Presidential Commission on Americans Missing and Unaccounted for in Southeast Asia Statement on the Commission's Trip to Southeast Asia.

I have just met with Leonard Woodcock and the other members of the Presidential Commission who are about to leave for Southeast Asia to seek information on our personnel who are missing and unaccounted for and to express my interest in improving relations between our two countries. I am very grateful to these distinguished Americans for agreeing to help me fulfill my long-standing commitment to resolve this humanitarian problem. I am impressed with the deep concern and sense of purpose of the members of the Commission as they undertake their mission.

I am hopeful that this step we are taking will meet with a positive response and put in motion a process that will obtain the fullest possible accounting for our men who sacrificed so much for their country. At the same time, we recognize that information may never be available on many of them. Some were lost over water, or over heavily forested areas and mountainous terrain, where information may never be found or will be very slow in developing. So we are not unrealistic in our expectations.

The Commission carries with it my personal best wishes, and I am confident it has the support of all Americans as well. I look forward to meeting with all of its members upon their return. I pray they will bring with them the assurance of an honorable resolution for the problem of our missing men. I also hope it will report that the Vietnamese share my desire to put the period of war behind us and look ahead rather than backward.