The remains of a South Korean soldier who served as a military adviser to the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War will be returned to his family Monday during brief ceremonies at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Family to take remains
of S. Korean soldier homeThe U.S. Army adviser died
in a helicopter crash in VietnamBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThis is the first time the remains of an allied soldier have been identified and returned to his native country.
Maj. Woo Sik Park was killed along with four American soldiers on Dec. 2, 1967, when the UH-1 Huey Black Hawk helicopter they were in crashed in the South Vietnam province formerly known as Phu Yen.
Sometime following the crash, the remains of some of the soldiers were turned over to U.S. officials by villagers. In March 1993, more remains were recovered by search and recovery teams from the Army's Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base and Joint Task Force-Full Accounting from Camp Smith.
Park was with South Korea's 9th Infantry Division when he was killed.
The Army used forensic analysis, including mitochondria DNA samples from Park's sister, to determine his identity.
The Army said the identification of the four U.S. soldiers is pending notification of their next of kin.
Receiving the urn containing Park's remains will be his widow, Jae-gum Choi; his son, Chel-kai Pak; and granddaughter, Yeong-Jun Park.
Expected to speak at the Monday ceremonies are U.S. Army Reserve Brig. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, commander of 9th Regional Support Command; Ji Doo Lee, consul general of South Korea; and Park's son.
On Tuesday, the Army laboratory will receive the remains of four other Americans -- two from Vietnam and two from Laos -- missing since the end of the Vietnam War.
Meanwhile in northeastern China, an eight-member search team from the Army laboratory reported this week that it had found remnants of the wreckage of a CIA plane that went down 50 years ago during the Korean War. The team hopes to recover the remains of the pilots lost in the crash.
The two pilots -- Robert C. Snoddy of Eugene, Ore., and Norman A. Schwartz of Louisville, Ky. -- were about to pick up an anti-communist Chinese spy in the foothills of the region formerly known as Manchuria when their C-47 was shot down on Nov. 29, 1952.
Two CIA officers aboard the plane were captured and imprisoned by China for two decades.
China's granting of permission for the U.S. Defense Department to search the site marks the first time Beijing has cooperated in a search for the remains of Americans who died in China during the Cold War.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.