The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on July 3 that, attending the ceremony, on the Vietnamese side, there were the Board of Directors of the Vietnamese Agency for the Search for Missing Persons (VNOSMP) and representatives of a number of units under the Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Public Security.
On the US side were Lieutenant General Joel Bryant Vowell, Deputy Commander of the US Army in the Pacific; former US Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper; Director in charge of Indo-Pacific region of the Department of Defense's Department of War Inmates and Disappeared Persons (DPAA) Christopher Phelps, the Office of Defense Attaché and the US MIA Office in Hanoi, a number of veterans and US citizens in Da Nang.
At the ceremony, Vietnam handed over to the US side 1 coffin containing remains. This is the result of a recent joint search effort by the Vietnam - US joint excavation in Dan Hoa commune (Quang Tri province). Previously, on June 30, 2026, these remains samples were examined by forensic experts from Vietnam and the US and preliminary conclusions may be related to missing US soldiers in the war in Vietnam and will be transferred to a forensic laboratory in Hawaii for analysis and identification.
This handover event has a special mark with the presence of senior leaders in the US Army, showing the US Government's importance to the search for missing persons (MIA), and at the same time recognizing and appreciating Vietnam's goodwill and humanitarian efforts.
Previously, on June 23, 2026, Acting Navy Minister My Hung Cao visited the MIA site in Truong Ninh commune, Quang Tri province on the occasion of attending the Pacific Partnership - Pacific Friends Program.
Answering press interviews, Acting Navy Minister Hung Cao expressed his gratitude to the Government and people of Vietnam for supporting the US in the search for missing soldiers; said that the achievements in cooperation to overcome the consequences of war are clear proof of the spirit of closing the past, towards the future between the two countries over the past decades, helping to heal and restore wounds left by the war; and affirmed that the US will continue to maintain its long-term commitment to war recovery programs in Vietnam.
Humanitarian cooperation activities to search for and inventory missing US soldiers in the war in Vietnam were deployed by the two countries immediately after the Paris Agreement was signed in 1973, and have so far achieved positive results, helping the US identify and return remains to families of about 740 cases of missing US soldiers in the war in Vietnam.
This is a very meaningful result for the American people and the US Government, contributing to promoting cooperation in overcoming the consequences of war between the two countries in general, including the efforts of the US side in searching for and identifying the remains of missing Vietnamese martyrs; clearing bombs and mines; dioxification and supporting people with disabilities due to war.
