There is an old saying I have found to be true many times; "when one door closes, another one opens." Often in our work, we think that we certainly have gone further than our families were able to in the 1950’s. But in some issues, we reach a point where we are unable to get beyond. Then, when we least expect it, another door opens, and a different way is revealed. This often happens when we help others with their search for a loved one.
Prior to my trip to North Korea in October, a local newspaper featured a story about my upcoming trip. Katherine Goodwin’s son read the article and told his mother about it. She contacted me and told me her oldest brother, 2nd Lt. Franklin D. Johnson, was reported missing from the Chosin Reservoir on December 2, 1950. Mrs. Goodwin and her family never knew what happened to him. The last report her parents received from the Department of the Army was he had been severely wounded in the arm. He was loaded onto a truck, which was transporting him to a medical depot. The truck and her brother never made it safely to their destination. On January 19, 1954, the Army sent the Johnsons a letter explaining the presumptive findings of the death of Lt. Johnson. According to Mrs. Goodwin, her parents "went to their grave never knowing what happened to their son". Not wanting to suffer the same fate, she is seeking to find the answer her parents were unable to learn.
We recently met at a local Shoney’s for lunch and to go over her brother’s Casualty Report she had just received from CILHI. I hate to admit it, but for a moment, I forgot that reading the report brings forward emotions that have been suppressed for nearly 50 years. Seeing the tears well up in her eyes quickly reminded me how painful the search can be. I have previously been given permission to read casualty records of a number of other missing servicemen, and found several documents in Lt. Johnson’s records that seemed odd to me. Among the documents in his records were 1) a letter dated February 23, 1955, 2) a supplement to his case status card, 3) a letter from the Quartermaster Headquarters Korea to the Commanding Officer of the American Graves Registration Group dated May 26, 1954.
The letter dated February 23, 1955, written by the Department of the Army, was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. The Army was requesting additional medical and dental information on unresolved casualties. Although servicemen’s files contain medical and dental services performed during military service, there was a possibility they received treatment from civilian dentists or doctors not reflected in the records. To his parents, I’m sure this letter did not seem out of the ordinary. Even today, it seems perfectly natural for the Army to correspond with the missing serviceman’s family on such an important issue. However, this is the only casualty record I’ve reviewed that contained such a letter. That does not infer that other families did not receive either the same letter or one similar to it. Indeed, some did, but not all of the 8,217 families received these letters. In fact, only a small portion of the families of Korean War missing servicemen received such letters.
The second document, the supplement to Lt. Johnson’s Case Status Card, referred to a summary of information from witnesses, survivors, and other sources: References OBS 21105. And, subsequent information, a list of reference and number of reference: 5) Interrogation of "Brick" 21105. In a letter to Mrs. Goodwin explaining the information on the document, Lt. Col. Rosemary Salack stated that it refers to testimony given by two officers who were returned to military control ("Brick"). The two officers, Paul F. Broser and Chester B. Searls, upon being released from North Korea where they had been held prisoners of war, stated Lt. Johnson died on February 20th in Pyktong, a prisoner of war camp. The year of the incident was not provided to Mrs. Goodwin, only the month and day. Lt. Col. Salack further stated this information had not been confirmed, and because such, was considered "hearsay information", and did not indicate Lt. Johnson had died or had even been a prisoner of war in the camp in Pyktong. The Johnson family was not given this information in the 50’s. Like so many other families, because the information could not be substantiated, the Army chose to spare the families and not pass the information along to them.
In 1993, I reviewed Korean War records at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Among the many record groups I reviewed were documents from the Department of the Army, Memorial Division, correspondence to and from various departments within the Department of the Army, including the Quartermaster General’s office, and USAFFE Casualty, Records of Intelligence and U.S. Military Command, Pacific. Information in the USAFFE Casualty group proved to be extremely valuable to many family members and became part of a research report prepared in the National Defense Research Institute by Dr. Paul Cole of the Rand Corporation.
Each missing serviceman’s casualty records contain cards referred to as Case Status Cards. A Case Status Card is just what it says, a status of the missing serviceman’s case.
