Remains of US soldiers taken for analysis

DECADES after the end of the Korean War in 1953, the remains of dozens of presumed US war dead were on their way to Hawaii for analysis and identification.

The US military believes the bones are those of US servicemen and potentially servicemen from other United Nations member countries who fought alongside the US on behalf of South Korea during the war.

US Vice President Mike Pence and the commander of US forces in Asia, Admiral Phil Davidson, were expected to speak at a ceremony marking the arrival of the remains on US soil and the beginning of a long process to identify the bones.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea handed over the remains last week. A US military plane made a rare trip into the DPRK to retrieve the 55 cases.

About 7,700 US soldiers are listed as missing from the 195053 Korean War. About 5,300 of the remains are believed to still be in the DPRK.

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.

It could bring his family some closure, he said.

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 December 2, 1950.

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 US military’s Defense 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 the DPRK only provided one dog tag with the 55 boxes it handed over last week.

Before the remains were put on military planes bound for Hawaii, hundreds of US 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 US and South Korean national anthems and dirges in front of the UN flagcovered metal cases containing the remains.

The remains were then moved in gray vans to an airfield where US and South Korean soldiers loaded them one by one into two transport planes.

Four US fighter jets flew low in a tribute.