A U.S. SOLDIER SALUTES DURING A REPATRIATION CEREMONY WEDNESDAY FOR THE REMAINS OF U.S. SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE KOREAN WAR AND COLLECTED IN NORTH KOREA.
Could take years to determine identities
• The process to identify the remains of dozens of presumed U.S. war dead — killed in action during the Korean War — could take years.
North Korea handed over the remains last week with a U.S. military plane making a rare trip into North Korea to retrieve the 55 cases.
On Tuesday, before the remains were put on military planes bound for Hawaii, hundreds of U.S. and South Korean troops gathered at a hanger at the Osan base in South Korean for the repatriation ceremony, which included a silent tribute, a rifle salute and the playing of the U.S. and South Korean national anthems and dirges in front of the UN flag-covered metal cases containing the remains.
“For the warrior, this is a cherished duty, a commitment made to one another
WE’VE BEEN HOPEFUL THAT MY UNCLE IS AMONG THE REMAINS.
before going into battle, and passed on from one generation of warriors to the next,” Vincent Brooks, chief of the U.S. military in South Korea, said in a speech.
The remains were then moved in grey vans to an airfield where U.S. and South Korean soldiers loaded them one by one into two transport planes. Four U.S. fighter jets flew low in a tribute.
U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence and the commander of U.S. forces in Asia, Adm. Phil Davidson, were in Hawaii to receive the remains.
The U.S. military believes the bones are those of U.S. servicemen and potentially servicemen from other United Nations member countries who fought alongside the U.S. on behalf of South Korea during the war.
About 7,700 U.S. soldiers are listed as missing from the 1950-53 Korean War and about 5,300 of the remains are believed to still be in North Korea.
Hanwell Kaakimaka’s uncle, John Kaakimaka, is among those who never came home.
“We’ve been watching the news, and we’ve been hopeful that my uncle is among the remains,” he said, adding that it could bring his family some closure.
His uncle, who was from Honolulu, was a corporal in the 31st Infantry Regiment of the Army’s 7th Infantry Division. He went missing on or about Dec. 2, 1950.
Hanwell Kaakimaka said the story he heard from his dad was that his uncle was injured and was being brought back from the front when Chinese troops overran the area and attacked the convoy.
If John Kaakimaka’s remains are ever identified, his family wants him to be buried in a cemetery at the base of Diamond Head crater in Honolulu because that’s where his parents and brothers were laid to rest, Hanwell Kaakimaka said.
The Kaakimaka family provided DNA samples to the U.S. military’s Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency over a decade ago, hoping officials would be able to make a match.
The agency identifies remains of servicemen killed in past conflicts. It typically uses bones, teeth and DNA to identify remains along with any items that may have been found with remains like uniforms, dog tags and wedding rings. But North Korea only provided one dog tag with the 55 boxes it handed over last week.
U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said last week that the return of the 55 boxes was a positive step but not a guarantee that the bones are American.
A U.S. defence official said Tuesday that it probably will take months if not years to fully determine individual identities from the remains.
“The remains received from North Korea are being handled with the utmost care and respect by professional historians, forensic scientists, uniformed personnel and government officials,” the U.S.-led UN Command said in a statement. It said it “never leaves troops behind, living or deceased, and will continue the mission of repatriation until every service member returns home.”
The remains will go to a lab in Hawaii run by the military agency that identifies missing servicemen and women from past conflicts. The Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency identifies remains from battlefields around the world.
The agency also sends DNA samples for analysis to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Many families who are awaiting the return of their loved ones from the Korean War have already submitted DNA samples to the agency to help in the identification process.
The agency’s forensic anthropologists also study remains to determine their sex, race, size and age. Scientists search bones for evidence of trauma caused at the time of death and for previous injuries or conditions like arthritis.
The bones’ return was part of an agreement reached during a June summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump thanked Kim for the return.