A ceremony has been held in Western Australia to mark the repatriation of the bodies of two Special Air Service soldiers who were declared missing in action in Indonesia in the 1960s.

Lieutenant Kenneth Hudson and Private Robert Moncrieff were conducting an SAS patrol during the Indonesian confrontation in March 1966 when they were swept away during a river crossing.

They were never seen again.

Their remains were found last month and returned to Perth today.

After a ceremony at the Royal Australian Air Force base north of Perth, their coffins were draped in Australian flags and returned to their families to be buried later this week.

Minister for Defence Personnel, Materiel and Science, Greg Combet, has thanked the Indonesian armed forces, as well as the local people in West Kalimantan, for their help in recovering the soldiers' remains.

Lieutenant Hudson was born in Brisbane , while Private Moncrieff grew up in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.