Remains of American Soldiers found in North Korea

Talon News ^ | 09/26/03 | Charles Mahaleris

[bedolido]

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Approximately 20,000 soldiers primarily from the United States fought a lopsided battle against 200,000 Chinese soldiers in the mountains of North Korea for fifteen days in 1950. The Department of Defense reported this week that the remains of four American servicemen reported missing in that battle have been recovered.

One team of specialists operating near the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea recovered two sets of remains believed to be those of U.S. Army soldiers from the 7th Infantry Division who fought in that battle with units of the Ninth Army Group of the Chinese PLA.

These battles began just before Thanksgiving and ended on December 11, 1950. The military estimates that approximately 1,000 Americans were lost in battles of the Chosin campaign, but casualty estimates of around 15,000 were reported by United Nations forces.

A second team recovered two sets of remains in Unsan County, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang. This area was the site of battles between communist forces and the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry and 25th Infantry Divisions in November 1950.

The DOD had received permission from North Korea in July to conduct two one month recovery efforts. The second operation will end on October 28, 2003 and the remains found during both efforts will be flown back to the United States.

This is the 26th recovery operation conducted in North Korea since 1996 resulting in the return of 182 sets of remains thought to be those of U.S. servicemen. There were 8,100 servicemembers reported missing during the Korean War and a total of 88,000 American uniformed servicemembers have been reported missing in all actions to date.

Copyright © 2003 Talon News -- All rights reserved.

[bedolido]

Ping

[OldCorps]

The Chosin River was some of the heaviest fighting in the Korean war. Although I'm an army vet, I have to say the USMC did some very impressive fighting there.

RIP, soldiers and marines.

[nmh]

May they finally return home, be properly buried and rest in peace. If it they were members of my family, I'd finally have closure.

[AppyPappy]

My wife's uncle was lost there. His remains have never been recovered.

[facedown]

bump

[Faith65]

OMG- I never realized it was that many! My heart is breaking. Our men and women in the armed services give their lives for our freedoms and never get enough respect. Not enough is done for them.

[Prof Engineer]

ping

[Faith65]

"a total of 88,000 American uniformed servicemembers have been reported missing in all actions to date"


Is there somewhere I can go online to see the breakdown for each war --and how many are missing for those. Thanks.

[Darksheare]

Sam or Valin might know where there's a breakdown of how many MIA's per war.
And if they don't, they'll likely know who else might.

Sam, Valin, here's the original question:"Is there somewhere I can go online to see the breakdown for each war --and how many are missing for those."

[Faith65]

Thanks!

[bedolido]

In the 3 or so years of war in Korea, more than 35,000 American military soldiers lost there lives. In the 11 years of the Vietnam war over 58,000 lost their lives. If the same percentage of men were lost in Vietnam as Korea, we would have lost roughly 150,000 men. Korea was a bloody war, fought by brave men and weak politics. Douglas Macarthur was right, we should've gone into China. It'd be a different world today if we had. China turned on us after we saved their butts in WW2. Mao turned commie, and Chang Ki Schek (sp) moved to Taiwan.

[Darksheare]

Welcome.
Hopefully, they'll be able to answer with info or a website.

[bedolido]

Try this one: Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office

[Darksheare]

Read B's post 14.

[Matthew James]

The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) is the proponent, and falls under the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Their website is located at: [http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/], and contains the databases you seek, as well as many other reports.

FReegards,

[Darksheare]

Thanks.
Was trying to help out.
Hoepfully there's info there that they're looking for.

[Matthew James]

Ping.

This marks the first time since the end of the Korean War that anyone has been permitted to go to the Chosin Resevoir area.

"Lest we Forget"

[Dead Dog]

Good background info http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/kw-chinter/chinter.htm.

[Faith65]

Thanks.I'll look at the site.

I have several friends in the Marines over in the middleeast and I only fear that I won't see them again....not until Heaven that is.

Saw this article and it brings so many fears to the surface about what is going on overseas.

May God be with all our men and women in all of our Armed Services!