Asia-Pacific
Remains of 3 soldiers killed in Cambodia to be buried in Arlington
Stars and Stripes
October 20, 2015
The remains of three Vietnam War soldiers missing since 1970 when their helicopter made an emergency landing in Cambodia have been identified and buried with full military honors, the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced last week. Unidentified remains representing the group will be interred Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2015, at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. (Courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard)
The remains of three soldiers missing from the Vietnam War have been identified and buried with full military honors, the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says.
The men, assigned to the Army’s 2nd Battalion, 34th Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, were killed in a firefight after the UH-1H Iroquois they were riding in made an emergency landing in Cambodia in 1970, according to a DOD statement last week. Unidentified remains representing the group will be interred Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Army Maj. Dale W. Richardson, of Mount Sterling, Ill., was buried Aug. 29 in Mountain View, Ark; Staff Sgt. Bunyan D. Price Jr., of Monroe, N.C., was buried April 11 in Belmont, N.C.; and Sgt. Rodney L. Griffin, of Mexico, Mo., also was buried Aug. 29 in Mountain View.
The helicopter was on its way to Fire Support Base Katum, South Vietnam, when the pilot changed course because of bad weather, the statement said. The aircraft then landed in Cambodia after coming under heavy ground fire.
Richardson, Price and Griffin died at the landing site during a firefight with enemy forces, but their remains — later identified using DNA and circumstantial evidence — were not recovered until February 2012, the statement said.
More than 1,600 American servicemembers remain missing from the Vietnam War, the DPAA said.