Texas native searches for America’s missing service members

Photo By Tech. Sgt. Rusty Frank | U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Khang Tran, a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recovery team noncommissioned officer, teaches children to play a board game during a recovery mission in Lang Son Province, Vietnam, Nov. 19, 2019. For more than two decades the U.S. has conducted joint field activities with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover the remains of missing Americans. The U.S. also continues to obtain access to historical wartime records and archives that provide information relevant to the fates of missing Americans. DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting of our missing personnel to their families and the nation. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank)  

LANG SON, VIETNAM

12.17.2019

Story by Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank 

Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency

HONOLULU, HAWAII—U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Khang Tran, a Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) recovery team noncommissioned officer, recently joined a recovery team in search of a missing U.S. service member lost during the Vietnam War in Lang Son Province, Vietnam.

Tran, a native of Dallas, Texas, volunteered to help DPAA fulfill its mission to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation.

“DPAA’s mission is important because it brings closure to loved ones who have lost family members during war,” he said. “It’s honor for me to come out and bring closure to those families.”

For more than two decades the U.S. has conducted joint field activities with the governments of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to recover the remains of missing Americans. Throughout these countries, field teams continue to investigate crash and burial sites, as well as interview locals to gain additional knowledge and build relations.

Tran said being a part of DPAA recovery mission meant a lot to him given his parents are Southern Vietnamese refugees from the Vietnam war. He added one of his best memories was helping build relationships between the recovery team and the local Vietnamese community.

“We make a lot of relationships with the locals,” said Tran. “It [relationships] helps build the community and the bond. It also helps build a connection between America and foreign countries.”

DPAA’s mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation. When American personnel remain unaccounted-for at the conclusion of hostilities, the DoD personnel accounting community becomes the responsible agent for identifying and accounting for the missing.

News media looking for more information about DPAA or Cpl. Tran, visit www.dpaa.mil, find us on social media at www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or email Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman
at [e-mail].

• Date Taken: 12.17.2019
• Date Posted: 12.17.2019 21:17
• Story ID: 356108
• Location: LANG SON, VN