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FORMER SENATOR JIM WEBB: SECRETARY OF THE NAVY TO SPEAK AT THE OCTOBER 26 MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR 81 ARVN “LOST SOLDIERS”

I am pleased to announce that former Marine and Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer will join us as a featured speaker at the memorial service in Westminster, California on October 26.  The memorial service and interment ceremony will provide a final resting place for 81 South Vietnamese Army soldiers who lost their lives while on a combat mission in December 1965.  Due to diplomatic difficulties, their remains have endured a tragic 54-year odyssey from Vietnam to Thailand and finally to the United States, where they now will be interred in the largest Vietnamese-American cemetery in our country.

For many years these Lost Soldiers have truly been “men without a country.”  We are grateful to now provide them with an eternal home here in America.

Navy Secretary Spencer has been a strong ally as we sorted out the challenges.  He served as a helicopter pilot in the Marine Corps and then enjoyed a successful career as a business leader before assuming his present position.  His support in negotiating the transfer of the ARVN remains from 33-years in limbo in Hawaii was indispensable in our effort to bring these long-forgotten soldiers to their final resting place here in America.

We look forward to welcoming Secretary Spencer to the ceremony and hearing his views.