From The Australian -
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26004274-31477,00.html
Last Aussie dead home from Hanoi Patrick Walters | August 31, 2009
Article from: The Australian.
THE remains of the last two missing Australian servicemen from the Vietnam war are due to return to Australia today, nearly 39 years after their RAAF Canberra bomber crashed in remote jungle near the Laotian border.
The families and RAAF 2 Squadron comrades of Flying Officer Michael Herbert and Pilot Officer Robert Carver attended a special farewell ceremony at Noi Bai airfield near Hanoi yesterday.
Air force chief Mark Binskin, accompanied by parliamentary secretary for defence support Mike Kelly, paid their respects to the duo as their caskets were loaded onto an RAAF Hercules for the flight home.
The Hercules will arrive at the Richmond RAAF base this morning, where the caskets will be received with full military honours by current and former members of 2 Squadron.
"Today, our last remaining Australian Defence Force members from the Vietnam War will return home. After 39 years, Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver's family and friends will finally be able to bring them home to lay them to rest," Dr Kelly said yesterday.
Flying Officer Herbert, 24, from Glenelg, South Australia, and navigator Pilot Officer Carver, 24, from Toowoomba, Queensland, were lost when their bomber disappeared shortly after dropping its bombs on November 3, 1970.
The wreckage of the bomber, discovered in April in Vietnam's central highlands, ended decades of speculation about what had happened to the pair.
Excavations at the crash site last month confirmed the identity of the missing flyers.
The discovery of Herbert and Carver's remains brought to an end the long search. in which a significant role was played by the veterans group Operation Aussies Home, for the six Australians who remained missing at the end of the Vietnam war.
In 2007, the remains of Lance Corporal Richard Parker and Private Peter Gillson were finally recovered, followed by those of Lance Corporal John Gillespie and Lance Corporal David Fisher in 2008.
Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science Greg Combet yesterday thanked all those who worked to bring Flying Officer Herbert and Pilot Officer Carver home.
"This is an excellent result. The co-operation of the Vietnamese authorities has been exceptional and highly valued by the team and the government of Australia," he said.
Mr Combet particularly thanked the Defence Science Technology Organisation, which provided crucial support in locating the wreckage, and the commitment shown by Jim Bourke and his team at Operations Aussies Home.
Private funerals will be held by the families of the two men in Adelaide and Toowoomba later this week.