DefenseLINK News: DOD NewsPlease note Las Vegas, Nevada
Pat
----- Original Message -----
From: DoD News
To: DODNEWS_HTML-L(a)DTIC.MIL
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2006 10:16 AM
Subject: Soldiers Missing in Action from Vietnam War are Identified
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
On the Web:
http://www.defenselink.mil/Releases/Release.aspx?ReleaseID=10315
Media contact: +1 (703) 697-5131/697-5132 Public contact:
http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html
or +1 (703) 428-0711 +1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 1306-06
December 22, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Soldiers Missing in Action from Vietnam War are Identified
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that
the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been
identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Maj. Frederick J. Ransbottom, of Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Staff Sgt.
William E. Skivington Jr.; of Las Vegas, Nev.; both U.S. Army. Ransbottom will be buried
in Edmond, Okla. on Jan. 13, and Skivington will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery
near Washington, D.C., on Jan. 23.
Representatives from the Army met with the next-of-kin of these men to explain the
recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on
behalf of the Secretary of the Army.
On May 12, 1968, North Vietnamese forces overran the Kham Duc Special Forces camp
and its surrounding observation posts in Quang Nam-Da Nang Province (formerly Quang Tin
Province), South Vietnam. Ransbottom and Skivington were two of the 17 U.S. servicemen
unaccounted-for after the survivors evacuated the camp. Search and recovery efforts at the
site in 1970 succeeded in recovering remains of five of the 17 men. A sixth man was
returned alive during Operation Homecoming in 1973 after having been captured and held
prisoner of war by the North Vietnamese.
Between 1993 and 2006, joint U.S./Socialist Republic of Vietnam teams, led by the
Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), conducted eight investigations and four
excavations in the vicinity of the camp site. The team interviewed former North Vietnamese
officers and soldiers who participated in the battle. Some recalled seeing the bodies of
U.S. servicemen near one of the observation posts, and U.S. eyewitness accounts placed
Ransbottom and Skivington near the post.
During an excavation conducted in 1998, two U.S. servicemen who survived the battle
accompanied JPAC to help locate the observation posts, but found no evidence of human
remains. Later excavations conducted in the area yielded human remains, identification
media and personal effects for Ransbottom, Skivington and several other soldiers.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists
from JPAC also used dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for
missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at
www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- News Releases:
http://www.defenselink.mil/releases/
-- DoD News:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html
-- Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/dodnews.html#e-mail
-- Today in DoD:
http://www.defenselink.mil/today/
-- U.S. Department of Defense Official Website -
http://www.defenselink.mil/
-- U.S. Department of Defense News About the War on Terrorism -
http://www.defendamerica.mil/