The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

Return to Freedom Village
Photos by Daniel D. Ruscillo
30 Kensington Mnr. , Middletown, NY 10941
I received my Graybeards and I had to cry for the pictures
I sent brought back lots of memories. I was a
combat medic 2nd Div 171st Field Hospital. All my
buddies called me and were surprised for they belong
to the KWVA. I was at Freedom Village as a medic
changing their soldiers for
ours.
(Thank you Daniel for photos. In
future do not send to our publisher
and also put your name
on back of photos.)
PW NK being exchanged at Village for our
boys in which I earned the Bronze-Star V for
Valor
Gen.. Westmorland in Review after 7/27/53
Tony Cristi and me.
The N.K. POWs in Camp we
guarded.
U.S. Army Korea
Outreach
In last few months, the U.S. Army
Central Identification Laboratory
Hawaii has recovered what are believed to
be the remains of 50 U.S. Servicemen who
did not return from the Korean War. This
year’s unparalleled access into the North
Korean battlefields, that hold the remains
of over 8100 service members, has
renewed hope for thousands of families.
Since joint recovery operations began in
1994, a total of 92 remains have been repatriated.
Five have been positively identified
and many others are in the final stages
of the forensic identification process.
To facilitate identification of those
service members remains the U.S. Army is
trying to locate the families of the more
than 6,000 unaccounted for soldiers. For
more than 40 years, the Army has had little
or no contact with many of the families
of these service members. We need information
such as the name, relationship,
address, and telephone number of the
Primary Next of Kin (PNOK) of soldiers
who did not return from the Korean War.
We also seek to locate maternal relatives to
provide a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
family reference sample for filing with the
mtDNA database to aid in the identification
of remains of soldiers unaccountedfor
from the war.
Additionally, in an effort to keep families
informed on the current accounting
effort, the Defense Prisoner of
War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)
sponsors monthly Family Member
Updates. Experts present information on
investigation and recovery efforts, and on
the latest technologies used to identify
remains, including mtDNA. Archival
research, diplomacy initiatives and other
topics are also presented to the families. At
the end of the all-day Saturday sessions,
families are invited to privately review
details of their own cases.
If you are a family member of such a
servicemember or you know of someone
who is, please contact the U.S. Total Army
Personnel Command, Casualty and
Memorial Affairs Operations Center at 1-
800-892-2490 or tapcper@hoffman.
army.mil. Web Site: http://www.perscom.
army.mil/tagd/cmaoc/rfad.htm
January/February, 2001 Page 31