U.S. Identifies Remains of 6 From Viet War

The Pentagon today released the identities of six American servicemen killed during the Vietnam War whose remains were turned over to the United States by the Hanoi government last month.

The identifications were made at the Central Identification Laboratory in Honolulu, said spokesman Michael I. Burch.

The Vietnamese had said they were returning the remains of five individuals thought to be American servicemen, but extensive tests at the lab have produced six positive identifications, Burch said.

The remains of the six, previously listed as missing in action, will be flown home from Hawaii on Wednesday.

They were identified as Air Force Col. Melvin Killian of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Air Force Majs. Cleveland Harris of Birmingham, Ala., and Chambliss Chesnutt of Little Rock, Ark.; Air Force Capt. Michael Chwan of Bayonne, N.J.; Army Sgt. Gerasimo Arroyo-Baez of Maunabo, Puerto Rico, and Marine Sgt. Robert Sherman of Danville, Ill.

Two Captured in South

Burch said two of the men were known to have been captured in South Vietnam.

“Two of the individuals were captured in the south and the Vietnamese reported them as being detained in the south,” Burch said. “These are the first sets of remains that we’ve gotten” from the list of men believed captured in the south.

“We appreciate this return of remains and, combined with the recent Vietnamese agreement to hold a minimum of six technical meetings per year, we hope it marks the beginning of the fulfillment of the Vietnamese pledge to accelerate their search efforts,” the Pentagon said in a brief statement.

The department announced that Washington and Hanoi had agreed to hold the next meeting in Vietnam between April 17 and April 20.

Since 1974, not counting the six newly identified servicemen, Hanoi has returned the remains of 93 Americans lost in Vietnam and one lost in Laos.