Lost for more than 20 years but never forgotten in the jungles and rice paddies of Southeast Asia, seven American servicemen are going home.
Their remains, draped in the Stars and Stripes, were loaded onto a U.S. military transport plane in the Vietnamese capital for a flight to Hawaii Tuesday. Pending final forensic testing, their identities have not yet been released.The men were the latest to be repatriated in Washington's ongoing search for answers to the fate of more than 1,500 servicemen still missing from the Vietnam War.
"No army, no navy, no military force has ever sought to account for its missing the way the United States has," Sen. John Kerry said before attending Tuesday's ceremony. "It's a great humanitarian act of closure."
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam vet, was instrumental in establishing the search teams.