December 2005

Questions of status: to be a KIA or a known POW death, or an NBD (non-battle death) someone had to see the death and report it; a lot of men were simply lost on the battlefield. Unless someone reliable reported them as KIA or something else, they became MIA instead. Most are likely KIA, with some short-term POWs (and early Camp 5 deaths) mixed in.

After the Korean War, in September – November 1954, the Chinese/North Koreans returned 4175 caskets containing a total of 4219 bodies, from all over. Of these 2944 were Americans and all but 416 were identified and sent home. The 416 Unknowns from North Korea were buried individually at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. The total number of Unknowns is 867, including those from South Korea. Work continues, one of these was identified in 2003, other to follow.

The North Koreans returned 208 more caskets during 1990–94. To date (December 2005), we have identified 14, with several others to follow. Family DNA samples are a big help here.

During Joint Recovery Operations 1996–2005 we have recovered over 220 sets of remains. The people at the lab in Hawaii are sorting out the exact number. Of these, 24 have been identified. I don’t have an exact breakout by year; several others are now in progress.

Final item: we do not pay for remains but we do pay for honest efforts, labor, torn up crops, gasoline, and such.