Cambodia rids herself of remains of the invading communist Vietnamese soldiers

Fallen soldiers’ remains repatriated

Sunday, August 24, 2008
VNA (Hanoi)

Servicemen from Military Zone 7 in the south have repatriated 5,588 sets of remains of Vietnamese war combatants in Cambodia since they began in 2001.

A conference in Ho Chi Minh City Friday to review the search and repatriation operation reported that only 340 of the sets had been identified.

According to Military Zone 7, there has been seven search phases in 10 cities and provinces so far.

During the seventh phase in the 2007-08 dry season, search teams found 403 sets of remains from six provinces in Cambodia which were returned to Vietnam and buried in martyrs’ cemeteries in Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc and Long An provinces.

The search will continue in the 2008-09 dry season, the Military Zone 7 officers said.

Isle lab gets remains found in Cambodia

Sunday, March 2, 2008
Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The remains of a U.S. serviceman who died in Cambodia more than three decades ago arrived in Hawaii for forensic analysis.

The repatriation is the latest effort by the U.S. military to account for personnel who went missing in the Southeast Asian nation during the Vietnam War.

After a brief ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport yesterday, a U.S. military transport plane carrying the remains flew to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where the forensic identification process will begin, a U.S. Embassy statement said.

Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said the remains are believed to be those of a U.S. serviceman who died on Koh Tang, an island several miles off the coast of Cambodia's main port city of Sihanoukville. The embassy did not give further details about when the remains were found.

Eighteen U.S. Marines were killed fighting Khmer Rouge forces on Koh Tang in May 1975. Invading Marines fought for three hours trying to rescue the captured crew of the U.S. Merchant Marine vessel Mayaguez without knowing they had already been released by the Cambodian communists.

Mussomeli said cooperation with the Cambodian government has allowed the United States to send home and identify the remains of 29 missing American servicemen. Another 55 are still unaccounted for.

Repatriation of remains of missing American military service member

U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph A. Mussomeli, right, gives a speech as a U.S. military major Craig Tippins, left, stands at attention during a repatriation ceremony to honor remains believed to be associated with a missing American military service member at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, March. 1, 2008. Remains of an American military service man who died in Cambodia more than decades ago were flown Saturday to the United States for identification analysis. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
U.S. military personnel place U.S. flag over a coffin during a repatriation ceremony to honor remains believed to be associated with a missing American military service member at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, March. 1, 2008. Remains of an American military service man who died in Cambodia more than decades ago were flown Saturday to the United States for identification analysis. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
U.S. military personnel place U.S. flag over a coffin during a repatriation ceremony to honor remains believed to be associated with a missing American military service member at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, March. 1, 2008. Remains of an American military service man who died in Cambodia more than decades ago were flown Saturday to the United States for identification analysis. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
U.S. military personnel stand at attention by a flag-draped coffin containing what is believed to be the remains of a member of the U.S. military service, who went missing in Cambodia decades ago, during a repatriation ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport March 1, 2008. The remains will be flown to the U.S. for identification analysis. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea
U.S. military personnel carry a coffin during a repatriation ceremony to honor remains believed to be associated with a missing American military service member at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, March. 1, 2008. Remains of an American military service man who died in Cambodia more than decades ago were flown Saturday to the United States for identification analysis. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
U.S. military personnel carry a coffin during a repatriation ceremony to honor remains believed to be associated with a missing American military service member at Phnom Penh International Airport, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, March. 1, 2008. Remains of an American military service man who died in Cambodia more than decades ago were flown Saturday to the United States for identification analysis. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodia: Remains Of US Serviceman Flown From Cambodia For Identification

2008-03-01
AP

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: The remains of a U.S. serviceman who died in Cambodia more than three decades ago were flown Saturday (1 March) to the United States for forensic analysis.

The repatriation is the latest effort by the U.S. military to account for personnel who went missing in the Southeast Asian nation during the Vietnam War.

After a brief ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport, a U.S. military transport plane carrying the remains left for Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where the forensic identification process will begin, a U.S. Embassy statement said.

Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said the remains are believed to be those of a U.S. serviceman who died on Koh Tang, an island several kilometers (miles) off the coast of Cambodia's main port city of Sihanoukville. The embassy did give further details about when the remains were found.

Eighteen U.S. Marines were killed fighting Khmer Rouge forces on Koh Tang in May 1975. Invading Marines fought for three hours trying to rescue the captured crew of the U.S. merchant marine vessel Mayaguez without knowing they had already been released by the Cambodian communists.

Mussomeli said cooperation with the Cambodian government has allowed the U.S. to send home and identify the remains of 29 missing American servicemen. Another 55 are still unaccounted for.

US to Send Off Remains of Missing Serviceman

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
28 February 2008

The US will hold a ceremony Saturday to fly out the remains of an American serviceman missing in action since the Vietnam War and recently recovered, an embassy official said Thursday.

A US team found the remains during searches in Ratanakkiri province and Koh Tang, a US embassy statement said.

They will be flown to Hawaii and analyzed, the statement said.