The card provides the name of the missing serviceman, his grade (or rank), service number, branch of service, unit, status (MIA, KIA, POW), grid coordinate for the location of the loss, map sheet number for the grid coordinate, field search case number, and so forth. In some cases, information was hand written in code on the back of the Case Status Card. In these cases, the unproven theory among family members was the codes indicated additional information received by the military about the missing serviceman after he became missing, and many times, after a "Presumptive Finding of Death" had been made. Often, these cards also had written "Unconfirmed POW" on them.
Many families requested a copy of the back of their loved one’s Case Status Card, and a number of families found hand written codes. The families who found "Unofficial POW" on the cards were stunned. Not at any time since the loss of their loved one had anyone from the Defense Department, the Casualty Office, or any military official ever conveyed this information to the families. Initially, DPMO attempted to comfort the families by theorizing a clerk entered information on the cards in the 1950’s. They stated there was no indication the codes had meaning, that additional information may not have been received about their missing loved one, or that the missing serviceman had ever been placed in an "Unofficial POW" status. The families knew that a clerk would never arbitrarily enter information without having some reason to place it there. But, a key to the codes on the cards was not with the casualty records, and without the key, the families could not prove their theory.
Rich Boylan, an archivist at the National Archives, assisted me in my research. He suggested certain record
groups that might contain information I was attempting to find, including the key to the codes on the case status
cards. I found the key to the codes among documents in Record Group 497, Records of Intelligence and U.S. Military
Command, Pacific, NND 897580, Box 1. There had been a number of researchers who previously reviewed this record
group, including Dr. Cole, but somehow, the key was overlooked. The key provided the proof the families needed,
as well as an explanation for the codes on the cards. The codes used to record POW status as of 1952 were:
1. Official report to North Korean government to International Red Cross, Geneva.
2. Communist Radio, Press Release and Publications. These codes were used when the specific radio station was
not identified:
At the time, locating the key to the codes on the Case Status Cards overshadowed the other documents I reviewed and copied at the National Archives. The correspondence from the Office of the Quartermaster, Korea to the Commanding Officer of the American Graves Registration Service Group in Lt. Johnson’s casualty record struck a familiar cord within me. Included in the other documents I reviewed and copied were records and correspondence from the Army Quartermaster and the Memorial Division. These documents and copies of correspondence pertained to the process of attempting to identify remains, and the disposition of identified and unidentified remains recovered from the Korean Conflict. It was ironic the documents I copied in 1993 bore a striking similarity to the letter contained in Lt. Johnson’s file.
The letter from the Quartermaster to the Graves Registration Group Commander was titled "Deletions from Field Search Cases #435". The text simply read "Roster of casualties, who have been deleted from Field Search Cases as indicated, is enclosed. The second page was a portion of the roster. On the top of the page, it says "Task Force Faith 1 and 2 December 1950. F.S. #435. The next line identified the 15th AAA AW Bm, 2 Dec 50 (which was the unit Lt. Johnson was attached). Following the Battery number were names that were numbered 489 to 507. By each number were the last name, first and middle name, rank, serial number, and battery number (D). Beside number 495 was Johnson, Franklin Dewey, 2/Lt.. I contacted DPMO and CILHI to see exactly what is a Field Search Case. I was told that a field search case is background information and a chronology of the battle, often broken down to a campaign, where the individual casualty took place. In other words, if a serviceman became an MIA, a field search case was generated for him in order to have the last location the MIA was seen alive. In the event there was a search and/or rescue effort made for the MIA, they would refer to the field search case for their starting point. Likewise, any search team looking for remains would refer to the field search case.
