Hanoi Turns Over Remains of 26 U.S. MIAs, Most Yet : OKs Idea of U.S. Liaison Office, Talks

HANOI — Vietnam, in its largest accounting of Americans missing in action, today presented crates containing remains of 26 soldiers killed during the Vietnam War to U.S. officials.

At the same time, Vietnamese officials reiterated Vietnam’s willingness to have the United States establish a permanent MIA liaison office in Hanoi and said they are in favor of high-level talks on the MIA issue.

Today’s hand-over, after an hourlong airport ceremony, was the biggest since Vietnam began returning remains of MIAs in 1982.

A 16-member U.S. military delegation, led by Lt. Col. Paul Mather, examined each set of remains in Hanoi.

The remains were contained in wooden cases that were lined up on a white-draped table shaded by trees close to the airport building.

Presumed Names Given

A Vietnamese expert took the U.S. group along the rows, giving the presumed names of the dead men, along with photographs and documentary evidence.

The cases were then sealed, shrouded with U.S. flags and stowed aboard a C-130 sent from Clark Air Base in the Philippines for shipment Thursday to Hickham Air Force Base in Honolulu for analysis.

“On behalf of our side, I would like to express our thanks for the repatriation of remains today,” Mather told Vietnamese officials during a brief ceremony.

The leader of the Vietnamese delegation, Cu Dinh Ba, head of the North American department at the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, stressed Vietnam’s willingness to cooperate with the United States over the MIA issue.

Settlement Sought

He said Hanoi is considering an “appropriate time” for a “high-level” meeting to settle the question, adding, “the sooner the better.”

Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach has reportedly indicated that Vietnam plans to resolve the MIA issue within the next two years.

Vietnam’s present move on the issue reflects hopes in Hanoi that this will help clear the way for normalization of relations with Washington.

The U.S. State Department also has said it wants talks to begin soon, and on Friday, Washington accepted in principle a Vietnamese proposal made last month for such discussions.

The State Department has said that, however, the MIAs are a humanitarian issue--not a political one--and that Hanoi must withdraw its forces from Cambodia before diplomatic relations are restored.

During the ceremony in Hanoi, Ba said Vietnamese specialists had established, with the help of documents provided by U.S. experts, that in all but one case the remains are without doubt those of U.S. servicemen. He added that 20 had been identified.

Vietnamese officials said today that they have no further MIA remains but that people throughout the country are aware of the MIA issue and that growing numbers of Vietnamese had come forward with statements to the authorities.