Page 13 - Aerotech News and Review 3-18-16
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CZ(BSZ4IFGUJDL found. dles Soldiers coming back today,” Geneva said. Geneva, her daughter and her granddaughter
As next of kin, Geneva accepted the folded A horse-drawn caisson from the 3d U.S. each placed a single red rose on the casket.
Arlington, Va.
flag from atop her uncle’s casket during the Infantry Regiment (Old Guard) brought Pfc. Geneva said although the group of family
$IWHU\HDUV3IF-DPHV06PLWKZDV¿- burial services at Arlington National Cem- 6PLWKWRKLV¿QDOUHVWLQJSODFHLQVHFWLRQRI members at the cemetery wasn’t exceptionally
nally laid to rest by his family, March 9, with etery. She said the services were “spectacular” the cemetery. Along the path, a line of veterans large, “there are others here in spirit.” Her fa-
full military honors at Arlington National Cem- and family members who attended were “over- from the Patriot Guard Riders saluted. ther, Pvt. Smith’s only brother, died in 2011.
etery. whelmed.” The two brothers had grown together up in Ab-
“Everyone was so reverent and respectful,” beville, Georgia.
Smith was 19 years old when Chinese forces “I’m so pleased in the way the military han- Geneva said.
attacked his unit, Feb. 12, 1951, north of Ho- Although Geneva never met
engsong, Korea. He was a member of Com- her uncle, she said her father
pany K, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry talked about him all the time.
Division.
“If I could be like somebody
Smith’s company was supporting the South else, I’d like to be like him,”
Korean Army in attacks against the Chinese Geneva said of her uncle. She
People’s Volunteer Army. When the Chinese said her father portrayed him as
counterattacked, South Korean troops quickly funny and full of good-natured
retreated, leaving the outnumbered U.S. Sol- pranks.
G L H U V W R ¿ J K W D O R Q H 6 P L W K H Q G H G X S P L V V L Q J
in action. Pvt. Smith is among more
than 200 Korean War casual-
Scientists from the Defense Prisoner of War/ WLHVLGHQWL¿HGVRIDUE\WKH'H-
Missing In Action Accounting Agency recently fense POW/MIA Accounting
LGHQWL¿HGFRPPLQJOHGUHPDLQVDV6PLWK¶VE\ Agency or DPAA.
using two types of DNA analysis. Mitochondri-
al DNA analysis matched a brother and cousin. “As advances in technol-
A Y-chromosome Short Tandem Repeat DNA ogy have happened, we are
analysis matched a brother. Dental analysis also able to identify more and
matched Smith’s records. more,” said Slaughter, a
DPAA spokesperson.
Smith’s remains had been among 208 boxes
of commingled remains returned to the U.S. by Army photograph by Sgt. Jose. A. Torres Jr. Geneva Smith (on wheelchair),
North Korea between 1990 and 1994. Recent watches as a casket team from
advances in DNA technology and samples from the 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment
6PLWK¶VUHODWLYHV¿QDOO\HQDEOHGWKHUHPDLQV (The Old Guard), carries her
WREHLGHQWL¿HGVDLG$LU)RUFH/W&RO+ROO\ Uncle, Pfc. James M. Smith,
Slaughter of the Defense POW/MIA Account- to his final resting place in
ing Agency. VHFWLRQRI$UOLQJWRQ1DWLRQDO
&HPHWHU\9D0DUFK
“I’m just amazed,” said Smith’s niece, Ge-
neva Smith from Sherman, Texas. She was sur-
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March 18, 2016 Aerotech News and Review
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