Teams Search for Missing Americans in China

From a Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command News Release

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii, March 8, 2011 – Cooperative efforts between the United States and China for accounting of Americans missing from the Korean War broadened last month with the arrival of a specially trained archeological team in Guangdong province.

The group from the U.S. Joint Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Command, known as JPAC, arrived in China in mid-February. Some 19 JPAC recovery team members will search for 12 missing Americans lost as the result of an alleged November 1950 U.S. aircraft crash, officials said.

Recovery teams will search for human remains, life-support items and other material evidence that may further the identification of missing Americans.

JPAC is a jointly manned U.S. Pacific Command organization of more than 400 military and civilian specialists that has investigated and recovered missing U.S. service members since the 1970s.

The United States and China have cooperated during POW/MIA accounting missions in the past, officials said, with both countries recognizing the significance of these humanitarian operations.