Laos Agrees to Excavate 2nd U.S. Crash Site
Vice President George Bush said today that the Laotian government has agreed to excavate the site of a second U.S. jet crash in search of American servicemen still missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.
Bush’s announcement at the 16th annual convention of the National League of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia drew sustained applause and new hope that the remains of some of the nearly 2,500 MIAs may be found.
Bush said the Laotian government, which found 13 sets of remains in February at Pakse, “has agreed to excavation of a second crash site in the coming dry season.”
Hailed Progress
Bush hailed the development as further evidence of progress in the Reagan Administration’s efforts to determine the fate of the missing.
The vice president praised the league for keeping the MIA issue alive during several years of what he described as government disinterest.
“At last America has a President--and, may I say, a vice president--who has pledged that, of this war, we will write no last chapter, we will close no books, we will put away no final memories until all your questions about the missing and about possible prisoners of war are answered,” Bush said.
Again drawing applause, Bush added, “We do not rule out the possibility that Americans are still alive and held captive in Indochina.”
Families told to be realistic, Page 2.
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