believed that they were taken by the Viet Cong and probably buried, which was not at all an uncommon thing to do. (Veterans note that the Viet Cong also seemed to make it as hard as possible for the graves to be found).

The three members of Company B are listed among the dead, but because their bodies were not recovered, they are also listed among the missing. Witnesses felt certain that the three died on the day their unit was hit. Other
cases of the missing are not quite as clear, however. Many missing were known to have been alive at last point of contact. Some were photographed as POWs. Others even
wrote home from POW camps, never to be heard from again.

Since the war ended, thousands of reports have been received that have convinced many authorities that hundreds of Americans remain alive in captivity in Southeast Asia. Perhaps Upner, Eisenberger and Dibble are not among them. But one can imagine them proudly defending one last firebase for their freedom.

George Joe Buck Eisenberger was an American Indian.