[Vision2020] U.S. Soldiers MIA from Vietnam War Identified

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense at:

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13442

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U.S. Soldiers MIA from Vietnam War Identified

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today
that the remains of four U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the
Vietnam War, have been identified and returned to their families for
burial with full military honors.

A group burial for U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer Kenneth L. Stancil,
Chattanooga, Tenn.; Chief Warrant Officer Jesse D. Phelps, Boise, Idaho;
Spc. Thomas Rice, Jr., Spartanburg, S.C.; and Spc. Donald C. Grella,
Laurel, Neb., as well as Rice’s individual remains burial will be tomorrow
at Arlington National Cemetery. Stancil, Phelps and Grella were buried
individually last year.

The four men were aboard a UH-1D Huey helicopter which failed to return
from a mission over Gia Lai Province, South Vietnam to pick up special
forces soldiers on Dec. 28, 1965.  The exact location of the crash site
was not determined during the war, and search and rescue operations were
suspended after failing to locate the men after four days.

>From 1993-2005, joint U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams led by the
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command attempted unsuccessfully to locate the
site. But in April 2006, a joint team interviewed two local villagers, one
of whom said he had shot down a U.S. helicopter in 1965. The villagers
escorted the team to the crash site where wreckage was found. In March
2009, another joint team excavated the area and recovered human remains
and other artifacts including an identification tag from Grella.

JPAC’s scientists employed traditional forensic techniques in making these
identifications, including comparisons of dental records with the remains
found at the site.

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Pro patria,

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the
tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

-- Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.