US begins identifying Korean War remains
HONOLULU: The US military is beginning the painstaking process of analysing remains from the Korean War now that they are back on American soil after having been handed over by North Korea last week.
VicePresident Mike Pence and the top commander of US forces in Asia, Adm Phil Davidson, formally received the remains contained in 55 caskets during an emotional and solemn ceremony on Wednesday after they arrived by military cargo jets from South Korea.
“They were husbands and fathers, brothers and neighbours – long gone, but never lost to the memory of their loved ones,” Pence said during the ceremony at a military base in Hawaii.
Each container was covered in an American flag and carried off the aircraft by one Marine, one sailor, one soldier and one airman.
The troops carefully set each box on risers inside a hangar as Pence stood watching with his hand over his heart. Davidson saluted. Some of the invited guests wiped tears from their eyes during the procession.
The homecoming comes 65 years after an armistice ended the conflict and weeks after President Donald Trump received a commitment from North Korean leader Kim Jongun for their return.
The Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency will take the remains to a lab on the base where forensic anthropologists will study bones and teeth to identify their race, gender and age. Scientists will extract DNA and compare it to DNA samples collected from families of troops still missing from the war.
The agency usually also relies on any items that may have been found with remains like uniforms, dog tags and wedding rings to identify remains. But North Korea only provided one dog tag with the 55 boxes it handed over last week.
It could take months or years to determine their identities.
“Some have called the Korean War the ‘forgotten war’. But today, we prove these heroes were never forgotten,” Pence said. “Today, our boys are coming home.”
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.
Australia, Belgium, France and the Philippines have yet to recover some of their war dead from North Korea.
“Whosoever emerges from these aircraft today begins a new season of hope for the families of our missing fallen,” Pence said.