One of the most important components of the accounting effort is locating and analyzing the historical documentary evidence of what went on during the Korean and Cold Wars regarding our missing servicemen. Remember that files were not stored electronically during the Korean War, and active investigation into the fate of our missing men stopped soon after the end of hostilities. Countless documents were literally thrown into boxes and warehoused, largely without even being cataloged for future reference. The information has to be found, analyzed in comparison with other information, catalogued and disseminated. It is a daunting task; one that remains largely undone.
Efforts are being made, however, to locate the information. Department of Defense researchers are going through collections. So are families, veterans and the media. Significant documents are being stumbled upon. The search for others continues.
Declassification of all these documents is essential. The accounting effort is stifled because it takes so much time and effort to get information released. This is an issue that seemingly will not be resolved without a collective outcry from the people who are searching for answers.
Records are scattered in repositories around the country, but large collections are kept at the Library of Congress and at the National Archives in College Park, MD.
These facilities can be reached for further information at:
National Reference Service
Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, D.C. 20540-4720
The Library of Congress maintains an online catalogue at:
Library of Congress
and at:
The Vietnam-ERA Prisoner-of-War/Missing-in-Action DataBase
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA):
National Archives at College Park
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001
NARA has an online information locator at:
National Archives and Records Administration
Below is a short discussion of some of the documents that have been highlighted in the search for information. For more information about any of these documents, contact the Coalition or the DPMO.
DPMO reports that a list of men missing from the Korean War who were last known to have been alive after their loss incident is near completion. This list will be important because accounting efforts should be case-specific whenever possible. The broad and categorical statements only take us so far. When we present evidence that an individual man was known to be alive under enemy control, a specific response is due, or becomes glaringly lacking.
A comprehensive list of Last Known Alive cases... including, one would hope, a description of the circumstances of each man’s loss...will be a useful tool in raising awareness of the accounting effort and resolving the men’s fates. The Coalition has requested a copy of the list when it is completed, and we will distribute it as soon as it becomes available.
DPMO’s Research and Analysis Directorate has been compiling information on lost air craft to create a database. This database will address all United Nations air forces, and will be useful in pursuing questions about missing air crews. It will be important for families of air crews to check this database when it is finished to make sure critical information is correct. If they get the date or place wrong, for example, documents related to the incident might be disregarded because they don’t match in important ways. The database will be on-line, and the Coalition will have a hard copy as a resource for families who do not have a computer.
DPMO reportedly has another air loss database in the making. This one will focus more on over-land losses, and will attempt to consolidate known information for the purpose of future site excavations. Of course, each family will want to get a copy of the listing for its family member.
The comprehensive list of men missing from the Korean War is finished. It lists 8,217 men and gives basic statistical information, such as service unit, date of loss, current status, etc. Few will find new information about their loved one from this list, but we needed a complete and official list of men on which to base the accounting effort.
Families should also be mindful of the status designations assigned to their loved one on PMKOR. After the Korean War the official status of all missing men was changed to KIA-BNR (killed in action, body not recovered) by presumptive findings of death. However, the PMKOR lists men in terms of KIA, MIA or POW. We have asked DPMO to explain the criteria used to determine which status to use for each man. Families whose man is designated as a POW might want to get the underlying information, if they don’t already have it. Families of missing men with KIA designations might want to have that status corrected.
Families should check the PMKOR for accuracy. The list was compiled from a number of sources and it has some errors that most likely will be caught and corrected only by the families. The PMKOR can be found on the Internet at Personnel Missing - Korea [PMKOR]. An e-mail link is provided so errors can be reported and corrected. The Coalition has a hard copy as a resource for families who do not have a computer.
At the end of the Korean War a list of nine hundred and forty four names was compiled. The names on the list were of men who the United States thought should have been accounted for, based on information to date. The list was later reduced to 526 names; then to 450 names, then to 389 names, supposedly because ‘conclusive evidence of death’ later became known. We now know that many men’s names were taken off of the list based on circumstantial evidence of death, often little more than the fact that they did not come home with the rest of the POWs.
