Remains Returned

WWII/Korean/Cold War remains returned.

If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving
for the places they can
no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say
you loved them,
though you may
or may not have always.
Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.
And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
to call the war insane,
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
Written in Dak To, Vietnam 1 January 1970
Missing in Action 24 March 1970
Group Identification 06/2001 - DNA Match

AMERICANS IDENTIFIED SINCE 1989
WWII, KOREA, COLD WAR

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 690-08 August 13, 2008 Missing WWII Pilot Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from World War II, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is 2nd Lt. Howard C. Enoch Jr., U.S. Army Air Forces, of Marion, Ky. He will be buried on Sep. 22 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Army met with Enoch's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army. On March 19, 1945, Enoch was the pilot of a P-51D Mustang that crashed while engaging enemy aircraft about 20 miles east of Leipzig, near the village of Doberschütz, Germany. His remains were not recovered at the time, and Soviet occupation of eastern Germany precluded his recovery immediately after the war. In 2004, a team from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) surveyed a possible P-51 crash site near Doberschütz. The team found aircraft wreckage. In 2006, another JPAC team excavated the site and recovered human remains and aircraft wreckage. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Enoch's remains. For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1420.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 630-08 July 24, 2008 Soldier Missing in Action from Korean War is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Master Sgt. Cirildo Valencio, U.S. Army, of Carrizo Springs, Texas. He will be buried on Aug. 4 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Army met with Valencio's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process on behalf of the Secretary of the Army. Valencio was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division then occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea in an area known as the "Camel's Head." On Nov. 1, 1950, parts of two Chinese Communist Forces divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division's lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. In the process, the 3rd Battalion was surrounded and effectively ceased to exist as a fighting unit. Valencio was one of the more than 350 servicemen unaccounted-for from the battle at Unsan. In 2002, a joint U.S.-Democratic People's Republic of Korea team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated a burial site south of Unsan near the nose of the "Camel's Head" formed by the joining of the Nammyon and Kuryong rivers. The team recovered human remains. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 587-08 July 11, 2008 Soldier Missing In Action From the Korean War Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Sgt. John H. White, U.S. Army, of Long Island, Ala. He will be buried on Saturday in Bryant, Ala. Representatives from the Army met with White's next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the secretary of the Army. In November 1950, White was a member of H Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division then occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea, north of a bend in the Kuryong River known as the Camel's Head. On Nov. 1, elements of two Chinese Communist divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division's lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. White was reported missing on Nov. 2, 1950, and was one of the more than 350 servicemen unaccounted-for from the battle at Unsan. In April 2007, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.), acting through the intermediary of New Mexico Governor. Bill Richardson and former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi, repatriated to the United States six boxes of human remains believed to be those of U.S. soldiers. One box also included two military identification tags with White's name on them. The D.P.R.K. reported that the remains were excavated in November 2006 near Unsan in North Pyongan Province. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of White's remains. For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 575-08 July 09, 2008 Soldier Missing In Action From Korean War Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Cpl. Steven Lucas, U.S. Army, of Johnson City, N.Y. He will be buried July 11 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Army met with Lucas' next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army. In late November 1950, Lucas was assigned to the Heavy Mortar Company, 31st Infantry Regiment making up part of the 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), then engaging enemy forces east of the Chosin Reservoir near Kaljon-ri, South Hamgyong Province, North Korea. On Nov. 29, remnants of the RCT began a fighting withdrawal to more defensible positions near Hagaru-ri, south of the reservoir. Lucas never made it to the lines at Hagaru-ri and was last seen on Nov. 30. Between 1991-94, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. North Korean documents turned over with one of several boxes in 1993 indicated that the remains from that box were exhumed near Kaljon-ri. This location correlates with Lucas' last known location. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of Lucas' remains. For additional information on the Defense Department's mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 567-08 July 03, 2008 Pilot Missing In Action From The Korean War Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Capt. William K. Mauldin, U.S. Air Force, of Pickens, S.C. He will be buried on July 18 in Easley, S.C. On Feb. 21, 1952, Mauldin departed Kimpo Air Base, South Korea, on an aerial reconnaissance mission of enemy targets in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.). While over Odong-ni, Mauldin's RF-51 Mustang was hit by enemy fire and crashed near Sinan-ri, Hoeyang County, D.P.R.K. An aerial search of the crash site was conducted that day and the next, but found no evidence that Mauldin escaped the aircraft before it crashed. Between 1991-94, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. One set of remains turned over in 1993 included fragments of aircrew life-support equipment, and were reported to be those of an American pilot recovered near Sinan-ri. Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Mauldin's remains.

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IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 544-08 June 27, 2008 Soldier Missing In Action From The Korean War Is Identified The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO)