Defense officials said only 67 troops have been positively identified from the K208 remains.
Anderson’s niece, Carol Snider of Bowersville, said “it was nothing short of a miracle” that his remains were identified after so many years.
“I still can’t believe it,” Snider said.
A Hamilton native, Anderson was a 24-year-old private first class assigned to a medical company as part of the 31st Regimental Combat Team, known as “Task Force Faith,” that was ambushed by a vastly superior force of Chinese troops near the east side of the Chosin Reservoir on or about Nov. 28, 1950.
The Battle of Chosin Reservoir was a decisive battle in the Korean War. Following the battle, which was fought in freezing temperatures, UN forces withdrew from North Korea completely.
A witness said Anderson was driving a Jeep in a convoy that was later ambushed by enemy troops about seven miles north of Hagaru-ri.
Anderson was presumed dead after board reviewed his case in December 1950 leaving his family wondering what happened to him.
The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office, which is part of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command based in Honolulu, Hawaii, has been working since the Korean War armistice to recover and identify the remains of missing service members that have been found.
As of April 18, 2012, there were 7,958 unaccounted servicemembers from the Korean War. Since 1982, the remains of 199 servicemembers have been identified.
“It takes a long time because it takes a lot of detective work because there are no names attached to the remains,” said Jessica Pierno, a DPMO spokeswoman in Arlington, Va. “Unlike records that are kept today, we have to figure things out from records prepared in the 1950s.”
Pierno said depending on various circumstances and how the remains were recovered along with the condition they were in may also lengthen the identification process.
“Sometimes we’ll find a uniform or a full skeleton and sometimes it may be just a bone fragment,” she said.
Lee Tucker, a spokesman for JPAC in Honolulu, said identifying remains is “a huge undertaking.”
“We want to ensure that when we make an identification that we’re sure that it’s who we say it is,” Tucker said. “We want absolutely zero doubt so we can look the family member in the eye and say it is their loved one.”
Tucker said identifying the remains starts with a case file and investigative researchers review casualty reports, battle reports, loss reports “and anything else we can find.”
The researchers then expand their investigation to find witnesses, either friend or foe, to find out what they saw and know, he said.
“Once we feel a certain location where a person might be, we send out a recovery team to the site,” he said. “We need to make sure all of the legwork is done and that we have a high level of confidence where an individual is.”
Tucker said the teams will go to a battle area and use shovels and buckets and use mesh screens to excavate the site as they look for skeletal remains, equipment, aircraft wreckage or anything that will help to identify the individual.
“Whatever is found comes to Hawaii,” he said.
Tucker said everything is analyzed at JPAC’s Central Identification Laboratory, the largest forensic anthropology lab in the world. The Central Identification Lab was established after the Vietnam War, he said.
Tucker said JPAC was under the assumption that each of the K208 boxes contained the remains of one servicemember.
“But once the anthropological examination of the remains began, they determined that there were more individuals in each box,” Tucker said. “We believe there are more than 400 individuals in the boxes.”
He said that North Korean personnel recovered the remains that included those of Anderson and turned them over to the U.S.
What forensic scientists look for
Tucker said teeth are a great source because it’s the hardest substance in the body and everyone’s dental profiles are unique. He said forensic dentists compare teeth to dental records as well as a database that compares dental characteristics of human remains to records of unidentified personnel.
“It’s a great source for identification and for extracting DNA,” he said.
The mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is extracted from the skeletal remains and is compared to a relative in the maternal line of the unidentified remains.
“As long as there is a living relative in that maternal line, no matter how many generations between them, a DNA match can be made,” Tucker said.
In Anderson’s case, Snider and her brother Dennis provided blood samples for DNA analysis in 2002. Anderson was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Murray Anderson and grew up in the 900 block of Harmon Avenue in Hamilton’s east side. His mother was a sister to Snider’s mother.
Before he enlisted, Anderson attended Wilson Junior High School and worked as a crane operator.
“Mom always talked about him and sent him a photo of me when I was a little girl,” she said. “They were very close.”
Snider remembered her mother sharing stories of how her uncle would swipe candy or loose change from her room when they were children, however, her uncle always left an IOU when he “borrowed” the money.
She recalled snapping green beans for dinner one day when she was a little girl and asked what her mother would do if her uncle came through the door.
Snider said her mother always knew that her uncle would never be coming home.
Tucker said forensic anthropologists work to establish a biological profile to determine the race, age, sex and stature of the remains.
“That way, we can include or exclude a piece of the remains,” he said.
He said an identification is not done on one set of evidence. “We look for multiple lines of evidence, the biological profile, dental records, DNA, radiological (X-rays),” he said. “It all has to match.”
He said scientists look for bones with the highest probability of having DNA and cut a sample to be sent to the Armed Forces DNA Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
In Anderson’s case, his remains and the DNA samples of niece and nephew matched 16 pieces of bone and nine teeth.
“This isn’t like ‘CSI’ where a DNA match is done in minutes,” he said.
After JPAC is confident of the identification, the case analysis is sent out for a peer review to make sure nothing was missed. “That’s just good science,” Tucker said.
It takes time, money
Tucker said when there is an abundance of information, he has seen remains identified in six months or faster. But if remains are commingled, such as Anderson’s and if researchers and scientists have to start from scratch it can take years to establish an identification.
Tucker said he’s unaware of any misidentifications of remains after they have been processed and analyzed.
He said there are about 400 employees at the JPAC facility in Hawaii which is split among servicemembers from each branch of the military and Navy civilian employees. While he was not sure of the individual cost for each identification, he said the annual budget was $70 million for fiscal year 2011.
Tucker said JPAC is identifying the remains of servicemembers, across all conflicts, at a rate of roughly one every three days. Over the past few years, Tucker said JPAC is roughly averaging between 60 and 80 identifications a year. However, he said Congress has recently asked the Defense Department to step up the identification efforts to 200 a year.
Until an identification is made, the families are periodically updated on the status of their cases as well as updates on the technology being used.
“We provide as much information as we can and answer their questions,” he said. “We also urge them to provide whatever information they may have, such as medical or dental records, etc., and to submit a DNA sample.”
When an identification is confirmed
Once JPAC is 100 percent confident they can absolutely identify the remains, the casualty office of the service branch is contacted. The service branch then notifies the family or next of kin to turn over the remains for burial and to assist in funeral arrangements.
“The work we do is an honorable mission,” Tucker said. “To provide closure for a family is a feeling like no other.”
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