AYUMI NAKANISHI / ANAKANISHI@STARBULLETIN.COM
Well-wishers paid their respects to relatives of South Korean Maj. Woo Sik Park at a repatriation ceremony yesterday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl. Park's remains were identified nearly 35 years after he died in Vietnam in a helicopter crash. From left are Park's widow Jae-gum Choi, son Chel Ki Pak and granddaughter Yeong-Jun Park, 7, who all flew from South Korea yesterday.
Chel Ki Pak was only 4 when his father, a South Korean army officer serving as a military adviser to allied forces in the Vietnam War, was killed in a helicopter crash. Identifying remains
brings closureS. Korean Maj. Woo Sik Park
was killed in Vietnam in 1967By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com"For 10 to 20 years, I kept hoping that he would come back alive," said Pak, a South Korean office worker.
Yesterday, his father, Maj. Woo Sik Park, began the final journey to his home in South Korea.
A special repatriation ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl marked the first time the remains of an allied soldier have been identified and returned to his native country.
Park was a captain and commander of 3rd Company, 29th Regiment, 9th Division on Dec. 2, 1967, when the UH-1 Huey Black Hawk helicopter in which he was a passenger crashed in the South Vietnam province formerly known as Phu Yen. He was promoted to major posthumously.
Brig. Gen. Robert Lee, commander of the Army Reserve's 9th Regional Support Command, said Park's helicopter had departed Phu Hiep airfield to return him to his unit located about 25 miles south.
"At the time of the crash, no evidence of the helicopter or crash site was located," Lee said.
In the first two decades after Park was declared missing in action in 1967, his son said he continued to hope that his father would come back alive.
"After that, I just gave up hope that his remains would ever be returned," Pak, 39, said through interpreter Army Sgt. 1st Class Yong Yi.
In May, Pak said his family was informed that the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory had identified his father's remains and those of the four American crew members.
The news brought closure, and Pak said he finally knew that his father was dead.
Lee said a joint search-and-recovery team from the Army identification laboratory, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting and representatives of the Vietnamese government had recovered remains from the crash site in March 1993.
The Army then used forensic analysis, including mitochondria DNA samples from Park's sister, to determine his identity.
The Army said information on the four U.S. soldiers is pending notification of their families.
In yesterday's ceremony, the urn containing Park's remains were turned over to his widow, Jae-gum Cho. His son was presented the South Korean flag, and Park's 7-year-old granddaughter Yeong-Jun Park received an anthurium bouquet.
Park will be buried in Taejon city's national military cemetery.
