Washington Post - United States
By Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 29, 2009; Page C05
In a chilly Rockville conference room yesterday, wives, daughters and a twin brother told stories of loved ones who went off to Vietnam, Korea and Normandy and may yet come home.
The U.S. Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office briefed 150 relatives on its effort to identify and return the remains of U.S. service members missing in action. The office is part of a team that identifies the remains of about 100 service members each year, thinning the list of more than 80,000 missing from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War through such methods as modern DNA analysis and old-fashioned dental comparison. Sixty-two missions are planned this year -- to jungles, forests and mountaintops where newly discovered crash sites and burial plots are reported.
Microphones were passed around in a remembrance ceremony that filled the room with portions of heroic tales: He was about three to four days into battle. . . . They were out on a night mission. . . . His plane was shot down over the North Sea. . . . It took me 47 years to find the person who was with him when he died.
Families came to hear about efforts to recover their loved ones, to ask questions and to contribute DNA samples. A laboratory worker took a swab from the mouth of Jacqueline Stark of Chevy Chase, whose father, Army Maj. Marshall Wolcott Stark, is thought to have died in North Korea in November 1950.
Stark fought in the Battle of Kunu-ri, his 2nd Infantry Division badly outnumbered by the Chinese. The division took heavy losses as it withdrew through territory now known as the Gauntlet. Stark was reported missing Nov. 30. There was no firsthand account of his death.
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Jacqueline was 3 when her father went to war. She has a picture of him posing as a Korean peasant, an older shot of him beside the military glider he flew to Normandy on D-Day and a memory of bobbing in the air above him, playing airplane in the family home.
She said she attended the briefing because she was "curious about the whole process."
A public affairs officer told her, "I don't want to be dramatic here: We may have his remains."
Remains of more than 1,000 Americans killed in Korea are in hand and not identified.
The Missing Personnel Office has traveled the country since 1995, holding similar meetings and reaching more than 14,000 relatives of missing service members. Spokesman Larry Greer said the Defense Department effort involves about 600 people and an annual budget of about $105 million.
Recovering the remains of Army Cpl. Richard Warren Krepps has been a long endeavor for his twin brother, Vincent Krepps of Towson, Md. They enlisted with friends from Lynnwood, Penn., and went into battle in Korea with the same infantry division as Stark.
Richard Krepps was captured by the Chinese. His group of POWs was marched from village to village and housed at a prison camp on the banks of the Yalu River. There, witnesses said, Krepps died in 1951.
At one point, Vincent saw his brother in an enemy propaganda photo published in a Pennsylvania newspaper. He awaited proof of his death until 1998, when he received a letter from a man who was with Richard at the end.
That year, Vincent Krepps returned to the place where his brother was captured. Neither he nor the U.S. military has been allowed into the prison camp where Richard died. Vincent has written a book, "One Came Home," recounting his efforts and the military's to identify missing service members.
"Every little bit pushes me toward the hope that maybe one day he will be recovered," he said.
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Korea. Show all posts
28 March 2009
MIA Families Keep Searching
MyFox Washington DC - Washington, DC, USA
Last Edited: Saturday, 28 Mar 2009, 9:53 PM EDT
Created On: Saturday, 28 Mar 2009, 9:32 PM EDT
ROCKVILLE,Md. - Janice Stoms drove from Phoenixville, PA to Rockville, MD, Saturday, in an effort to find the father she lost in 1958. U.S. Army Captain Wayne Pitcher's plane went down at sea near Taiwan during the Cold War. Nobody knows whether it was mechanical trouble or an attack by Chinese pilots. Neither the aircraft nor the bodies of those aboard has ever been found.
Mrs. Stoms, who was eleven years old when her father disappeared, wants answers and wants the U.S. government to keep trying. "It would certainly help me," she sobbed, "To know what happened to my father so long ago."
Janice Stoms gave DNA samples from her mouth and from old envelopes possibly licked by her father to technicians who work for the Department of Defense's POW/MIA Office.
Should the aircraft and skeletal remains ever be found, the DNA evidence might confirm the identity of the person.
Mrs. Stoms was not alone on Saturday. About 150 family members gathered at a hotel in Rockville to hear a Defense Department briefing on worldwide efforts to gather and identify remains.
Although recovery operations have been shut down for several years in North Korea, they continue on the southern part of the peninsula. "We find two or three remains [in South Korea] annually," according to Ambassador Charles A. Ray, the current head of the DOD Missing Personnel Office.
Ambassador Ray says efforts continue to locate and identify remains from the estimated 1,700 military missing from the Vietnam War, the 8,000 MIA's from the Korean conflict, and the more than 70,000 American service personnel who were never accounted for at the end of World War II.
Last Edited: Saturday, 28 Mar 2009, 9:53 PM EDT
Created On: Saturday, 28 Mar 2009, 9:32 PM EDT
ROCKVILLE,Md. - Janice Stoms drove from Phoenixville, PA to Rockville, MD, Saturday, in an effort to find the father she lost in 1958. U.S. Army Captain Wayne Pitcher's plane went down at sea near Taiwan during the Cold War. Nobody knows whether it was mechanical trouble or an attack by Chinese pilots. Neither the aircraft nor the bodies of those aboard has ever been found.
Mrs. Stoms, who was eleven years old when her father disappeared, wants answers and wants the U.S. government to keep trying. "It would certainly help me," she sobbed, "To know what happened to my father so long ago."
Janice Stoms gave DNA samples from her mouth and from old envelopes possibly licked by her father to technicians who work for the Department of Defense's POW/MIA Office.
Should the aircraft and skeletal remains ever be found, the DNA evidence might confirm the identity of the person.
Mrs. Stoms was not alone on Saturday. About 150 family members gathered at a hotel in Rockville to hear a Defense Department briefing on worldwide efforts to gather and identify remains.
Although recovery operations have been shut down for several years in North Korea, they continue on the southern part of the peninsula. "We find two or three remains [in South Korea] annually," according to Ambassador Charles A. Ray, the current head of the DOD Missing Personnel Office.
Ambassador Ray says efforts continue to locate and identify remains from the estimated 1,700 military missing from the Vietnam War, the 8,000 MIA's from the Korean conflict, and the more than 70,000 American service personnel who were never accounted for at the end of World War II.
21 March 2009
Time May Finally Heal Sister's Anguished Heart
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Fort Worth, TX, USA
Posted on Sat, Mar. 21, 2009
Sister of soldier who never returned hopes 'he’s coming home’
By DAVID CASSTEVENS
dcasstevens@star-telegram.com
Last month, a 79-year-old Fort Worth woman received a military document in the mail.
"Dear Mrs. Francis:"
The cover letter was from the U.S. Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center.
The chief of the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch informed Delona Francis that the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office was providing the "Loss Incident Summary Report" and an accompanying map of the Korean Peninsula which pertains to . . .
Dee’s hazel eyes filled, blurring the words.
". . . your brother . . ."
Private First Class Jodie S. Reese Jr.
Alone, in her modest home, the soldier’s next of kin pored over every line of the three-page report.
When she finished, as the memories washed over her, hope kindled in her anguished heart.
"I was thinking," she said, "He’s coming home . . ."
The last goodbye
Dee still remembers the day Jodie left — the last time she saw her 18-year-old brother — more than 60 years ago.
She and her mother drove to the bus station in McAlester, Okla., to say goodbye. This spirited, independent youth — he once mowed a neighbor’s lawn for milk bottles and sold the empties for cash — had joined the Army and was leaving for boot camp at Fort Knox, Ky.
Reese shipped overseas and later re-enlisted.
Meanwhile, his sister finished high school in 1947 and moved to Fort Worth, where she attended business college and married.
Jodie Reese died in October 1950. He was 22.
His mother and father received word in a telegram but waited several weeks to inform their daughter in person.
The Reeses drove to Fort Worth on the day Dee returned home from the hospital, cradling her future, a baby boy.
During the Korean War (1950-53) about 54,000 Americans lost their lives. More than 100,000 were wounded. About 8,000 were unaccounted for.
This family never had a flag-draped coffin or funeral service.
Private Reese didn’t come home.
"My parents," Francis remembered, "never did get over it."
The circumstances of Reese’s death — the whereabouts of his remains — lived on as a mystery until recently when the soldier’s white-haired sister received an unexpected phone call followed by the military report that finally provided some answers.
POWs gunned down
According to the Army, Reese, assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, was taken captive Aug. 11, 1950, while helping defend an airfield in South Korea from an attack by up to 2,000 North Korean guerrillas.
He and other American prisoners were marched hundreds of miles north.
The enemy forced some captives to travel barefoot.
The average food ration was one rice ball a day and little or no water. Many prisoners died from malnutrition, dysentery, beriberi and pneumonia.
Reese arrived in Seoul in late August or early September.
"He was among many POWs whose names appear on black boards in the school house where they were held," the report states. "The North Korean guards simply forgot to erase the black boards when they left."
After Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed the Marines at Inchon this group of prisoners was hurriedly marched northward to Pyongyang and on Oct. 18 loaded onto railroad boxcars. With American forces closing in, the train proceeded to a tunnel near Sunchon. About 100 men were taken off the train before it left.
A short time later, the report said, North Korean guards attempted to shoot and kill all the men before fleeing themselves.
When rescue forces arrived the next day, about 25 men were still alive. They recounted what had happened and helped identify many of the dead.
John E. Martin of Ferndale, Mich., was among the survivors of the Sunchon tunnel massacre, and in 1953 he described the event before a congressional subcommittee investigating Communist atrocities in Korea.
Martin said prisoners were ordered to crouch, and then gunned down. After the volley, Martin testified, a member of the firing squad "went down and kicked somebody and if he groaned they shot him again, or bayoneted him, and then kicked somebody else."
The report Francis received confirmed, "PFC Reese was among those killed by the guards."
Bodies buried near the rail line later were exhumed and moved to a United Nations military cemetery at Pyongyang. Reece, "man X-45", was buried in grave No. 1-13-184.
Francis still can picture him, that happy face, forever young.
"My mother would tell us we could go outside and play, but don’t go past the corner," she said, recalling their childhood. "Jodie would take off and be out of sight. He went any place he wanted to go."
Sharing her deepest feelings is difficult for this reserved, private woman.
But she wants others to know this.
"He always stood up for me," she said. "He had a heart of gold."
Finding families
How the Army found Dee Francis is a story within a story.
In January the Tulsa World published an article about a 79-year-old Korean War veteran whose tireless mission is to find families of missing servicemen who served during that conflict. Harold Davis has located several hundred relatives, and his search has spread nationwide.
"I don’t get a penny and don’t want one," Davis said from his home in Wilmington, N.C.
The newspaper story listed 37 Oklahomans whose families he was seeking.
One soldier was Jodie Silas Reese from Pittsburg County.
A reader saw the name and called Davis. That person suggested he contact Gladys Hulsey, who is Dee Francis’ aunt by marriage.
Hulsey told the researcher that Reese’s sister lived somewhere in Texas. Davis found Francis’ address and telephone number through an Internet search.
He called the woman one evening in late January.
"It got my attention," said Francis, who was shocked to hear this stranger speak her brother’s name.
Davis put her in touch with the chief of the Korean War section of the Army Past Conflict Reparations Branch. The Army is attempting to locate more than 6,000 families to collect DNA samples for the purpose of identifying soldiers from World War II and wars in Korea and Vietnam.
The Army mailed Francis a DNA sampling kit that includes a cotton-tipped sterile swab. She provided a sample from inside her mouth and returned the material to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab in Rockville, Md.
'Unknowns’ buried
After the Korean War, more than 4,000 sets of human remains were returned by the Chinese and North Koreans during Operation Glory. All but 416 of the Americans among them were identified and returned to their families.
The report Francis received said that the 416 "Unknowns" are now buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
"At this moment," the report states, "we cannot be certain whether PFC Reese’s remains were among those returned or whether they are still buried in Pyongyang. . . . For now, we are attempting to develop any possible leads. To date, 11 sets of Korean War remains have been exhumed [in Hawaii] and six have been identified. Efforts at resolution, including preparations for future work in North Korea, continue."
One man isn’t content to wait to honor Private Reese.
Bill Steelman is a longtime friend of Francis and a proud veteran of what often is referred to as America’s "forgotten war." After hearing her story, he arranged to have the combat soldier’s name placed on the face of a black granite war memorial in Tye Cemetery off Oak Grove Road, near Burleson.
The stone lists hundreds of the fallen, dating back to the Civil War.
Steelman said he is convinced that Private Jodie Reese Jr. will come home.
If and when that day comes, Francis wants to bury her brother’s remains alongside Jodie’s parents, who rest in a small cemetery in McAlester.
"I think it’s what my mother would want me to do," Francis said.
"That would make her happy."
Until then Jodie’s sister waits, sustained daily by her tested faith.
"I know the Lord knows where he is," Dee Francis said. "I get peace knowing he’s with Him."
Korean War Project
The Korean War Project is a nonprofit corporation based in Dallas that oversees a program to identify MIAs and find their families.
