Private Fisher, a national service member of the Special Air Service Regiment, disappeared when he fell from a helicopter in 1969. His remains were discovered in August.

Defence Personnel Minister Warren Snowdon joined members of Private Fisher's family, including sister Annie Cowdroy, and the soldier's comrades yesterday in a ceremony at Hanoi's Noi Bai airfield.

Private Fisher's remains were placed aboard a Royal Australian Air Force C-130 Hercules for the flight back to Australia.

The aircraft is due to land at RAAF Base Richmond in NSW today, where the soldier will be ceremonially received by current and former members of the elite regiment.

''After 39 years, Private Fisher's family and mates are finally able to bring him home to rest in peace,'' the minister said.

''We are able to bring Private Fisher home, thanks to the dedication and commitment of the Australian investigation team the army historians, a Defence forensic anthropologist and archaeologist.''

Private Fisher, 23, was a member of a five-man patrol operating near the Nui May Tao mountains in South Vietnam's Phuoc Tuy province on September 27, 1969.

His unit encountered a much larger North Vietnamese force and the patrol leader called in helicopters to evacuate his soldiers.

A hovering RAAF Iroquois helicopter dropped ropes to which patrol members attached themselves.

As the helicopter flew away, Private Fisher fell 30m to the ground.

Intensive searches in the ensuing days failed to find any trace of him.

Recent research by the Army History Unit indicated that the searchers had missed the site while a former Viet Cong soldier revealed he had buried the body of a man he believed to be an American in that area around that time.

Private Fisher's identification tags had not been removed from his body, which aided his identification and repatriation. AAP