The 944 list disappeared somewhere along the line. References in newspaper articles and other documents surfaced, but never the list itself. DPMO reports that it has found what appears to be the original 944 List in St. Louis. Interestingly, the list remains classified, even though it was published in the New York Times when it first came out. Hopefully, the document will be declassified right away.
Still to be found are documents that will explain why men were taken off of the 944 list. Any individual for whom there is not conclusive evidence of death should be put back onto the list. These lists, in many ways, form the basis of the government’s search for answers. For a long time, only the remnants of the 944 List, eventually dwindled down to 200+ names, was touted as the quasi-official list of men for whom an accounting was expected. Each family is entitled to acceptable proof of death, or an active search for answers about their missing loved one.
Some 10,000 pages of documents and 300 photographs from the Central Archives of the MoD at Podolsk have been turned over by the Russians. The Podolsk records searched to date pertain mostly to the Soviet 64th Fighter Aviation Corps and, therefore, to United Nations Air Force losses.
Not all of these documents will be translated into English. The collection is being reviewed and designated for translation according to certain standards. For example, any document that mentions a missing American by name would be a tier 1, or top candidate for translation. Once translated, such information is being forwarded to the service casualty offices for dissemination to the next of kin.
Documents that mention American POWs, but none by name, will also be high candidates for translation, we are told. JCSD Director Norm Kass has been reminded that such documents need to be called to the families’ attention, since they are very significant to the overall accounting effort. Norm promises to develop a mechanism for the dissemination of this information.
The Podolsk collection will be maintained in the original Russian at the National Archives in College Park, MD, in Record Group 330 II.81. It is unclassified. As of mid-March, DPMO reports that 169 pages have been translated through the Library of Congress (LOC), and 138 pages have been translated by the JCSD. Some of the English translations are available online at the LOC website: The Task Force Russia Documents
In 1998, researchers from DPMO were allowed in certain archives in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea. They brought home some 100 items from those searches, many of which refer to Americans by name. A 5 person team will go back to North Korea in late March of this year to search in military archives. Presumably, they too will bring out relevant information.
The Coalition has filed a Freedom of Information Act request for information obtained in North Korea. We have heard from others that such requests are being denied on the basis of privacy laws, although due to backlogs, our own request has not yet been fully processed, so we cannot report its results.
The importance of a missing man’s ID card being found on display in North Korea is not only significant to his particular case. It is also important to the overall accounting effort. Leaders of the effort are regularly called upon by officials, media, and inquiring citizens to document the evidence that men were held back alive or that more information could be provided. It is important that we know of all the cases in which men for whom there has been no accounting were obviously in enemy hands at one time. We will continue to press for the release of all information found in North Korea that pertains to any missing Americans.
In recent years, several South Korean POWs from the Korean War have made their way out of North Korea, through China, and back to Seoul. In addition, a number of North Korean citizens have defected to South Korea. One such individual, Mr. Oh, a member of the North Korean secret police, reportedly discussed first-hand knowledge of American POWs in North Korea as late as 1992.
We have requested POW/MIA related information found in the debriefings of each of these individuals, but we are informed by DPMO that much of this information has been classified by the South Korean government. This is difficult to accept in view of the fact that Mr. Oh spoke openly at first with the South Korean press about his information. It is also inconsistent with South Korea’s own recent efforts to gain the return of its missing men from the same war.
As we reported in our last newsletter, the Air Force produces a quarterly summary of the POW-MIA related documents found in its collection by researchers as they have reviewed the collection for possible declassification. The summaries give a breakdown of records by record group, indicating the number of boxes in each group and the general topic addressed by the documents in each group. The descriptions are very general, but the Air Force casualty office reports that more detailed descriptions can be had for the asking. Many of the documents remain classified and would need to be requested and pursued through the Freedom of Information Act. The Coalition receives these summaries when they come out. Anyone interested in obtaining a copy for research purposes can contact us.
The Nielsen-Henderson List is a document that two POWs compiled while they were in Kaesong being processed for repatriation at the end of the Korean War. The list contains the names of other American POWs who were in Kaesong with Nielsen and Henderson. Many individuals who were said to be on that list did not make it home, which raises serious questions about men having been held back alive. This list would be a very important tool in the accounting process, but it cannot be found. Anyone who might come across it in their research is encouraged to bring it to our attention.