3 Aug 2009

Remains of first US Gulf War casualty found

5:58 am on 3 August 2009

The United States military has found the remains of the last American still officially missing in action from the Gulf War.

Captain Michael Scott Speicher, 33, an F18 pilot, was shot down over Iraq on 17 January, 1991, the first day of the war which eventually drove Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

Last month, an Iraqi citizen took US marines based in Anbar Province, to the crash site and told them where the remains had been buried in the desert by Bedouin tribesmen.

Captain Speicher's disappearance was a great mystery of the Gulf War, and rumours persisted until this year that he might still be alive, and a captive in Iraq.