US Ambassador Jennifer Wicks addressed reporters at the roundtable on August 28. — VNS Photo Trọng Kiên

HÀ NỘI — The United States is prepared to provide technology, resources and access to archival information to support Việt Nam’s efforts to locate, recover and identify the remains of soldiers missing from the war, US Ambassador Jennifer Wicks said, stressing that accounting for the war dead remains a key pillar of the two countries’ reconciliation efforts.

Speaking at a media roundtable in Hà Nội on Friday, Wicks said cooperation on war legacy issues is an important component of her priorities in Việt Nam, in response to Việt Nam News' question over the directions for cooperation between the two sides in wartime dead accounting as Việt Nam is in the middle of the 500-day campaign to search, recover and identify its martyrs.

Ambassador Wicks said before taking up her post in Việt Nam, she had discussed the issue of efforts to account for wartime missing personnel on both sides with senior US government officials in both the executive branch and Congress and found that this was "an issue of interest and priority across the board."

She also referred to her conversations with Vietnamese Government leaders since arriving in Hà Nội, saying they had likewise stressed the importance of the initiative.

“I said, ‘You have my buy-in, and you have my partnership, and the United States will do what it can’” to support efforts to find those still unaccounted for, she said.

The ambassador noted that US government agencies, including the Department of War, had committed to providing resources and technology, adding that universities and the private sector could also contribute.

She cited the work of Texas Tech University, whose Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive has been involved in preserving, decoding and making wartime records available to Vietnamese researchers and families seeking information about missing soldiers.

Wicks said her commitment to the issue had been reinforced by her participation in Việt Nam’s commemorative activities for War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day (July 27).

Earlier, the new US ambassador has attended the “Sao sáng dẫn đường” (Guiding Stars) event marking the 79th anniversary of Việt Nam War Invalids and Martyrs’ Day. The event was held simultaneously at four locations, with Wicks attending the ceremony in Hà Nội at the invitation of the Vietnamese Government.

Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà later thanked Wicks for attending the event and for her subsequent visit to the central province of Quảng Trị, where she and provincial officials observed a minute of silence and offered incense in memory of fallen soldiers in Quảng Trị Citadel, a former fierce battlefield in the war against the US aggression.

The delegation also learned about artefacts displayed at the historic site and was briefed on the province’s efforts to address the consequences of war, including bomb and mine clearance and the preservation of war-related historical sites.

Ambassador Wicks said the event allowed her to witness first-hand the significance of identifying those who had remained missing for decades.

“I observed firsthand the power and the impact of knowing more about your loved one that's been missing,” she said.

“I witnessed a number of families learning information, and I think this is something that cannot be understated. The personal impact that this endeavour has is very important.”

Her remarks come as Việt Nam is conducting a nationwide 500-day campaign to accelerate the search, recovery and identification of martyrs’ remains.

According to Vietnamese authorities, more than 175,000 fallen soldiers’ remains have yet to be located, while more than 300,000 graves contain remains whose identities have not been established. The campaign, launched on March 15, 2026, seeks to recover about 7,000 sets of remains, complete DNA sampling at unidentified graves and analyse around 18,000 samples, alongside the development of a national genetic database of martyrs and their relatives.

On the US side, 1,565 American service members remain unaccounted for from the war in Việt Nam, including over 1,200 cases in Việt Nam, with the rest in Cambodia, Laos, and China, according to the US Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA).

More than 1,000 MIA cases have been repatriated and identified since the war ended, according to DPAA figures. The agency says more than 400 of the remaining cases in Việt Nam are considered “non-recoverable”, meaning investigators have concluded that the individuals died but believe their remains cannot currently be recovered. — VNS