Attending the ceremony, for the Vietnamese side, were representativesfrom the Board of Directors of Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Personnel(VNOSMP) and, for the US side, were Mary E. Tarnowka, US Consul General in HoChi Minh City, Colonel Tuan T. Ton, Defense Attache of the US Embassy in Hanoi,representatives of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the US MIA Officein Hanoi.
The Vietnamese side’s representative handed over to the US side two boxesof remains which were recovered by joint and unilateral excavation teams duringthe 131st Joint Field Activities from May to July, 2018.
The remains had been jointly reviewed and concluded by Vietnamese and USforensic specialists in Da Nang that they might be associated with the USservicemen missing during the war in Vietnam and were recommended to bring toHawaii, the US, for further review.
Addressing at the repatriation ceremony, the US Government’s representativeexpressed deep gratitude and high appreciation for the steadfast humanitarianpolicy, good-will, the full and the increasingly efficient cooperation of theVietnamese Government and people.
The seeking of the remains of US servicemen missing during the war inVietnam is humanitarian cooperation between the Vietnamese Government and the USGovernment. This is the 144th hand-over of American missingservicemen’s remains since 1973.-VNA