News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Vietnamese Embassy - US

Date: April 10, 2001

Pain and loss knows no color, religion, border or language. Nine Vietnamese lost their lives in the search for American unaccounted-for personnel. Nine people with families and friends who must now carry on without them. Although 300,000 Vietnamese remain unaccounted-for from the Second Indochina war, these 9 people chose to assist the US in her search for answers and closure. Their sacrifice will be remembered.

For those of you who wish to send their condolences to the Vietnamese Embassy, their address is:

Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States of America
1233 20th St. NW, Suite 400 - Washington, DC 20036
tel. 202.861.0737
ax 202.861.0917
info@vietnamembassy-usa.org

News Story:

"Vietnam, US Mourn 8 From Chopper

by TINI TRAN Associated Press Writer


HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Officials and relatives paid grief-stricken final farewells Tuesday to eight Vietnamese killed in the crash of a helicopter carrying a team searching for Americans still missing from the Vietnam War.

The eight military officers were among nine Vietnamese and seven Americans who died in the crash Saturday while preparing for excavations in the search for 1,992 Americans still listed as missing in action.

''It's with great sorrow that I'm here,'' U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson told the memorial service. ''We deeply share the loss of our Vietnamese friends who perished, and feel their loss as deeply as we feel our own.''

Eight flag-draped coffins were laid in a row in a giant hall at a military airport on the outskirts of Hanoi that was frequently bombed by American planes during the war.

Dressed in white smocks with traditional mourning bands tied around their heads, weeping family members and friends filed through the hall as wails of grief punctuated the incense-filled room.

A separate memorial service was to be held Tuesday for Nguyen Thanh Ha, deputy director of Vietnam's MIA search group, known as the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons.

The bodies of the seven Americans were to be flown to Hawaii later in the week.

The Russian-made MI-17 helicopter crashed Saturday into a fog-covered mountainside in central Quang Binh province, just outside the village of Thanh Trach, about 250 miles south of Hanoi. The cause of the crash has still not been determined.

Among the Americans killed was Lt. Col. George D. ''Marty'' Martin III, 40, of Hopkins, S.C., who was to take over command of the Hanoi detachment of the Hawaii-based MIA task force in July.

The other American victims were the unit's current commander, Army Lt. Col. Rennie Cory Jr., 43, of Fayetteville, N.C., Air Force Maj. Charles E. Lewis of Las Cruces, N.M.; Master Sgt. Steven L. Moser of San Diego; Tech. Sgt. Robert M. Flynn of Huntsville, Ala.; Navy Chief Petty Officer Pedro Juan Gonzalez of Buckeye, Ariz; and Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy James Murphy. Murphy was from Georgia but his hometown was unavailable.

The United States spends up to $6 million each year conducting MIA searches.

Since 1973, the remains of 591 American service members formerly listed as unaccounted for have been identified and returned to their families. There are 1,498 Americans still unaccounted for in Vietnam.

Saturday's fatalities were the task force's first in nine years of operation."