Nine years ago the project evolved into an Internet-based initiative called Finding The Families.
The Korean War Project maintains the most comprehensive public database of Korean War casualties available to the public.
For information: www.koreanwar.org or call 214-320-0342
"I know the Lord knows where he is. I get peace knowing he’s with Him."
Delona Francis,
sister of missing soldier
DAVID CASSTEVENS, 817-390-7436
Posted on Sat, Mar. 21, 2009
Sister of soldier who never returned hopes 'he’s coming home’
By DAVID CASSTEVENS
dcasstevens@star-telegram.com
Last month, a 79-year-old Fort Worth woman received a military document in the mail.
"Dear Mrs. Francis:"
The cover letter was from the U.S. Army Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Center.
The chief of the Past Conflict Repatriations Branch informed Delona Francis that the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office was providing the "Loss Incident Summary Report" and an accompanying map of the Korean Peninsula which pertains to . . .
Dee’s hazel eyes filled, blurring the words.
". . . your brother . . ."
Private First Class Jodie S. Reese Jr.
Alone, in her modest home, the soldier’s next of kin pored over every line of the three-page report.
When she finished, as the memories washed over her, hope kindled in her anguished heart.
"I was thinking," she said, "He’s coming home . . ."
The last goodbye
Dee still remembers the day Jodie left — the last time she saw her 18-year-old brother — more than 60 years ago.
She and her mother drove to the bus station in McAlester, Okla., to say goodbye. This spirited, independent youth — he once mowed a neighbor’s lawn for milk bottles and sold the empties for cash — had joined the Army and was leaving for boot camp at Fort Knox, Ky.
Reese shipped overseas and later re-enlisted.
Meanwhile, his sister finished high school in 1947 and moved to Fort Worth, where she attended business college and married.
Jodie Reese died in October 1950. He was 22.
His mother and father received word in a telegram but waited several weeks to inform their daughter in person.
The Reeses drove to Fort Worth on the day Dee returned home from the hospital, cradling her future, a baby boy.
During the Korean War (1950-53) about 54,000 Americans lost their lives. More than 100,000 were wounded. About 8,000 were unaccounted for.
This family never had a flag-draped coffin or funeral service.
Private Reese didn’t come home.
"My parents," Francis remembered, "never did get over it."
The circumstances of Reese’s death — the whereabouts of his remains — lived on as a mystery until recently when the soldier’s white-haired sister received an unexpected phone call followed by the military report that finally provided some answers.
POWs gunned down
According to the Army, Reese, assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division, was taken captive Aug. 11, 1950, while helping defend an airfield in South Korea from an attack by up to 2,000 North Korean guerrillas.
He and other American prisoners were marched hundreds of miles north.
The enemy forced some captives to travel barefoot.
The average food ration was one rice ball a day and little or no water. Many prisoners died from malnutrition, dysentery, beriberi and pneumonia.
Reese arrived in Seoul in late August or early September.
"He was among many POWs whose names appear on black boards in the school house where they were held," the report states. "The North Korean guards simply forgot to erase the black boards when they left."
After Gen. Douglas MacArthur landed the Marines at Inchon this group of prisoners was hurriedly marched northward to Pyongyang and on Oct. 18 loaded onto railroad boxcars. With American forces closing in, the train proceeded to a tunnel near Sunchon. About 100 men were taken off the train before it left.
A short time later, the report said, North Korean guards attempted to shoot and kill all the men before fleeing themselves.
When rescue forces arrived the next day, about 25 men were still alive. They recounted what had happened and helped identify many of the dead.
John E. Martin of Ferndale, Mich., was among the survivors of the Sunchon tunnel massacre, and in 1953 he described the event before a congressional subcommittee investigating Communist atrocities in Korea.
Martin said prisoners were ordered to crouch, and then gunned down. After the volley, Martin testified, a member of the firing squad "went down and kicked somebody and if he groaned they shot him again, or bayoneted him, and then kicked somebody else."
The report Francis received confirmed, "PFC Reese was among those killed by the guards."
Bodies buried near the rail line later were exhumed and moved to a United Nations military cemetery at Pyongyang. Reece, "man X-45", was buried in grave No. 1-13-184.
Francis still can picture him, that happy face, forever young.
"My mother would tell us we could go outside and play, but don’t go past the corner," she said, recalling their childhood. "Jodie would take off and be out of sight. He went any place he wanted to go."
Sharing her deepest feelings is difficult for this reserved, private woman.
But she wants others to know this.
"He always stood up for me," she said. "He had a heart of gold."
Finding families
How the Army found Dee Francis is a story within a story.
In January the Tulsa World published an article about a 79-year-old Korean War veteran whose tireless mission is to find families of missing servicemen who served during that conflict. Harold Davis has located several hundred relatives, and his search has spread nationwide.
"I don’t get a penny and don’t want one," Davis said from his home in Wilmington, N.C.
The newspaper story listed 37 Oklahomans whose families he was seeking.
One soldier was Jodie Silas Reese from Pittsburg County.
A reader saw the name and called Davis. That person suggested he contact Gladys Hulsey, who is Dee Francis’ aunt by marriage.
Hulsey told the researcher that Reese’s sister lived somewhere in Texas. Davis found Francis’ address and telephone number through an Internet search.
He called the woman one evening in late January.
"It got my attention," said Francis, who was shocked to hear this stranger speak her brother’s name.
Davis put her in touch with the chief of the Korean War section of the Army Past Conflict Reparations Branch. The Army is attempting to locate more than 6,000 families to collect DNA samples for the purpose of identifying soldiers from World War II and wars in Korea and Vietnam.
The Army mailed Francis a DNA sampling kit that includes a cotton-tipped sterile swab. She provided a sample from inside her mouth and returned the material to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Lab in Rockville, Md.
'Unknowns’ buried
After the Korean War, more than 4,000 sets of human remains were returned by the Chinese and North Koreans during Operation Glory. All but 416 of the Americans among them were identified and returned to their families.
The report Francis received said that the 416 "Unknowns" are now buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
"At this moment," the report states, "we cannot be certain whether PFC Reese’s remains were among those returned or whether they are still buried in Pyongyang. . . . For now, we are attempting to develop any possible leads. To date, 11 sets of Korean War remains have been exhumed [in Hawaii] and six have been identified. Efforts at resolution, including preparations for future work in North Korea, continue."
One man isn’t content to wait to honor Private Reese.
Bill Steelman is a longtime friend of Francis and a proud veteran of what often is referred to as America’s "forgotten war." After hearing her story, he arranged to have the combat soldier’s name placed on the face of a black granite war memorial in Tye Cemetery off Oak Grove Road, near Burleson.
The stone lists hundreds of the fallen, dating back to the Civil War.
Steelman said he is convinced that Private Jodie Reese Jr. will come home.
If and when that day comes, Francis wants to bury her brother’s remains alongside Jodie’s parents, who rest in a small cemetery in McAlester.
"I think it’s what my mother would want me to do," Francis said.
"That would make her happy."
Until then Jodie’s sister waits, sustained daily by her tested faith.
"I know the Lord knows where he is," Dee Francis said. "I get peace knowing he’s with Him."
Korean War Project
The Korean War Project is a nonprofit corporation based in Dallas that oversees a program to identify MIAs and find their families.
Nine years ago the project evolved into an Internet-based initiative called Finding The Families.
The Korean War Project maintains the most comprehensive public database of Korean War casualties available to the public.
For information: www.koreanwar.org or call 214-320-0342
"I know the Lord knows where he is. I get peace knowing he’s with Him."
Delona Francis,
sister of missing soldier
DAVID CASSTEVENS, 817-390-7436
17 March 2009
Remains Of Fallen Korean War POW To Be Buried
ArmyTimes.com - Springfield, VA, USA
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 19:18:34 EDT
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick J. Arthur was captured in Korea in 1951 by Chinese forces, northeast of the Hongch’on River, and died in a prisoner of war camp two months later.
On May 1, his remains will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, according to a news release from the Defense Department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office.
Arthur was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
In mid-May 1951, elements of the 2nd ID were securing their positions on the No Name Line south of the Soyang River, South Korea, when the Chinese Army launched a major counter-offensive, the release said.
The 2nd ID soldiers were forced to withdraw south to a more defensible position north and east of the Hongch’on River.
On May 18, during the withdrawal, Arthur, of Broken Bow, Neb., was captured by the enemy and forced to march into North Korea, where he died of malnutrition and disease in July.
He was buried at the Suan Mining POW Camp near Pyongyang, the release said.
Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the U.S. 208 boxes believed to contain the remains of up to 400 U.S. servicemen. Accompanying some of the remains were Arthur’s military identification tag and a denture fragment bearing his name.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in identifying some of the remains as Arthur’s, the release said.
Representatives from the Army’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Office met with Arthur’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process on behalf of the secretary of the Army.
Staff report
Posted : Tuesday Mar 17, 2009 19:18:34 EDT
Sgt. 1st Class Patrick J. Arthur was captured in Korea in 1951 by Chinese forces, northeast of the Hongch’on River, and died in a prisoner of war camp two months later.
On May 1, his remains will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, according to a news release from the Defense Department’s POW/Missing Personnel Office.
Arthur was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division.
In mid-May 1951, elements of the 2nd ID were securing their positions on the No Name Line south of the Soyang River, South Korea, when the Chinese Army launched a major counter-offensive, the release said.
The 2nd ID soldiers were forced to withdraw south to a more defensible position north and east of the Hongch’on River.
On May 18, during the withdrawal, Arthur, of Broken Bow, Neb., was captured by the enemy and forced to march into North Korea, where he died of malnutrition and disease in July.
He was buried at the Suan Mining POW Camp near Pyongyang, the release said.
Between 1991 and 1994, North Korea gave the U.S. 208 boxes believed to contain the remains of up to 400 U.S. servicemen. Accompanying some of the remains were Arthur’s military identification tag and a denture fragment bearing his name.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in identifying some of the remains as Arthur’s, the release said.
Representatives from the Army’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Office met with Arthur’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process on behalf of the secretary of the Army.
06 March 2009
War Remains Recovery To Begin Next Week
Korea Times - South Korea
03-06-2009 18:56
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of National Defense's agency for war remains' recovery and identification will start operations for this year March 9, the agency said Friday.
Eight teams of the Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification (MAKRI) will lead the excavation work in 38 regions across the nation, it said in a news release. Twenty-one teams from Army units will support the agency's operations, it added.
Since 2000, the remains of 2,855 soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War have been recovered, it said. Of them, 2,230 were those of South Korean forces killed in the war and 74 have been identified, according to the release.
Earlier this year, MAKRI opened its new headquarters at a national cemetery in Seoul with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for identifying war remains, such as a digital X-ray imager, 3D scanner and DNA sampling instruments.
Remains of about 130,000 South Korean solders are believed to be buried on the Korean Peninsula, while 8,100 U.S. military personnel are still missing from the war. The Korean War, often called the ``Forgotten War,'' resulted in a devastating death toll. According to the ministry, some 137,000 South Korean troops lost their lives, with a further 20,000 listed as missing in action.
Foreign records show that at least 400,000 South Korean troops and two million civilians were killed, alongside up to 1.5 million troops from communist North Korea and China.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
03-06-2009 18:56
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of National Defense's agency for war remains' recovery and identification will start operations for this year March 9, the agency said Friday.
Eight teams of the Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification (MAKRI) will lead the excavation work in 38 regions across the nation, it said in a news release. Twenty-one teams from Army units will support the agency's operations, it added.
Since 2000, the remains of 2,855 soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War have been recovered, it said. Of them, 2,230 were those of South Korean forces killed in the war and 74 have been identified, according to the release.
Earlier this year, MAKRI opened its new headquarters at a national cemetery in Seoul with state-of-the-art facilities and equipment for identifying war remains, such as a digital X-ray imager, 3D scanner and DNA sampling instruments.
Remains of about 130,000 South Korean solders are believed to be buried on the Korean Peninsula, while 8,100 U.S. military personnel are still missing from the war. The Korean War, often called the ``Forgotten War,'' resulted in a devastating death toll. According to the ministry, some 137,000 South Korean troops lost their lives, with a further 20,000 listed as missing in action.
Foreign records show that at least 400,000 South Korean troops and two million civilians were killed, alongside up to 1.5 million troops from communist North Korea and China.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
Honor, 50 Years Later
Suffolk News-Herald - Suffolk, VA, USA
By R.E. Spears III | Suffolk News-Herald
Published Thursday, March 5, 2009
Robert Harwood Williams was 32 years old when he was lost in Korea. A member of the 25th Infantry Division, he would have been in the thick of the hellish Korean War.
He came to the Army from Suffolk, but no one is sure what happened to him in Korea — only that he didn’t make it out alive. He was one of more than 8,000 servicemen who were designated as Missing in Action during the three-year conflict. During the years since the end of that war, some remains have been found, but identifying them has proved a daunting task.
The nation is fortunate that there are men and women like 78-year-old Harold Davis, who has made it his personal mission to help identify as many of those remains as possible.
