Vietnam returns remains of three US soldiers

Representatives from Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Personnel gave the remains to officials from the U.S. Embassy and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, local media reported.

The remains will be sent to the MIA command’s laboratory in Hawaii for analysis.

They were recovered during a joint exploration carried out with help from 76 American specialists and 200 Vietnamese people in the central provinces of Nghe An, Quang Binh and Thua Thien Hue.

The search for the remains of American troops is a humanitarian gesture by Vietnam, and this was the 147th occasion since 1973 it has returned them to the U.S. They include the handover of two soldiers’ remains last July and three last April.

Of more than 1,900 U.S. soldiers believed to be missing from the Vietnam War, the joint efforts have so far recovered the remains of 958, and 725 of them have been identified, officials said.