Ceremony held to repatriate remains believed to be of US servicemen
A ceremony was held at Da Nang International Airport, the central city of the same name on July 16 to repatriate four sets of remains believed to be of US soldiers missing in action (MIAs) during the war in Vietnam.
The event, the 166th of its kind, saw the attendance of representatives from the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP), the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and Public Security of Vietnam, and the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province. On the US side were US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc E. Knapper, and representatives of the US MIA Office in Hanoi.
The VNOSMP handed over the sets of remains to the US side. The remains were recovered during the 155th joint field activities that took place from May to July this year in the central province of Khanh Hoa.
The remains were examined by Vietnamese and US forensic experts who concluded they might be associated with US servicemen missing during the war in Vietnam.
Cooperation in searching for and repatriating remains of US MIAs has been carried out as soon as the Paris Peace Accords was signed on January 27, 1973. Over the past more than 50 years, Vietnam has handed over to the US more than 1,000 sets of remains and helped the US identify over 730 MIAs. The humanitarian activity has contributed to healing the wounds of war, building trust and promoting the development of the Vietnam-US ties.
