From the Coalition of
Families:
The following excerpts are from an e-mail sent
by one of Mr. Jones' assistants at DPMO. They provide some added information
about remains recovery and identification.
Information About
Remains, Recovery and Identification
"Mr. Jones came back
with four sets of remains from North Korea. They are going to the US Army
Central Identification Laboratory - Hawaii (CILHI) for identification. The
remains may or may not ever be identified, thus I can't tell you who they are or
where they were from. Identification of 50 year old remains is a very
painstaking and time consuming process. If they are identified, any such
release of information would be after the family was notified and would be
dependent upon whether or not the family wanted to release the info. If the
family requested not to release their names, we would issue a press release
about what branch of service, and possibly some of the circumstances
surrounding the incident, and the PMKOR would be annotated accordingly. We believe,
based upon location, these four were members of the Second Infantry Division
(2ID). The 2ID has the most unaccounted for from the Korean War losses (2,034
of 8,215). "
"I can tell you that in addition to
trying to bring back remains for identification and returning them to the
families for proper burial, our office conducts what we call "archival
research". That is, we attempt to get access to as many documents as
possible to determine the fates of those missing, whether or not we can ever
get their remains back. This includes going to North Korea military libraries,
reading tons of documents, and interviewing any witnesses. Although it appears
that North Korea is cooperating with us since we are bringing back remains, our
access is still very restricted. The week preceding Mr. Jones going to North
Korea was heavily involved with negotiations with the North Koreans in New York
at the United Nations after a five month stalemate. Based upon the likelihood
of success, we request permission from the North Koreans to go into areas where
the heaviest losses occurred, where we think there are the most remains, and
where we believe there is a strong possibility we will actually find them.
However, despite our requests the North Koreans will tell us where we can and
can't dig for reasons known only to them. For now, we take what we can get and
hope for better cooperation in the near future. "
"Any information we can obtain adds to
information which we use to determine where to search for remains in North
Korea. For example, at another Army reunion I attended earlier in the year I
interviewed two eyewitnesses to an incident that changed an individuals status
from MIA to KIA. Whether or not we can ever recover his remains, we have a more
accurate accounting of his fate."
"You previously asked me about how to
get death certificates. Contact the branch of service Casualty Office.
Depending upon individual circumstances, there may or may not be an actual
death certificate. Rather, it may be the letter after the war notifying the
family of either a "Finding of Death" or "Presumptive Finding of
Death." If there were remains involved, there may be a letter of board
results from the Armed Forces Identification Review Board (AFIRB) in lieu of a
death certificate, depending upon how identification was made. "