After Almost 40 Years, Vietnam War-Era Airman Buried

DALLAS, TX.(AP) – Amid full military honors, a Navy airman from Fort Worth was laid to rest today — nearly four decades after he died in action during the Vietnam War.

Lieutenant J.G. Frank Hand’s plane was shot down over the waters off Vietnam. In 2002, a team of Defense Department experts in Vietnam got a call from the Vietnamese government.

Some fishermen had discovered human bones and airplane wreckage in the Gulf of Thailand. The Navy made the DNA match to Hand.

Today, amid flying flags, a Navy honor guard fired salutes and four FA18 Hornet jets flew overhead as Hand’s family buried the Navy airman at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery in Dallas.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Edited and Posted to KVIA.com by Miguel Martinez