Soldier Missing from Vietnam War Identified
 

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The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
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Army Capt. Charles R. Barnes of Philadelphia, Pa., will be buried May 2, in Arlington National Cemetery. On March 16, 1969, Barnes and four other service members departed Qui Nhon Airfields bound for Da Nang and Phu Bai, in a U-21A Ute aircraft. As they approached Da Nang, they encountered low clouds and poor visibility.

Communications with the aircraft were lost, and they did not land as scheduled. Immediate search efforts were limited due to hazardous weather conditions, and all five men were list as missing in action.<o:p></o:p>

From 1986-1989, unidentified human remains were turned over to the United States from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (S.R.V.) in several different instances. None of the remains were identified given the limits of the technology of the time.<o:p></o:p>

In 1993, a joint U.S.-S.R.V. team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted investigations in Quang Nam-Da Nang, and Thua Thien-Hue Provinces. They interviewed a local Vietnamese citizen who supplied remains and an identification tag bearing Barnes' name, which he claimed to have recovered from an aircraft crash site.<o:p></o:p>

In 1999, another joint U.S.-S.R.V. team interviewed additional Vietnamese citizens about the crash and they were led to the crash site. In 2000, a joint U.S.-S.R.V. team excavated the site and recovered human remains and material evidence.<o:p></o:p>

Scientists from the JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used circumstantial evidence, and forensic identification tools such as mitochondrial DNA -- which matched that of Barnes' sister -- in the identification of the remains.<o:p></o:p>

For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, call 703-699-1420 or visit the DPMO website at
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo .

On March 24 , 1971 Harry M. Beckwith was killed in an air crash with D Troop 3/5th Cav. We recovered his body and wrapped him in a poncho and put him on a chopper bound for Dong Ha. On the way back the chopper following his chopper saw a green poncho fall out of the chopper. When they got to Dong Ha Harry was not in the chopper. His body was never recovered. Rest in Peace Harry

Lt,
That's IT (?) or the end of story about poor Harry M. Beckwith???

Hope his family back home got a much better and more heroic story ending than that?

Regardless, that's the first time I ever heard of even: "Friendlies" or fellow Troopers
getting dumped out of flying choppers in Vietnam.

Neil