Vietnam War Missing in Action Serviceman Identified
 

:a:
NEWS RELEASE from the United States Department of Defense

No. 582-05
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jun 10, 2005
Media Contact: (703)697-5131
Public/Industry Contact: (703)428-0711

Vietnam War Missing in Action Serviceman Identified


The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today
that
the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have
been
identified and are being returned to his family for burial at Arlington National
Cemetery today.



He is Air Force Col. James L. Carter of Johnson City, Tenn.



On Feb. 3, 1966, Carter was the aircraft commander of a C-123
"Provider" aircraft which had taken off from Khe Sanh in South Vietnam on a
supply
mission to Dong Ha, South Vietnam. The plane was not seen again, and searches
along the flight route did not find a crash site.



Joint U.S. and Vietnamese teams investigated potential crash sites
in
Quang Tri Province on three occasions between 1993 and 1999. They interviewed
Vietnamese villagers who took them to three different crash sites. Only one of
the
sites revealed wreckage consistent with that of a C-123 aircraft. Several of
the
informants said that the bodies of the crew and passengers were buried near the
site where the aircraft crashed into a mountain in 1966.



Specialists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC)
conducted
four excavations at the site between 2000 and 2003. During these four
excavations,
they recovered human remains, personal effects and other debris. Laboratory
analysis of the remains by forensic scientists at JPAC led to Carter's
identification. Comparison of dental records with the recovered remains was a
key
factor in the identification.



Of the 88,000 Americans missing in action from all conflicts, 1,833
are
from the Vietnam War, with 1,397 of those within the country of Vietnam.
Another
750 Americans have been accounted for in Southeast Asia since the end of the
war.
Of the Americans identified, 524 are from within Vietnam.



For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to
account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo
or call (703) 699-1169.
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Thank you for that...

The Provider was my aircraft, too.

WELCOME HOME BROTHER:
 

Welcome Home Col. James L. Carter.

May you finally REST IN PEACE in your HOMELAND where you belong.


To all of my Vietnam Veteran Brothers and Sisters I again state:


WELCOME HOME


VIETNAM 1968