Re: Remains Repatriated from Cambodia

Date: February 16, 2004

"Vietnam War Remains Leave Cambodia for U.S.

By Ed Cropley

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - The United States on Monday repatriated some human remains found in the Cambodian jungle -- probably from a U.S. serviceman shot down in a helicopter over 30 years ago during the war in neighboring Vietnam.

At a solemn ceremony in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, an honor guard loaded the parts -- in a stainless steel coffin draped in the stars and stripes flag -- into a military plane to be taken to Hawaii for forensic and DNA analysis.

According to the U.S. military, 1,870 Americans are still listed as "Missing in Action," or "MIA," in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and China from the anti-Communist war in southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s.

Most of these cases are in Vietnam, but 55 are listed as disappearing on Cambodian soil.

America never declared war on Cambodia, but its planes secretly bombed Laos and the eastern stretches of the country to try and sever the jungle supply lines of the North Vietnamese -- the so-called Ho Chi Minh trail.

The return of the remains, which will take up to a year to identify for sure, marks a job well done for the joint U.S.-Cambodian recovery team which has spent the last three weeks excavating the crash site in the remote jungle of Mondolkiri.

"This has been a success," said team leader Captain Chris Tarrant from Florida. "We were able to identify the site from one of the aircraft engines, so we know we were in the right place."

More details of the crash -- its time and date and name of the victim -- cannot be released until final identification of the remains to protect relatives.

For Charles Ray, America's ambassador to Cambodia who served two tours of military duty in Vietnam, the annual MIA searches and repatriation of remains is a personal as well as professional duty.

"I served with these guys," Ray told Reuters.

"At a time when our country continues to send its sons and daughters to the far corners of the earth, our gathering today serves as a poignant reminder that their sacrifices in protecting our nation's interests and the cause of peace are not forgotten."

In all, three million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans died in the war. The remains of some 708 missing Americans have been recovered so far.

© Reuters 2004"