Chicago area families to receive updates on effort to ID their missing servicemembers
SKOKIE, Ill. (CBS) – A team of scientists is dedicated to identifying the remains of servicemen and women lost in battle.
The work on a single case can take years. This weekend, hundreds of Chicago-area families will receive an update on their missing loved ones.
Morning Insider Lauren Victory took us inside the special Department of Defense event coming to Skokie.
Jim Wood, of Niles, imagines gear atop Lt. Commander Thomas Pilkington's head. He never met his uncle.
"He was shot down over North Vietnam," Wood said.
His uncle was never heard from again, hence a Prisoner of War/Missing in Action flag Wood has hanging in his home.
The Woods family always wondered what happened to Pilkington's body.
"A lot of depression from my mom over the years," Wood said. "I have a file that's this big."
He's referring to a military file that will hopefully grow at a Skokie hotel this weekend. Hundreds of relatives of missing servicemembers are registered for something called "Family Member Update."
Fern Sumpter Winbush and Dr. Debra Prince Zinni are with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Their teams recover and identify soldier remains from World War II or later conflicts.
"The families have a chance to stand up, tell us about their loved one," Prince Zinni said.
Then the families hear progress reports about all the research going on.
"We go into U.S. archives. We go into foreign archives," said Sumpter Winbush. "We interview witnesses around the world and we try to bring that information altogether for the family and present it to them during these family member updates."
DNA collection is also a big part of these events that are held across the country.
"It's really important that the families are here, we can engage with them and find out if we have the appropriate family reference samples on file," said Prince Zinni.
A simple cheek swab could be the missing link to remains sitting in the lab. We're told this is especially the case with missing African American servicemembers.
"So I just want to make a personal plea to my community to trust us," Sumpter Winbush, who is Black, said.
In September, CBS 2 told you how Lt. Col. Addison Baker from Chicago was finally able to be laid to rest after a DNA match. He disappeared during World War II.
"To me, it is just absolutely amazing that the government is doing this kind of work," said Sue Nelson, Baker's niece.
"Every recovery that comes back, it's one more person closer to Tom," said Wood, referring to his uncle.
The effort is giving families hope that they'll have closure once and for all.
The agency will mail you a DNA swab kit for free if you're looking for a missing military member. Registration for Saturday's "Family Member Update" is closed, but the event will be live-streamed on Facebook.