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## News Release

# Marine Missing From Vietnam War Identified (Jacques)

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that theremains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will bereturned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Marine Corps Pfc. James J. Jacques, 18, of Denver, will be buried Oct. 9, in hishometown. On May 12, 1975, Khmer Rouge gunboats captured the S.S. Mayaguez in the Gulf ofThailand, approximately 60 nautical miles off the coast of Cambodia. The vessel was taken toKoh [island] Tang. Alerted to the capture, U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft began surveillanceflights around the island. After efforts to secure the release of the ship and its crew failed, U.S.military forces were ordered to undertake a rescue mission.

Three days after the Mayaguez seizure, six Air Force helicopters were dispatched to theisland. One of the helicopters came under heavy enemy fire as it approached the eastern beach ofthe island. The aircraft crashed into the surf with 26 men on board. Half were rescued at sea,leaving Jacques and 12 other service members unaccounted-for.

The United States, Cambodian and Vietnamese government efforts to resolve the cases ofthese unaccounted-for service members was massive. Between 1991 and 2008, U.S. andCambodian investigators conducted multiple joint investigations, led by Joint POW/MIAAccounting Command (JPAC).

Additionally, on three occasions Cambodian authorities unilaterally turned over remainsbelieved to be those of American servicemen. In 1995, U.S. and Cambodian specialists conductedan underwater recovery of the helicopter crash site where they located remains, personal effectsand aircraft debris associated with the loss. The U.S.S. Brunswick, a Navy salvage vessel, enabledthe specialists to conduct their excavation off shore.

In the identification of the recovered remains, scientists from JPAC and the Armed ForcesDNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) analyzed circumstantial evidence and used forensicidentification tools, such as mitochondrial DNA–which matched Jacques’ brother.

Today, 1,655 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. The U.S.government continues to work closely with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia torecover Americans lost during the Vietnam War.

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