The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

Defense POW/MIA Weekly Update
KOREAN WAR/COLD WAR DOCUMENT
FAMILY RESEARCH
November 22, 2000
MIA Recovery
Operation concludes
in North Korea
Remains believed
to be those of 15
American soldiers,
missing in action from
the Korean War, were repatriated on
Veterans Day. This equals the largest number
of remains recovered during a single
joint recovery operation.
The remains were flown on a U.S. Air
Force aircraft from Pyongyang, North
Korea, under escort of a uniformed U.S.
honor guard to Yokota Air Base, Japan,
where a United Nations Command repatriation
ceremony was held.
A joint U.S.-North Korea team operating
in Unsan and Kujang counties, about
60 miles north of Pyongyang, recovered
the remains during an operation that began
Oct. 17. The area was the site of battles
between Communist Chinese forces and
the U. S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division,
and 2nd and 25th Infantry Divisions in
November 1950.
The 20-person U. S. team is composed
primarily of specialists from the U.S.
Army’s Central Identification Laboratory
Hawaii (CILHI).
This year’s work in North Korea was
the most productive to-date, recovering 65
sets of remains during five operations. As
a result of negotiated agreements with
North Korea, led by the Defense
Department’s POW/Missing Personnel
Office (DPMO), 107 sets of remains have
been recovered in 17 joint recovery operations
since 1996. Five servicemen have
been positively identified and returned to
their families for burial with full military
honors. Another 10 are nearing the final
stages of the forensic identification
process.
Officials at DPMO have initiated contact
with North Korean officials to begin
preliminary planning for formal discussions
in December to establish a schedule
of operations for 2001.
Of the 88,000 U.S. servicemembers
missing in action from all conflicts, more
than 8,100 are from the Korean War.
December 18, 2000
U.S., North Korea Reach Agreement
on MIA Remains Recovery
U.S. and North Korean negotiators
have reached an agreement for 2001 under
which joint teams will recover the remains
of Americans missing in action from the
Korean War, marking the sixth consecutive
year that the United States will conduct
remains recovery operations in North
Korea.
The agreement, following four days of
negotiations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
led by the Defense POW/Missing
Personnel Office, expands similar operations
that have been conducted since
1996.
The 2001 agreement significantly
expands the size of the U.S. teams,
increases the length of U.S. activities and
adds areas of operations around the
Chosin Reservoir to the current areas in
Unsan and Kujang counties, approximately
60 miles north of the capital of
Pyongyang.
Ten operations will be conducted in the
three areas between April and November.
Each operation will last 32 days - up from
26 days each in 2000. Repatriation of
remains will follow immediately thereafter.
The increase in the number of days
essentially equates to 60 additional days,
or two complete operations, beyond the
levels set in the 2000 schedules. The U.S.
component of the joint teams was expanded
to 28 members from 20.
The agreement also establishes a procedure
for sharing records and data related
to witness interviews, potential burial
locations and other information not previously
made available by the North
Koreans.
During the five operations in 2000 in
the Unsan and Kujang areas, joint teams
recovered 65 sets of remains. Forty-two
were recovered in the four previous years.
Five have been positively identified, with
another 10 nearing the final stages of identification.
More than 8,100 servicemen are
missing in action from the Korean War.
Operations in 2001 will include areas
of investigation near Kaechon, approximately
18 miles south of Unsan and
Kujang. Kaechon includes an area nicknamed
the “Gauntlet,” where the U.S.
Army’s 2nd Infantry Division conducted
its famous fighting withdrawal along a
narrow road through six miles of Chinese
ambush positions during November and
December 1950. More than 950 missing
in action soldiers are believed to be located
in these three areas.
The Chosin Reservoir campaign left
approximately 750 Marines and soldiers
missing in action from both the east and
west sides of the reservoir in northeastern
North Korea.
The field teams are comprised primarily
of specialists from the U.S. Army
Central Identification Laboratory Hawaii
(CILHI), where the forensic identification
work is done after the remains are repatriated.
In addition to the mission of recovering
and identifying remains from the
Korea War, CILHI has the same responsibility
in accounting for MIAs from the
Vietnam War, the Cold War, and WWII.
More information on U.S. recovery
efforts is available at http://www.dtic.mil/
dpmo or http://www.cilhi.army.mil.
2001 Family Update Schedule
Date
Location
Jan 20 ................Las Vegas, NV
Feb 24 ................San Francisco, CA
Mar 17 ..............San Antonio, TX
Apr 21 ................Cheyenne, WY
May 19 ..............Atlanta, GA
Aug 18 ..............St. Paul, MN
Sept 15 ..............Providence, RI
Oct 20 ................Orlando, FL
Nov 17 ..............Little Rock, AR
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