U.S. Ambassador to attend 12 September Repatriation Ceremony in Hanoi

September 9, 2009

Detachment Two, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), in conjunction with the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP), will hold the 111th repatriation ceremony at 10:00 AM Saturday, 12 September 2009 at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.  United States Ambassador Michael Michalak will attend the ceremony, during which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam will transfer to U.S. custody remains believed to be those of Americans who died during the war in Vietnam.   The remains to be repatriated include those recovered by a Vietnamese excavation team in central Vietnam, as well as remains turned over by Vietnamese citizens.  This will be the 111th post-war repatriation of U.S. remains from Vietnam.

Along with Ambassador Michalak, the Detachment Two Commander, U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Todd G. Emoto, will represent the United States Government in receiving custody of the remains.  The U.S. military honor guard from JPAC will transfer the remains to a United States Air Force KC-135 aircraft for repatriation to the United States.

During a recently-concluded unilateral excavation, a Vietnamese team recovered possible U.S. remains from one site in central Vietnam.  Additionally, U.S. and Vietnamese forensic specialists examined remains found by Vietnamese citizens in central Vietnam and concluded they could be those of missing U.S. personnel. 

To date, 909 Americans have been identified since 1973 -- 645 from Vietnam, 230 from Laos, 31 from Cambodia, and three from China.  There are 1,737 Americans still unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War, including 1,332 in Vietnam.  Seeking the fullest possible accounting of Americans is a matter of the highest national priority for the United States.  The U.S. welcomes and appreciates the cooperation and assistance of the Vietnamese government in both past and future investigations and recovery operations.

Reporters are invited to the Repatriation Ceremony.  They should register their names with agencies they represent and passport number or identity card number with relevant Vietnamese authorities, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Noi Bai Airport Authority.