In the Military

Army laboratory
to receive remains
of 4 servicemen

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Remains of four U.S. servicemen believed to have been killed in the Korean War will arrive at Hickam Air Force Base on Monday.

The remains will be taken to the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam for forensic identification.

A Central Identification Laboratory team discovered the remains in North Korea in May and June. During its 30-day operation, two sites involving potential aircraft and ground losses were investigated and one site was excavated.

Since 1996, 32 remains have been excavated from northwest North Korea. To date, three of them have been identified.

Accompanying the remains will be Robert Jones, deputy assistant defense secretary, who has asked the North Koreans for greater access to areas such as the Chosin Reservoir and former POW camps.

There are still 8,215 American servicemen missing from the Korean War.

The Navy's newest guided missile destroyer, the USS O'Kane, was to be commissioned this morning at Pearl Harbor and join the Pacific Fleet's 12 ships and 22 submarines stationed here.

The 504-foot O'Kane is named after World War II Medal of Honor recipient Rear Adm. Richard O'Kane.

The O'Kane is only the second ship to be commissioned at Pearl Harbor. The first was the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie in 1993.

A half-dozen soldiers from the Pacific Army Reserve's 9th Regional Support Command will participate in the first military exercise in the Philippines in nearly a decade.

The reservists will come from the command's engineer and civil affairs units, and will join active-duty soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division when "Exercise Balikatan" is held sometime next year.

In Tagalog, "balikatan" means "shouldering the load" and characterizes both the intent and the effort of the combined Philippine army and U.S. forces training.

A group of Navy sailors has banded together to fill the void for middle-school students after classes end.

SMART, or the Sailors Mentoring and Reaching Teens program, has started a pilot program at Moanalua Middle School, which has 880 students. Its first after-school party was held yesterday.

The team of military and civilian volunteers was established by Navy Lt. Joe Ring, who is assigned to Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific at Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii's military members will get the largest pay raise in nearly two years when a 4.8 percent goes into effect Jan. 1.

The increase is included in a new law signed by President Clinton Oct. 6.