Korean War Unaccounted For Personnel

Army Seeks POW-MIA Families

Army seeks families of unaccounted for Korean War servicemen
From a Personnel Command News Release

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (ANS, Jan. 22, 1998) -- The Department of Defense and the military services have mounted an intense public outreach effort to locate family members of servicemen who did not return from the Korean War.

According to Col. Ward B. Nickisch, director, Casualty and Memorial Affairs Operations Center, "We have begun to open some doors in North Korea, and we need to re-establish contact with the families of those servicemen who did not return."

As a result of two negotiated agreements, the U.S. has conducted four joint recovery operations inside North Korea during 1996 and 1997 to locate and recover the remains of U.S. servicemen who died during the Korean War.

In the four operations, the remains of what are believed to be seven American soldiers have been recovered. One serviceman has been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

Nickisch added, "As we're able to obtain additional circumstance of loss information or recover remains from North Korea, we'll need to contact the families. Unfortunately, in some cases nearly 45 years have elapsed since the services have had contact with many of the families. We need to locate next-of-kin to aid in any future identification process. We welcome all leads to locate family members."

Family members of any unaccounted for Korea-era servicemen are asked to provide their name, address, telephone number, and relationship to their loved one as soon as possible to the appropriate service casualty office.

The military services have established toll-free telephone numbers for family members to use. For the Army, it's 1-800-892-2490. The Air Force telephone number is 1-800-531-5501. The Navy telephone number is 1-800-443-9298 and the Marine Corps' telephone number is 1-800-847-1597.

Each of the services has compiled a partial list of Korean War family contacts, but with more than 8,100 unaccounted for servicemen from the war (more than 6,000 Army servicemen), the task is extremely difficult considering the time elapsed since the cease-fire in Korea.

"We're using the Internet and any other technology we can acquire," Nickisch said. "But we believe the most effective way to find these families is word-of-mouth through veterans, families, and active duty military organizations. That's why we're now pushing hard to 'get the word out' in many different ways. We hope our ongoing efforts in North Korea will result in bringing answers to families who have sacrificed much for so long."