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Korean War Project Newsletter – May 29, 2006 Volume 9 # 2
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Photo by Hal Barker, 1994.
Leonard Stiner at Twin Tunnels village near Chipyongni. Stiner and a group of 2ID vets helped bag rice during the fall rice harvest.
Table of Contents:
1. Editorial, Heroes, Every One!
2. This Mailing List
3. Thank You for My Life
4. Our Disabled Veterans
5. Soldier MIA from the Korean War is Identified
6. Our Next Newsletter June 2nd, 2006
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1. Editorial, Heroes, Every One!
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Each year on Memorial Day the Korean War Project pauses to 'Remember' the veterans who served in Korea from 1945 onward through today.
As the ranks of those veterans continue to thin it is more important than ever to underscore the service rendered to a country so far away from the shores of all those countries who answered the call.
Each week for the past decade Hal and I have received email or phone calls asking us to thank those who served and sacrificed
Many of those communications are from Korean citizens, Korean-Americans,
former orphans or ROK/KATUSA veterans.
You will find an example of one such letter in the next topic category in this newsletter. The message came to us as a Guest Book posting back in 1999. It is
titled "Thank You for My Life".
For the past several years the children and grandchildren of many of those same veterans have been serving as US or coalition forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Military men and women continue to serve as UN Peacekeepers in Eastern Europe or at duty stations around the world.
Let us also remember all those who have fallen or sacrificed from all wars while
fighting against tyranny and oppression.
Today, print and/or television media follow the younger generation as they fulfill the same commitment. Just this past week the news was filled with in-depth coverage
of how the critically wounded are cared for both on the field of battle and in hospitals located thousands of miles from the fighting in Iraq or Afghanistan.
We would like all of you to take time to thank the medics, corpsmen, nurses, doctors, pilots/crew or supporting forces. These people provide care and comfort to those who most need it.
Heartfelt gratitude is extended from Hal and I to those of you who provide volunteer support for our wounded. The same gratitude is directed to those who provide
solace to the families or friends of the fallen. They shall not be forgotten.
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2. This Mailing List (going to 37,000 + persons)
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We began this newsletter mailing in December of 1998. The first issue went to just over 2000 persons. It is dedicated to my son, Bryan, who passed away shortly after
helping me setup the mailing list.
This list is a private list for our visitors and members. A person may join or leave the list at will. It is compiled from our Guest Book and comprises public service
messages of general interest to veterans and families.
To join or leave the list: email to: Ted Barker
tbarker@kwp.org
Place: Subscribe or Unsubscribe in the subject line.
Consider forwarding the Newsletter to your friends by email or print. Word of mouth is how we grow.
Thanks for being part of the Korean War Project family!
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3.Thank You for My Life
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A Message From Korea - June 25, 1999
Hi, I am Inyang Jo from Seoul, Korea.
49 year ago, Korean War broke out, and my mother was born three days after that.
My grandmother told me that when she was packing to escape, my aunt was so excited because she thought that her family was going to picnic.
But we all know it wasn't that pleasant trip.
During that chaos, my mother was born, and my grandmother was so worried about her baby because nothing was sure for her future.
Now she has a husband and two children who love her very much. And she is a elementary school teacher.
I am her daughter who is about to graduate from university. I bought a shirt for her
birthday, it is green. Green is great on her.
I am writing to you for saying how I am grateful for your being at that tragic war.
Not only my country's young men but also young men from all over the world fought
for justice, peace and liberty.
Consequently, you got hurt and even killed. I am sure my mom has had happy life because of that sacrifice of yours. I thank you for safety of my mom and her family.
Because of you, I am here having my mother whom I love more that anything in the world.
Therefore I want you to know that as long as Korea exists, as long as my mother
lives and I live and my kids ( I don't have them yet, though ) live, you can never be forgettable.
Love,
Inyang Jo
Seoul, Korea
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4. Our Disabled Veterans
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Those who have become disabled from service connected injuries or by declining health are very much on our minds this month.
Last week Hal and I lost our pal, Mr. Harvey Wendorff . Harvey was our friend of more than twenty years.
He was an avid fan of our email newsletters and website. His computer was on most of the time tracking progress.
Harvey had special challenges his entire life. As time progressed he went from being able to use a cane then a wheelchair and finally a bed.
Like many of our veteran friends, Harvey displayed a special courage, no, it was a stubborn Bronx determination.
We would like our tribute to Harvey to stand as a tribute to all of our disabled friends.
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5. Soldier MIA from the Korean War is Identified
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Excerpt from Department of Defense Press Release: Friday, May 12, 2006
Subject: Soldier MIA from the Korean War is Identified
NEWS RELEASES from the United States Department of Defense
No. 433-06 IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2006 Soldier MIA 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 U.S. Army Corporal Henry D. Connell of Springfield, Mass.
He will be buried in his hometown on Saturday.
Connell was assigned to Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, when his unit engaged North Korean forces near Taegu, South Korea, in September 1950.
He sustained injuries from a fall while evacuating wounded soldiers from the
battlefield. Connell was sent to a military hospital in Japan, from which he was later reported erroneously to be absent without leave.
An investigation proved that Connell had returned to his unit, now battling
Communist Chinese forces in North Korea in early November 1950 near Unsan, about 60 miles north of the capital of Pyongyang. He had been reported missing in action from that battle.
Between 1991-94, North Korea turned 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. One of those boxes, received on July 12, 1993, contained two dog tags for Connell, as well as human remains. The
accompanying North Korean documents indicated the remains had been exhumed in Unsan County.
Over the next several years, forensic anthropologists at the Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command (JPAC) at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, were able to determine that the box contained the remains of at least four individuals.
Some of those remains represented a 14-18-year-old male who stood
approximately 70 inches tall at the time of his death. Korean War medical records indicated that Connell was 17 years, 9 months of age, and stood 69.5 inches tall.
Among several forensic identification tools, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) also used mitochondrial DNA as one
of the forensic tools in the identification of Connell's remains, matching a DNA sequence from a maternal relative.
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6. Our Next Newsletter June 2nd, 2006
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The next issue of the news will be forthcoming this week. The goal is to perform some 'catch-up' on regular features to include books | film, Reunions, etc.
If your mailbox is often overfull or disabled do visit our online versions of recent or archival news from the Korean War Project.
You may obtain the news by sending email to:
news@koreanwar.org (click this email link)
Until next time, 'Thanks' to all who have made this possible.
Hal and Ted Barker |
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