Identities of MIAs await confirmation by consultants

HONOLULU—The Army's Central Identification Laboratory today emphasized that it will not complete the identification process for the last combatants killed in the Vietnam War until outside review boards approve the case files developed by lab scientists and anthropologists.

Army Maj. Mike Cowan, the lab's executive officer, said the lab does not consider the identification process for those listed as missing in action complete until "confirmation by outside consultants" and further examination by the Armed Forces Information Review Board.

Cowan said when this process is finished, the Defense Department's Casualty Assistance Office will release the names of the crewmen and passengers recovered from a helicopter that crashed during the assault on Koh Tang island in Cambodia during the last combat action of the Vietnam War.