Working with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Davis and others like him across the United States are trying to use today’s advanced DNA tests and other less technological tools to track down relatives of recovered missing servicemen. As the military finds remains on old battlegrounds, Davis and other stateside volunteers get to work contacting genealogical societies, historic societies, libraries, newspapers and veterans organizations to see if they can make connections.
“I just have a devoted feeling for them, because I was associated with them” he said of the servicemen whose memory he honors. “The families are so grateful when you do contact them.”
Clearly most, if not all, of those families will have long ago given up hope of seeing their lost brothers, husbands, sons or fathers alive again. But the simple closure of having remains to bury still can go a long way to providing peace.
To those who have given the last, best measure of life in defense of their nation, America owes its fullest efforts to return them home and reunite them with their families. To men and women like Harold Davis, the nation owes a debt of gratitude for helping us to fulfill that responsibility.
By R.E. Spears III | Suffolk News-Herald
Published Thursday, March 5, 2009
Robert Harwood Williams was 32 years old when he was lost in Korea. A member of the 25th Infantry Division, he would have been in the thick of the hellish Korean War.
He came to the Army from Suffolk, but no one is sure what happened to him in Korea — only that he didn’t make it out alive. He was one of more than 8,000 servicemen who were designated as Missing in Action during the three-year conflict. During the years since the end of that war, some remains have been found, but identifying them has proved a daunting task.
The nation is fortunate that there are men and women like 78-year-old Harold Davis, who has made it his personal mission to help identify as many of those remains as possible.
Working with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Davis and others like him across the United States are trying to use today’s advanced DNA tests and other less technological tools to track down relatives of recovered missing servicemen. As the military finds remains on old battlegrounds, Davis and other stateside volunteers get to work contacting genealogical societies, historic societies, libraries, newspapers and veterans organizations to see if they can make connections.
“I just have a devoted feeling for them, because I was associated with them” he said of the servicemen whose memory he honors. “The families are so grateful when you do contact them.”
Clearly most, if not all, of those families will have long ago given up hope of seeing their lost brothers, husbands, sons or fathers alive again. But the simple closure of having remains to bury still can go a long way to providing peace.
To those who have given the last, best measure of life in defense of their nation, America owes its fullest efforts to return them home and reunite them with their families. To men and women like Harold Davis, the nation owes a debt of gratitude for helping us to fulfill that responsibility.
27 February 2009
POWs Purple Heart Found In Beach Walmart Parking Lot
The News Herald - Panama City, FL, USA
February 27, 2009 12:02:00 AM
By JONAS HOGG / News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY BEACH — Kenneth E. Ravitz left his Dade home in the early 1950s for the Korean War.
He never returned.
On official records he is listed as Prisoner of War/Missing in Action. But a Purple Heart bearing his name has surfaced in an unlikely place: the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter in Panama City Beach.
Sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday, someone anonymously delivered the battered and torn ribbon to Ray Carroll's office in Bay County Veterans' Services. No one is quite sure who Ravitz is, if he has family in this area or how the legacy of his service was found so ignobly.
"It's pretty well destroyed," Carroll said. "It looks like it may have been run over or something, but there's a possibility that if we can identify who the family member is, we may can even get them a replacement Purple Heart for that."
There are no Ravitz families listed in the Panama City city directory, and the name was not familiar to area veterans organizations. There is a Kenneth E. Ravitz on record with the state Veterans Administration, Carroll said, but no address of record or contact information is given.
The Defense Prisoner or War / Missing Person Web site has limited information about Ravitz. He was a private first class with F Company, 2/38 regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. His home of record is given as Dade, but it is not clear whether that implies Dade City, north of Tampa, or Dade County.
The 2nd Infantry Division was at the heart of the offensives and counter-offensives waged between United Nations forces and the Chinese, and the POW Web site lists a "date of incident" as April 3, 1951. Ravitz's official date of death is given as Dec. 31, 1953, the blanket date given for unreturned prisoners of war who were presumed dead.
Jim Doescher, commander of the Panama City chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, said someone contacted him several months back wondering if a Kenneth Ravitz was a member of the organization.
Service members wounded in the line of duty and meeting certain criteria are eligible to receive the Purple Heart. Civilians were eligible to receive the ribbon until 1997, at which point the Purple Heart was made military specific and civilians now can receive the Defense of Freedom Medal.
Want to help?
If you know something about Kenneth E. Ravitz or his Purple Heart, please call Bay County Veterans Services at 784-4044.
February 27, 2009 12:02:00 AM
By JONAS HOGG / News Herald Writer
PANAMA CITY BEACH — Kenneth E. Ravitz left his Dade home in the early 1950s for the Korean War.
He never returned.
On official records he is listed as Prisoner of War/Missing in Action. But a Purple Heart bearing his name has surfaced in an unlikely place: the parking lot of the Walmart Supercenter in Panama City Beach.
Sometime on Tuesday or Wednesday, someone anonymously delivered the battered and torn ribbon to Ray Carroll's office in Bay County Veterans' Services. No one is quite sure who Ravitz is, if he has family in this area or how the legacy of his service was found so ignobly.
"It's pretty well destroyed," Carroll said. "It looks like it may have been run over or something, but there's a possibility that if we can identify who the family member is, we may can even get them a replacement Purple Heart for that."
There are no Ravitz families listed in the Panama City city directory, and the name was not familiar to area veterans organizations. There is a Kenneth E. Ravitz on record with the state Veterans Administration, Carroll said, but no address of record or contact information is given.
The Defense Prisoner or War / Missing Person Web site has limited information about Ravitz. He was a private first class with F Company, 2/38 regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. His home of record is given as Dade, but it is not clear whether that implies Dade City, north of Tampa, or Dade County.
The 2nd Infantry Division was at the heart of the offensives and counter-offensives waged between United Nations forces and the Chinese, and the POW Web site lists a "date of incident" as April 3, 1951. Ravitz's official date of death is given as Dec. 31, 1953, the blanket date given for unreturned prisoners of war who were presumed dead.
Jim Doescher, commander of the Panama City chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, said someone contacted him several months back wondering if a Kenneth Ravitz was a member of the organization.
Service members wounded in the line of duty and meeting certain criteria are eligible to receive the Purple Heart. Civilians were eligible to receive the ribbon until 1997, at which point the Purple Heart was made military specific and civilians now can receive the Defense of Freedom Medal.
Want to help?
If you know something about Kenneth E. Ravitz or his Purple Heart, please call Bay County Veterans Services at 784-4044.
22 February 2009
MoH Citation - Bryant H. Womack
BlueRidgeNow.com - Hendersonville, NC, USA
Medal of Honor Citation for Bryant H. Womack
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Company, 14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Sokso-ri, Korea, 12 March 1952.
Entered service at: Mill Spring, N.C.
Birth: Mill Spring, N.C.
G.O. No.: 5, 12 January 1953.
Citation: Pfc. Womack distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Pfc. Womack was the only medical aid man attached to a night combat patrol when sudden contact with a numerically superior enemy produced numerous casualties. Pfc. Womack went immediately to their aid, although this necessitated exposing himself to a devastating hail of enemy fire, during which he was seriously wounded. Refusing medical aid for himself, he continued moving among his comrades to administer aid. While he was aiding 1 man, he was again struck by enemy mortar fire, this time suffering the loss of his right arm. Although he knew the consequences should immediate aid not be administered, he still refused aid and insisted that all efforts be made for the benefit of others that were wounded. Although unable to perform the task himself, he remained on the scene and directed others in first aid techniques. The last man to withdraw, he walked until he collapsed from loss of blood, and died a few minutes later while being carried by his comrades. The extraordinary heroism, outstanding courage, and unswerving devotion to his duties displayed by Pfc. Womack reflect the utmost distinction upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Company, 14th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Sokso-ri, Korea, 12 March 1952.
Entered service at: Mill Spring, N.C.
Birth: Mill Spring, N.C.
G.O. No.: 5, 12 January 1953.
Citation: Pfc. Womack distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty in action against the enemy. Pfc. Womack was the only medical aid man attached to a night combat patrol when sudden contact with a numerically superior enemy produced numerous casualties. Pfc. Womack went immediately to their aid, although this necessitated exposing himself to a devastating hail of enemy fire, during which he was seriously wounded. Refusing medical aid for himself, he continued moving among his comrades to administer aid. While he was aiding 1 man, he was again struck by enemy mortar fire, this time suffering the loss of his right arm. Although he knew the consequences should immediate aid not be administered, he still refused aid and insisted that all efforts be made for the benefit of others that were wounded. Although unable to perform the task himself, he remained on the scene and directed others in first aid techniques. The last man to withdraw, he walked until he collapsed from loss of blood, and died a few minutes later while being carried by his comrades. The extraordinary heroism, outstanding courage, and unswerving devotion to his duties displayed by Pfc. Womack reflect the utmost distinction upon himself and uphold the esteemed traditions of the U.S. Army.
Soldier's Heroism Remembered
BlueRidgeNow.com - Hendersonville, NC, USA
Bryant Womack is buried at Lebanon United Methodist Church in Mill Spring.
By Mark Schulman
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 10:42 a.m.
Everything can go wrong in an instant.
A combat patrol in North Korea is suddenly barraged by enemy fire, and their only medic is seriously wounded while tending to his comrades. He doesn’t slow down, keeps giving aid, even when enemy fire takes his arm. He refuses to leave, instead telling his fellow soldiers how to care for each other until all the injured are taken from the area.
The last man to withdraw, Army Pfc. Bryant Homer Womack, a farm boy from Mill Spring, collapses in the arms of his comrades and takes his final breath on March 12, 1952. He was 20 years old.
His heroic sacrifice is one of many that will be honored at a state Korean War Memorial near Charlotte, set for completion in June. The Korean War Veterans Chapter 265 North Carolina is raising funds for the memorial to honor the 789 North Carolinians killed or missing in action during the war that lasted from 1950 to 1953. It will also honor the veterans who fought in the war.
Currently, the state does not have a Korean War veterans memorial.
The memorial
Silver Star recipient Kent Goolsby, a Vietnam veteran, designed the memorial, which will be located at the Park on Fairview in Mint Hill. The estimated cost for the memorial is $250,000. So far the nonprofit organization has raised $75,000.
The main part of the memorial will be encircled with a 188-foot double wall planter with dwarf hollies. In the center will be an eternal fountain in the shape of the Korean Taeguek, which is a part of the South Korean flag. Four 11-foot black granite pillars will surround the fountain and will include the names of the North Carolinians who made the sacrifice for the freedom of South Korea and the United States.
Granite benches will face each of the four pillars. Two life-sized statues of American soldiers will also be a part of the monument. The memorial will be surrounded by granite benches and small flowering plum trees.
The monument is scheduled for completion on June 25, the 59th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War.
One of those who made the ultimate sacrifice was a farm boy from Mill Spring.
Local hero
Womack’s friends and family look forward to the memorial, but there are several other testaments to his honor.
He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for going above and beyond the call of duty when attacked in Sokso-ri. According to the Army, men were dying all around him. However, he refused to tend to his own wounds and tenaciously administered aid to his wounded patrol.
After suffering a major wound to his arm, he could not continue but immediately directed others in first aid.
“The last man to withdraw, he walked until he collapsed from loss of blood, and died a few minutes later while being carried by his comrades,” the Medal of Honor citation reads.
His fellow soldiers never let him fall to the ground, according to family members. He was buried at the Lebanon Methodist Church in Mill Spring.
The Bryant H. Womack building where the Polk County government offices are located is named after him. In 1958, the Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg was dedicated to him. The medical center sits on a 163-acre site that serves 160,000 eligible beneficiaries in the region. The total cost of the hospital complex is $400 million.
Also, the Bryant Womack/Ray Bradley VFW Post 10349 in Mill Spring was named in his honor.
“(The county building’s) name came from this little ole’ boy here on the hill,” said childhood friend Hershel Bailey.
An average farm boy
Womack grew up in a house along Womack Road in Mill Spring. The structure still stands near Polk County Line Road.
Bailey remembers Womack growing up in the 1940s as a quiet kid a couple of grades ahead of him. “But when he spoke it usually meant something,” he said.
“He was just an average farm boy,” Bailey added. Now 72, Bailey remembers they were allowed to bring knives to school as kids. Womack had a knife with his initials carved into it, “BW.”
Womack traded the knife with his brother, Lester, and it was sold to Bailey for 25 cents.
“I wanted that knife but it had Bryant’s initials carved in it,” Bailey said.
Bailey cut off the “W’ at the end of the blade, then added an “H” in front of the remaining letter. To Bailey’s satisfaction, the handle now had his initials, “HB.”
Bailey said the knife is still in a relative’s possession in Greer, S.C.
When he got the news that Womack was killed in action back in 1952, it didn’t surprise Bailey.
“He was always a leader-type of fella,” he said. “Bryant always jumped right in there.”
Picking peaches
Womack came from a family of farmers and grew up working long, hard hours.
“There was no loafing back then,” said George Price, 75, of the Pea Ridge community, who knew Bryant in the eighth grade.
