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New project helps identify POW and MIAS remains

CLARION – The Clarion County Veterans Affairs office is working with the Coalition of Families of Korean and Cold War POW/MIAs, a non-profit family advocacy Pennsylvania Project; a Model for the Nation.

The Pennsylvania Project is designed to assist in locating the families of the missing service members from the Korean and Cold Wars and the Vietnam War who have yet to be identified by the Department of Defense, Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office in Washington , DC .

Also key to this effort is the encouragement of veterans from these wars to come forward with critical information about a comrade who may have been left behind.

This initiative begins in Pennsylvania and will then be introduced across the nation.

Once the family members have contacted the appropriate casualty office, they are asked to donate what is called a family reference sample.

This reference sample is only taken from the maternal side of the missing serviceman’s family which begins with the serviceman’s mother.

This will help to identify the remains already being held in Hawaii at the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) as well as those repatriated in the future.  Still needed are over 340 RFS’ from Pennsylvania families from these wars.

Also at CIL in Hawaii there are remains listed as “urgent” which includes all unaccounted for casualties from all conflicts, including WWII, where they currently lack a family reference sample but have a specific need for one in relation to active casework.

It doesn’t guarantee identification if a sample is given, but will certainly help in the process of identifying the remains.  That list can be viewed through logging on to:  www.jpac.pacom.mil  and by selecting CIL.

Veterans that may have information vital to locating a missing comrade left behind are urged to call DPMO at 703-699-1100.

The information may be key in locating a site where a serviceman might have been last seen, and could lead to further research.

The Coalition of Families’ Pennsylvania Project has gained the support of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

The Coalition of Families realizes that it is a daunting task to attempt to locate all the families that have loved ones missing from the Korean/Cold Wars and the Vietnam War. The group wants to assist in this effort so that more families can have their loved ones returned to them for a proper burial which will allow the families to begin the closure process.

For more information, contact the Clarion County Veterans Affairs Office at 226-4000, extension no. 2601.