South Korea says it will hand over to the United States what are believed to be the remains of an American soldier killed in the early days of the 1950-53 Korean War.

The Defense Ministry says the remains were excavated last year on a hill in the southern county of Yeongi, where U.S. troops fought invading North Korean troops in July 1950.

The ministry said Thursday an initial investigation together with U.S. officials found that the remains are likely to be those of a U.S. soldier.

It said the remains will be sent to a U.S. office in Hawaii to determine their identify.

The ministry says 36,940 U.S. soldiers died and about 3,740 are missing from the Korean War.

The U.S. fought on the South Korean side during the war.  [Associated Press]

Hopefully they can get the soldier quickly identified so what family he has remaining can be contacted and be given the opportunity to properly bury him.  On a side note I found it interesting that the AP had to remind readers on which side the US fought during the Korean War.  Are people really getting that stupid that they don’t know which side the US fought during the Korean War?

Korea, May, 1953: War-weary soldiers crouch in a ditch while enemy mortar shells drop nearby. These same infantrymen helped fight off a division of Chinese communists at Outpost Elko a few hours earlier. A company commander said of the fighting at Elko and Outpost Carson, "when I think back over it, the whole thing seems like a bad dream."

Via the Stars & Stripes.

This is a picture of an army encampment from India near Daegu during the Korean War.  The picture is from a collection of photographs donated by a Indian Korean War veteran to the Korean embassy in New Dehli.  During the war 16 nations deployed combat troops under the United Nations banner while another 5 sent medical units.  India was one of the nations that sent a medical unit to Korea.  India deployed the 60th Parachute Field Ambulance platoon that consisted of 627 medical personnel under the command of Lieutenant Colonel A.G. Rangaraj.

HT: Marmot’s Hole

You can read more about PFC Carrasco at this link.

Remains of fallen soldiers during the Korean War that have been excavated are jointly enshrined Wednesday at the Seoul National Cemetery in the attendance of families, government officials and military officers.

Via KBS Global.

Private (Pte) Chris Bell-Chambers, a member of the Sniper Section, 3rd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (3RAR), smiles and waves to a group of Korean children who have emerged from their hiding place after their village has been cleared of enemy forces. Snow lies on the ground and on the roofs of houses in the village. The rifle Pte Bell-Chambers is carrying on his shoulder is a .303 inch Short Magazine Lee Enfield (SMLE) No.1 MkIII*(HT).

Via the Australian War Memorial.

Homeless, this brother and sister search empty cans for morsels of food, and try to keep warm beside a small fire in the Seoul, Korea, railroad yards. November 17, 1950. Pfc. Fulton. (Army)

Via Morning Calm Flickr page.

After 58 years, Viola Beitz Rieck finally got what she deserved Nov. 18.

The U.S. government officially recognized Rieck for what she is — a proud Korean War veteran.

She earned it for delivering payroll through combat zones, armed with an M-1 rifle in the event of a sniper attack.

She put up with what today would amount to harassment by her male comrades. “I’d say, ‘This brain belongs to Uncle Sam, but if you touch this body you’ve had it,’” she’d say to any male Jeep driver who would try to get “fresh” with her.

She spent time with wounded soldiers in battlefield hospitals, writing their loved ones when they couldn’t write themselves. “When I got though with my job. I would go over and write letters.” She said she got thank you letters from soldiers’ moms.

Rieck received her Korean service medal from the U.S. Army. She also received a National Defense service medal and a United Nations service medal, for being part of the multinational U.N. force that served during the conflict.

“There’s more women who aren’t getting what they deserve,” Rieck said. “There’s a lot more gals who were doing the same thing.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Chow line for Thanksgiving dinner of 1st SigBn at Hamhung, Korea.

November 24th was Thanksgiving Day – bleak and blustery.  Immense logistic efforts had been made to ensure that the men of the 8th Army enjoyed their turkey dinner.  By track and even by airdrop, the traditional Thanksgiving trimmings were shipped to the army that was still assured by its commanders that it was victorious.  The British and other allies mocked the idea of bringing domestic comforts into the forward areas.  “I could not stop asking myself what on earth it had all cost,” said one British soldier, faintly ashamed of his own small-mindedness.  Yet he and his compatriots were also secretly impressed by a nation capable of such a feat in the midst of a campaign.  The enemy were nowhere much in evidence.  In the forward areas the troops were uneasy, yet they clung to MacArthur’s promise; home by Christmas.  In some units work had begun to clean up vehicles and equipment, to crate surplus stores for shipment to Japan or Stateside.  The cold was already intense, though not as bitter as it would become.  In a thousand positions among the barren valley and hillsides of North Korea, American soldiers huddled around flickering fires fueled from the wreckage of local huts and imported packing cases, and made what seasonal cheer they could.  Afterward, they looked back on that day as a hollow echo of a celebration, when they had seen what was to come.  The clothes that Colonel John Michaelis of the 27th Infantry was wearing on Thanksgiving Day, he did not take off until February 16th.

What I found interesting about this passage personally was that last year I spent Thanksgiving in Afghanistan and I had a British officer tell me how impressed he was with the logistical capabilities of the US military to do everything from celebrating holiday meals to quickly establishing new forward operating bases in remote areas complete with phones, Internet access, MWR tents, etc.

1st Marine Division with ROK MPs in Hungnam, North Korea during the Korean War.

Via Morning Calm News.