PANO – The visiting Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Thanh Cung, Deputy Minister of National Defence, met with Mr. Montague Winfied, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Affairs (POW/MIA) in Washington DC on July 24th.
At the working session, the two sides agreed that since 1988, under an agreement signed by the Vietnamese and US Governments, the search for the remains of US servicemen who died or reported missing during the war in Vietnam has been promoted. Up to now, Vietnam handed over 952 boxes of remains of US servicemen which were recovered during their 115 joint field activities.
Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Thanh Cung (R) and Mr. Montague Winfied
In addition, since 1994, the US Department of Defence, organizations and war veterans have provided Vietnam with nearly 300 documents related to Vietnamese soldiers missing in action. This resulted in the finding of 948 sets of remains.
General Cung, who is also Deputy Head of the National Steering Board for the Search and Repatriation of Vietnamese Martyrs’ Remains, gave Mr. Montague Winfied 10 documents on mass graves of Vietnamese soldiers provided by American veterans or organizations which Vietnam have not found yet, and 10 other documents on cases of US servicemen missing in the war provided by Vietnamese war veterans.
Addressing the event, Mr. Montague Winfied praised the two sides’ achievements and efforts in searching and recovering the remains of US servicemen missing in the war.
Previously, at the meeting with Congressman Braley on July 23rd, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Thanh Cung handed over some documents on mass graves of Vietnamese soldiers, which need to be further verified.
During the visit to the USA, the Vietnamese delegation will meet with Head of the US National League of POW/MIA Families.
Translated by Pham Huy
Đăng ký: VietNam News