A ceremony took place on Oct 16 in Danang to repatriate four sets of remains of US servicemen missing in action during the war in Vietnam.

The 155th repatriation ceremony held in Gia Lam Airport, Hanoi in July 2021. Photo: US Embassy in Hanoi

This is the 156th handover of remains of US missing servicemen since 1973.

Representatives of the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP), the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) Office in Hanoi attended the repatriation ceremony.

The sets of remains were found by joint search teams during the 138th and 143rd Joint Field Activity conducted from April 2020 to July 2021.

These remains will be transferred to the DPAA Laboratory in Hawaii for further analysis and identification.

Vietnam and the US have cooperated for over 30 years to fully account for those Americans still missing from the war in Vietnam. Thanks to good cooperation, 733 Americans have been accounted for, upholding the promise that those missing in action are never forgotten.

According to DPAA, there remain 1,240 Americans still unaccounted for in Vietnam.

Each Joint Field Activity (JFA) involves approximately 95 US personnel plus their Vietnamese counterparts. Together, they work on investigations and excavations throughout the country for a period of approximately 30 days per JFA.

US POW/MIA investigators rotate into Hanoi on a continuous basis to pursue leads associated with the remaining 1,240 Americans still unaccounted for in Vietnam.

A research effort continues in Vietnam’s Ministry of National Defence's central archives. Since May 2012, Vietnam has turned over policy, strategic, and tactical level archival documents regarding unaccounted for Americans.

In addition to the interviews conducted during JFAs, US and Vietnamese investigators have conducted nearly 300 oral history interviews of former and current Vietnamese government and military officials. This program is ongoing, said DPAA.