A ceremony was held at Hanoi's Noi Bai international airport on Sept. 12 to repatriate the remains of US servicemen who died during the war in Vietnam.

US Ambassador Michael Michalak and representatives of the Vietnam Office of Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP) and the US Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) attended the ceremony.

This is the 111th hand-over of remains of missing American servicemen since 1973.

Vietnamese officials transferred two boxes of remains discovered during Vietnam’s unilateral excavation from June-July, 2009 and handed over by Vietnamese citizens.

Those remains have been jointly reviewed by Vietnamese and U.S. forensic specialists who concur that they might be associated with U.S. servicemen missing during the war in Vietnam and recommended they be sent to Hawaii, U.S., for further study.

Addressing the ceremony, a representative of the US government expressed thanks and appreciation for the Vietnamese government and people’s humanitarian policy, goodwill and efficient cooperation.