Where they Lay by Earl Swift

This is a story of an ongoing American project: the repatriation of the earthly remains of its soldiers, or at least a confirmation of the place that they died. The story centres around a helicopter that was shot down in Laos. The four crew was never seen again, though eyewitnesses was sure there could be no suvivors of the crash. But still doubt remains, and a team of experts goes to dig at a possible crash site. A very thorough job confirms that it is crash site, but not the right helicopter. A month of hell in the Laos hills, heat, rain and bugs, with no bone to show for it.

As a note of cultural comparison, I see in the book the American attachment to material things, and its habit of not becoming part of the land. Alan Bang never becomes home.

Even though the crash site is a disappointment, the last part of the book is entitled Perseverance. I see this as the perseverance of the author to keep on looking for a story, to give the book a very neat and stunning ending.