Vietnam returns missing US soldier's remains

By Huyen Le September 24, 2020 | 07:05 pm PT

The remains of a U.S. soldier in a flag-draped coffin at a repatriation ceremony in Hanoi, September 24, 2020. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Vietnam has returned a set of remains suspected to belong to a missing American soldier from the Vietnam War to the U.S.

A repatriation ceremony was held at the Military Forensic Institute in Hanoi Thursday, according to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The remains were found during a routine search between July and September, it added.

The remains have been examined by Vietnamese forensic experts who said they could be related to U.S. soldiers. The remains will be transferred to the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency's laboratory in Hawaii for further tests.

The search for missing U.S. soldiers' remains from the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975, has been an ongoing humanitarian activity by Vietnam since 1988.

Scores of soldiers' remains have been repatriated since 1973.

An estimated 1,200 Americans are still unaccounted for.