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Defense POW/MIA Accounting AgencyFulfilling Our Nation's Promise

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## News Release

# Twelve MIAs From Vietnam War Are Identified (King, Cook, Heyne, Mitchell, Fritsch, Blackman, Czerwonka, Hempel, Lopez, McGonigle, Sargent, Miller)   

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced todaythat the remains of five U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have beenidentified and are being returned to their families for burial. An additional seven servicemen willbe buried as a group in Arlington National Cemetery, near Washington, D.C.

The men who were individually identified are: Cpl. Gerald E. King, of Knoxville, Tenn.;Lance Cpls. Joseph F. Cook, of Foxboro, Mass.; Raymond T. Heyne, of Mason, Wis.; DonaldW. Mitchell, of Princeton, Ky.; and Thomas W. Fritsch, of Cromwell, Conn., all U.S. MarineCorps. Additional group remains are those of: Pfcs. Thomas J. Blackman, of Racine, Wis.; PaulS. Czerwonka, of Stoughton, Mass.; Barry L. Hempel, of Garden Grove, Calif.; Robert C. Lopez,of Albuquerque, N.M.; William D. McGonigle, of Wichita, Kan.; and Lance Cpl. James R.Sargent, of Anawalt, W. Va., all U.S. Marine Corps. Additionally, the remains of U.S. ArmySgt Glenn E. Miller, of Oakland, Calif. will be included in the group burial.

The Marines were part of an artillery platoon airlifted to provide support to a unit underthreat of attack from North Vietnamese forces near Kham Duc in South Vietnam. On May 9,1968, this 11th Mobile Strike Force had been directed to reconnoiter an area known as LittleNgok Tavak Hill near the Laos-Vietnam border, in the Kham Duc Province. Their base cameunder attack by North Vietnamese Army troops, and after a ten-hour battle, all of the survivorswere able to withdraw from the area.

Six investigations beginning in 1993, and a series of interviews of villagers and formerVietnamese soldiers led the teams in 1994, 1997 and 1998 to specific defensive positions withinthe large battle site. Maps provided by American survivors helped to locate some key areas onthe battlefield. Three excavations by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) in 1998and 1999 yielded human remains, personal effects, and other material evidence.

JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory specialists usedmitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the remains.

Of the 88,000 Americans missing in action from all conflicts, 1,815 are from the VietnamWar, with 1,381 of those within the country of Vietnam. Another 768 Americans have beenaccounted for in Southeast Asia since the end of the war. Of those, 540 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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