Ceremony held to repatriate remains believed to be of US servicemen

At the handover ceremony on Tuesday. VNA/VNS Photo

ĐÀ NẴNG – A ceremony was held at Đà Nẵng International Airport, the central city of the same name on Tuesday to repatriate four sets of remains believed to be of US soldiers missing in action (MIAs) during the war in Việt Nam.

The event, the 166th of its kind, saw the attendance of representatives from the Việt Nam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP), the ministries of Foreign Affairs, National Defence, and Public Security of Việt Nam, and the People’s Committee of Khánh Hoà Province. On the US side were US Ambassador to Việt Nam Marc E. Knapper, and representatives of the US MIA Office in Hà Nội.

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 coastal province of Khánh Hoà.

The remains were examined by Vietnamese and US forensic experts who concluded they might be associated with US servicemen missing during the war in Việt Nam.

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, Việt Nam has handed over to the US more than 1,000 sets of remains and helped the US identify over 730 MIAs.

The humanitarian activity is said to have contributed to healing the wounds of war, building trust and promoting the development of the Việt Nam-US ties. – VNS