He remembers picking peaches with Bryant during the summers. They were making 35 cents an hour in the orchards of Mill Spring.
“He was a fine young man and a hard worker,” Price said.
Price knew Womack was drafted into the Army during the Korean War, but lost touch with him. He said the Medal of Honor his friend received was well deserved.
“He refused treatment for himself and helped others,” Price said. “He was always that type of person.
“If you needed help, he would give help.”
‘His buddies caught him’
Womack’s sister, Rachael Womack Elliott, 79, of Rutherfordton, remembers her brother as someone who loved to hunt, fish and ride his bicycle.
“He rode bicycles all over Polk County,” she said.
They used to play bingo, checkers and horseshoes together. “You name it, we played it,” Rachael said.
They also made little wooden wagons as children. “He was a quiet, easy-going person,” she recalled.
Rachael was 22 when her brother was shipped off to Korea. She was home alone when she got the news that her brother had been killed in action. She had to tell her mother and father the news when they returned from the grocery store.
“They didn’t take (the news) very well,” Rachael said. “They were most saddened with it.”
Her fondest memories of her brother include riding mules on the farm and swinging on ropes from trees.
“We would do what farm people did back then,” she said.
After Womack’s death, his lieutenant visited the family. He was one of the wounded that Womack tended to. The officer reassured the family that Womack’s body never touched the ground.
“Bryant never fell to the ground,” Rachael said. “His buddies caught him. He died in his buddies’ arms.”
Honored again
Members of the Korean War Veterans Chapter 265 will meet at Womack’s gravesite at noon on March 12 for a memorial ceremony and to place a wreath on his grave.
The grave is located at Lebanon Methodist Church on Big Level Road in Mill Spring. There is a plaque atop a large rock that is dedicated to Womack in the front lawn of the church.
Womack’s parents were George and Julie. He also had three brothers, Charles of Rutherfordton and Lester and Eugene, both deceased.
For more information on the Korean War Memorial in Mint Hill, visit www.nckwmemorial.org
Schulman can be reached at (828) 694-7890 or mark.schulman@blueridgenow.com
By Mark Schulman
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Sunday, February 22, 2009 at 10:42 a.m.
Everything can go wrong in an instant.
A combat patrol in North Korea is suddenly barraged by enemy fire, and their only medic is seriously wounded while tending to his comrades. He doesn’t slow down, keeps giving aid, even when enemy fire takes his arm. He refuses to leave, instead telling his fellow soldiers how to care for each other until all the injured are taken from the area.
The last man to withdraw, Army Pfc. Bryant Homer Womack, a farm boy from Mill Spring, collapses in the arms of his comrades and takes his final breath on March 12, 1952. He was 20 years old.
His heroic sacrifice is one of many that will be honored at a state Korean War Memorial near Charlotte, set for completion in June. The Korean War Veterans Chapter 265 North Carolina is raising funds for the memorial to honor the 789 North Carolinians killed or missing in action during the war that lasted from 1950 to 1953. It will also honor the veterans who fought in the war.
Currently, the state does not have a Korean War veterans memorial.
The memorial
Silver Star recipient Kent Goolsby, a Vietnam veteran, designed the memorial, which will be located at the Park on Fairview in Mint Hill. The estimated cost for the memorial is $250,000. So far the nonprofit organization has raised $75,000.
The main part of the memorial will be encircled with a 188-foot double wall planter with dwarf hollies. In the center will be an eternal fountain in the shape of the Korean Taeguek, which is a part of the South Korean flag. Four 11-foot black granite pillars will surround the fountain and will include the names of the North Carolinians who made the sacrifice for the freedom of South Korea and the United States.
Granite benches will face each of the four pillars. Two life-sized statues of American soldiers will also be a part of the monument. The memorial will be surrounded by granite benches and small flowering plum trees.
The monument is scheduled for completion on June 25, the 59th anniversary of the beginning of the Korean War.
One of those who made the ultimate sacrifice was a farm boy from Mill Spring.
Local hero
Womack’s friends and family look forward to the memorial, but there are several other testaments to his honor.
He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for going above and beyond the call of duty when attacked in Sokso-ri. According to the Army, men were dying all around him. However, he refused to tend to his own wounds and tenaciously administered aid to his wounded patrol.
After suffering a major wound to his arm, he could not continue but immediately directed others in first aid.
“The last man to withdraw, he walked until he collapsed from loss of blood, and died a few minutes later while being carried by his comrades,” the Medal of Honor citation reads.
His fellow soldiers never let him fall to the ground, according to family members. He was buried at the Lebanon Methodist Church in Mill Spring.
The Bryant H. Womack building where the Polk County government offices are located is named after him. In 1958, the Womack Army Medical Center in Fort Bragg was dedicated to him. The medical center sits on a 163-acre site that serves 160,000 eligible beneficiaries in the region. The total cost of the hospital complex is $400 million.
Also, the Bryant Womack/Ray Bradley VFW Post 10349 in Mill Spring was named in his honor.
“(The county building’s) name came from this little ole’ boy here on the hill,” said childhood friend Hershel Bailey.
An average farm boy
Womack grew up in a house along Womack Road in Mill Spring. The structure still stands near Polk County Line Road.
Bailey remembers Womack growing up in the 1940s as a quiet kid a couple of grades ahead of him. “But when he spoke it usually meant something,” he said.
“He was just an average farm boy,” Bailey added. Now 72, Bailey remembers they were allowed to bring knives to school as kids. Womack had a knife with his initials carved into it, “BW.”
Womack traded the knife with his brother, Lester, and it was sold to Bailey for 25 cents.
“I wanted that knife but it had Bryant’s initials carved in it,” Bailey said.
Bailey cut off the “W’ at the end of the blade, then added an “H” in front of the remaining letter. To Bailey’s satisfaction, the handle now had his initials, “HB.”
Bailey said the knife is still in a relative’s possession in Greer, S.C.
When he got the news that Womack was killed in action back in 1952, it didn’t surprise Bailey.
“He was always a leader-type of fella,” he said. “Bryant always jumped right in there.”
Picking peaches
Womack came from a family of farmers and grew up working long, hard hours.
“There was no loafing back then,” said George Price, 75, of the Pea Ridge community, who knew Bryant in the eighth grade.
He remembers picking peaches with Bryant during the summers. They were making 35 cents an hour in the orchards of Mill Spring.
“He was a fine young man and a hard worker,” Price said.
Price knew Womack was drafted into the Army during the Korean War, but lost touch with him. He said the Medal of Honor his friend received was well deserved.
“He refused treatment for himself and helped others,” Price said. “He was always that type of person.
“If you needed help, he would give help.”
‘His buddies caught him’
Womack’s sister, Rachael Womack Elliott, 79, of Rutherfordton, remembers her brother as someone who loved to hunt, fish and ride his bicycle.
“He rode bicycles all over Polk County,” she said.
They used to play bingo, checkers and horseshoes together. “You name it, we played it,” Rachael said.
They also made little wooden wagons as children. “He was a quiet, easy-going person,” she recalled.
Rachael was 22 when her brother was shipped off to Korea. She was home alone when she got the news that her brother had been killed in action. She had to tell her mother and father the news when they returned from the grocery store.
“They didn’t take (the news) very well,” Rachael said. “They were most saddened with it.”
Her fondest memories of her brother include riding mules on the farm and swinging on ropes from trees.
“We would do what farm people did back then,” she said.
After Womack’s death, his lieutenant visited the family. He was one of the wounded that Womack tended to. The officer reassured the family that Womack’s body never touched the ground.
“Bryant never fell to the ground,” Rachael said. “His buddies caught him. He died in his buddies’ arms.”
Honored again
Members of the Korean War Veterans Chapter 265 will meet at Womack’s gravesite at noon on March 12 for a memorial ceremony and to place a wreath on his grave.
The grave is located at Lebanon Methodist Church on Big Level Road in Mill Spring. There is a plaque atop a large rock that is dedicated to Womack in the front lawn of the church.
Womack’s parents were George and Julie. He also had three brothers, Charles of Rutherfordton and Lester and Eugene, both deceased.
For more information on the Korean War Memorial in Mint Hill, visit www.nckwmemorial.org
Schulman can be reached at (828) 694-7890 or mark.schulman@blueridgenow.com
28 January 2009
DNA Sought To ID Remains Of Servicemen
Tribune-Democrat - Johnstown, PA, USA
January 27, 2009
Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa
Harold Davis considers himself one of the lucky ones. After the bloody three-year Korean War ended in July 1953, the Army war veteran returned home safely. Many others did not.
Now, the North Carolina man is asking for help in locating the families of two Cambria County, Pa., men still unaccounted for.
"Our government has absolutely no contact with the families of these men," Davis said. "Our small group is trying to find these families and put them in touch with the Casualty Office."
Through DNA, government officials have identified the remains of about 6,000 Americans, Davis said.
But the U.S military has yet to locate the families of about 2,000 missing servicemen, including 91 from Pennsylvania, he said.
Davis is looking for the families of an Army soldier and a Navy flyer, both from Cambria County.
They are Joseph Sotero Morales and Martin Joseph Wright.
Local Korean War veterans believe it is critical to find and identify the remains of servicemen.
"It's the only thing that brings closure to the family," Franklin Borough resident Richard McNulty said.
"They have to know if it's their son."
The history of the two men provided by Davis is brief.
Pfc. Morales was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division.
He was taken prisoner July 20, 1950, while fighting the enemy near Taejon, South Korea.
He was forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March" and died while a prisoner at Hanjang-ni on Nov. 26, 1950.
An aviation ordnanceman first class, Wright was a crewman on an AD-4N Skyraider night dive bomber with Detachment H, Composite Squadron 35 on board the aircraft carrier USS Boxer, Davis said.
Wright was listed as missing in action after the pilot was forced to ditch the aircraft because of a power failure on July 5, 1953.
Family members interested in providing DNA will receive a swab by mail.
"The family member will swab their mouth and send it back for identification," said Elizabeth Feeney, spokeswoman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii.
"It gets a little tricky when you go down through the generations," she said.
Family members interested in providing DNA to identify missing Korean War servicemen can contact Accounting Command at (808) 448-1934 or Davis at (910) 791-2333.
January 27, 2009
Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa
Harold Davis considers himself one of the lucky ones. After the bloody three-year Korean War ended in July 1953, the Army war veteran returned home safely. Many others did not.
Now, the North Carolina man is asking for help in locating the families of two Cambria County, Pa., men still unaccounted for.
"Our government has absolutely no contact with the families of these men," Davis said. "Our small group is trying to find these families and put them in touch with the Casualty Office."
Through DNA, government officials have identified the remains of about 6,000 Americans, Davis said.
But the U.S military has yet to locate the families of about 2,000 missing servicemen, including 91 from Pennsylvania, he said.
Davis is looking for the families of an Army soldier and a Navy flyer, both from Cambria County.
They are Joseph Sotero Morales and Martin Joseph Wright.
Local Korean War veterans believe it is critical to find and identify the remains of servicemen.
"It's the only thing that brings closure to the family," Franklin Borough resident Richard McNulty said.
"They have to know if it's their son."
The history of the two men provided by Davis is brief.
Pfc. Morales was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division.
He was taken prisoner July 20, 1950, while fighting the enemy near Taejon, South Korea.
He was forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March" and died while a prisoner at Hanjang-ni on Nov. 26, 1950.
An aviation ordnanceman first class, Wright was a crewman on an AD-4N Skyraider night dive bomber with Detachment H, Composite Squadron 35 on board the aircraft carrier USS Boxer, Davis said.
Wright was listed as missing in action after the pilot was forced to ditch the aircraft because of a power failure on July 5, 1953.
Family members interested in providing DNA will receive a swab by mail.
"The family member will swab their mouth and send it back for identification," said Elizabeth Feeney, spokeswoman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii.
"It gets a little tricky when you go down through the generations," she said.
Family members interested in providing DNA to identify missing Korean War servicemen can contact Accounting Command at (808) 448-1934 or Davis at (910) 791-2333.
27 January 2009
DNA Sought To ID Remains Of Servicemen
Tribune-Democrat - Johnstown, PA, USA
January 27, 2009
Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa
Harold Davis considers himself one of the lucky ones. After the bloody three-year Korean War ended in July 1953, the Army war veteran returned home safely. Many others did not.
Now, the North Carolina man is asking for help in locating the families of two Cambria County, Pa., men still unaccounted for.
"Our government has absolutely no contact with the families of these men," Davis said. "Our small group is trying to find these families and put them in touch with the Casualty Office."
Through DNA, government officials have identified the remains of about 6,000 Americans, Davis said.
But the U.S military has yet to locate the families of about 2,000 missing servicemen, including 91 from Pennsylvania, he said.
Davis is looking for the families of an Army soldier and a Navy flyer, both from Cambria County.
They are Joseph Sotero Morales and Martin Joseph Wright.
Local Korean War veterans believe it is critical to find and identify the remains of servicemen.
"It's the only thing that brings closure to the family," Franklin Borough resident Richard McNulty said.
"They have to know if it's their son."
The history of the two men provided by Davis is brief.
