April 18, 2006
Vietnam War remains sent to U.S. for identification

Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam — Remains believed to be those of an American soldier killed during the Vietnam War were placed on a military transport plane in central Vietnam on Tuesday and sent back to the United States to be identified, an official said.

The aluminum case holding the remains was draped with American flags as uniformed soldiers carried it onto the plane at Danang International Airport, said Maj. Jay Rutter, deputy commander of the U.S. MIA office in Vietnam.

“We were happy and proud to be able to repatriate the remains with the cooperation of Vietnamese government,” Rutter said by telephone from Danang. “Both governments are cooperating very well, and without everybody working hard and cooperating we would not be able to do it.”


Rutter said the remains were recovered a month ago from Gia Lai province in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.

More than 1,800 servicemen are still unaccounted for throughout Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.

Over 1,380 are unaccounted for in Vietnam alone.

An estimated 58,000 Americans and 3 million Vietnamese were killed in the war.

Ellie