The families of service men and women who were prisoners of war or missing in action were briefed over the weekend in Portland on efforts to recover and identify remains.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency partners with 46 nations around the world to gain access to sites where remains might be found. Family members are asked to provide blood and other DNA samples to help forensic scientists at the agency to identify remains.
Fern Sumpter Winbush, Principal Deputy Director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said nearly 100 soldiers from the Korean conflict have been identified.
"In 2018 we received 55 boxes from North Korea. The good news is that there weren't 55 individuals in those boxes. There were more than 200 individuals in those 55 boxes," Winbush said.
Retired US Navy Commander Kathy Carlson said she came on behalf of her mother to ask that her uncle, Earlan Verne Randall, who was from Maine and a private in the Army 2nd Infantry Division not be forgotten.
"He was killed in action on 11/27/50 in the vicinity of Yong
Ni Sudong in North Korea. We'd love to bring Earlan home to be with his family," Carlson said.
Donald Carter urged families not to give up hope that their loved ones will be returned.
"My uncle, Marine Corporal John Edwinson, was killed on September 24, 1942. Keep the faith because six weeks ago I got a call that his remains have been identified and he's coming home," Carter said.
Dating back to WWII, 81 thousand military personnel remain unaccounted for, according to the agency. Four hundred and seventy-two Maine service men and women are still missing.