Pfc. Morales was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division.
He was taken prisoner July 20, 1950, while fighting the enemy near Taejon, South Korea.
He was forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March" and died while a prisoner at Hanjang-ni on Nov. 26, 1950.
An aviation ordnanceman first class, Wright was a crewman on an AD-4N Skyraider night dive bomber with Detachment H, Composite Squadron 35 on board the aircraft carrier USS Boxer, Davis said.
Wright was listed as missing in action after the pilot was forced to ditch the aircraft because of a power failure on July 5, 1953.
Family members interested in providing DNA will receive a swab by mail.
"The family member will swab their mouth and send it back for identification," said Elizabeth Feeney, spokeswoman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii.
"It gets a little tricky when you go down through the generations," she said.
Family members interested in providing DNA to identify missing Korean War servicemen can contact Accounting Command at (808) 448-1934 or Davis at (910) 791-2333.
NC NOTE: The names of the missing that are in need of a family reference sample (FRS) can be found on their website at: http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/pages/FRS_public/FRS_public.aspx.
January 27, 2009
Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa
Harold Davis considers himself one of the lucky ones. After the bloody three-year Korean War ended in July 1953, the Army war veteran returned home safely. Many others did not.
Now, the North Carolina man is asking for help in locating the families of two Cambria County, Pa., men still unaccounted for.
"Our government has absolutely no contact with the families of these men," Davis said. "Our small group is trying to find these families and put them in touch with the Casualty Office."
Through DNA, government officials have identified the remains of about 6,000 Americans, Davis said.
But the U.S military has yet to locate the families of about 2,000 missing servicemen, including 91 from Pennsylvania, he said.
Davis is looking for the families of an Army soldier and a Navy flyer, both from Cambria County.
They are Joseph Sotero Morales and Martin Joseph Wright.
Local Korean War veterans believe it is critical to find and identify the remains of servicemen.
"It's the only thing that brings closure to the family," Franklin Borough resident Richard McNulty said.
"They have to know if it's their son."
The history of the two men provided by Davis is brief.
Pfc. Morales was a member of Company L, 3rd Battalion, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division.
He was taken prisoner July 20, 1950, while fighting the enemy near Taejon, South Korea.
He was forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March" and died while a prisoner at Hanjang-ni on Nov. 26, 1950.
An aviation ordnanceman first class, Wright was a crewman on an AD-4N Skyraider night dive bomber with Detachment H, Composite Squadron 35 on board the aircraft carrier USS Boxer, Davis said.
Wright was listed as missing in action after the pilot was forced to ditch the aircraft because of a power failure on July 5, 1953.
Family members interested in providing DNA will receive a swab by mail.
"The family member will swab their mouth and send it back for identification," said Elizabeth Feeney, spokeswoman for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Hawaii.
"It gets a little tricky when you go down through the generations," she said.
Family members interested in providing DNA to identify missing Korean War servicemen can contact Accounting Command at (808) 448-1934 or Davis at (910) 791-2333.
NC NOTE: The names of the missing that are in need of a family reference sample (FRS) can be found on their website at: http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/pages/FRS_public/FRS_public.aspx.
24 January 2009
Man Searching For Families Of Lost Korean War Vets
Akron Leader Publications - Akron, OH, USA
1/22/2009 - West Side Leader
By Letter to the Editor
To the editor:
I am searching for the families of four of your native sons who were lost in the Korean War. At this time, the government has no family contact for these soldiers. When the soldiers entered service, they gave Summit County, Ohio, as their home of record. They are credited to Summit County.
• Soldier: Arthur Clarence Cobbs. Born: Nov. 11, 1927. Date of loss: Feb. 12, 1951 MIA. Service Number: ER14199413. Unit: A Btry 503 Art Btn, 2nd Inf Division.
• Soldier: Robert Dale Houser. Born: July 12, 1929. Date of loss: July 21, 1951 MIA. Service Number: US52059954. Unit: C Co 19 Inf Rgt, 24th Inf Division.
• Soldier: Frederick Frank McClain. Born: Oct. 1, 1920. Date of loss: July 20, 1950 KIA. Service Number: RA35379700. Unit: K Co 34th Inf Rgt, 24th Inf Division.
• Soldier: Donald David Sparks Jr. Born: Nov. 19, 1926. Date of loss: July 10, 1950 POW. Service Number RA19218871. Unit: A Btry 52nd Art Btn , 24th Inf Division.
When the Korean War ended, the enemy never returned or accounted for more than 8,000 of our servicemen. They died in their hands. That was more than 50 years ago. Since that time, DNA has been perfected and also they are recovering remains in North Korea. Our government is obligated to return those remains to the proper families. DNA samples have been obtained from most of the families of these missing soldiers. For various reasons, some families have not been located. There are 91 families from Ohio that have not been located. There are four families from Summit County that have not been located. When the remains are recovered and identified, they will be returned to the families for proper burial.
I am just an old combat veteran out of the Korean War and thankful that I did return. I consider this a very noble cause, and I hope that you can help in some way to find these families. For more information on the project, you may go to www.jpac.pacom.mil. My part in the program is to match up the lost families with the proper agency.
I will be grateful for any assistance in locating these families. I can be reached at (910) 791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.
Harold Davis, Wilmington, N.C.
1/22/2009 - West Side Leader
By Letter to the Editor
To the editor:
I am searching for the families of four of your native sons who were lost in the Korean War. At this time, the government has no family contact for these soldiers. When the soldiers entered service, they gave Summit County, Ohio, as their home of record. They are credited to Summit County.
• Soldier: Arthur Clarence Cobbs. Born: Nov. 11, 1927. Date of loss: Feb. 12, 1951 MIA. Service Number: ER14199413. Unit: A Btry 503 Art Btn, 2nd Inf Division.
• Soldier: Robert Dale Houser. Born: July 12, 1929. Date of loss: July 21, 1951 MIA. Service Number: US52059954. Unit: C Co 19 Inf Rgt, 24th Inf Division.
• Soldier: Frederick Frank McClain. Born: Oct. 1, 1920. Date of loss: July 20, 1950 KIA. Service Number: RA35379700. Unit: K Co 34th Inf Rgt, 24th Inf Division.
• Soldier: Donald David Sparks Jr. Born: Nov. 19, 1926. Date of loss: July 10, 1950 POW. Service Number RA19218871. Unit: A Btry 52nd Art Btn , 24th Inf Division.
When the Korean War ended, the enemy never returned or accounted for more than 8,000 of our servicemen. They died in their hands. That was more than 50 years ago. Since that time, DNA has been perfected and also they are recovering remains in North Korea. Our government is obligated to return those remains to the proper families. DNA samples have been obtained from most of the families of these missing soldiers. For various reasons, some families have not been located. There are 91 families from Ohio that have not been located. There are four families from Summit County that have not been located. When the remains are recovered and identified, they will be returned to the families for proper burial.
I am just an old combat veteran out of the Korean War and thankful that I did return. I consider this a very noble cause, and I hope that you can help in some way to find these families. For more information on the project, you may go to www.jpac.pacom.mil. My part in the program is to match up the lost families with the proper agency.
I will be grateful for any assistance in locating these families. I can be reached at (910) 791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.
Harold Davis, Wilmington, N.C.
14 January 2009
Soldier's Remains Finally Headed Home
Elmira Star-Gazette - Elmira, NY, USA
Elmira Heights Army sergeant reported missing in Korean War
By Roger Neumann • rneumann@gannett.com • January 14, 2009
After more than 58 years, the three sisters of a soldier from Elmira Heights who was killed in the Korean War will get to bury the remains of their brother.
The women were notified recently by the Department of Defense that DNA testing had identified the remains of Army Sgt. Dougall Espey Jr. He was reported missing, along with more than 300 others from his unit, on Nov. 2, 1950, after days of fierce fighting with Chinese forces near Unsan, North Korea.
Now the sisters are completing plans for Sgt. Espey's burial, with full military honors, at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira. He'll be laid to rest April 3, which would have been his 80th birthday.
"We've waited so long for this, never thinking that it would ever happen," one of the sisters, Margaret "Peggy" Stowell of Elmira, said Tuesday.
The young soldier, known as Sonny to family and friends, was a corporal when he went off to war. He was 21 when he died, and he was posthumously promoted to sergeant.
On the day before Thanksgiving in 1950, the family was informed that he was missing in action when a young rider on a bicycle pulled up to the Espey home on McCanns Boulevard in Elmira Heights and handed over a telegram.
"I heard this terrible screaming," Mariam "Bobbie" Espey, now of Mount Laurel, N.J., recalled in 2000. "I came downstairs, and my mother was hysterical. My father was crying, holding this paper in his hand."
It wasn't until Dec. 31, 1953, that the Army officially declared the soldier dead. And it was only a few months ago, on Sept. 27, that the family was notified that his remains had been identified from among those of hundreds of others that were turned over by North Korea from 1991 to 1994.
Over the years, the family - especially Bobbie Espey and her father, Dougall Sr. - tried to learn more about Sgt. Espey's fate. She also worked with other families of those missing in action and, inspired by her brother, became an Air Force nurse.
The elder Espey and his wife, Agnes, have since died, both in their 80s.
"My parents never got over it," said Peggy Stowell. "He was their only son, and he was loved by all."
Said Bobbie Espey: "I'm sure they're up there looking down."
Stowell said the sisters are just glad the news of their brother came while they are still alive. Espey is 78 now, Stowell is 73 and a third sister, Kathleen McMahon of Elmira, is 68.
"We're all up there in years," Stowell said. "We were just hoping that some day we'd hear."
Elmira Heights Army sergeant reported missing in Korean War
By Roger Neumann • rneumann@gannett.com • January 14, 2009
After more than 58 years, the three sisters of a soldier from Elmira Heights who was killed in the Korean War will get to bury the remains of their brother.
The women were notified recently by the Department of Defense that DNA testing had identified the remains of Army Sgt. Dougall Espey Jr. He was reported missing, along with more than 300 others from his unit, on Nov. 2, 1950, after days of fierce fighting with Chinese forces near Unsan, North Korea.
Now the sisters are completing plans for Sgt. Espey's burial, with full military honors, at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira. He'll be laid to rest April 3, which would have been his 80th birthday.
"We've waited so long for this, never thinking that it would ever happen," one of the sisters, Margaret "Peggy" Stowell of Elmira, said Tuesday.
The young soldier, known as Sonny to family and friends, was a corporal when he went off to war. He was 21 when he died, and he was posthumously promoted to sergeant.
On the day before Thanksgiving in 1950, the family was informed that he was missing in action when a young rider on a bicycle pulled up to the Espey home on McCanns Boulevard in Elmira Heights and handed over a telegram.
"I heard this terrible screaming," Mariam "Bobbie" Espey, now of Mount Laurel, N.J., recalled in 2000. "I came downstairs, and my mother was hysterical. My father was crying, holding this paper in his hand."
It wasn't until Dec. 31, 1953, that the Army officially declared the soldier dead. And it was only a few months ago, on Sept. 27, that the family was notified that his remains had been identified from among those of hundreds of others that were turned over by North Korea from 1991 to 1994.
Over the years, the family - especially Bobbie Espey and her father, Dougall Sr. - tried to learn more about Sgt. Espey's fate. She also worked with other families of those missing in action and, inspired by her brother, became an Air Force nurse.
The elder Espey and his wife, Agnes, have since died, both in their 80s.
"My parents never got over it," said Peggy Stowell. "He was their only son, and he was loved by all."
Said Bobbie Espey: "I'm sure they're up there looking down."
Stowell said the sisters are just glad the news of their brother came while they are still alive. Espey is 78 now, Stowell is 73 and a third sister, Kathleen McMahon of Elmira, is 68.
"We're all up there in years," Stowell said. "We were just hoping that some day we'd hear."
13 January 2009
Lost In Korea, Soldier Will Rest In Peace
Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia, PA, USA
After a 1950 battle, Sgt. Dougall H. Espey Jr. was gone, but not forgotten.
By Matt Katz
Inquirer Staff Writer
Fifty-eight years is a long time to wait for a phone call.
"I was kind of numb," said Mariam "Bobbie" Espey of Mount Laurel. "It came out of the blue."
It was Sept. 27 when a Pentagon official told Espey that the remains of her big brother, Army Sgt. Dougall H. Espey Jr., who was reported missing in action in Korea in November 1950, had been identified following DNA tests on hundreds of soldiers' remains.
Almost four months after that call, the identification was announced publicly yesterday by the U.S. Department of Defense.
"I was afraid I would die before it ever happened," said Espey, 78, a retired guidance counselor at John Hancock School in Philadelphia.
A doting little sister, Espey spent decades making sure her only brother rested in peace.
In 1976, she took over her father's duty of constantly contacting the military. "He said there's nothing I can do," Espey recalled.
About 10 years ago, she responded to an ad in a military magazine asking for blood samples so scientists could do mitochondrial DNA tests on remains collected in 208 boxes turned over by North Korea.
Mariam Espey, who also served in the Korean War as part of the Air Force Nurse Corps, mailed in blood. So did one of her two younger sisters.
