Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
By Rudi Williams
WASHINGTON -- The Korean War is often referred to as the
"forgotten war," and many families of servicemen missing
from that war felt their loved ones were also forgotten --
until now.
Advances in forensic medicine have enabled DoD to redouble
efforts to identify some of the 846 sets of Korean War
remains buried as "unknowns" in the National Memorial
Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, also known as "the
Punch Bowl." Investigators will use the same mitochondrial
DNA technology that proved the remains of Air Force 1st Lt.
Michael J. Blassie were those interred in the Vietnam crypt
of the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery,
Va.
A new DoD policy authorizes the Army's Honolulu-based
Central Identification Laboratory to disinter remains of
unknown service members that "we believe, with the help of
DNA, we can identify," said Allen Liotta, deputy director,
Office of POW/Missing Personnel Affairs in Arlington, Va.
"When the remains were returned to U.S. custody in 1953 and
forensically reviewed, there was insufficient information
to identify them. Now, however, with DNA technology we
believe we can identify some of them."
"We're carefully reviewing the cases, looking to see which
ones there was a lot of information on but just shy of
being able to make an identification," Liotta said. He said
the laboratory believes it has compelling evidence on about
a dozen sets of remains. "We believe that by the end of
this summer we will have begun to excavate the first of
those dozen."
There are no plans at this time to open all 846 graves in
the Punch Bowl.
Of the 8,200 servicemen missing from the Korean War, Liotta
said, the remains of 1,000 are already in U.S. custody --
the 846 at the Punch Bowl and more than 200 at the Central
Identification Laboratory that were unilaterally
repatriated by the North Koreans or found during joint
recovery operations.
The first joint recovery operation inside North Korea came
more than 43 years after the war. "Our work in Korea has
been on going since the end of the war, but the problem
was, we had no access to North Korea," he said.
After negotiations in early 1996, Liotta led the first DoD
delegation to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, to
discuss joint recovery work to locate and repatriate
remains of missing U.S. servicemen. The visit was the first
official one by a U.S. delegation since the 1953 armistice.
The North Koreans agreed to two joint recovery operations,
the first a 20-day investigation starting on July 10, 1996.
Another 20-day mission was scheduled for that September.
The first mission resulted in the repatriation of the
remains of a U.S. Army soldier who fell in battle near
Unsan, North Korea. "We identified the remains fairly
quickly because we had a fairly complete skeleton with dog
tags and other identification," Liotta said.
But there was a major problem. "We didn't have a family to
return the remains to," he said. "That was the first clear
unambiguous signal to all the services that we needed an
aggressive outreach program to locate families the
department had lost touch with since 1953.
"We realized we were going to have to rely heavily on DNA
technology, so each of the services began an aggressive
outreach program ... to locate as many of those families as
possible to obtain reference samples for DNA technology.
The technology and numbers of samples have grown
geometrically over the last two years. A very successful
program."
Liotta's office conducts monthly visits around the country
to meet with families of missing Americans from all wars.
"We update them on the department's activities," he said.
"We've seen the number of Korean War families grow from a
handful at each meeting in 1996 and 1997 to more than 100
at each meeting today. I think that's because of the
services' aggressive efforts to let families know we'll be
in their areas."
The families are "grateful and surprised" by the visits, he
said. "They didn't know the government was still trying to
find the remains of their missing loved ones," Liotta said.
"They're very happy and proud that the government would
make such an effort."
He said mitochondrial DNA comes from the maternal side of
the family, therefore, DNA samples are needed from the
mother, siblings or other relatives on the mother's side of
the family.
He emphasized DNA isn't a sure-fire method of identifying
all remains. There are scientific limitations. In some
instances, he said, remains have been burned so badly that
the DNA has been destroyed.
"In Korea, where it freezes in the winter and temperatures
vary throughout the year, we've had 100 percent rate in
getting DNA samples from Korean War-era remains," Liotta
said. "DNA offers us a tool to close cases and get answers
we wouldn't have been able to without it."
Thirty-five sets of remains have been repatriated from
North Korea since 1996, but so far, only three have been
identified and returned to families, he said.
POW/MIA spokesman Larry Greer said the identification
laboratory uses DNA on about 45 percent of their cases from
all wars. The other 55 percent are being identified through
traditional forensic means, such as dental X-rays.
"Dental X-rays are the preferred method because it gives
you scientifically highly credible identifications," Greer
said. "Good dental records can be as accurate as
fingerprints."
In addition to the outreach programs for Korean War
families, Greer said, the department also seeks family
members of the 78,000 servicemen missing from World War II
and the 123 lost in Cold War incidents. He said the POW/MIA
office needs information and documents that could aid in
identifying remains, such as photographs, military records
and letters. Veterans who may have information about burial
sites, POW camps and other details are also being sought.
For more information, contact the casualty office of the
nearest military installation or the POW/Missing Personnel
Office at:
DPMO-WASH, D.C. The PWO/Missing Personnel Office Web site lists the names
of all Korean War and Vietnam War MIAs. It also has
information related to accounting efforts worldwide,
including World War II and the Cold War.
The PWO/Missing Personnel Office Web site.
The Web site includes an e-mail window where messages can be sent regarding Korean War MIA matters.
Toll free numbers for the services' and State Department
casualty offices are:
Air Force -- 1-800-531-5501
Sent in by Veterans News and Information Services
American Forces Press Service
Attn: PMKOR
1745 Jefferson Davis Highway
Crystal Square 4, Suite 800
Arlington, VA 22202
Army - 1-800-892-2490
Marine Corps - 1-800- 847-1597
Navy - 1-800- 443-9298
State Department Casualty Office - (202) 647-6769
Disclaimer of Endorsement:
Reference herein to any specific commercial products,
process, or service by trade name, trademark,
manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily
constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation,
or favoring by VNIS. The views and opinions of
authors expressed herein do not necessarily state
or reflect those of VNIS, and shall not be used for
advertising or product endorsement purposes.
VNIS is not a government agency and is a sole proprietorship,
own and operated by Christian L. Wilson USN/Ret
