How did dead soldiers get from Vietnam to US?

Answer 1

I was 18 years old and had been in the Air Force for a total of 6 months. My first assignment was Utapao Thailand and then into Cambodia. I worked with Mac Air and I witnessed more death and destruction during my 18-month tour of duty. The day that our DC 8 contract aircraft left Travis Air Force Base California and landed in this hot jungle flight line the bodies were stacked up, not in containers, but like cords of wood ready to be uploaded once we disembarked the aircraft.

Answer 2

US casualties were processed IN COUNTRY. They were transported in plain unpainted aluminum coffins in US Air Force transports (normally C-130's or C-5 Galaxys) and normally taken to Travis AFB Ca, and deployed from there.

ADDED: I was an aircraft loadmaster on C-130E in Vietnam and later on C-141A long-range transports, and flew many human remains out from Vietnam over a 8 year period. The initial processing was in-country where HR's were placed in aluminum transfer cases, and flown to mortuaries at Clark AB Philippines, and then to Travis AFB, California. The body bags were only used in-country. The transfer cases were treated with respect, and never stacked or anything placed on top. Each case was signed for each step of the journey for accountability.

ADDED: The above answers are only partially correct: There were two mortuaries in Vietnam, one at Tan Son Nhut and one at Da Nang. Human remains were loaded onto Military Airlift Command transports, mostly C-141s after 1965, at both places and flown directly to the United States. They were not sent to Clark. In fact, I don't know that there was a mortuary at Clark and I was based there. Remains going east of the Mississippi went to Dover AFB, DE where there were was a mortuary and those going west of the Mississippi went to Travis. Remains were treated as cargo but given special handling but there was no ceremony. (I too was a loadmaster on C-130s (two tours) and C-141s.)

Answer 3

Those service personnel who lost their lives in service to their country were flown from South Vietnam to Dover , Delaware (Dover Air Force Base ; Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs) for 'final' processing .