Remains of Navy pilot missing in Vietnam returned to Minn.

ZIMMERMAN, Minn. (AP) -- The remains of a U.S. Navy fighter pilot missing in action in the Vietnam War are being returned to his family in Minnesota for burial.

Lt. William Swanson of Zimmerman will be laid to rest Monday with military honors at Fort Snelling in Minneapolis. Swanson was 27 years old when his A-1H Skyraider aircraft crashed during an armed reconnaissance mission over Khammouan Province, Laos on April 11, 1965.

The Department of Defense says Americans in the area reported seeing Swanson's plane being hit by enemy fire and crashing. The DOD says recovery efforts at the time were impossible due to enemy presence.

KARE-TV reports a joint U.S./Lao People's Democratic Republican team discovered the crash site in 2000. It wasn't until 2010 that a recovery team finished excavation and recovered human remains.

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