News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Suspected Korean War Remains Go To Hawaii

Date: August 01, 2001

"Remains believed to be those of Marine killed in Korean War sent to Hawaii
By Jeremy Kirk, Seoul bureau chief

YONGSAN GARRISON — The remains believed to be those of a U.S. Marine uncovered by last week’s heavy rains were given an honor guard salute Friday before being sent to Hawaii for identification.

A farmer saw a boot sticking out of the ground Monday near Taean, a small city about 156 miles southeast of Seoul, said Marine Maj. Tim Callahan, operations chief for the Military Armistice Commission of the U.N. Command.

The South Korean Army was notified, and mortuary affairs officials from Yongsan Garrison recovered the remains, he said.

A set of dog tags and parts of a parachute also were recovered, he said. The dog tags were matched to an aircraft that went down in the last months of the Korean War in 1953.

About 8,100 servicemembers are missing from the Korean War, and 5,500 are believed to be in North Korea. This year, the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii will conduct 10 operations in North Korea, venturing for the first time into the Chosin Reservoir. Many U.S. servicemembers died at the reservoir during bitter fighting in the winter of 1950-51.

The center uses mitochondrial DNA testing in addition to months of extensive research to make an identification. The mtDNA is passed to people by a person’s mother and can be shared by maternal relatives.

Members of the U.N. Command Honor Guard fired a 21-gun salute, and the silver-colored metal box — covered with a U.N. flag — was loaded into a white hearse.

About 33,000 U.S. servicemembers died in the 1950-53 war.

"Like so many others, he dedicated himself to liberty," said Marine Brig. Gen. Timothy E. Donovan, assistant chief of staff of the U.N. Command, during the ceremony. "This servicemember may now continue his journey home."