seemingly uncanny means taken to recover Clark and Hambleton are not so unusual at all.

What defies logic and explaination, however, is that the government that sent these men to battle can distort or withold information to their families, and knowingly abandon hundreds of men known or strongly suspected to be in enemy hands.

Thousands of reports have been received by the U.S. Government indicating that Americans are still alive, in captivity in Southeast Asia. It has been 17 years for those who may have survived the 1972 Easter crashes and rescue attempts. How much longer must they wait for their country to bring "peace with honor" to them and bring them home?

DOD - October 1, 1997
The remains of seven American servicemen previously unaccounted-for from Southeast Asia have been identified and were returned to their families for burial in the United States.

They are identified as Capt. Peter H. Chapman, Centerburg, Ohio; 1st Lt. John H. Call III, Potomac, Md.; Tech. Sgt. Allen J. Avery, Auburn, Mass.; Tech. Sgt. Roy D. Prater, Tiffin, Ohio; and Sgt. William R. Pearson, Webster, N.H., all U.S. Air Force personnel. The names of one U.S. Air Force airman and one U.S. Army aviator will not be released at the request of their families.

In 1989, 1992, and 1994, joint U.S.-Vietnamese teams investigated and excavated a crash site in Quang Tri Province. During the 1992 investigation of this loss incident, a local villager reported finding
remains and burying them in his garden. The U.S. investigators excavated the garden and recovered possible humans remains. Later, in 1994, a joint team found numerous bone fragments, personal effects, and aircraft wreckage. The remains were repatriated to the United States.

The remains of Chapman, Call, and Pearson were identified individually, and along with Avery and Prater, are part of a group remains identification. Mitochondrial DNA testing was used to confirm the
identifications.

The U.S. government welcomes and appreciates the cooperation of the government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam which resulted in the accounting of these servicemen. We hope that such cooperation will bring increased results in the future. Achieving the fullest possible accounting for these Americans is of the highest national priority.