Viet Nam hands over remains of Australian servicemen
HA NOI Ñ The remains of two Australian soldiers missing-in-action during the Viet Nam War were handed over yesterday at Noi Bai Airport.
The servicemen were Lance Corporal Richard Parker and Private Peter Gillson.
Attending the handover were Vietnamese and Australian officials, including the Australian Defence Attache to Viet Nam, Captain John Griffith of the Royal Australian Navy; members of an Australian Government forensic team, Michael Growder; First Secretary of the Political-Economic Section of the Australian Embassy in Ha Noi.
Captain Griffith thanked Viet NamÕs Government, in particular the Missing In Action Department at the Ministry of National Defence, and Vietnamese Army veterans from Dong Nai Province for helping in the search for and recovering the remains.
In April, Operations Aussies Home (an Australian veterans group) and the Australian GovernmentÕs Missing In Action search teams, with the assistance of Dong Nai Provincial officials and Vietnamese Army veterans, discovered the remains of the two Australian servicemen at Tri An Commune, Vinh Cuu District in Dong Nai Province.
The remains of the two servicemen wil be flown back to Australia on Monday after a Repatriation Ceremony at Noi Bai Airport. Ñ VNS
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Vietnam hands over Australian soldiersÕ remains
The remains of two Australian soldiers missing in action during the American-allied war campaign in Vietnam were handed over to the Australian authorities at HanoiÕs Noi Bai Airport Friday.
They will be flown back to Australia on June 4. The servicemen, identified as Lance Corporal Richard Parker and Private Peter Gillson, were killed during fighting in the what was then Bien Hoa Province in 1965.
They were discovered in April during a mission carried out by an Australian veteran group, Operation Aussies Home, and the Australian governmentÕs MIA search teams in the southern province of Dong Nai.
Operation Aussies Home, established in Victoria by Vietnam war veteran Jim Bourke, is searching for the bodies of four other Australians listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War.
Ground-penetrating radar has been used during the searches.
Minister Assisting the Minister for Defense Bruce Billson said in April that he appreciated the assistance and cooperation of Vietnamese authorities during the searches.
Source: TTXVN