News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: North Korea Recovery Ops

Date: October 15, 2001

"NEWS RELEASE #01-005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2001

CILHI Teams Leave for Recovery Operation in North Korea

HICKAM AFB, Hawaii -- Members of a joint recovery operation deployed today from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii for North Korea, on a mission to account for American servicemen still unaccounted for as a result of the Korean War. There will be four investigative teams and two recovery teams working with their North Korean counterparts.

The recovery teams will focus their efforts around the Chosin Reservoir and areas in Unsan and Kujang counties near the Chong Chon River. The teams consist of about 28 personnel on a monthlong deployment.

The teams are made up of linguists, explosive ordnance technicians, mortuary affairs specialists, photographers, medics, anthropologists, team leaders and team sergeants.

This is the fifth and final joint recovery operation in North Korea for 2001. There have been 21 joint recovery operations in North Korea since 1996, with the CILHI recovering what is believed to be 144 remains of U.S. servicemen.

There are more than 8,100 service members still unaccounted for from the Korean War. While the recovery and identification process may take years, the CILHI remains committed to the fullest possible accounting of all service members killed in defense of their country."