thedrifter
07-27-07, 07:17 PM
Korean War remains project seeks family DNA
By Sue Major Holmes - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 27, 2007 16:46:41 EDT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — At first, some members of Herman Chavira’s family were reluctant to give the DNA that might help identify the remains of their brother and uncle, a Marine private killed in Korea more than a half-century ago.
“If the remains ever were found, they’d have to go through a burial. ... They’d go through the loss again,” said Chavira’s nephew, Paul Nunez, of Albuquerque, who was only 2 when Chavira was killed in action on Nov. 22, 1952, at age 21.
“I think everybody finally went for it, but at the beginning we were split,” Nunez said. He was one of several family members to give DNA samples in hopes of an eventual identification.
Evan Torres, 66, of Albuquerque, gave DNA a few years ago in hopes his brother, Army Sgt. George N. Torres, someday would be identified. But he’s angry that President Bush is not doing more to recover remains from North Korea or spending more to identify remains the government already has.
The Korean War — which cost the lives of more than 36,000 Americans — broke out when North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950. More than 8,100 servicemen still are missing from the war, which ended in July 1953.
While the U.S. and North Korea were involved for nearly a decade in a joint project to recover remains, the effort stopped in 2005 after Washington complained about security for its personnel. The program recovered remains believed to be from 220 soldiers.
In April, the North Korean government turned over the remains of six American servicemen to a delegation led by Gov. Bill Richardson in a mission endorsed by the Bush administration.
George Torres, 20, was listed as missing in action near Kunu-ri, North Korea, in October 1950. He was presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953.
“I’m bitter, I’m real bitter,” Evan Torres said. “My daddy and momma went to their graves knowing nothing, which I think is wrong.” His father died in 1957; his mother in 1998.
Ted Barker, of Dallas, who runs the nonprofit Korean War Project with his brother Hal, encourages families of missing troops to give DNA samples for possible eventual identification.
“We’d love to help reduce number of outstanding unknowns,” he said.
The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office lists 46 New Mexicans from the Korean War as missing, POWs or killed in action whose bodies were not recovered. The Korean War Project says DNA still is needed for 15.
About three-quarters of military identifications use mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA — genetic patterns from the mother’s line. Patterns from remains are compared to “family reference samples” from relatives, since generally all people in the same maternal line have the same mtDNA sequences.
The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, JPAC, based at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, also uses medical and dental records to identify remains of service personnel from past wars. Its Central Identification Laboratory is the largest forensic lab in the world.
If the lab had a complete database of family samples, “I believe we could make some headway into these cases that have been sitting on shelves for a couple of years,” JPAC spokesman Army Maj. Brian DeSantis said.
JPAC works with veterans groups, POW/MIA groups and organizations such as the Korean War Project to publicize the need for DNA, DeSantis said.
The Barkers became interested in the Korean War because their father was a veteran but never said much about those days. Their online project, which began in February 1995, not only urges relatives to submit DNA, but also has become a way for ex-servicemen to reconnect and for families and friends to remember those lost.
“The story is those that are lost or the family members,” Barker said.
JPAC’s lab identifies an average of six Americans a month, but says each recovery and identification can take years. To date, the government has identified more than 1,300 previously unaccounted-for Americans, including a Vietnam-era casualty from New Mexico, Marine Lance Cpl. Andres Garcia, 20, of Carlsbad.
Garcia was one of 13 U.S. servicemen lost May 15, 1975, when a CH-53 helicopter was hit by an anti-aircraft missile and crashed off the Cambodian island of Koh Tang during a mission to rescue 39 Americans from the merchant ship Mayaguez, captured by Khmer Rouge gunboats.
Garcia’s remains, recovered decades later, were identified on May 8, 2000. He was buried in Carlsbad 25 years after he died.
The military has hundreds of sets of remains from wars awaiting identification. Some were turned over to the U.S. with little accompanying material evidence or information about where they were found. In other cases, a large group was killed at the same time, as in an airplane crash. In those cases, DeSantis said, the military knows who died, but cannot identify individuals because of the condition of the remains.
“In some cases, DNA could be the missing link,” he said.
It also may take evolving technology to complete identifications, DeSantis said.
For example, some remains from the Korean War were preserved, but chemicals used in the 1950s essentially locked up the DNA, he said. In other cases, remains are too small to extract DNA.
Family reference samples might help identify such remains in the future, DeSantis said.
