CAMBODIA: REMAINS OF 13 US SERVICEMEN FOUND AFTER 20 YEARS

(13 Nov 1995) English/Nat

The remains of 13 US servicemen have been discovered in Cambodia - 20 years after they were shot down on the last combat mission flown by American forces.

They died on a dawn helicopter raid over Tang Island, Cambodia, in 1975.

At the time the U-S Marines were trying to free the crew of the U-S-S Mayaguez which had been captured by the Khmer Rouge forces.

The MIA Task Force has finally uncovered their bones - and the dead men are finally set to go home.

It was more than 20 years ago when the crew aboard the Chinook 53 carrying U-S Marines flew over Tang Island.

A total of 250 U-S Marines had landed on the Island in an attempt to rescue the crew of U-S-S Mayaguez which had been seized by Khmer Rouge forces.

Tragically the mission need never have taken place. Poor intelligence meant the troops were not told the crew had already been released the same day.

The Chinook 53 helicopter was blown out of the sky. Eighteen were killed and 40 injured.

It is believed the remains of 13 lie at this site.

Members of the Task Force have been sifting through 2,000 cubic metres of sand a day in their search for remains.

Some of the work involves sucking the material through a vacuum. But most of the work involves simply sifting through bucket-loads of sand.

For the U-S Joint Task Force, this mission has been highly successful due to the high number of discovered remains.

One of the reasons is because remains have been preserved in sediment under the sea.

SOUNDBITE: "This is a mess kit it's got a knife and fork still in it. Note the metal area is badly degenerated as a result of intense fire within. One portion of canteen cup. One miscellaneous strap buckle. This is the co-pilot's flight check list - still has some portions of paper still intact inside. The reason for this is this was trapped several centimetres within sediment. This is an M17 protective mask. This was standard issue for the marines going into assault the island. Later on in the day they did use CS gas to try and lay that down to assist the soldiers as they were coming off the site very good fortune on our part to cover something like this. Flight manual once again some of the pages are more scattered, it's completely unreadable, but this is what steer crew carry as their flight check list and go through check list before during and after all flight operations.
SUPER CAPTION: Member of Joint Task Force

Lieutenant Colonel Roger King, public affairs officer for the Task Force, said he did not rule out the remote possibility of finding one of the crew alive.

SOUNDBITE: "It can also mean a live American because we don't rule out that possibility even though legally we have that determination, we operate out of the presumption that there is the possibility that someone is still alive. So we go into every operation with that possibility, we ask the questions.
SUPER CAPTION: Lt Col Roger King, public affairs officer, Joint Task Force

The fate of another five crewmen on the mission is still unknown - but the search continues.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...