For the 2006 updates - March-June / September-December
For the 2005 updates.

December 2007:

The year is winding down, and quite a bit will be happening in 2008. As of right now, we do not have an invitation to enter North Korea for continued recovery work. But we are hoping. These things unfold at their own pace. But there are other developments that we can speak about...

Between March and September 2007, our recovery teams explored across much of South Korea. This was not unusual, for we have a standing invitation. But we did have a chance to do something we hadn’t tried for a while. We walked parts of the POW evacuation routes north. The area we explored, this time, was used by men captured in February and May of 1951. The village of Hwachon, now a real town, was the main stopping point. It was also our starting point. From there, the main road worked north then gradually west to cross the base of what would later be known as the Iron Triangle. Night by night, POWs marched on through a valley between Kumhwa and Chorwon, then farther northwest into the present DMZ. There were recoveries along this route during the Korean War and afterwards, but it had been some years since anyone had gone village by village in a systematic way, speaking with local inhabitants every day. A real advantage here: the South Korean government is making a strong effort to re-settle the area. Many of the people living there now are children and grandchildren of those displaced during the war. This is hill country, but garden, terrace, and even tree farming are possible. While hiking up from Hwachon toward Kumhwa, our team from Hickam AFB recovered two sets of human remains believed to be U.S. POWs who died en route north. We’re now working on IDs.

Some of the team members who work in South Korea also do work in Europe and other places, and they will not be back in South Korea until next year. But, with any luck we’ll have work ongoing in both North and South Korea in 2008. Scheduling becomes an art, because the anthropologist who recovers human remains is not allowed to make the final ID. This has to be “reviewed work” by someone else. But the same person can be used to identify someone else’s recovery, and prior field experience in the same general area can be very helpful. So in a given case, an anthropologist might [1] return from field work in Europe, [2] complete the identification of a Korean case that he or she did not recover, then [3] go to either North or South Korea for more field work, and [4] return to do yet another ID on remains that had just come in with a different team. Gets complicated, but the system works.

Meanwhile, other developments... Recent recoveries from North and South Korea are kept in respectful storage above ground at the Central Identification Laboratory, belonging to Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, at Hickam AFB, Hawaii. A lot of progress has been made toward identification of these men, as well. We now know to a certainty that many of those returned by the North Koreans between 1990 and 1994 were POWs who had died at the Suan Bean Camp and the Suan Mining Camp. Six of these men from Suan have already been identified. About 20 others are in work, right now, and some will be completed before year’s end. For February 1951 POWs, this includes some of the men accidentally killed in an air raid on 22 April 1951. Here, one name will lead to another. In many cases, we’ve already discovered which men were buried together, and which men separately. The logic unfolds in small steps, and this work will also continue into next year.

Between 1990 and 1994, the North Koreans returned other men who had died in Camp 5 at Old Pyoktong. There were 20 caskets from Camp 5, now known as Tongju-ri, containing the partial remains of around 50 men. DNA sampling continues as we write. One of the problems here is that the North Koreans and Chinese had already returned human remains from Camp 5 during Operation Glory in September 1954. Most of the returns in 1954 were individual burials from well above Yalu River or from behind the pagoda sick house. But the returns in 1990-94 appear to have been from common burials, low down along the back water arm of the Yalu River. So they were badly commingled. But separation work continues. Later, we should have some identifications from here, as well.

We’ve been looking at these returns from Camp 5 very carefully because we hope to be working in the same area at some future time. We know that most of the back water arm, behind Camp 5, has been diked and drained. So our work will probably begin just below the old water line, for there were many wash-aways from the Winter burials, which were just covered by rocks and ice and brush. In some cases, we expect to find additional portions of skeletal remains that we received in 1990-94. We are working with some of these, which are substantially complete, now, to press ahead for IDs. But I wouldn’t be surprised if others, later on, will require recombination from different sources, the past turnovers and our own future work.

One final item... We still have 867 Unknowns at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii. One went to Arlington National Cemetery as the Official Unknown from the Korean War. But since then, ten others have been exhumed, and six of these men have now been identified. It might come as a surprise, but three of these exhumations were of men returned from Camp 5, of whom one has been identified. Here the question was one of taking a very close look at newly discovered dental records, and even a chest x-ray. Work continues on the others. We will probably exhume three or four more men next year, based on recently developed leads. But if we can get back into North Korea, our first obligation becomes recovery. We don’t like the idea of leaving remains in possession unidentified, but at a given point, there are only so many hours and so many anthropologists who can do the final ID.

