Remains Of US Soldiers From North Korea Reach Hawaii, Identification Needs Forensics

The remains presumed to be of American soldiers killed in the 1950-1953 Korean War has finally arrived on U.S. soil. It reached Hawaii on Wednesday after a repatriation ceremony at the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The remains will soon be taken for analysis and identification to a laboratory at the Hawaii base.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence presided over the return of the remains in Hawaii. President Donald Trump later took to Twitter to praise the military and Pence for the “incredibly beautiful ceremony.” He also thanked North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“Whosoever emerges from these aircraft today begins a new season of hope for the families of our missing fallen. Hope that those who are lost will yet be found. Hope that after so many years of questions, they will have closure,” Pence said.

The 55 cases draped in American flags were brought off airplanes in sets of four, with each container accompanied by one Marine, one sailor, one soldier and an airman.

According to an initial forensic analysis, U.S. officials believe the bones are of servicemen from the U.S. and other United Nations member countries who fought alongside the U.S. on behalf of South Korea during the Korean War.

John Byrd, a forensic anthropologist with the U.S. Department of Defense, said, "There is no reason to doubt that they do relate to Korean War losses.”

The remains were handed over to the U.S. by North Korea last week and were flown to Pearl Harbor on Wednesday from South Korea. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency will examine the remains and the experts at the agency will also be responsible for identification of the remains.

During the war, some of the men died in North Korea and were buried there by their comrades. Some were also placed in prisoner-of-war camps, where many succumbed to torture and starvation.

Chuck Pritchard, the spokesperson of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, said each case will be different and hence the process of identification could take several months for some, while others could take years, The Sentinel reported.

He remains will first be sent to The DPAA Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, which is the largest and most diverse skeletal identification laboratory in the world. The investigators would likely face complication while identifying the remains as information about the approximate place of the burial and the conditions around it were not available. To make it more challenging, only a single dog tag was included with the 55 boxes, without any information to help identify the individuals.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week there was no guarantee that the bones are American. “We don’t know who’s in those boxes,” he said, VOA reported.

About 7,700 American service members were reported missing during the Korean War and 5,300 were believed to be on North Korean soil. John Kaakimaka was one among them.

“We’ve been watching the news, and we’ve been hopeful that my uncle is among the remains,” his uncle, Hanwell Kaakimaka said, CBS-affiliated television station WTTV reported.

Vincent Brooks, chief of the U.S. military in South Korea, said, “For the warrior, this is a cherished duty, a commitment made to one another before going into battle, and passed on from one generation of warriors to the next.”