The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today
that the remains of two U.S. servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been
identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.
They are Capt. Warren R. Orr, Jr., U.S. Army, of Kewanee, Ill.; and Airman 1st Class
George W. Long, U.S. Air Force, of Medicine, Kan. Long was buried Sept. 30 in Medicine and
Orr’s burial is being set by his family.
On May 12, 1968, these men were part of a crew on a C-130 Hercules evacuating
Vietnamese citizens from the Kham Duc Special Forces Camp near Da Nang, South Vietnam.
While taking off, the crew reported taking heavy enemy ground fire. A Forward Air Controller
flying in the area reported seeing the plane explode in mid-air soon after leaving the runway.
In 1985 and 1991, U.S. officials received remains and identification tags from sources
claiming they belonged to men in this crew. Scientific analysis revealed they were not American
remains, but it was believed the Vietnamese sources knew where the crash site was located.
In 1993, a joint/U.S.-Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) team, led by the Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), traveled to Kham Duc and interviewed four local
citizens concerning the incident. They led the team to the crash site, and turned over remains and
identification tags they had recovered in 1983 while looking for scrap metal. During this visit, the
team recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage at the site.
In 1994, another joint team excavated the crash site and recovered remains, pieces of lifesupport
equipment, crew-related gear and personal effects.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from
JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and
dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing
Americans, visit the DPMO web site at www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.