Remains of Vietnam War Soldier, Miami Beach, native, to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery

Courtesy Photo | The remains of Army Staff Sgt. Sanford (Sandy) I. Finger, a Soldier killed during the Vietnam War, will be interred June 16 at Arlington National Cemetery. A native of Miami Beach, Finger was assigned to the U.S. Army Element Vietnam, Army & Air Force Exchange Service, Pacific Region, U.S. Army Headquarters Area Command. He was reported missing in action Oct. 26, 1971, at age 29, when the CH-47B Chinook helicopter, on which he was a passenger, went down over water in bad weather while flying from Tuy Hoa to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam.  

FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, UNITED STATES

06.14.2023

Story by Fonda Bock 

U.S. Army Human Resources Command

FORT KNOX, Ky. – The remains of Army Staff Sgt. Sanford (Sandy) I. Finger, a Soldier killed during the Vietnam War, will be interred June 16 at Arlington National Cemetery. Graveside services will be performed by Everly-Wheatley Funerals and Cremation, Alexandria, Virginia, preceding the interment.

A native of Miami Beach, Finger was assigned to the U.S. Army Element Vietnam, Army & Air Force Exchange Service, Pacific Region, U.S. Army Headquarters Area Command. He was reported missing in action Oct. 26, 1971, at age 29, when the CH-47B Chinook helicopter, on which he was a passenger, went down over water in bad weather while flying from Tuy Hoa to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam. Remains of four of the 10 Soldiers on board were recovered during search and rescue operations following the crash, but Finger was not accounted for.

An unsuccessful recovery attempt of remains was made in 1974 when divers from the Joint Casualty Resolution Center dove on what was believed to be the crash site. Years later, a recovery mission in June 2021 found possible human remains and material evidence.

Finger was accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency Aug. 23, 2022, after his remains were identified using material and circumstantial evidence as well as anthropological, mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA analysis.

His name is recorded on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the American Battle Monuments Commission’s Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery in the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, along with others still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. A rosette will be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

For additional information about Staff Sgt. Finger, go to https://www.dpaa.mil/News-Stories/News-Releases/PressReleaseArticleView/Article/3138077/soldier-accounted-for-from-vietnam-war-finger-s/

To learn more about the Department of Defense’s mission to account for Americans who went missing while serving our country, visit the DPAA website at www.dpaa.mil, www.facebook.com/dodpaa, or call [phone]/1169.

Media interested in covering and/or obtaining more information about the funeral and interment should contact the Army Casualty Office at [phone] and/or Everly-Wheatley Funerals and Cremation, [phone].


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• Date Taken: 06.14.2023
• Date Posted: 06.14.2023 08:56
• Story ID: 447117
• Location: FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US