bobdina
08-23-2009, 12:37 PM
Remains of missing Korean War soldier returning
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Aug 22, 2009 16:20:39 EDT
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Nearly 60 years after an Arkansas soldier disappeared on a frozen battlefield during the Korean War, his remains will be laid to rest in Fort Smith.
The family of Pfc. Johnny Herbert Mayberry plans a burial with full military honors Friday at National Cemetery in Fort Smith. They were notified last month that his remains were identified through DNA testing. Mayberry had been missing since he was reported killed in action Nov. 28, 1950, at the age of 18.
His remains were found at the Chosin Reservoir when a team of U.S. military personnel went to North Korea in 2004 after extensive negotiations with the government. Using U.S. records, workers discovered a grave containing the bone fragments of seven men about 10 miles north of the village of Hagaru-Ri.
"This is a case where the men who served with him have wondered for years," said Ted Barker, a director of the Korean War Project, which seeks to identify remains of the war's soldiers by cataloging DNA from surviving family members. "There are very few found, but each one of them makes a huge difference to the men and to the family."
About 8,100 U.S. servicemen who fought in the Korean War are not fully accounted for, Barker said. Since 1992, the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command has identified the remains of fewer than 200 people through DNA testing in a special forensics lab at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.
Mayberry's surviving family includes a brother, Jerry C. Mayberry, and a sister, Alice Baker, both of Fort Smith. Family members declined to comment on the recovery of Mayberry's remains or the years of uncertainty.
About 30,000 soldiers and Marines in the battle at Chosin Reservoir — known as "the frozen Chosin" because of subzero ground temperatures — were overwhelmed unexpectedly by 120,000 Chinese troops, said A.W. Busbea of North Little Rock, a former Marine who now directs the Chosin Reservoir Foundation. They retreated, leaving many of the dead behind to be buried in shallow graves.
Larry Greer, spokesman for the personnel missing in action office at the Pentagon, said an estimated 1,079 remains still surround Chosin in what is now northeast North Korea.
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Aug 22, 2009 16:20:39 EDT
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Nearly 60 years after an Arkansas soldier disappeared on a frozen battlefield during the Korean War, his remains will be laid to rest in Fort Smith.
The family of Pfc. Johnny Herbert Mayberry plans a burial with full military honors Friday at National Cemetery in Fort Smith. They were notified last month that his remains were identified through DNA testing. Mayberry had been missing since he was reported killed in action Nov. 28, 1950, at the age of 18.
His remains were found at the Chosin Reservoir when a team of U.S. military personnel went to North Korea in 2004 after extensive negotiations with the government. Using U.S. records, workers discovered a grave containing the bone fragments of seven men about 10 miles north of the village of Hagaru-Ri.
"This is a case where the men who served with him have wondered for years," said Ted Barker, a director of the Korean War Project, which seeks to identify remains of the war's soldiers by cataloging DNA from surviving family members. "There are very few found, but each one of them makes a huge difference to the men and to the family."
About 8,100 U.S. servicemen who fought in the Korean War are not fully accounted for, Barker said. Since 1992, the Joint Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command has identified the remains of fewer than 200 people through DNA testing in a special forensics lab at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.
Mayberry's surviving family includes a brother, Jerry C. Mayberry, and a sister, Alice Baker, both of Fort Smith. Family members declined to comment on the recovery of Mayberry's remains or the years of uncertainty.
About 30,000 soldiers and Marines in the battle at Chosin Reservoir — known as "the frozen Chosin" because of subzero ground temperatures — were overwhelmed unexpectedly by 120,000 Chinese troops, said A.W. Busbea of North Little Rock, a former Marine who now directs the Chosin Reservoir Foundation. They retreated, leaving many of the dead behind to be buried in shallow graves.
Larry Greer, spokesman for the personnel missing in action office at the Pentagon, said an estimated 1,079 remains still surround Chosin in what is now northeast North Korea.