Soldier Missing In Action From The Korean War Is Identified

Echo9er Blog is very happy to to post this “Good News!” story.

“If you are able, save for 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 love 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 O’Donnell, January 1, 1970, Dak To, Vietnam
MAJ O’Donnell was a helicopter pilot that went missing in action on March 24, 1970 during a rescue attempt. His remains were returned in 1995 and identified in 2001.

In November 1950, Sgt Frank Bunchuk was in a defensive postion in an area known as the Camel’s Head in Unsan, North Korea. Elements of two Chinese Comunist Divisions attacked and collapsed the defensive positions of the 1st Cavelry Division. Sgt Buncheck’s 3rd Battalion was completely overrun. He was one of 350 men unaccounted for from the battle.

Sgt Bunchuk has returned from his almost 57 year journey. He will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Welcome Home Sgt Bulchuk. May God be with you and your family as you make this final journey.

Following is the DoD Release.

August 8, 2007
DoD Release # 982-07

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 returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

He is Sgt. Frank Bunchuk, U.S. Army, of Medina, N.Y. He will be buried Thursday in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

Representatives from the Army met with Bunchuk’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, Bunchuk was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division then 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 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. Bunchuk 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 North 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 Bunchuk’s remains.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO website at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.

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