Re: Four US Remains Repatriated from VN

Date: January 14, 2004

"Remains of four U.S. servicemen leave Vietnam

HANOI, Jan 14 (Reuters) - The remains of four U.S. servicemen killed in the Vietnam War were flown out on Wednesday, the first repatriation this year in an ongoing programme to recover those lost during the conflict that ended nearly 30 years ago.


Placed in metal cases, each draped with the American flag, the remains were loaded onto a U.S. military transport plane.

The remains are expected to be taken to Hawaii for forensic identification, after which families will be notified.

There are more than 1,800 American troops still officially posted missing from the war that ended in 1975. About 300,000 Vietnamese are missing from the conflict.

Since the end of the war, America has sent home more than 700 sets of remains, many painstakingly excavated from deep jungles, hillsides and paddy fields in missions that yield small bits of evidence such as bone and metal fragments.

Washington and Hanoi have pledged to step up cooperation to find those Missing in Action on both sides, with U.S. researchers recently being given access to Vietnamese wartime records.

American war veterans have also been handing over documentation -- including dogtags and other personal memorabilia -- to their counterparts for recovery of Vietnamese MIA.

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