Pentagon identifies three U.S. soldiers missing in Vietnam War

<p>On his 19th birthday, Sgt. Francis Graziosi was killed in a helicopter crash while flying back to his Army base in Vietnam.</p><p>Almost 37 years later, the Pentagon's POW/Missing Personnel Office said Tuesday that his remains have been recovered and identified along with two Army colleagues _ Capt. Herbert Crosby, 22, of Donalsonville, Ga., and Sgt. Wayne Allen, 21, of Tewksbury, Mass.</p><p>"I've been wondering all this time and now, finally, I feel we can put him to rest," said Graziosi's first cousin, Alan Frisa. "There was always that outside chance he could be in another country or whatever, but that never really proved true."</p><p>Relatives of the trio have the option of burying them with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery or in cemeteries closer to home. Graziosi, an only child whose parents have long since died, will be laid to rest in the spring in a family plot in his hometown of Rochester, Frisa said.</p><p>"We grew up together, myself and all my other cousins, and we had a lot of fun," Frisa recalled. "I went into the service in 1966 and he wanted to go in the service in the worst way. He kind of copied me a lot. He pestered his parents and they finally signed him up at 17 years old."</p><p>Graziosi was in his second year on tour in Vietnam when the UH-1C Huey helicopter he was on went down in Quang Nam province on Jan. 10, 1970. Severe weather was blamed for the crash. A search was carried out but no signs of the helicopter and its crew of four were found.</p><p>In all, 855 Americans who were once missing in action in the Vietnam War have been identified, but nearly 1,800 others remain unaccounted for.</p><p>Remains of Graziosi, Crosby and Allen were contained in boxes turned over by the Vietnamese government in 1989, said Larry Greer, a Pentagon spokesman on POW-MIA issues. Crosby's identification tag was obtained from a Vietnamese refugee later that year and further remains were recovered during excavations in 1994.</p><p>The three men were finally identified this summer by scientists from the Pentagon's Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory.</p><p>Both Graziosi's parents died without knowing what happened to their son.</p><p>"I've been flying a POW-MIA flag for 12 years," said Frisa, 59, who owns an alarm security business. "I've gone through a lot of flags _ worn out, put another one up; worn out, put another one up. This last one I have right now I'm going to put in his casket."</p>

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