I’m very optimistic about next year. The recovery teams working out of Hawaii have worldwide obligations, but we know that we will be able to cover possible work in both North and South Korea. We also know that we will have fully qualified anthropologists rotating in and out of the main laboratory, between times in the field, and that they will be able to continue identification work. Several cases are nearing completion, right now. All I can do at this point is to help with a few details here and there... and hope for an early invitation to continue recovery work in North Korea. No need to write to anyone... in fact, it’s better if you don’t... Things are already moving along. But an occasional prayer would be very welcome.

September 2007:

Last time we spoke of Tiger Group, the first organized gathering of U.S. POWs in the Korean War. Most were taken during the opening days, from 6 July near Osan falling back to 22 July 1950 near Taejon. Not everyone captured during this early period became part of Tiger Group, but many did. Picking up the story, by foot and train they worked north, reaching Manpo on the south bank of the Yalu River on or about 11 September. A lot happened at Manpo. There was a first camp, but the war now took a new turn. Our friends were hurriedly pushed on a side trip to Kosan and Jui-am-nee, to keep them completely separate from Chinese armies entering North Korea at Manpo. Afterwards, they returned, staying at the nearby “cornfield” from 26 through 31 October, where 32 men died. Of these, 16 had to be left behind, unable to go any farther, with no hope of survival. This how the Tiger Group Death March began as it left Manpo.

The first man to die along the way, on 31 October or 1 November, was 1Lt Cordus H. Thornton. He was shot personally by The Tiger, as the sadistic North Korean guard commander now became known. Tiger Group marched on to the northeast, toward the Apex Camps, and many others fell by the wayside. Some were shot as they marched and stumbled, others died overnight in villages or were left behind, unable to go any farther. Often, gunshots were heard again as Tiger Group marched out from these villages. This is the hardest part to write about, but it is not a hopeless case. Our best estimate is that 68 Americans died between Manpo and Chunggang-jin, the first of the three Apex Camp villages, where they arrived on or about 9 November 1950. The tradition is that 100 died over the almost 100 miles en route, but, remember, some had already died in the cornfield as they left Manpo and others would die just after arriving in Chunggang-jin, and later in the other Apex villages, as well. Several foreign civilians also died en route, and every one was a precious human being. But day-by-day, we have 68 reliable U.S. names for the main segment of the Death March.

A little side note here: when the men of Tiger Group came home, some were in Little Switch and some were in Big Switch. Those in Big Switch were not all in the same ship. Some of the men who had died were very well known, and others less so. Those well known were often reported to have died on two or three different days. A few men, also with the group, were not reported at all. Even with several friends helping “Johnnie Johnson” to compile his Tiger Group List, there were gaps. By the way, Wayne A. “Johnnie” Johnson wrote pages and pages of debrief forms on the ship home, making a very big contribution even before his list was officially acknowledged, likewise, several of the friends who had helped him. Debriefers did what they could, but they often fumbled by filling in doubtful names, sometimes not getting the story right. So we’ve had to go back, over and over again, counting men against days. If we ever get to work in the area, we’ll find men we are looking for. And we’ll be surprised by others who show up not where expected. But so much the better for the men we did not expect to find! When the time comes, they will all be very, very welcome.

We've made a real effort to plot the route day by day. Men lost on the road before 4 November may be our biggest problem, for they died one at a time. Even if buried by local villagers, the sites may not be remembered. But others died or were left behind in villages, and their burial sites surely will be remembered. We say villages, but most were no more than clusters of huts. Even so, they are still there, and they have grown a little. Just as importantly, second and third generations will be there, and they will recall what their elders have told them. We are especially concerned with two sites, Songhang-ni and Kujangyong-ni. These villages may not have even been known by those names, then, but they are probably where Tiger Group stayed during two of the nights before going over that high pass beyond Chasong. Between overnight deaths and those who had to be left behind, we should be able to find at least 10 Tiger Group members in one and 15 in the other. Then came the worst day. Going over the high pass north of Chasong, at least 20 more men fell one at a time, but in a well defined area. A few of these men may have been buried by local villagers, while doing roadwork, or hunting, or gathering wood. We don’t know, but we can hope for the best.

