The possible remains of an American found recently in Sihanoukville of Cambodia were repatriated to the U. S. on Monday.
The possible remains were formally turned over to U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia Joseph A. Mussomeli by General Pol Saroeun, deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces ( RCAF) and chairman of the Cambodian POW/MIA Committee, in a joint repatriation ceremony held at the Phnom Penh International Airport.
During the ceremony, four U.S. soldiers escorted a coffin holding the possible remains to a U.S. Air Force airplane landing at the airport.
The U.S. and Cambodia found the remains last week in Sihanoukville in their joint investigation and recovery field activities to reclaim the Americans who were recorded as missing in Cambodia during the Vietnam War, a press release said.
The remains will be transported to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, where they will undergo extensive forensic and other analysis before positive conclusions can be drawn about individual identification, it added.
The current operation began on Aug. 15 and was conducted by an 18-person joint team with representatives from the Cambodian government and the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, the release said, adding that the joint team had searched for remains of U.S. personnel in Kampong Cham province and Sihanoukville of Cambodia.
It is believed that the remains of 55 unaccounted Americans are located in Cambodia, it said.
Source: Xinhua
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