Remains of U.S. airman returned from Vietnam War

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The remains of a U.S. fighter pilot killed 39 years ago in the Vietnam War have been identified and are being returned to his family in California for burial, the Defense Department said on Tuesday.

The remains of Air Force 1st Lt. Lee Adams of Willits, California, who died when his F-105 fighter crashed and exploded in Quang Binh Province, North Vietnam, on April 19, 1966, were found last year and later identified by U.S. forensic experts in Hawaii, the department said.

The Pentagon said full military honors for Adams would be held on Wednesday at Beale Air Force Base in California and he would be buried in Willits at a later date.

A total of 1,833 U.S. troops remain missing from the Vietnam War while 750 others have been accounted for in Southeast Asia since the end of the conflict.

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