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NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 1098-04
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov 02, 2004
Media Contact: (703)697-5131
Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

MIAs Identified from The Vietnam War

Six servicemen missing in action from the Vietnam War have been
identified and are being buried as a group at Arlington National Cemetery Friday
with full military honors.

They are Air Force Col. Theodore E. Kryszak of Buffalo, NY; Air Force
Col. Harding E. Smith of Los Gatos, Calif.; Air Force Lt. Col. Russell D. Martin of
Bloomfield, Iowa; Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Luther L. Rose of Howe, Texas, and
Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Ervin Warren, of Philadelphia.

On June 23, 1966, the crew was aboard an AC-47 "Spooky" gunship flying
a nighttime armed reconnaissance mission over southern Laos. At about 9:25 p.m.,
the aircraft radioed, "we have a hot fire," and another radio transmission was
heard to order "bail out." Witnesses reported the aircraft was on fire, then
crashed into a heavily wooded area 30 miles northeast of Tchepone, in Khannouan
Province, Laos. No parachutes from the crew were observed and no emergency beepers
were heard. An aerial search of the site found no evidence of survivors.

In cooperation with the Lao government, a joint team of U.S. and Lao
specialists traveled to a suspected crash site in Khammouan Province in October
1994 where a villager took them to an area where personal effects, aircraft
wreckage, crew-related materials and a crew member's identification tag were found.

In May-June 1995, a joint U.S.-Lao team excavated the site where they
recovered human remains as well as identification media of other aircrew members.
The U.S. recovery team members were from the Central Identification Laboratory,
Hawaii (CILHI). CILHI scientists applied a wide array of forensic techniques to
the recovered remains, including comparisons of dental charts and x-rays, as well
as the use of mitochondrial DNA sequencing.

The DNA sequencing was done by the Armed Forces DNA Identification
Laboratory, whose results aided the CILHI scientists in identifying the remains.
More than 88,000 Americans are missing in action from all conflicts. Of these,
1,849 are from the Vietnam War. The CILHI is now part of the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command.

For more information please call the Defense POW/Missing Personnel
Office (DPMO) at (703) 699-1169, or visit http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/.