Michigan Woman Finally has Closure about Brother Who Never Made it Home from Vietnam

U.S. Air Force Capt.Douglas Ferguson is coming home from the Vietnam War

Sue Scott of Troy has been prodding, questioning and even traveling to Southeast Asia in the 44 years since his plane was shot down over Na Khang, Laos on Dec. 30, 1969, The Oakland Press reports.

Scott has known for several months that her only sibling’s remains had been found at a large crash site, but the Pentagon didn’t sign off on the information until just recently. It wasn’t the news she had been hoping for, but it did offer some closure after “searching for answers for more than 44 years,” she told the newspaper.

“Immediately when I got the final report from the Air Force … I felt a sense of peace,” she told the newspaper. “It’s kind of a roller coaster when you’ve worked on something for so long. It’s hard to let go of that little bitty flame of hope.”

Scott, who joined the National League of POW/MIA Families in 1970, as well as a Michigan POW group, said going through her brother’s photographs and other memorabilia “kind of brings him life.”

“It can be sad too because you kind of missed all of his life because he didn’t come back ­— it’s kind of bittersweet,” she said.

Ferguson, originally from Washington state, was a 1967 graduate of the Air Force Academy.  Scott will travel to Tacoma, WA, later this month to say goodbye to her brother. A service will be held May 2.