SSgt. Andrew T. Brassfield
Rank/Branch: E6/US Army Special Forces
Unit: CCN/MACV-SOG, 5th Special Forces Group
Birthday: 04 February 1937 (St. Louis MO)
Home City of Record: Sylvania OH
Date Lost: 06 April 1970
Country Lost: Laos
Status(in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
MACV-SOG 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 personnel 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 Prairie Fire missions.
On April 6, 1970, SSgt. Brassfield was operating in Laos with a team known as Reconnaissance Team Missouri on an intelligence gathering mission. The team was operating about 5 miles inside Laos east of Muong Nong in Savannakhet Province.
As the team stopped for a rest, it came under heavy enemy fire. In attempting to gain better cover, Brassfield was fatally wounded. The remaining team members were unable to recover his body because they had all been injured and were unable to carry him while trying to break contact with the enemy.