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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Airman Missing From Vietnam War Identified (Graff)

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 returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Air Force Capt. James H. Graff, 27, of Marengo, Ill., will be buried tomorrow inAnderson, S.C. On Oct. 3, 1966, Graff’s C-130E, with five men aboard, failed to arrive at NhaTrang Air Base following their departure from Tan Son Nhut Air Base in South Vietnam. Rescuepersonnel found their remains at the crash site in South Vietnam eight days later approximately 40miles west of Nha Trang. The cause of the crash is not known and the remains of each individualcrew member could not be identified.

Between 1984 and 1996 the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) receivedhuman remains from various sources in Vietnam, tentatively linked to Graff and the other crewmembers. But lacking advanced scientific tools and complete records during this time period,JPAC was unable to make an individual identification of Graff’s remains so he was buried as partof a group in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Other remains associated withthe entire group were held at JPAC’s laboratory for future testing.

As DNA testing procedures improved after the late 1990s, JPAC’s forensicanthropologists applied the latest technologies from the Armed Forces DNA IdentificationLaboratory to include mitochondrial testing, a sample of which matched the DNA from hismother. His dental records also helped confirm the identification.

With the accounting of these airmen, 1,687 service members still remain missing from theVietnam War.

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) 699-1420.

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