05/20/2019
Event Time6:00 pm - 9:00 pm;

Location
The Union League of Philadelphia
The Union League of Philadelphia
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The presentation will provide an update on our Nation’s search and recovery operations to bring home the skeletal remains of those service members who continue to be “unaccounted for” from Southeast Asia, Korea and World War II.

Through the use of colored slides, the audience will be able to see actual recovery missions and will be exposed to some of the scientific processes (including DNA) used to identify the recovered remains and return them to the service member’s family. Included in the presentation will be an update on recovery missions into North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and a very significant recovery of WWII Marines from the South Pacific. Additionally, there will be an update on the identifications of the Unknowns from the USS Oklahoma which was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and an update on the 55 boxes of remains returned by the North Koreans in July 2018.

There are almost 1,600 service members who remain “unaccounted for” from Southeast Asia; more than 7,600 from the Korean War; and almost 73,000 from WWII. The audience will gain an understanding and appreciation for our Nation’s commitment and the dedication of the soldiers and civilians who conduct this arduous duty to achieve the fullest possible accounting.

Our guest speaker in May will be Colonel Ward Nickisch, US Army (Retired). He retired after 30 years of Army service, including duty in Vietnam in 1970. His last assignment was as the Director of Casualty and Memorial Affairs. In that position he supervised the US Army’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, which conducted the search, recovery, identification and repatriation of the soldiers (of all Military Services) whose bodies were never recovered from all prior wars.

He has participated in recovery missions in Vietnam and he served as a senior member of the United States Delegation to the first bilateral talks with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. These historically significant talks resulted in the agreement for the conduct of the first Joint Recovery Operations into North Korea beginning in July 1996. He was also directly involved in the disinterment and identification of the remains of the Vietnam Unknown from the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

Union League – American Legion, Benjamin Franklin – Post #405 welcomes members, veterans, retirees and guests to our special meeting. OPEN TO ALL Beverages and light refreshments and a special presentation.

Dress Code: Jacket and Tie for men. No jeans or sneakers please.

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