thedrifter
08-09-07, 09:36 AM
Korean War vet's remains identified, returned to U.S. for burial
By: Associated Press
MEDINA, N.Y. -- The remains of a U.S. soldier missing since his unit was surrounded during a Korean War battle have been identified and returned to the United States.
Army Sgt. Frank Bunchuk of Medina was to be buried Thursday in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office said Wednesday.
Bunchuk's unit was occupying a defensive position southwest of Unsan, North Korea, near a bend in the Kuryong River known as the Camel's Head.
On Nov. 1, parts of two Chinese Communist Divisions surrounded Bunchuk's unit, forcing a withdrawal, according to a Defense Department account. He and more than 350 other servicemen went missing. Of those, 22 have been accounted for over the years, said Air Force 1st Lt. Mary Olsen, a DOD spokeswoman in Washington.
In 2002, a joint U.S.-North Korea team recovered human remains at a burial site south of Unsan. They were identified as Bunchuk's through circumstantial evidence, DNA and dental records, the DOD said. The research team still has remains that it believes belonged to three other soldiers killed at Unsan, Olsen said.
On the Net:
Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office: www.dtic.mil/dpmo
Ellie
By: Associated Press
MEDINA, N.Y. -- The remains of a U.S. soldier missing since his unit was surrounded during a Korean War battle have been identified and returned to the United States.
Army Sgt. Frank Bunchuk of Medina was to be buried Thursday in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors, the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office said Wednesday.
Bunchuk's unit was occupying a defensive position southwest of Unsan, North Korea, near a bend in the Kuryong River known as the Camel's Head.
On Nov. 1, parts of two Chinese Communist Divisions surrounded Bunchuk's unit, forcing a withdrawal, according to a Defense Department account. He and more than 350 other servicemen went missing. Of those, 22 have been accounted for over the years, said Air Force 1st Lt. Mary Olsen, a DOD spokeswoman in Washington.
In 2002, a joint U.S.-North Korea team recovered human remains at a burial site south of Unsan. They were identified as Bunchuk's through circumstantial evidence, DNA and dental records, the DOD said. The research team still has remains that it believes belonged to three other soldiers killed at Unsan, Olsen said.
On the Net:
Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office: www.dtic.mil/dpmo
Ellie