MIA 5/18/51

By Janis Garrison Curran

I have no memory of my father. My sister recalls a little about him. I have always wondered which is worse … a brief memory or none at all. My earliest childhood memory is of the day my mother received the news that he was missing in action in Korea. I was three years- old and my sister was five. I recall someone coming to the door and handing my mother a piece of paper. As she read it she started slowly backing up, as if she was trying to distance herself from the information it contained.

I have only recently come to know my father through corresponding with his sister and my grandparents. My mother seemed to feel it was best not to talk about our father or give us false hope that he might return someday. She told me, just a few years ago, that it was the only way she could survive his loss.

My father joined the Navy in 1942 and got his wings on Oct. 23, 1943, the same day he married my mother. After WWII he was stationed in Key West. My sister was born in 1945 and he stayed in the Navy until 1947 when my mother was expecting me, at which time he joined the reserves and we moved back to Missouri. He loved to fly and wanted to become a commercial airline pilot someday. Unfortunately only three years later he was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. We moved to Coronado, Calif. while he retrained and we remained there until just before he was to be shipped-out in March, 1951. Just before his departure he returned with us to Adrian, Missouri where both our grandparents lived, and bought a house. My mother still lives there.

Dad was in Fighter Squadron 884 and flew F-4U Corsairs off the U.S.S. Boxer. His group was called the “Bitter Birds” because that was how they felt about being called back. On May 18, 1951, his plane caught fire due to small arms fire while over enemy territory. After dumping his ammunition and cutting his engine, he attempted to bail out but was caught, for a time, on the canopy of his plane. He was able to free himself but he hit the stabilizer bar and broke his leg. He fell for quite a while before his parachute opened, and was seen alive on the ground. He waved to his wingman and the other two in his division and then rolled into a ravine, to be somewhat sheltered from ground fire. His friends stayed with him as long as they could, but his wingman was hit and killed when his plane crashed. The last two men in the four man division saw an individual trying to reach him on the ground. They were unsure if he was friendly or not, so they did not shoot to kill, only to keep him away from my dad. His friends were running out of fuel and had to turn his surveillance over to two Air Force F-51 Mustangs. Finally word came through that a rescue helicopter was on the way to pick him up but, unfortunately, when it arrived he was nowhere to be found.

After the war was over a returning POW said he believed he saw dad in a makeshift hospital near Wonsan about a month after the date of his disappearance. His health had deteriorated and he was to be transferred to Pyongyang. As far as can be determined, he never made it.

Most of the information I have on my dad was obtained in the last five years. One day I typed “Korean War” into an internet search engine and the Korean War Project (www.koreanwar.org) appeared first. I left a message and Hal Barker called me at home that evening. The first person Hal put me in touch with was Insung Lee at DPMO and through him I was able to speak to the man who last saw my dad alive. I became more and more involved with the Project and was asked to serve as board member. The KWP now has its own “Finding the Families” project and we were just recently on CNN in an effort to help get the DNA database moving toward completion.

It has helped me so much to find supportive groups such as the Korean War Project and the Coalition of Families. Getting acquainted with others who found themselves in my situation has reminded me that I am not alone.