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Remains Sent From Vietnam To Hawaii May Be Those Of U.S. Service Member

Vietnam has sent what analysts believe could be the remains of a member of the American military who died in the country during the Vietnam War. After a repatriation ceremony at the airport in Da Nang Sunday, the remains were sent to Hawaii for examination and possible identification.

One month ago, teams from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command traveled to Vietnam and Laos to search for U.S. service members who remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. It is the 110th Joint Field Activity to be conducted in Vietnam.

"Nearly 1,800 U.S. servicemen are still unaccounted for throughout Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975," according to an AP report from 2009, when remains suspected to belong to four U.S. servicemen were sent home. "Some 1,335 are unaccounted for in Vietnam alone."

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Bill Chappell is a writer and editor on the News Desk in the heart of NPR's newsroom in Washington, D.C.
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