Remains of Navy journalist killed in Vietnam War ID'd

March 27 (UPI) -- Scientists identified the remains of a 24-year-old Naval journalist killed in action during the Vietnam War, the Department of Defense announced Wednesday.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Navy Reserve Journalist 3rd Class Raul A. Guerra of Montebello, Calif., died Oct. 8, 1967, in a plane crash in South Vietnam.

Guerra was riding aboard an E-1B Tracer en route to the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier when the plane lost contact and crashed into a mountainside near Da Nang. Due to steep terrain, U.S. military officials couldn't conduct a recovery operation, and Guerra and four other service members on board were declared killed in action.

A joint operation by the United States and Vietnam in 2004 located the crash site and recovered aircraft wreckage and human remains. In 2007, the other service members were identified, but scientists were unable to obtain DNA samples from relevant family members to identify Guerra.

The other four service members identified in 2007 were Navy Aviation Electronics Technician Roald R. Pineau, Navy Lt. j.g. Norman L. Roggow, Lt. j.g. Donald F. Wolfe and Lt. j.g. Andrew G. Zissu.

In February, scientists were able to identify Guerra using dental and isotopic analysis, and circumstantial and material evidence.

The DPAA said some 1,589 U.S. service members are unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.

Guerra's name is recovered on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, where a rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate his identification. He will be buried in April in Whittier, Calif.