thedrifter
10-14-05, 05:54 AM
October 13, 2005
Vietnam War remains repatriated
Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam — Three sets of remains thought to be American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War were loaded Thursday aboard a U.S. military transport plane headed to Hawaii, where experts will try to identify them.
U.S. soldiers carried the remains, in aluminum transfer cases draped with American flags, onto a C-17 cargo plane at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.
The remains were recovered in the central Vietnamese provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Nghe An in July and August.
U.S. ambassador Michael Marine, other U.S. and Vietnamese officials and members of U.S. excavation teams attended a repatriation ceremony before the plane departed for an identification laboratory on the island of Oahu.
“Each ceremony is important because each ceremony represents an ongoing effort to provide answers for individual families in the United States,” Marine said.
He praised Hanoi for its efforts since the late 1980s to search for missing servicemen.
“I consider Vietnamese cooperation to be excellent, stellar in fact,” he said, but “there are obviously areas where we need to extend our work.”
Last year, the two countries reached an agreement to resume the search for missing U.S. servicemen in the country’s Central Highlands, which have been off-limits to most foreigners since a 2001 government crackdown on unrest there among ethnic minorities.
There are more than 1,800 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
An estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war.
Ellie
Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam — Three sets of remains thought to be American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War were loaded Thursday aboard a U.S. military transport plane headed to Hawaii, where experts will try to identify them.
U.S. soldiers carried the remains, in aluminum transfer cases draped with American flags, onto a C-17 cargo plane at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.
The remains were recovered in the central Vietnamese provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Nghe An in July and August.
U.S. ambassador Michael Marine, other U.S. and Vietnamese officials and members of U.S. excavation teams attended a repatriation ceremony before the plane departed for an identification laboratory on the island of Oahu.
“Each ceremony is important because each ceremony represents an ongoing effort to provide answers for individual families in the United States,” Marine said.
He praised Hanoi for its efforts since the late 1980s to search for missing servicemen.
“I consider Vietnamese cooperation to be excellent, stellar in fact,” he said, but “there are obviously areas where we need to extend our work.”
Last year, the two countries reached an agreement to resume the search for missing U.S. servicemen in the country’s Central Highlands, which have been off-limits to most foreigners since a 2001 government crackdown on unrest there among ethnic minorities.
There are more than 1,800 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
An estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war.
Ellie
Vietnam War remains repatriated
Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam — Three sets of remains thought to be American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War were loaded Thursday aboard a U.S. military transport plane headed to Hawaii, where experts will try to identify them.
U.S. soldiers carried the remains, in aluminum transfer cases draped with American flags, onto a C-17 cargo plane at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.
The remains were recovered in the central Vietnamese provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Nghe An in July and August.
U.S. ambassador Michael Marine, other U.S. and Vietnamese officials and members of U.S. excavation teams attended a repatriation ceremony before the plane departed for an identification laboratory on the island of Oahu.
“Each ceremony is important because each ceremony represents an ongoing effort to provide answers for individual families in the United States,” Marine said.
He praised Hanoi for its efforts since the late 1980s to search for missing servicemen.
“I consider Vietnamese cooperation to be excellent, stellar in fact,” he said, but “there are obviously areas where we need to extend our work.”
Last year, the two countries reached an agreement to resume the search for missing U.S. servicemen in the country’s Central Highlands, which have been off-limits to most foreigners since a 2001 government crackdown on unrest there among ethnic minorities.
There are more than 1,800 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
An estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war.
Ellie
Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam — Three sets of remains thought to be American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War were loaded Thursday aboard a U.S. military transport plane headed to Hawaii, where experts will try to identify them.
U.S. soldiers carried the remains, in aluminum transfer cases draped with American flags, onto a C-17 cargo plane at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.
The remains were recovered in the central Vietnamese provinces of Quang Tri, Quang Nam and Nghe An in July and August.
U.S. ambassador Michael Marine, other U.S. and Vietnamese officials and members of U.S. excavation teams attended a repatriation ceremony before the plane departed for an identification laboratory on the island of Oahu.
“Each ceremony is important because each ceremony represents an ongoing effort to provide answers for individual families in the United States,” Marine said.
He praised Hanoi for its efforts since the late 1980s to search for missing servicemen.
“I consider Vietnamese cooperation to be excellent, stellar in fact,” he said, but “there are obviously areas where we need to extend our work.”
Last year, the two countries reached an agreement to resume the search for missing U.S. servicemen in the country’s Central Highlands, which have been off-limits to most foreigners since a 2001 government crackdown on unrest there among ethnic minorities.
There are more than 1,800 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.
An estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war.
Ellie