Rolling Thunder: At least 1,620 Vietnam-era service members still sought

Since it was formed in 1970, the National League of POW/MIA Families has sought three things: the return of all POWs, the fullest possible accounting for those still missing and the repatriation of all recoverable remains of those who died serving the United States during the Vietnam War.

Today, the organization says 1,621 people are still missing and unaccounted for since 1975, when the Vietnam War ended.

Some 90 percent of these POW/MIA service members were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia that were under North Vietnamese military control. These include 466 people in North Vietnam, 798 in South Vietnam, 301 in Laos, 49 in Cambodia and seven in local waters, the league said in April.

According to the Defense Department’s POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), two Vietnam-era service members have been accounted for this year: U.S. Air Force Major Dean A. Klenda, who was lost Sept. 17, 1965, and identified March 1; and Army Sgt. First Class Alan L. Boyer, who was declared missing in action March 28, 1968, and identified March 16.

Another long-missing officer’s remains may have been recovered in Vietnam, but an analysis has not been completed, the league said.

In 2015 13 Vietnam-era service members were identified, including three Army officers lost in Cambodia in 1970; two U.S. Air Force officers lost in Laos in 1966 and 1970; and eight officers from several military branches lost in Vietnam between 1965 and 1971, according to the DPAA.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry, who traveled to Vietnam this week with President Obama, said last month that the accounting of POW/MIA service members is “absolutely a prerequisite and nonnegotiable” part of the ongoing normalization talks with Vietnam.

“Literally, we have people over there still today to complete that task of accountability,” Mr. Kerry said April 27, recalling how archaeologists were looking for human remains at a C-130 crash site in Vietnam.

According to the families’ organization, as of May 19, the state-by-state breakdown of Americans who are POW/MIA are as follows:

Alabama 31

Alaska2

Arizona 15

Arkansas 15

California 166

Colorado 24

Connecticut25

Delaware 4

District of Columbia 8

Florida 57

Georgia 29

Hawaii 7

Idaho 8

Illinois 66

Indiana 51

Iowa 25

Kansas 24

Kentucky 14

Louisiana 24

Maine 11

Maryland 23

Massachusetts 39

Michigan 49

Minnesota 33

Mississippi 12

Missouri 36

Montana 17

Nebraska 17

Nevada 6

New Hampshire 6

New Jersey 42

New Mexico 12

New York 106

North Carolina 39

North Dakota 8

Ohio 75

Oklahoma 32

Oregon 35

Pennsylvania 90

Rhode Island 7

South Carolina 27

South Dakota 7

Tennessee 27

Texas 104

Utah 14

Vermont 5

Virginia 45

Washington 38

West Virginia 17

Wisconsin 26

Wyoming 5

*Another 15 Americans did not list a home state or were based outside the United States.