The family heard nothing until the phone call. The young sergeant - 6-foot-5, exceedingly kind, and just 21 at the time of his death - had been identified.
In November, a military official came to Espey's home and handed her a box with two dog tags recovered from Korea.
"It was strange," she said. "The funeral will be more emotional, probably."
On April 3, Espey will do her final duty. Along with her sisters, she will bury their brother, on what would have been his 80th birthday, at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, N.Y., where the family lived at the time of his death.
The remains will be put in a flag-draped coffin and flown, with a military escort, from the Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to upstate New York.
Of the 200 to 400 servicemen's remains that are estimated to have been collected in the 208 boxes handed over by North Korea in the early 1990s, only 24 have been identified, according to the military.
Espey said she knew of some family members who did not want to reopen emotional wounds by offering their blood for DNA comparisons.
"That's a shame, because the relative deserves closure, the relative deserves to be buried properly," she said.
Larry Greer, spokesman for the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, said each box from North Korea contained the bone and teeth remains of as few as one, or as many as seven, soldiers.
"They were so commingled by the North Koreans, it's taking years to get to the bottom of each case and try to identify them," Greer said.
Dougall Espey trained at Fort Dix, but lived in Elmira. His little sister is a former Mount Laurel school board member who has lived on Church Road since 1972.
She was just a year younger than her brother, and she said they were "more companions" than siblings.
"We lived in apartments and my parents moved a lot, and we never stayed long enough in one place to establish any friends, so we had each other," she said.
Her brother was in North Korea for just two months.
On Nov. 1, 1950, at a battle near Unsan in an area known as "Camel's Head," Chinese forces surrounded Espy's battalion, according to Greer. After the battle, more than 350 soldiers could not be accounted for.
"The government in their utter wisdom sent us the telegram [saying he was missing] the day before Thanksgiving in 1950," Espey said, bitterness in her voice.
He was declared dead on New Year's Eve in 1953. More than a half-century after that, he will come home from the war.
"I'm happy it finally happened," his sister said. "That's why I did it."
After a 1950 battle, Sgt. Dougall H. Espey Jr. was gone, but not forgotten.
By Matt Katz
Inquirer Staff Writer
Fifty-eight years is a long time to wait for a phone call.
"I was kind of numb," said Mariam "Bobbie" Espey of Mount Laurel. "It came out of the blue."
It was Sept. 27 when a Pentagon official told Espey that the remains of her big brother, Army Sgt. Dougall H. Espey Jr., who was reported missing in action in Korea in November 1950, had been identified following DNA tests on hundreds of soldiers' remains.
Almost four months after that call, the identification was announced publicly yesterday by the U.S. Department of Defense.
"I was afraid I would die before it ever happened," said Espey, 78, a retired guidance counselor at John Hancock School in Philadelphia.
A doting little sister, Espey spent decades making sure her only brother rested in peace.
In 1976, she took over her father's duty of constantly contacting the military. "He said there's nothing I can do," Espey recalled.
About 10 years ago, she responded to an ad in a military magazine asking for blood samples so scientists could do mitochondrial DNA tests on remains collected in 208 boxes turned over by North Korea.
Mariam Espey, who also served in the Korean War as part of the Air Force Nurse Corps, mailed in blood. So did one of her two younger sisters.
The family heard nothing until the phone call. The young sergeant - 6-foot-5, exceedingly kind, and just 21 at the time of his death - had been identified.
In November, a military official came to Espey's home and handed her a box with two dog tags recovered from Korea.
"It was strange," she said. "The funeral will be more emotional, probably."
On April 3, Espey will do her final duty. Along with her sisters, she will bury their brother, on what would have been his 80th birthday, at Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, N.Y., where the family lived at the time of his death.
The remains will be put in a flag-draped coffin and flown, with a military escort, from the Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to upstate New York.
Of the 200 to 400 servicemen's remains that are estimated to have been collected in the 208 boxes handed over by North Korea in the early 1990s, only 24 have been identified, according to the military.
Espey said she knew of some family members who did not want to reopen emotional wounds by offering their blood for DNA comparisons.
"That's a shame, because the relative deserves closure, the relative deserves to be buried properly," she said.
Larry Greer, spokesman for the Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, said each box from North Korea contained the bone and teeth remains of as few as one, or as many as seven, soldiers.
"They were so commingled by the North Koreans, it's taking years to get to the bottom of each case and try to identify them," Greer said.
Dougall Espey trained at Fort Dix, but lived in Elmira. His little sister is a former Mount Laurel school board member who has lived on Church Road since 1972.
She was just a year younger than her brother, and she said they were "more companions" than siblings.
"We lived in apartments and my parents moved a lot, and we never stayed long enough in one place to establish any friends, so we had each other," she said.
Her brother was in North Korea for just two months.
On Nov. 1, 1950, at a battle near Unsan in an area known as "Camel's Head," Chinese forces surrounded Espy's battalion, according to Greer. After the battle, more than 350 soldiers could not be accounted for.
"The government in their utter wisdom sent us the telegram [saying he was missing] the day before Thanksgiving in 1950," Espey said, bitterness in her voice.
He was declared dead on New Year's Eve in 1953. More than a half-century after that, he will come home from the war.
"I'm happy it finally happened," his sister said. "That's why I did it."
Soldier Missing In Action From Korean War Is Identified
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
News Release
IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 021-09
January 12, 2009
The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors.
He is Sgt. Dougall H. Espey Jr., U.S. Army, of Mount Laurel, N.J. He will be buried April 3 in Elmira, N.Y.
Representatives from the Army’s Mortuary Office met with Espey’s next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process on behalf of the secretary of the Army.
Espey was assigned to Company L, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division. On Nov. 1, 1950, the 8th Cavalry was occupying a defensive position near Unsan, North Korea, in an area known as the “Camel’s Head,” when elements of two Chinese Communist Forces divisions struck the 1st Cavalry Division’s lines, collapsing the perimeter and forcing a withdrawal. The 3rd Battalion was surrounded and effectively ceased to exist as a fighting unit. Espey was one of the more than 350 servicemen unaccounted-for from the battle at Unsan.
Between 1991-94, North Korea turned over to the U.S. 208 boxes of remains believed to contain the remains of 200-400 U.S. servicemen. North Korean documents turned over with several boxes in 1993 indicated that the remains from those boxes were exhumed near Chonsung-Ri, Unsan County. This location correlates with Espey’s last known location.
Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory also used mitochondrial DNA and dental comparisons in the identification of the remains.
For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call (703) 699-1169.
Veterans' Groups Challenging Carthage Man's POW Account
Joplin Globe - Joplin, MO, USA
By Melissa Dunson and Andy Ostmeyer
news@joplinglobe.com
Some national veterans’ groups are challenging a central aspect of a Carthage Korean War veteran’s account of his military duty, as featured in Tuesday’s edition of the Globe.
But the veteran, John S. Graham, 79, stands by his prisoner-of-war status, and says he doesn’t care whether people believe him.
The question comes from the absence of Graham’s name on a number of national lists of POWs. The POW Network, a 20-year-old, not-for-profit project, goes as far as listing Graham in the section of its Web site that names “phonies.”
Mary Schantag, archivist with the POW Network, said the group confronted Graham in 2001 regarding his claim that he was a POW for 23 months in Manpojin prison camp in North Korea after fighting at the Chosin Reservoir.
Graham says that he and several other prisoners escaped and traveled for weeks in freezing weather to reach U.S. forces.
Graham’s POW story has been featured in a book, “Faces of War,” by Norm Strickbine and Art Wilson.
“We are saying he was not a POW,” Schantag said. But she said she could not speak on the matter of Graham’s medals or his military service in Korea.
Graham’s name also is not on the Korean War Ex-POW Association’s list, according to the group’s vice president, Lloyd Pate. Pate, who was a Korean War POW himself, said any American who was a POW during the Korean War is automatically a member of the group. He said Graham would have been listed as a POW as soon as he was debriefed by his commanders immediately after returning.
“I have what I consider the most up-to-date list of all the men who were POWs in Korea for three hours to over three years,” Pate said. “I don’t show a John Graham at all. None whatsoever.”
Pate said there were about 7,000 POWs in the Korean War, and 3,450 survived their captivity.
Graham’s name is not on the official U.S. government database of POW-MIA veterans. Larry Greer, spokesman for the Defense Department’s POW-MIA office, said commanders were required to account for their troops daily.
“When a person goes missing, is captured or killed, the commander is required to report it on what is called a morning report,” Greer said. “He’s (Graham) not on it.”
In a phone interview Tuesday with the Globe, Graham said he has never been accused of being a fraud and has never been confronted by the POW Network. He said the mix-up is with his paperwork that lists him as being in the Army, not the Marine Corps.
By Melissa Dunson and Andy Ostmeyer
news@joplinglobe.com
Some national veterans’ groups are challenging a central aspect of a Carthage Korean War veteran’s account of his military duty, as featured in Tuesday’s edition of the Globe.
But the veteran, John S. Graham, 79, stands by his prisoner-of-war status, and says he doesn’t care whether people believe him.
The question comes from the absence of Graham’s name on a number of national lists of POWs. The POW Network, a 20-year-old, not-for-profit project, goes as far as listing Graham in the section of its Web site that names “phonies.”
Mary Schantag, archivist with the POW Network, said the group confronted Graham in 2001 regarding his claim that he was a POW for 23 months in Manpojin prison camp in North Korea after fighting at the Chosin Reservoir.
Graham says that he and several other prisoners escaped and traveled for weeks in freezing weather to reach U.S. forces.
Graham’s POW story has been featured in a book, “Faces of War,” by Norm Strickbine and Art Wilson.
“We are saying he was not a POW,” Schantag said. But she said she could not speak on the matter of Graham’s medals or his military service in Korea.
Graham’s name also is not on the Korean War Ex-POW Association’s list, according to the group’s vice president, Lloyd Pate. Pate, who was a Korean War POW himself, said any American who was a POW during the Korean War is automatically a member of the group. He said Graham would have been listed as a POW as soon as he was debriefed by his commanders immediately after returning.
“I have what I consider the most up-to-date list of all the men who were POWs in Korea for three hours to over three years,” Pate said. “I don’t show a John Graham at all. None whatsoever.”
Pate said there were about 7,000 POWs in the Korean War, and 3,450 survived their captivity.
Graham’s name is not on the official U.S. government database of POW-MIA veterans. Larry Greer, spokesman for the Defense Department’s POW-MIA office, said commanders were required to account for their troops daily.
“When a person goes missing, is captured or killed, the commander is required to report it on what is called a morning report,” Greer said. “He’s (Graham) not on it.”
In a phone interview Tuesday with the Globe, Graham said he has never been accused of being a fraud and has never been confronted by the POW Network. He said the mix-up is with his paperwork that lists him as being in the Army, not the Marine Corps.
04 January 2009
Local POW Stars In War Documentary
Desert Dispatch - Barstow, CA, USA
January 4, 2009 - 10:00 AM
By EUNICE LEE, staff writer
BARSTOW • Most of Dave Villafana's customers never knew that Villafana was ever a prisoner of war when they stepped into his Main Street barber shop.
Though Villafana, who owned Dave's Barber Shop for 25 years, could have filled a book with stories about the Korean War, the 76-year-old POW rarely let a word slip about surviving beatings by North Korean soldiers or enduring death marches while chatting up customers waiting for a cut or shave.
"It's not an everyday conversation," said Villafana. "You learn to be a good listener."
But now, he's finally speaking out — in a war documentary that will air on television Jan. 6 — and others will have the chance to listen.
"Korea: Reflections on War, Vol. 1" features Villafana as one of three Korean War veterans from Southern California who share their personal experiences as young soldiers witnessing the horrors of war firsthand.
"He's an excellent storyteller," said Frank Blanquet, producer of the documentary, who said Villafana retold events with as much clarity as if they happened yesterday. "You can tell that he's never forgotten any of it."
But for Villafana, it was a lifetime ago.
The Barstow native was 17 years old when he arrived with the United States Army’s 24th Infantry Division on the shores of Korea on July 9, 1950.
"I was so young that everything was an adventure," he said.
When he enlisted, Villafana said he had to receive special parental permission to join the Army as a minor. His mother signed off.
He was captured only 11 days later, along with 750 other soldiers, and taken prisoner by the North Korean army. The following three years in captivity were unspeakably brutal, according to Villafana.
"It don't do no good to talk to people because they don't believe the stories," he said.
In the documentary, Villafana recounts a 120-mile march in the snow where 130 fellow soldiers died of cold, disease, and exhaustion, and seven others were executed, in November 1950.
"As prisoners were dying, we took clothes from the dead ones," he said, in the documentary. "I never in my life dreamed of ever seeing so much death. I slept with death."
Villafana remembers the exact date he was released: Aug. 29, 1953.
"When I got out of there," Villafana said, in an interview, "my way of thinking wasn't going to ever be young again."
"Reflections on War" puts a local name and face to what has become known as "the forgotten war." The documentary also brings human emotion to the impersonal statistics that often define wars.