Looking further into Lt. Johnson’s record, I came to a document titled "Task Force Faith, 1 and 2 December 1950, F.S.#435, the field search case number assigned to him. Apparently, Task Force Faith was the name given a composite unit made up of men from a number of different units, who were in defense of a perimeter in an area located at the southern end of the Chosin Reservoir. On December 1, 1950, ordered to fight south and effect a junction with other friendly forces in the southern end of the Reservoir, they were hit immediately by heavy small arms and automatic weapons fire. Proceeding under constant intense enemy fire, they continued their movement past numerous roadblocks, machine guns and a destroyed bridge. At one point, the task force, unable to destroy another enemy roadblock, the force was broken into groups. The groups eventually reached the town of Hageru-ri and were placed in defense of the town. On December 2nd, elements of the original task force continued to arrive in Hageru-ri, and were combined into a provisional regiment under the 31st Infantry Regiment. These units held the town, the assembly area of all the UN forces in the reservoir. This document was prepared by Graves Registration Service, Korean Communication Zone, and was a condensation of Command Reports.
Comparing Lt. Johnson’s field search information with documents from the Archives, I found a letter dated March 11, 1953. The subject of the letter was "Resolution of Unresolved Cases from Army Forces in Korea to the Commanding Officer, Graves Registration Service, San Francisco, California. The letter detailed the difficulties in identifying unknown remains, the requirements in making an accurate and final determination of identification. It was determined that, in order to properly evaluate recommended findings for future cases involving unidentifiable remains, it was essential that specific data be furnished in each case. The data would include a roster of all unresolved casualties by geographical map sheet area, as of a cut-off date to be established by Headquarters. It was determined the availability of the data would drastically reduce the number of individual inquiries to Headquarters for additional information concerning casualties and/or unknowns from the same geographical area.
Comparing the document "Deletions From Field Search Cases #435 in Lt. Johnson’s records with the above document, it appears the Quartermaster had notified Grave Registration Lt. Johnson’s name had been removed from any unidentified remains located in area #435, the Chosin Reservoir. Determining why his name was removed might be pure speculation. If you compare all three documents in his file, to information gathered from the Archives, it is possible to form two theories.
The first theory is information received from Officers Brosers and Searls was considered credible. Lt. Johnson would no longer be an MIA, but would be a POW who died at Pyktong prisoner of war camp in North Korea. Therefore, the Quartermaster would be required to change his field search case from the Chosin Reservoir to Pyktong prison camp. Any unidentified remains retrieved from the reservoir area would not be compared with Lt. Johnson’s records.
The second theory would not exclude the first. Unidentified remains may have been returned from North Korea to UN military control. The North Koreans returned over 1000 remains at the conclusion of the war. Some of the remains had identifying media, some remains included the location the North Koreans recovered them, and others contained no information. Forensic Anthropologist compared all information from each missing serviceman to determine the identity of the remains. In order to positively identify unknown remains, it was vital to eliminate anyone who was not lost or last seen in the area where the remains were located. An individual may also be eliminated on the bases of physical characteristics. Having all medical and dental records and information relevant to the last known location of each missing serviceman was critical in determining a positive identification.
There are 865 unknown remains buried at the Punchbowl Cemetery in Hawaii. According to a letter dated April 29, 1954 from Brig. Gen. Ira K. Evans to Maj. Gen. Kester L. Hastings, Gen. Evans stated of the 800+ unknowns remains, 139 were questionable as potential identifications. A potential identification meant there was information available for the remains, but positive identification was not possible. Identification may not have been determined because of incomplete or inaccurate medical and/or dental records. Often, two or more individual records were similar enough to prevent positive identification. Currently, the Defense Department is working on a policy for the possible disinterment and identification of some unknown remains. There must be substantial information available before CILHI will consider any remains for possible identification. The information would include a name associated to the remains, possibly a location of recovery, and a blood sample from the maternal line of the family for DNA reference sampling.
Mrs. Goodwin and her siblings have submitted blood samples to AFDIL. The family is waiting to hear from CILHI if any unknown remains at the Punchbowl have Lt. Johnson’s name associated to them. If there are, they could be included in the cases currently being considered for identification. Quite possibly, remains were returned from either Pyktong prison camp or the Chosin Reservoir, but not identified. If so, a comparison might be made between the records of Lt. Johnson and unknown remains to possibly determine identification. It may be none of these possibilities concerning any of the unknown remains exists, but if so, there must be an "open the door" to that possibility.
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