OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Sandwiched between World War II and the Vietnam War, the Korean War is often called the forgotten war. But the United States, its military and the families of those who fought still remember the war and the loved ones lost.
Those families gathered in Omaha to receive updates on the missing.
360 family members of American military personnel still missing from the Korean and Cold Wars gathered at the downtown Doubletree hotel. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, or DPAA, assured all of them that America is still looking for their lost heroes.
One family member shared the story of a father who never came home.
“Got to Korea in August of ’51 and was shot down and declared dead on July 6th. I miss my dad. I wish I knew him,” a family member said.
Another attendee spoke of a loved one still unaccounted for.
“We continue to hold out hope for his recovery. His name is Johnny Street. Thank you,” a family member said.
The agency’s mission
Dr. Jennie Jin, a forensic anthropologist with the DPAA, says the agency works to bring families the latest information.
“To provide them with any new technologies or updates that we have in terms of identification in the laboratory or any research,” Jin said.
For Jin, the mission is personal. Her grandparents were among the North Korean refugees evacuated on a U.S. Navy ship during the war.
“My grandparents actually were from North Korea and they were on the ship, the U.S. Navy ship, when they evacuated from North Korea. They generously took a hundred thousand North Korean refugees on the ship and my grandparents were one of them,” Jin said.
Jin’s father was born in a South Korean refugee camp. She says her work is her way of giving back.
“So many, many years forward, I’m here trying to identify the service members who lost their lives when my grandfather was able to get out. He’s 99 years this year and he’s still well in Korea. And so in some way I do owe a lot to the family members who went through all the grief and they’re still grieving,” Jin said.
A fear of being forgotten
One family member shared what a veteran told them about his greatest fear.
“He said, ‘I wasn’t really afraid because the adrenaline was so powerful it overtook anything like that. But he said, I am afraid of — I’m afraid of being forgotten.’ I never will forget that,” a family member said.
There are currently 7,361 U.S. personnel still unaccounted for from the Korean War and 126 unaccounted for from the Cold War.
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