Blanquet said he contacted Villafana last spring and asked him to be part of the documentary. Villafana agreed. Soon after, Villafana and his wife drove down to the KVCR studio in San Bernadino where Blanquet interviewed Villafana on camera for about 90 minutes.
A few times during the documentary, Villafana visibly breaks down, overcome with emotion.
"Your body, your mind goes back there," he said.
After returning to Barstow from the war, Villafana worked as a barber. He returned to California with tuberculosis in both lungs and was relegated to indoor jobs with low health risks. Villafana said he never dreamed of becoming a barber, but went to own his own shop, which he sold about 16 years ago before retiring.
Until now, Villafana has declined requests to speak in public about his experiences as a POW because of the intense emotions it stirs up.
His wife, Lydia, said that several years ago when he agreed to speak at a POW reunion event at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, Villafana was so overcome with emotion that he couldn't give his speech. Instead, she got up on the stage and delivered a short, improvised speech to the awaiting crowd about her experience living with a POW husband.
Despite the nightmarish events he and many others endured, Villafana said he still feels a kinship with the country over 6,000 miles away.
"I can never forget it. It's my home, too," Villafana said. "I toiled the soil to eat."
Lydia said she hopes those watching the documentary gain a greater understanding and appreciation for POWs.
"He went to fight for us," said Lydia. "When you're gone," she said, turning to her husband, "I'm going to be an activist for this."
Watch it
What: Korea: Reflections on War, Vol. 1
When: Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m.
Where: KVCR-TV, Channel 24 (only available on Direct TV)
Info: www.kvcr.org/reflections
January 4, 2009 - 10:00 AM
By EUNICE LEE, staff writer
BARSTOW • Most of Dave Villafana's customers never knew that Villafana was ever a prisoner of war when they stepped into his Main Street barber shop.
Though Villafana, who owned Dave's Barber Shop for 25 years, could have filled a book with stories about the Korean War, the 76-year-old POW rarely let a word slip about surviving beatings by North Korean soldiers or enduring death marches while chatting up customers waiting for a cut or shave.
"It's not an everyday conversation," said Villafana. "You learn to be a good listener."
But now, he's finally speaking out — in a war documentary that will air on television Jan. 6 — and others will have the chance to listen.
"Korea: Reflections on War, Vol. 1" features Villafana as one of three Korean War veterans from Southern California who share their personal experiences as young soldiers witnessing the horrors of war firsthand.
"He's an excellent storyteller," said Frank Blanquet, producer of the documentary, who said Villafana retold events with as much clarity as if they happened yesterday. "You can tell that he's never forgotten any of it."
But for Villafana, it was a lifetime ago.
The Barstow native was 17 years old when he arrived with the United States Army’s 24th Infantry Division on the shores of Korea on July 9, 1950.
"I was so young that everything was an adventure," he said.
When he enlisted, Villafana said he had to receive special parental permission to join the Army as a minor. His mother signed off.
He was captured only 11 days later, along with 750 other soldiers, and taken prisoner by the North Korean army. The following three years in captivity were unspeakably brutal, according to Villafana.
"It don't do no good to talk to people because they don't believe the stories," he said.
In the documentary, Villafana recounts a 120-mile march in the snow where 130 fellow soldiers died of cold, disease, and exhaustion, and seven others were executed, in November 1950.
"As prisoners were dying, we took clothes from the dead ones," he said, in the documentary. "I never in my life dreamed of ever seeing so much death. I slept with death."
Villafana remembers the exact date he was released: Aug. 29, 1953.
"When I got out of there," Villafana said, in an interview, "my way of thinking wasn't going to ever be young again."
"Reflections on War" puts a local name and face to what has become known as "the forgotten war." The documentary also brings human emotion to the impersonal statistics that often define wars.
Blanquet said he contacted Villafana last spring and asked him to be part of the documentary. Villafana agreed. Soon after, Villafana and his wife drove down to the KVCR studio in San Bernadino where Blanquet interviewed Villafana on camera for about 90 minutes.
A few times during the documentary, Villafana visibly breaks down, overcome with emotion.
"Your body, your mind goes back there," he said.
After returning to Barstow from the war, Villafana worked as a barber. He returned to California with tuberculosis in both lungs and was relegated to indoor jobs with low health risks. Villafana said he never dreamed of becoming a barber, but went to own his own shop, which he sold about 16 years ago before retiring.
Until now, Villafana has declined requests to speak in public about his experiences as a POW because of the intense emotions it stirs up.
His wife, Lydia, said that several years ago when he agreed to speak at a POW reunion event at the Marine Corps Logistics Base, Villafana was so overcome with emotion that he couldn't give his speech. Instead, she got up on the stage and delivered a short, improvised speech to the awaiting crowd about her experience living with a POW husband.
Despite the nightmarish events he and many others endured, Villafana said he still feels a kinship with the country over 6,000 miles away.
"I can never forget it. It's my home, too," Villafana said. "I toiled the soil to eat."
Lydia said she hopes those watching the documentary gain a greater understanding and appreciation for POWs.
"He went to fight for us," said Lydia. "When you're gone," she said, turning to her husband, "I'm going to be an activist for this."
Watch it
What: Korea: Reflections on War, Vol. 1
When: Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 8 p.m.
Where: KVCR-TV, Channel 24 (only available on Direct TV)
Info: www.kvcr.org/reflections
31 December 2008
Missing In Korea
Altoona Mirror - Altoona, PA, USA
Sergeant presumed dead in battle same year his twins were born
By Jay Young, jyoung@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: December 31, 2008
Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Dodson was missing in action in Korea when his twins were born.
His situation in Korea was unclear except that Dodson was lost after a battle Nov. 30, 1950.
An early sign of problems back home came when the military returned letters Virginia Dodson wrote to her husband. Her family hid the returned mail to keep her calm.
A month later, Bonnie and Brady Dodson were born as the family prayed for their father's safe return.
''We didn't know what a dad was,'' Bonnie said. ''Our cousins had a dad, but we didn't have a dad.''
Months passed with no new information. Over the years, the twins and their older brother, Tom, were nurtured by an extended family. The wondering about what really happened didn't end when 55 years ago today the U.S. Government presumed Army Sfc. Dodson was dead. The declaration came two days after the twins' third birthday. His remains were never discovered.
The children were too young to recognize the loss.
Tom was 1 when his father was reported missing. His mom made sure the children knew the Dodson side of the family, and that is where Tom remembers seeing the picture of his father holding him at Fort Benning, Ga. Sfc. Dodson, who was between tours when the picture was taken, was already a veteran of World War II at that point.
He knew his wife was expecting when he left for Korea in 1950, but he would never know of the twins.
There wasn't much discussion about what happened within their family. If there was talk of their father, Bonnie said her mother's Italian family used their native language to protect the children from their own grief.
Today, Sfc. Dodson's children remain interested in seeking closure and remember the care given by that extended family in their youth.
''Uncles would bring stuff by and uncles helped us put an addition onto the house,'' Tom said. ''I never got to the point where I ever was mad at the world about not knowing my dad.''
Virginia (Dinicola) Dodson remarried about seven years after Sfc. Dodson went missing. Bonnie remembers that was when they got a dad.
''I thought some day we'll get one, and we did when we were 7,'' Bonnie said. ''We finally got a dad. We were all excited. We didn't know you were born with a dad.''
It was a happy day. She remembers her confusion as a child at the sight of Sfc. Dodson's sister at the wedding.
''My aunt cried the whole time,'' said Bonnie, recalling her innocent confusion over her aunt's grief.
Time passed and the children learned the complexity of their family's sacrifice, and how far it reached.
Joe Dodson of Hollidaysburg remembers Sfc. Dodson as one of his favorite uncles. He still treasures a letter Sfc. Dodson sent him during his final tour.
''He was like a father figure to me,'' said Dodson, who is the mayor of Hollidaysburg. ''He was someone I looked up to. He was my hero.''
Joe Dodson remembers being 14 years old when his mother called for him. His uncle was missing. The information that followed was slow. There were no remains discovered, so there was a period of hope.
The optimism passed with the time and brought stress and some acceptance even before the military's official word.
Joe Dodson partially attributes the passing of Sfc. Dodson's father to the stress caused by the missing-in-action status.
''My grandfather died in January 1953,'' Joe Dodson said. ''I'm sure that had something to do with his death.''
The years of no information turned into decades, and only recently did Sfc. Dodson's children learn the fate of their ''real dad.'' It came in a letter sent to Bonnie in May 2007. The military says it's actively searching for remains and sought a family DNA sample.
The letter gives great detail with military terminology of a deadly battle in the tundra of North Korea in 1950. Sfc. Dodson's Heavy Mortar Company was part of the task-organized 31st Regimental Combat Team. The team had encountered little enemy contact in the days prior to Nov. 27, 1950. Veterans interviewed by the military later said the team was situated in more of a temporary arrangement rather than one ready for combat.
Everything changed on the evening of Nov. 27, 1950, when a massive Chinese attack lead to fierce fighting that continued for days in the freezing conditions. The Chinese gained ground and the main attack came Nov. 30, 1950. The perimeter was penetrated at numerous locations and only desperate fighting kept the Chinese from completely overrunning the American positions. During the fighting, Sfc. Dodson, 34, was lost.
The Department of the Army said it interviewed survivors from this battle, known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, but no one had information about Sfc. Dodson.
''Additionally, we have found no information indicating he ever appeared at any POW camp, holding area or medical facility or that he was ever alive in enemy hands.''
-- 'We moved forward' --
Bonnie is married, still lives in the Altoona area, has two grown sons and works for Verizon. Brady lives in the Scotch Valley section of Frankstown Township with his wife and son. Tom recently retired after 28 years in the food business for an independent wholesaler. He lives in Greensburg with his wife. They have two children.
Their second father, Frank Roberts, died in 1984. Virginia Dodson died in 2004.
The Dodson family remains hopeful that time will bring more answers and ultimately closure. Tom said he may spend the extra time he has in retirement learning more about the history surrounding his father's death and ultimately what took his dad's life.
Looking back, though, things turned out all right.
''I thank the Lord that my other father came into place,'' Tom said. ''He was very good to us. He provided us with a living. We were like any other normal family. Dad provided for us.''
Mirror Staff Writer Jay Young is at 946-7535.
Sergeant presumed dead in battle same year his twins were born
By Jay Young, jyoung@altoonamirror.com
POSTED: December 31, 2008
Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Dodson was missing in action in Korea when his twins were born.
His situation in Korea was unclear except that Dodson was lost after a battle Nov. 30, 1950.
An early sign of problems back home came when the military returned letters Virginia Dodson wrote to her husband. Her family hid the returned mail to keep her calm.
A month later, Bonnie and Brady Dodson were born as the family prayed for their father's safe return.
''We didn't know what a dad was,'' Bonnie said. ''Our cousins had a dad, but we didn't have a dad.''
Months passed with no new information. Over the years, the twins and their older brother, Tom, were nurtured by an extended family. The wondering about what really happened didn't end when 55 years ago today the U.S. Government presumed Army Sfc. Dodson was dead. The declaration came two days after the twins' third birthday. His remains were never discovered.
The children were too young to recognize the loss.
Tom was 1 when his father was reported missing. His mom made sure the children knew the Dodson side of the family, and that is where Tom remembers seeing the picture of his father holding him at Fort Benning, Ga. Sfc. Dodson, who was between tours when the picture was taken, was already a veteran of World War II at that point.
He knew his wife was expecting when he left for Korea in 1950, but he would never know of the twins.
There wasn't much discussion about what happened within their family. If there was talk of their father, Bonnie said her mother's Italian family used their native language to protect the children from their own grief.
Today, Sfc. Dodson's children remain interested in seeking closure and remember the care given by that extended family in their youth.
''Uncles would bring stuff by and uncles helped us put an addition onto the house,'' Tom said. ''I never got to the point where I ever was mad at the world about not knowing my dad.''
Virginia (Dinicola) Dodson remarried about seven years after Sfc. Dodson went missing. Bonnie remembers that was when they got a dad.
''I thought some day we'll get one, and we did when we were 7,'' Bonnie said. ''We finally got a dad. We were all excited. We didn't know you were born with a dad.''
It was a happy day. She remembers her confusion as a child at the sight of Sfc. Dodson's sister at the wedding.
''My aunt cried the whole time,'' said Bonnie, recalling her innocent confusion over her aunt's grief.
Time passed and the children learned the complexity of their family's sacrifice, and how far it reached.
Joe Dodson of Hollidaysburg remembers Sfc. Dodson as one of his favorite uncles. He still treasures a letter Sfc. Dodson sent him during his final tour.
''He was like a father figure to me,'' said Dodson, who is the mayor of Hollidaysburg. ''He was someone I looked up to. He was my hero.''
Joe Dodson remembers being 14 years old when his mother called for him. His uncle was missing. The information that followed was slow. There were no remains discovered, so there was a period of hope.
The optimism passed with the time and brought stress and some acceptance even before the military's official word.
Joe Dodson partially attributes the passing of Sfc. Dodson's father to the stress caused by the missing-in-action status.
