Honors will go to seven victims of Vietnam copter crash

Advertiser Staff

Seven American servicemen who died in a helicopter crash while on a mission to recover remains of U.S. soldiers missing in action from the Vietnam War will be honored this afternoon at Hickam Air Force Base.

The bodies of the MIA team members arrive in Hawai'i today, in flag-draped transfer cases aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport.

Earlier today, U.S. officials held a repatriation ceremony in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital.

"All these men are heroes. They gave their lives for something they believed in," U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson said.

The commander of Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, Brig. Gen. Harry B. Axso Jr. and a U.S. contingent were escorting the remains back to the United States.

An all-service honor guard will commemorate the arrival of the remains.

Following the Hickam ceremony, the remains will be taken to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory-Hawai'i for final identification and preparation of the remains to be turned over to family members.

The Americans, part of a task force headquartered at Camp H.M. Smith on O'ahu, were part of a 16-member team of U.S. servicemembers and Vietnamese preparing for a monthlong search for remains.

A helicopter carrying the team crashed near Thanh Tranh village in the province of Quang Binh, about 280 miles south of Hanoi.

Among those killed in the crash were Army Sgt. 1st Class Tommy James Murphy of Georgia, who lived in Honolulu and worked at the Central Identification Laboratory, and Air Force Master Sgt. Steven L. Moser of San Diego, a Vietnamese linguist who lived in Honolulu.

Also killed were the outgoing head of the MIA unit in Hanoi, Army Lt. Col. Rennie Cory Jr., 43, of Fayetteville, N.C.; Lt. Col. George D. "Marty" Martin III, 40, of Hopkins, S.C., who was to take Cory's post in July; Air Force Maj. Charles E. Lewis of Las Cruces, N.M.; Tech. Sgt. Robert M. Flynn of Huntsville, Ala.; and Navy Chief Petty Officer Pedro Juan Gonzalez of Buckeye, Ariz.