“What can occur 20 years from now is very exciting,” he said.
Ellie
By Sue Major Holmes - The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jul 27, 2007 16:46:41 EDT
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — At first, some members of Herman Chavira’s family were reluctant to give the DNA that might help identify the remains of their brother and uncle, a Marine private killed in Korea more than a half-century ago.
“If the remains ever were found, they’d have to go through a burial. ... They’d go through the loss again,” said Chavira’s nephew, Paul Nunez, of Albuquerque, who was only 2 when Chavira was killed in action on Nov. 22, 1952, at age 21.
“I think everybody finally went for it, but at the beginning we were split,” Nunez said. He was one of several family members to give DNA samples in hopes of an eventual identification.
Evan Torres, 66, of Albuquerque, gave DNA a few years ago in hopes his brother, Army Sgt. George N. Torres, someday would be identified. But he’s angry that President Bush is not doing more to recover remains from North Korea or spending more to identify remains the government already has.
The Korean War — which cost the lives of more than 36,000 Americans — broke out when North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950. More than 8,100 servicemen still are missing from the war, which ended in July 1953.
While the U.S. and North Korea were involved for nearly a decade in a joint project to recover remains, the effort stopped in 2005 after Washington complained about security for its personnel. The program recovered remains believed to be from 220 soldiers.
In April, the North Korean government turned over the remains of six American servicemen to a delegation led by Gov. Bill Richardson in a mission endorsed by the Bush administration.
George Torres, 20, was listed as missing in action near Kunu-ri, North Korea, in October 1950. He was presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953.
“I’m bitter, I’m real bitter,” Evan Torres said. “My daddy and momma went to their graves knowing nothing, which I think is wrong.” His father died in 1957; his mother in 1998.
Ted Barker, of Dallas, who runs the nonprofit Korean War Project with his brother Hal, encourages families of missing troops to give DNA samples for possible eventual identification.
“We’d love to help reduce number of outstanding unknowns,” he said.
The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office lists 46 New Mexicans from the Korean War as missing, POWs or killed in action whose bodies were not recovered. The Korean War Project says DNA still is needed for 15.
About three-quarters of military identifications use mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA — genetic patterns from the mother’s line. Patterns from remains are compared to “family reference samples” from relatives, since generally all people in the same maternal line have the same mtDNA sequences.
The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, JPAC, based at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, also uses medical and dental records to identify remains of service personnel from past wars. Its Central Identification Laboratory is the largest forensic lab in the world.
If the lab had a complete database of family samples, “I believe we could make some headway into these cases that have been sitting on shelves for a couple of years,” JPAC spokesman Army Maj. Brian DeSantis said.
JPAC works with veterans groups, POW/MIA groups and organizations such as the Korean War Project to publicize the need for DNA, DeSantis said.
The Barkers became interested in the Korean War because their father was a veteran but never said much about those days. Their online project, which began in February 1995, not only urges relatives to submit DNA, but also has become a way for ex-servicemen to reconnect and for families and friends to remember those lost.
“The story is those that are lost or the family members,” Barker said.
JPAC’s lab identifies an average of six Americans a month, but says each recovery and identification can take years. To date, the government has identified more than 1,300 previously unaccounted-for Americans, including a Vietnam-era casualty from New Mexico, Marine Lance Cpl. Andres Garcia, 20, of Carlsbad.
Garcia was one of 13 U.S. servicemen lost May 15, 1975, when a CH-53 helicopter was hit by an anti-aircraft missile and crashed off the Cambodian island of Koh Tang during a mission to rescue 39 Americans from the merchant ship Mayaguez, captured by Khmer Rouge gunboats.
Garcia’s remains, recovered decades later, were identified on May 8, 2000. He was buried in Carlsbad 25 years after he died.
The military has hundreds of sets of remains from wars awaiting identification. Some were turned over to the U.S. with little accompanying material evidence or information about where they were found. In other cases, a large group was killed at the same time, as in an airplane crash. In those cases, DeSantis said, the military knows who died, but cannot identify individuals because of the condition of the remains.
“In some cases, DNA could be the missing link,” he said.
It also may take evolving technology to complete identifications, DeSantis said.
For example, some remains from the Korean War were preserved, but chemicals used in the 1950s essentially locked up the DNA, he said. In other cases, remains are too small to extract DNA.
Family reference samples might help identify such remains in the future, DeSantis said.
“What can occur 20 years from now is very exciting,” he said.
Ellie