U.S. Envoy Visits Vietnam War Excavation Site
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TRIEU SON, Vietnam — Douglas “Pete” Peterson, Washington’s ambassador to Hanoi, paid an emotional visit Friday to a Vietnam War excavation site and said the search for America’s lost servicemen should continue for 100 years.
Peterson, a former fighter pilot and prisoner of war, peered into an impact crater on a barren hillside where archeologists and workers have recovered what are believed to be human remains and parts of a bomber downed three decades ago.
Peterson’s visit to the crash site, about 100 miles south of Hanoi, the capital, was his first experience since his arrival in May of the painstaking process by which joint U.S. and Vietnamese teams are seeking to resolve the fate of the 2,124 Americans listed as missing in action in Indochina.
The issue of missing American servicemen from a war that ended more than 22 years ago is the United States’ foremost policy concern in Vietnam. It is expected to be raised in discussions later this month during a visit by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
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