November 13, 1995
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EST (2310 GMT)
From Correspondent Tom Mintier
TANG ISLAND, Cambodia (CNN) -- U.S. military investigators hope that human remains found off the coast of Cambodia can finally lay to rest a tragic 20-year-old mystery. They're searching at the site of the last action of the Vietnam War, which occurred in 1975 off of Tang Island.
The wreckage of a Chinook helicopter sits where it fell during an ill-fated rescue mission two decades ago. Unlike downed aircraft sites in Vietnam, in Cambodia and Laos most items have not been scavenged. For the past week, an American military team, using special equipment, has been screening 2,000 cubic meters of sand each day in an effort to recover remains of the missing.
The 13 U.S. servicemen listed as missing in action from the mission were called in to free the crew of the USS Mayaguez, which had been captured by the Khmer Rouge. U.S. President Gerald Ford ordered the mission one month after Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge and two weeks before the fall of Saigon.
Thirty-nine crew members of the ship were being held hostage. But as it turned out, the rescue mission was unnecessary. Hours before the U.S. Marines stormed the island, the crew had been set free. In all, three U.S. helicopters were shot down and 38 U.S. soldiers died in the assault.
The search party found live ammunition, a damaged rifle and U.S. military helmets at the site. There is no evidence that any of the missing are still alive.
However, the military is keeping all options open. Lt. Col. Robert King of the U.S. Joint Task Force in charge of the operation said they operate with the presumption that someone may still be alive. (133K AIFF sound or 133K WAV sound)
There are more than 2,000 U.S. servicemen still listed as missing from the war. Most were in Vietnam when they disappeared, but 587 of them are believed to have been in Laos and 77 in Cambodia.
The mission to this remote island may provide the answers for at least 13 American families, 20 years after the helicopter crashed here in Vietnam War's last battle.
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