Vietnam Turns Over Remains
HANOI — Vietnam turned over the possible remains of two U.S. servicemen Tuesday in the first repatriation of its kind since diplomatic ties were established two months ago.
A U.S. honor guard received the remains in a formal ceremony at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport. The soldiers placed two wooden boxes containing the remains into aluminum caskets and carried them aboard a waiting U.S.-bound C-141 Air Force jet.
Vietnam has now returned the remains of 207 possible Vietnam War dead to the United States since the two countries began regular, joint battlefield excavations in 1992.
The United States and Vietnam normalized relations Aug. 5. President Clinton said at the time that Vietnam had shown good cooperation in efforts to find remains of the 1,615 Americans still listed as missing in Vietnam from the war.
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