
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 5, 1994                   TAG: 9401050084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HANOI, VIETNAM                                LENGTH: Short

U.S. TO START FULL-SCALE MIA SEARCH

The United States on Thursday will launch its largest search mission for Americans missing in action since the end of the Vietnam War, as Washington and Hanoi continue to edge toward better relations.

The operation comes at a time when the United States is assessing the entire issue of MIAs and when and how to move ahead in lifting its 19-year trade embargo against its former enemy.

Some Western diplomats and businessmen anticipate such a move will be made this year. A dozen U.S. companies already have registered to bid for about $300 million in internationally financed highway projects after President Clinton eased the embargo in September.

Army Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Needham, commander of the American search operation, said a review of the MIA situation was under way in Washington.

Clinton has made further steps toward renewing trade and diplomatic relations with Vietnam contingent on Hanoi's progress in the fullest possible accounting of the 2,239 Americans still unaccounted for.

Army Lt. Col. David L. Fredrikson, a spokesman for the operation, said it would be the largest search mission since the Vietnam War ended in 1975. When Vietnam first allowed the United States to search for remains in 1988, there were only three men to conduct investigations.

by CNB