Cohen ends Vietnam trip; MIAs' remains sent to families

March 15, 2000
Web posted at: 2:08 p.m. HKT (0608 GMT)

In this story: Cohen meets military, civilian leaders Economic issues interest Vietnam's president RELATED STORIES, SITES

HANOI, Vietnam -- The remains of two U.S. servicemen listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War have been found and are being returned to their families, Pentagon officials have confirmed.

The servicemen have been identified as Navy Cmdr. James W. Hall, of Los Angeles, and Marine Maj. Charles E. Finney, of Mississippi. Pentagon officials said, with the latest accounting, that 2,029 servicemen remain missing. The Pentagon added 554 soldiers have been identified and returned to their families since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

MESSAGE BOARD The U.S. military    VIDEO CNN's Jamie McIntyre reviews Cohen's day in Hanoi. (March 14) Windows Media 28K 80K     ALSO Vietnam facts Pentagon identifies remains of two Vietnam-era pilots

U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen, who concluded a three- day visit to Vietnam on Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City, said during his visit that resolving the remaining MIA cases is "the very highest of our priorities."

Hall was believed shot down in October 1972 while flying a mission over North Vietnam. His remains were repatriated in 1989 and saved and identified, through new forensic techniques, recently by the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.

Finney was believed killed during a March 1969 flight over Laos. He was identified through military tags, airplane wreckage and other remains found in 1995 and 1999.

"By helping the families of the missing, we have helped to establish our working ties, and we can step cautiously forward in those areas where we have mutual interests," Cohen told Vietnamese officials.

Cohen visited various military and civilian officials on Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, before concluding his visit to Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City, the capital of U.S.-backed South Vietnam before it fell, is now the economic driver and largest city of the communist nation.

Cohen, second from left, talks to President Tran Duc Luong, second from right, under a giant bust of former Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh Tuesday at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi

Cohen is the first U.S. defense secretary to visit the nation since the Vietnam War ended. Vietnam won the war in which 58,000 U.S. soldiers died. It is estimated 3 million Vietnamese died in the conflict.

The United States and Vietnam restored diplomatic relations in 1995. Cohen visited Hanoi to try to develop a military-to- military relationship. He suggested starting with such joint projects as removing old land mines, improving Vietnam's flood control and environmental studies.

Cohen said he raised the possibility of U.S. Navy ships visiting Vietnamese ports. He said that he believed U.S. port calls were likely, but "not in the immediate future."

During his trip, Cohen also met Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong, the commander of the 7th Military District, Lt. Gen. Phan Trung Kien, and Chairman Vo Viet Thanh of the Ho Chi Minh Municipal People's Committee.

Cohen said Tuesday that the seeds were sown during his trip for a relationship that one day may bloom as bright as America's ties to many other Asian nations.

Communist Vietnam can look to the examples of U.S. relations with Japan, Australia, Thailand, the Philippines and other Asia-Pacific nations that form the foundation of stability in the region, Cohen said.

"By building confidence over a period of time, hopefully one day we'll have the same kind of relationship" with Vietnam, Cohen said.

U.S. officials told reporters that Luong was more interested in economic issues, and that he had hinted a breakthrough on a stalled trade agreement with the United States might be near.

Cohen makes a toast at the National Defense Academy in Hanoi on Tuesday

"I think your visit to Vietnam at this moment can be a further contribution to the development of relations between our two countries," Luong said.

In a policy speech at the National Defense Academy in Hanoi, Cohen said the United States is ready to "step cautiously forward" in a relationship that has grown since Washington renewed diplomatic ties.

Cohen said he was convinced that Vietnamese leaders are ready to put the war behind them and improve relations -- not just economically and politically, but also militarily.

"Not one individual I met with during this entire time said anything about looking back into the past," Cohen said. "They're looking to the United States in a very positive way."

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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