Mr. Marc E. Knapper, member of the Senior Foreign Service of the U.S. Department of State and Ambassador to Vietnam is escorted around the barge during his visit to the underwater recovery team’s site off the coast of Nha Trang, Khánh Hòa Province, Vietnam, July 11, 2023.

Ambassador Knapper visited the 23-3VN underwater recovery team in support of DPAA’s mission in Vietnam. The partnership and dedication shared between the United States and Vietnam make it possible to recover service members lost in past conflicts.

Service members from the U.S. Army 7th Engineer Dive Detachment and the U.S. Coast Guard Regional Dive Locker West and Pacific combined skillsets and techniques with DPAA and one of its underwater archaeologists with the support of the Vietnamese Office of Seeking Missing Persons to take on the unique underwater recovery mission. They searched for four of the remaining 1,244 Americans unaccounted for in Vietnam over a span of 70 plus days. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Morgan L. R. Burgess)