"At this point, the search teams believe the remains are associated with one US serviceman," US Embassy spokesman Jeff Daigle said.

About 55 Americans remain unrecovered, he said, but Cambodian cooperation had allowed for the repatriation of the remains of 29 Americans.

Cooperative Cambodia Turns Over Possible US Soldier Remains

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, U.S. military personnel escort a coffin to a U.S. Air Force airplane destined for the U.S. at Phnom Penh International airport, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Remains believed to be those of an American soldier killed in Cambodia decades ago during the Vietnam War were flown Monday to the United States for forensic analysis. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Xia Lin)

Chiep Mony, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
17 September 2007

Cambodia's cooperation in searches for the remains of missing US soldiers is some of the best in the world, a US official said Monday, as officials set to turn over the remains of a possible missing US soldier from the conflicts of the 1970s.

The US has "missing in action," or MIA, search teams throughout the world, US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said, but no other country is as cooperative as Cambodia.

The embassy said the remains were discovered last week in Sihanoukville, the Associated Press reported.

The turnover of remains meant "the end of long and painful waiting of the MIA families," said Gen. Pol Sareoun, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces.

Fifty-five Americans remain unaccounted for in Cambodia, and more than 1,750 US soldiers remain listed as missing throughout Indochina, following the US war with Vietnam, AP reported.

Possible US Soldier's Remains Sent Home

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, U.S. military personnel escort a coffin to a U.S. Air Force airplane destined for the U.S. at Phnom Penh International airport, Monday, Sept. 17, 2007, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Remains believed to be those of an American soldier killed in Cambodia decades ago during the Vietnam War were flown Monday to the United States for forensic analysis. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Xia Lin)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Remains believed to be of an American soldier killed in Cambodia decades ago during the Vietnam War were flown Monday to the United States for forensic analysis.

After a brief ceremony at Phnom Penh International Airport, a U.S. military transport plane left with the coffin holding the remains for a military laboratory in Hawaii, where tests to determine identification are to be conducted.

According to a statement from the U.S. Embassy, 55 Americans are still unaccounted for in Cambodia. More 1,750 U.S. service members in total are still listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War.

The embassy said that the remains were discovered last week in Sihanoukville, a port city in southwestern Cambodia, during a field operation by a team from the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.

Each year, more than 700 U.S. specialists take part in MIA searches in the region, conducting archival and field research.

"It's very important to have this sort of ceremony so that the families and the friends of whoever this turns out to be can have some closure," U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli told reporters Monday.

Repatriation of the possible remains of a US Soldier

U.S. military personnel salute in front of a coffin during a repatriation ceremony at Phnom Penh International airport on September 17, 2007. Cambodia and the U.S. conducted a repatriation ceremony of the possible remains of an American who was recovered during joint investigation and recovery field activities conducted in Sihanoukville last week. REUTERS/Khem Sovannara

VN repatriates back over 10,000 dead VN soldier remains ... if only they can take back all those they brought with them to Cambodia also

23/08/2007
Over 10,000 soldiers' remains repatriated from Cambodia

The remains of 10,370 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who died on the battlefields in Cambodia were repatriated between 2001-2007, according to a report by the Military Zone 7's Politics Department.

At an August 22 conference, the department, given charge of repatriating soldiers' remains found in Cambodia, also reported that only 636 sets of the remains had been identified.

In the dry season of 2006-2007, 629 sets of remains were sent home from Cambodia, of which only 15 were identified.

The department said search teams had located another 661 graves in six Cambodian provinces.

Source: VNA

Remains of the agressors and invaders sent back home

25/07/2007
Southern province receives soldiers’ remains from Cambodia

A solemn ceremony was held on July 25 in the southern province of Tay Ninh to receive 72 sets of remains of its volunteer soldiers who died during the wars in Cambodia.

The remains were searched and collected in Kompong Cham, Siem Reap, Battambang and Meanchay provinces of Cambodia by two working groups coded K70 and K71 from the Military Zone 7. They were reburied at Martyrs’ Cemetery Hill 82 in Tan Bien District.

Since 2001, the province has received 2,125 sets of remains of volunteer soldiers from Cambodia.

Source: VNA

Vietnam repatriates back its "good" dead soldiers ... but left behind a few "bad" communists turned Buddhist monks it brought to Cambodia

04/07/2007
Remains of 247 Vietnamese soldiers repatriated

A total of 247 sets of remains of Vietnamese soldiers who died in battlefields in Cambodia have been repatriated for reburial in the southern province of Tay Ninh and the Mekong delta province of Kien Giang.

The figure included 48 sets of remains discovered by search teams of the Tay Ninh Province Military Command, bringing to 6,000 the total sets of remains of soldiers they have repatriated from Cambodia since 2001.

The remaining 199 sets of remains were found in Cambodia’s Kampot province by a search team from the Kien Giang Military Command.

A memorial service will be held on July 23 for the reburial ceremony at a cemetery in Kien Giang province's Ha Tien town.

So far, the Kien Giang Military Command search team has repatriated 1,116 sets of remains.

Source: VNA