Posted on: Monday, June 23, 2003

Hawai'i lab to examine Vietnam-era crash site

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

The remains of a Vietnam-era serviceman who has been missing since the crash of an A4E, and two servicemen missing since the crash of a B-57 bomber are among those that teams of Hawai'i-based military and civilian specialists hope to find during a mission to Laos beginning this week.

An investigation team and two recovery teams from the U.S. Army's Central Identification Laboratory, Joint Task Force i Full Accounting, and from the Defense Intelligence Agency's Joint Field Operating Base, Hawai'i, were scheduled to depart for Laos during the weekend.

The recovery teams will work with technicians from Laos to excavate the plane crash sites in Salavan province.

The 11-member investigation team will spend 35 days looking into 25 cases of missing servicemen in three provinces.

Since 1973, the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory has identified 766 American service members and civilians who died in operations associated with the Vietnam War.

More than 1,800 Americans are still missing or unaccounted for, and the military services are asking that family members from the mother's side of a missing serviceman's lineage contact them.

Recent technological developments involving mitochondrial DNA have significantly assisted technicians in identifying remains.

For Army members, the families should call (800) 892-2490. The number for the U.S. Air Force is (800) 531-5501. The Navy number is (800) 443-9298. For the Marine Corps, call (800) 847-1597.

If the missing person worked for the State Department, call (202) 647-6769.