Representatives from Vietnamese and US agencies at the ceremony. — Photo qdnd.vn

ĐÀ NẴNG — A ceremony to repatriate two sets of remains believed to be of US soldier listed as missing in action (MIA) from the war in Việt Nam was held at the Đà Nẵng International Airport in the central city of Đà Nẵng on April 16.

The ceremony, the 164th of its kind, saw the attendance of Deputy Defence Minister Hoàng Xuân Chiến, Assistant Foreign Minister Nguyễn Minh Vũ, representatives from the ministries of defence, foreign affairs and public security and the Việt Nam Office for Seeking Missing Persons (VNOSMP).

On the US side were US Ambassador to Việt Nam Marc E Knapper, US Defence Attaché to Việt Nam Thomas Bouchillon and representatives of the US MIA Office in Hà Nội.

The remains were found as the result of the 154th joint field activity which lasted from February to April 2024. Vietnamese forensic specialists examined the remains and determined that they might belong to US MIAs from the war in Việt Nam .

The joint efforts of the two governments to search and account for US MIAs since the late 1980s have to date identify over 720 US MIAs.

On this occasion, Deputy Defence Minister Chiến hosted a reception for US Ambassador Knapper, during which he highly appreciated the US' help for Việt Nam to overcome the consequences of war, including raising the budget for the dioxin detoxification project at Biên Hoà airport to US$300 million; supporting people with disabilities in localities affected by Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin; conducting mine clearance; and cooperating in searching for Vietnamese soldiers who died or went missing during the war.

He proposed that the two sides coordinate to early sign a memorandum of understanding on overcoming the consequences of war in Việt Nam .

Ambassador Knapper affirmed that the US Government is committed at the highest level to supporting Việt Nam in overcoming the consequences of war, especially in completely cleaning up dioxin contamination at Biên Hoà airbase and transferring DNA examination technology for identifying Vietnamese martyrs’ remains.

He also expressed a wish to work closely with Việt Nam to hold activities to mark the 30th anniversary of the normalisation of relations and establishment of diplomatic relationship between the US and Việt Nam (1995-2025), the 50th year since the end of the war in Việt Nam (1975-2025) and 80 years since the first contact between Việt Minh and the US (1945-2025). — VNS