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Post by JohnEakin on May 17, 2017 20:27:49 GMT 8
The Sister of John Kovach, who was buried in Cabanatuan Grave 717, called me last week to say that the Army had officially identified his partial remains. They plan to bury him July 10, 2017 in the Port Clinton, OH cemetery.
Partial remains of six of the fourteen men in Grave 717, Kelder, Simmons, Collins, Overby, Hershi, and Kovach have been identified. That leaves eight who were exhumed in 2014 who are still unidentified. DNA reference samples have been available for all of them since day one.
Only partial remains have been identified for any of them because the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab at Dover AFB does not have sufficient DNA testing capacity. I could easily dump several hundred cases on them tomorrow where the identity of the remains is obvious, but it would be decades before they could do the DNA testing.
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Post by Bernadette on Oct 31, 2018 4:46:33 GMT 8
Thanks, Chad, but it is still far from a done deal and JPAC is already working to screw things up. The Gordon case cracked the door open and I think we have our foot in the door, now. If we can bring Bud Kelder home, we can bring home every Unknown (or at least give them their name if their family wants them to stay in place). I tried asking nicely and I tried formal petitions to identify our family member and the only thing that DoD seems to understand is a lawsuit. If I had been paying a lawyer the bill by now would be well in to the six figures. However, with the documents we have now obtained, I think the cost to do the next group of Unknowns will be minimal and I may have some pro bono help to cover even that. Now it is up to the families and I'm finding that very few of them care enough to get involved. "JPAC is already working to screw things up." Sounds like similar form to the bad leadership, systemic failures and corrosive culture of the VA. Hush yo' mouth, John, in case somebody at Fox News cottons on that there's a pattern here. I wonder how much JPAC's management received across the years of maladministration by way of bonuses and conferences, whilst elsewhere bleating like lost sheep for more operational funding. Ah, the joys of government employment!
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