UPOW/MIA TEAMS BEGIN NORTH KOREA OPERATIONSRe: July 1950

[Mike Davino <mdavino@yahoo.com>]

This is good news.  Even though the Bush
Administration seems to be taking a harder line with
the north Koreans, the nK's have not stopped these
recovery operations (yet) as I feared they might.  I
note that two operations will be in the Changin
(Chosin) Reservoir area.  If I am not mistaken, this
is the first time that the nK's have allowed us to
search in that area.  

May God protect these men (the north Koreans will not
allow us to use female service members) as they carry
out this task.  The tragic deaths of seven service
members last month in Vietnam on an MIA recovery
operation reminded me of just how dangerous these
missions are.

Mike Davino


IMMEDIATE RELEASE  May 2, 2001  

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


U.S. POW/MIA TEAMS BEGIN NORTH KOREA OPERATIONS
Department of Defense specialists have arrived in
North Korea to begin operations to recover the remains
of servicemen missing in action from the Korean War. 

The 28-person team, comprised primarily of personnel
from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory
Hawaii, will operate for approximately 30 days in an
area about 60 miles north of Pyongyang. If remains are
recovered during this operation, they will be
airlifted via U.S. Air Force aircraft from Pyongyang,
and repatriated at the end of this month. 

Negotiators from the Defense Department's Defense
POW/Missing Personnel Office reached agreement with
the North Koreans in December to set the schedule for
operations in 2001. The agreement calls for 10 joint
recovery operations. Eight of the operations will be
in the areas of Unsan, Kaechon and Kujang, where
battles involving the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry, 2nd
Infantry and 25th Infantry were fought in November
1950. 

Later in the year, teams will conduct two additional
operations on the east and west sides of the Chosin
Reservoir in the northeast portion of North Korea.
Korean War analysts believe that as many as 750 U.S.
soldiers and Marines may have been lost during battles
in November and December 1950 near the Chosin. 

The joint U.S.-North Korean teams have recovered 107
sets of remains since these operations began in 1996.
Eight have been identified and returned to their
families for burial with full military honors.
Approximately 10 more are in the final stages of the
forensic identification process. 

The 10 operations in North Korea this year will
conclude with a final repatriation on November 11. 

More than 8,100 American servicemen are missing in
action from the war. 

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2001/b05022001_bt192-01.html



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