News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Yokota honors 17 Korean War remains

Date: October 06, 2001

"Yokota honors 17 Korean War remains
by Master Sgt. Val Gempis
Air Force Print News

10/05/01 - YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan -- Seventeen remains believed to be U.S. soldiers who died during the Korean War were honored here during a repatriation ceremony Oct. 3.

About 200 people attended the nighttime ceremony.

Two recovery teams from the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii on a 45-day deployment, found the remains near the Chosin Reservoir and around Unsan and Jujang counties near Chong Chon River in North Korea.

Chosin Reservoir, where 14 remains were recovered, is the site where U.S. soldiers and Marines reportedly fought Chinese forces at the end of 1950.

This is the first time U.S. recovery teams have been allowed access to this area where 1,100 U.S. troops were reported killed during the winter campaign.

Recovery team officials said the area is mountainous and cold. They also mentioned that they traveled extensively because roads leading to the site were, at times, difficult to navigate.

A team also recovered three sets of the remains in Unsan and Kujang counties north of Pyongyang, North Korea. A majority of the 144 sets of remains that have been unearthed since this operation began in 1996 have come from this site. Heavy fighting between Chinese and North Korean forces and the U.S. 1st Cavalry and 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions occurred here during the war.

This recent operation has yielded the most number of remains since the joint recovery program began in 1996. The remains will be transported to the lab located at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, where forensic anthropologists and odontologists will analyze the remains for potential identification.

Since 1973, the lab has identified more than 1,000 American military personnel formerly listed as unaccounted for. About 705 of those servicemen were from the Vietnam War, 23 were from the Korean War, 267 were from World War II and 15 from the Cold War."