United States holds 142nd repatriation ceremony

Thứ Năm, 14/12/2017, 20:35
The U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), in collaboration with the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP), held its 142nd Repatriation Ceremony on December 13, at Noi Bai International Airport. 

During the ceremony, Vietnam officially transferred custody of four cases of remains believed to be those of U.S. personnel missing from the Vietnam War to the United States.

At the ceremony.

DPAA and Vietnamese recovery teams located these remains during the 129th Joint Field Activity, which took place from October 29 to December 9, 2017, in northern provinces of Vietnam. Prior to the repatriation ceremony, a team of U.S. and Vietnamese forensic scientists examined the remains and recommended that they be transported to DPAA's laboratory in Hawaii for further testing.

U.S. Embassy Deputy Chief of Mission Caryn R. McClelland represented the U.S. Government in receiving custody of the remains. The U.S. military honor guard from DPAA then transferred the remains to a United States Air Force aircraft for repatriation to the United States. Ms. McClelland thanked the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the tireless commitment, dedication, and support of the combined efforts of U.S. and Vietnamese teams who continue to make progress in achieving the fullest possible accounting for U.S. personnel lost during the war.

"It's an honor to be here today standing side by side with the VNOSMP leadership to send our service members home," noted Ms. McCelland during the ceremony.

During the last search mission in Vietnam, 91 dedicated Americans and their Vietnamese partners excavated sites in Ha Tinh, Dien Bien, Nghe An, and Quang Ninh provinces; conducted terrestrial and underwater investigation and interviews in the provinces of Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa, Hoa Binh, Yen Bai, Lang Son, Dien Bien, Quang Ninh Provincial Waters, and Ho Chi Minh City. The mission, working in some of the most unforgiving terrain and weather conditions, successfully recovered four cases of remains during excavation to be further examined in DPAA's Laboratory in Hawaii.

Since 1985, U.S.-Vietnamese joint personnel accounting cooperation - through the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) Accounting Agency and its predecessors in coordination with the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons - led to the accounting of 720 Americans in Vietnam. There are 1,253 Americans still unaccounted-for in Vietnam from the war.

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