''My grandfather died in January 1953,'' Joe Dodson said. ''I'm sure that had something to do with his death.''
The years of no information turned into decades, and only recently did Sfc. Dodson's children learn the fate of their ''real dad.'' It came in a letter sent to Bonnie in May 2007. The military says it's actively searching for remains and sought a family DNA sample.
The letter gives great detail with military terminology of a deadly battle in the tundra of North Korea in 1950. Sfc. Dodson's Heavy Mortar Company was part of the task-organized 31st Regimental Combat Team. The team had encountered little enemy contact in the days prior to Nov. 27, 1950. Veterans interviewed by the military later said the team was situated in more of a temporary arrangement rather than one ready for combat.
Everything changed on the evening of Nov. 27, 1950, when a massive Chinese attack lead to fierce fighting that continued for days in the freezing conditions. The Chinese gained ground and the main attack came Nov. 30, 1950. The perimeter was penetrated at numerous locations and only desperate fighting kept the Chinese from completely overrunning the American positions. During the fighting, Sfc. Dodson, 34, was lost.
The Department of the Army said it interviewed survivors from this battle, known as the Battle of Chosin Reservoir, but no one had information about Sfc. Dodson.
''Additionally, we have found no information indicating he ever appeared at any POW camp, holding area or medical facility or that he was ever alive in enemy hands.''
-- 'We moved forward' --
Bonnie is married, still lives in the Altoona area, has two grown sons and works for Verizon. Brady lives in the Scotch Valley section of Frankstown Township with his wife and son. Tom recently retired after 28 years in the food business for an independent wholesaler. He lives in Greensburg with his wife. They have two children.
Their second father, Frank Roberts, died in 1984. Virginia Dodson died in 2004.
The Dodson family remains hopeful that time will bring more answers and ultimately closure. Tom said he may spend the extra time he has in retirement learning more about the history surrounding his father's death and ultimately what took his dad's life.
Looking back, though, things turned out all right.
''I thank the Lord that my other father came into place,'' Tom said. ''He was very good to us. He provided us with a living. We were like any other normal family. Dad provided for us.''
Mirror Staff Writer Jay Young is at 946-7535.
15 December 2008
Search Effort For Korean War Dead Continues
조선일보(영문판) - South Korea
The Korean War broke out almost six decades ago. As part of the effort to search for the remains of its missing soldiers, the Defense Ministry is due to release a map that shows the potential sites where they might be.
The Institute for Military History Compilation has been gathering data based on accounts from the soldiers' families and other war veterans. The map is expected to be distributed within the military as a basis for the search mission.
The search and recovery of the remains started eight years ago, and so far out of more than 1,700 remnants found 53 have been positively identified.
For the U.S. government, the recent effort by the Defense Ministry could help in its search for American soldiers who never made it home.
The U.S. received support from North Korea from 1990 to 2005 in finding missing soldiers buried in the communist country. The mission found 443 remains. The North Koreans were paid some US$22 million for their excavation efforts.
The U.S. has a policy enacted after the Vietnam War of searching for the bodies of service members missing in action. Right now soldiers classified as such are only removed from the list once their remains are found and identified.
A similar move is taking place in the Korean military, and experts say the effort should continue in collaboration with North Korea.
Arirang News
The Korean War broke out almost six decades ago. As part of the effort to search for the remains of its missing soldiers, the Defense Ministry is due to release a map that shows the potential sites where they might be.
The Institute for Military History Compilation has been gathering data based on accounts from the soldiers' families and other war veterans. The map is expected to be distributed within the military as a basis for the search mission.
The search and recovery of the remains started eight years ago, and so far out of more than 1,700 remnants found 53 have been positively identified.
For the U.S. government, the recent effort by the Defense Ministry could help in its search for American soldiers who never made it home.
The U.S. received support from North Korea from 1990 to 2005 in finding missing soldiers buried in the communist country. The mission found 443 remains. The North Koreans were paid some US$22 million for their excavation efforts.
The U.S. has a policy enacted after the Vietnam War of searching for the bodies of service members missing in action. Right now soldiers classified as such are only removed from the list once their remains are found and identified.
A similar move is taking place in the Korean military, and experts say the effort should continue in collaboration with North Korea.
Arirang News
06 December 2008
Search Continues For Relatives Of Missing Korean War Veterans
Gaston Gazette - Gastonia, NC, USA
Search continues for relatives of missing Korean War veterans
December 5, 2008 - 8:28 PM
Michael Barrett
The date was July 20, 1950, when John Daniel Smith went missing as an American prisoner of war in North Korea.
A little more than two months later, on Sept. 22, Junior Ray Tucker also disappeared, after being taken prisoner while fighting in the country's southern end.
Fellow soldiers who were also captured confirmed the two men were killed, yet their bodies were never found. And they may have little in common, but for the fact that Smith and Tucker were both sons of Gaston County.
Somewhere amid that foreign terrain, their remains may one day be discovered. And if so, Harold Davis hopes a DNA record will be available to confirm their identities.
"We've had some luck in North Carolina," said Davis, a Korean War veteran who is helping to identify the remains of fellow vets who died in that conflict. "We've been very fortunate."
Lost in a foreign land
The U.S. military seeks to identify remains of soldiers overseas through its Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). Those efforts have sped up in recent years in North Korea, where more than 8,000 American servicemen were unaccounted for when the war there ended more than half a century ago.
To distinguish remains, the agency must have DNA of a relative on file to compare it with. Davis works with the military to get that information in place, by locating family members even before remains have been found.
Some 2,000 missing veterans remains have yet to be identified or located.
When a relative is located, JPAC sends them a DNA kit with a mouth swab, which they are instructed to use and mail back.
Davis served in North Korea with the Army's 40th Infantry Division from 1952 to 1953, and remembers well the harsh conditions. He suffered frostbite in winter temperatures that dipped to 35 degrees below zero, then experienced the opposite extreme in the stifling summer heat.
The weather was symbolic of the treatment of American prisoners, Davis said.
"That was a very cruel war, in many, many ways," he said. "With the enemy itself, what they did to our prisoners ... very few came back.
"The fortunate ones were the ones who got killed, really."
Local boys
Smith was a master sergeant and Tucker was a corporal in the Army. Their hometowns in Gaston County aren't known, Davis said.
"When you went into the Army at that time, they listed the name of your county as your home of record," he said. "The Air Force and Marine Corps listed your town, but not the Army, for some reason."
Smith was 23 when he went missing. After being taken captive, records show that he was part of a notorious parade of prisoners into North Korea known as the Tiger Death March.
He survived the march before dying at a prison in Hanjang-Ni.
"It was reported by prisoners who did survive," Davis said.
Smith was a career soldier and had also fought in World War II. The Korean War had only begun on June 25, 1950.
"He was lost July 20, so the war hadn't been going on long," Davis said. "That was pretty quick."
The military has less information on Tucker, who went missing in action while fighting in the Daejeon region of South Korea on Sept. 22.
"He went missing later because the second infantry division didn't get over there until the fighting had been going on for a while," said Davis. "That's really all I have on him."
When Davis tracks down relatives and tells them why he is calling, he often has to explain to them first that their family member's remains have not yet been found.
He was involved recently in helping to track down and get a DNA sample from a relative of Larry Sell, an Air Force veteran from Gastonia who was killed in North Korea.
Sell's remains, like that of so many other veterans, have yet to be located. But if they ever are found, a DNA record could finally bring about the closure they all deserve, Davis said.
"I personally feel that relations with North Korea will continue to get better," he said, "and one day we'll be able to find and identify a lot of these men."
You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826.
Missing Korean War veterans of the area
Name: John Daniel Smith
Home: Gaston County
Born: 1912
Date of loss: July 20, 1950 POW
Rank: Master sergeant
Unit: L Company, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division
Name: Junior Ray Tucker
Home: Gaston County
Born: June 19, 1927
Date of loss: Sept. 22, 1950 MIA
Rank: Corporal
Unit: E Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division
Name: Ralph Stover
Home: Lincoln County
Born: March 20, 1926
Date of loss: May 5, 1953
Rank: Private 1st Class
Unit: A Company, 116th Engineer Combat Battalion
Name: Logan Christopher Weathers
Home: Cleveland County
Born: Oct. 29, 1911
Date of loss: Unknown
Rank: First lieutenant
Unit: Headquarters Company, 55th Quartermaster Depot, 8th Army
For more information
Do you have any information about Junior Ray Tucker or John Daniel Smith, or their relatives, that you'd like to share? If so, contact Korean War veteran Harold Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.
Was there a veteran in your family who was killed or who went missing in action overseas, and was never found? The Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command might be able to help. For more information, contact Korean War veteran Harold Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.
Search continues for relatives of missing Korean War veterans
December 5, 2008 - 8:28 PM
Michael Barrett
The date was July 20, 1950, when John Daniel Smith went missing as an American prisoner of war in North Korea.
A little more than two months later, on Sept. 22, Junior Ray Tucker also disappeared, after being taken prisoner while fighting in the country's southern end.
Fellow soldiers who were also captured confirmed the two men were killed, yet their bodies were never found. And they may have little in common, but for the fact that Smith and Tucker were both sons of Gaston County.
Somewhere amid that foreign terrain, their remains may one day be discovered. And if so, Harold Davis hopes a DNA record will be available to confirm their identities.
"We've had some luck in North Carolina," said Davis, a Korean War veteran who is helping to identify the remains of fellow vets who died in that conflict. "We've been very fortunate."
Lost in a foreign land
The U.S. military seeks to identify remains of soldiers overseas through its Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC). Those efforts have sped up in recent years in North Korea, where more than 8,000 American servicemen were unaccounted for when the war there ended more than half a century ago.
To distinguish remains, the agency must have DNA of a relative on file to compare it with. Davis works with the military to get that information in place, by locating family members even before remains have been found.
Some 2,000 missing veterans remains have yet to be identified or located.
When a relative is located, JPAC sends them a DNA kit with a mouth swab, which they are instructed to use and mail back.
Davis served in North Korea with the Army's 40th Infantry Division from 1952 to 1953, and remembers well the harsh conditions. He suffered frostbite in winter temperatures that dipped to 35 degrees below zero, then experienced the opposite extreme in the stifling summer heat.
The weather was symbolic of the treatment of American prisoners, Davis said.
"That was a very cruel war, in many, many ways," he said. "With the enemy itself, what they did to our prisoners ... very few came back.
"The fortunate ones were the ones who got killed, really."
Local boys
Smith was a master sergeant and Tucker was a corporal in the Army. Their hometowns in Gaston County aren't known, Davis said.
"When you went into the Army at that time, they listed the name of your county as your home of record," he said. "The Air Force and Marine Corps listed your town, but not the Army, for some reason."
Smith was 23 when he went missing. After being taken captive, records show that he was part of a notorious parade of prisoners into North Korea known as the Tiger Death March.
He survived the march before dying at a prison in Hanjang-Ni.
"It was reported by prisoners who did survive," Davis said.
Smith was a career soldier and had also fought in World War II. The Korean War had only begun on June 25, 1950.
"He was lost July 20, so the war hadn't been going on long," Davis said. "That was pretty quick."
The military has less information on Tucker, who went missing in action while fighting in the Daejeon region of South Korea on Sept. 22.
"He went missing later because the second infantry division didn't get over there until the fighting had been going on for a while," said Davis. "That's really all I have on him."
When Davis tracks down relatives and tells them why he is calling, he often has to explain to them first that their family member's remains have not yet been found.
He was involved recently in helping to track down and get a DNA sample from a relative of Larry Sell, an Air Force veteran from Gastonia who was killed in North Korea.
Sell's remains, like that of so many other veterans, have yet to be located. But if they ever are found, a DNA record could finally bring about the closure they all deserve, Davis said.
"I personally feel that relations with North Korea will continue to get better," he said, "and one day we'll be able to find and identify a lot of these men."
You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826.
Missing Korean War veterans of the area
Name: John Daniel Smith
Home: Gaston County
Born: 1912
Date of loss: July 20, 1950 POW
Rank: Master sergeant
Unit: L Company, 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division
Name: Junior Ray Tucker
Home: Gaston County
Born: June 19, 1927
Date of loss: Sept. 22, 1950 MIA
Rank: Corporal
Unit: E Company, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division
Name: Ralph Stover
Home: Lincoln County
Born: March 20, 1926
Date of loss: May 5, 1953
Rank: Private 1st Class
Unit: A Company, 116th Engineer Combat Battalion
Name: Logan Christopher Weathers
Home: Cleveland County
Born: Oct. 29, 1911
Date of loss: Unknown
Rank: First lieutenant
Unit: Headquarters Company, 55th Quartermaster Depot, 8th Army
For more information
Do you have any information about Junior Ray Tucker or John Daniel Smith, or their relatives, that you'd like to share? If so, contact Korean War veteran Harold Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.
Was there a veteran in your family who was killed or who went missing in action overseas, and was never found? The Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command might be able to help. For more information, contact Korean War veteran Harold Davis at 910-791-2333 or hgdavis@bellsouth.net.
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