By Alabama Public Radio
Mobile, AL – The Department of Defense has identified the remains of an Alabama serviceman who was missing in action in the Vietnam war. U-S Air Force Captain Richard Yeend Junior of Mobile was on board an H-H-3 Jolly Green Giant rescue helicopter with three others. The helicopter was hit by enemy fire on June Ninth, 1968. It stalled and exploded before the pilot could land. Last year, a team of investigators found the wreckage. Four sets of human remains were excavated earlier this year and later were identified by the U-S Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. The Department of Defense says the remains will be returned to family members with full military honors. About 18-hundred Americans are still classified as missing in action from the Vietnam War.