Laos Excavating the Recent Past

In a fetid jungle, Americans continue the search for MIAs

More than a decade after U.S. military forces quit Viet Nam, a team of American recovery specialists was permitted to enter Laos for a two-week examination of the crash site of an AC-130 Spectre gunship. The area was being scoured for the remains of 13 U.S. crewmen still listed as missing in action. The joint mission, which included Laotian soldiers and government officials as well as U.S. specialists, worked at its task in a dense patch of jungle 25 miles northeast of the city of Pakse. The search is a continuation of the U.S. Government's long-term effort to discover the fate...

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