U.S. service planned for 7 killed in Vietnam crash

A Vietnamese security police officer guards the wreckage of a Russian-made helicopter that crashed Saturday in Vietnam

HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) -- The remains of seven active duty U.S. military personnel who were among 16 people killed Saturday when their helicopter crashed into a mountain in central Vietnam will be repatriated in a service on Friday. (See map locating crash.)

"During this ceremony the U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Douglas "Pete" Peterson and General (Harry) Axson (Jr.) will honor the servicemen killed," Lt. Col. Franklin Childress with the Joint Task Force - Full Accounting told a news conference Tuesday.

Axson, commander of Joint Task force - Full Accounting, will travel to Vietnam with a 12-member joint honor guard and will escort the remains of the servicemen back to United States. A ceremony will be held later Friday when the bodies arrive back in Hawaii, said Childress.

The servicemen were part of a mission to find the remains of nearly 2,000 Americans still missing in Southeast Asia more than a quarter of a century after the conflict there ended.

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The seven Americans and nine Vietnamese aboard the helicopter were doing advance work for the U.S.-Vietnamese effort.

One of the men aboard the helicopter, Sgt. Tommy James Murphy, was mortuary affairs specialist assigned to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory at Hickham Air Force Base in Hawaii. The lab is responsible for identifying remains discovered on the mission.

Murphy's colleagues now face the emotional task of identifying his remains.

"Every member of our organization said Sgt. Murphy is one of ours," said Johnie Webb, the lab's deputy director. "The individuals from Joint Task Force-Full Accounting were very close friends. We were comrades and we want to take care of our own."

Since 1973, when American forces were withdrawn from the war effort, the remains of 603 Americans have been accounted for.

More than 500 sets of remains have been recovered by the task force, which was set up in 1992.

Despite the accident, Childress said, "This mission will continue and it's a commitment of the nation to bring back those who were lost in the war."

U.S. victims of Vietnam crash named
April 9, 2001
MIA searches to continue despite Vietnam crash, U.S. says
April 8, 2001
Vietnam crash kills 16, Pentagon says
April 7, 2001

National League of POW/MIA Families
Federal Research Division --- POW/MIA Home Page
Vietnam veterans home page
Vietnam veterans of America

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