Re: USG Trying to Return POW-MIA Remains

Date: April 26, 2004

"Government still trying to return remains of POWs and MIAs

One of the things the United States has always done is to try to account for our Missing In Action. Maybe the reason the government tries to find our MIA’s is the national veterans service organizations keep this issue on the front burner. The Korean War, 1950-1953, had a total of 5.7 million servicemembers worldwide. There were 33,741 battle deaths, 2,835 in-theater deaths, 17,670 non-theater deaths and 103,284 woundings not causing deaths. And there are about 3.5 million Korean War veterans still alive. There were 21 POWs that refused repatriation. Also a formal truce was never sign.

For those who have relatives that are listed as MIA from Korea and Korean War veterans, this will be of interest. The Department of Defense announcement that U.S. and North Korean specialists began preliminary work in North Korea to prepare to recover the remains of Americans missing in action from the Korean War.

According to the DoD, "For the first time since these operations began in 1996, supplies and equipment were transported across the demilitarized zone to U.S. recovery teams. This arrangement was made through negotiations led by the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office in February. And, for the first time since 1999, U.S. remains, accompanied by recovery team members, will return across the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the end of each operation."

"This marks the ninth consecutive year that U.S. teams have operated inside North Korea, bringing home some remains of the more than 8,100 soldiers missing in action from the war. Specialists from the Joint POW/Missing Personnel Command have recovered more than 180 remains since 1996 in 27 separate operations. This year, the recovery work will be split between the two sites for a schedule that will extend between April and October. Twenty-eight U.S. team members will join with their North Korean counterparts for each of these approximately 30-day operations."

"More than 88,000 Americans are missing in action from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and Desert Storm."

As for POWs, National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day was marked on April 9, the anniversary of when American and Filipino forces surrendered in 1942.

The total number of US military captured and interned since WW I is approximately 142,257. World War I, 4,120; World War II, 130,201; Korea, 7,140; Vietnam, 772; Persian Gulf, 23 and Somalia, 1.

The total that return was 125,202; World War I, 3,973; World War II, 116,129; Korea, 658; Vietnam, 658; Persian Gulf, 23 and Somalia, 1.

Total deaths while a POW are 17,034; World War I, 147; World War II, 14,072; Korea, 2,701; Vietnam, 144; Persian Gulf, 23 and Somalia, 1.

The total alive, as of January 1998, is 55,999.

Congress defines a former prisoner of war as a person who, while serving on active military, naval or air service, was forcibly detained or interned in the line of duty by an enemy government or a hostile force, during a period of war or in situations comparable to war.

Information for the article was taken from the Department of Defense.

©The Middletown Press 2004 "