The remains of dozens of presumed American war dead are beginning their journey home decades after the end of the Korean War.
The Latest on the remains of dozens of presumed American war dead being brought to Hawaii for identification (all times local):
4 a.m.
Dozens of boxes of remains from the Korean War are on their way to Hawaii for analysis and identification.
The U. S. military believes the bones are those of U. S. servicemen and potentially servicemen from other United Nations member countries who fought alongside the U. S. on behalf of South Korea during the war.
U. S. Vice President Mike Pence and the commander of U. S. forces in Asia, Adm. Phil Davidson, are expected to speak at a ceremony on Wednesday. The event will mark the arrival of the remains on U. S. soil and the beginning of a long process to identify the bones.
North Korea handed over the remains last week. A U. S. military plane made a rare trip into North Korea to retrieve 55 cases.
___
1 a.m.
Decades after the end of the Korean War in 1953, the remains of dozens of presumed U. S. war dead began their journey home following a repatriation ceremony in South Korea on Wednesday.
North Korea handed over the remains in 55 boxes last week and allowed a U. S. military transport plane to move them to the U. S. Osan Air Base near Seoul in South Korea.
While it was an apparent goodwill gesture by North Korea toward the United States, the return comes amid growing skepticism about whether the North will follow through on its pledge of nuclear disarmament.
Hundreds of U. S. and South Korean troops gathered at a hanger at the Osan base for the repatriation ceremony, which included a silent tribute, a rifle salute and the playing of the U. S. and South Korean national anthems and dirges in front of the U. N. flag-covered metal cases containing the remains.
The remains were moved in vans to an airfield where U. S. and South Korean soldiers loaded them one by one into two transport planes. Four U. S. fighter jets flew low in a tribute.