This is why, last time we spoke, I mentioned the Manpo Airport. If we were allowed to base recovery teams there, they could cover the lower portion of the Death March from Manpo, at least as far as Songhang-ni and Kujangyong-ni. There isn’t another airport we can use along the way or even at the Apex Camps. So, if we are ever allowed to work in the area, our recovery teams might be flown into the Manpo Airport to set up a base camp, then go by truck to specific work sites around Manpo and up the road. That brings us to the Apex Camps where Tiger Group arrived on or about 9 November 1950. Working at Chunggang-jin will be more difficult. We might be able to visit it briefly from Manpo, but we would need a closer base camp, in or near the cluster of villages that made up the Apex Camps. Open stretches of road, once out of the mountains, might be usable by smaller aircraft. We would have a lot to do, do let's leave that story until next time...

March 2007:

This will be the start of a series of items I'm providing, but I'm also looking for odd bits of memory that might help things along a bit later, when we get back into North Korea. As POWs go, Tiger Group came first, they stayed longest, and many good men did not survive that first terrible Winter. Right now, we're trying to "prep up" for one or more missions into the North. Not likely for 2007, but possible, and a much better chance in 2008. We've never been able to go to the far-away Apex Camps where Tiger Group spent that first Winter. But the area is very high on our list... Meanwhile, we can try to keep the best possible count of men, in case we get a chance to move quickly. So we are watching and waiting, and not without hopes.

Back to Tiger Group. I'll use that term straight through, even though the men did not meet The Tiger until Manpo at the end of Oct 1950. Let's start in South Korea, as the group was forming. After leaving the battle zones most of these POWs gathered at Seoul. Several men had already fallen along the way, but four men died at or near Seoul in Jul-Aug 1950: R.E. Barnett, K.R. Mahoney, H. Oxner, and J.J. Tiernan. All four have been recovered, and are buried in the United States. H.L. Driskell, W.B Mitchell, and A.L. Vercolen died en route, only Driskell has been recovered. So Mitchell and Vercolen would "count" as among the first men still missing from Tiger Group.

I do not know of any Tiger Group members who died between Seoul and Pyongyang. But at Pyongyang, four men died in Aug-Sep 1950: R.M. Burnett, F.T. Burns, L.N. DeCicco, and R.C. Niemann. These four men were buried close together near the school house where Tiger Group was being held. After Tiger Group left Pyongyang, the extended grave was found and exhumed by U.S. forces. The four men, still unidentified, were reburied at the new U.N. Military Cemetery in Pyongyang, and so they were lost for a second time when the Chinese entered the war. But the Chinese and North Koreans returned some human remains during Operation Glory in Sep 1954, as required by the Armistice. Many of these remains were fragmentary, but we were able to identify most of them, including Burnett and Burns, and send them home. We do not know whether we have DeCicco and Niemann. They might be among the Unknowns at the Punchbowl, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific [NMCP] at Honolulu, or not. We still have a lot of work to do there.

Then three men died on the train, early in Sep 1950, en route from Pyongyang to Manpo on the south bank of the Yalu River: E.J. Girona, E.M. Kelley, and F.F. Perry. The remains of all three men came back during Operation Glory, they were identified and went home, as well.

J.J. Roberts, still unrecovered, died just as or after the train reached Manpo. He was likely the first loss there. A lot happened at Manpo. We are concerned with three periods, one after another. Tiger Group arrived on or about 11 Sep and stayed until 11 Oct 1950. This was their first Manpo period, and 18 men died. The group then left on a side trip to Kosan and Jui-am-nee, to keep them completely separate from the Chinese armies entering North Korea at Manpo. This interlude lasted from roughly 11 through 25 Oct. In villages or along the way, 16 more GIs and 1 U.S. civilian died. Finally, Tiger Group returned to Manpo, staying at the nearby "cornfield" from 26 through 31 Oct, where 32 more men died. Of these, 16 had to be left behind, unable to go any farther, with no hope of survival.

I mention all of this because it is part of our planning. You see, there is an airport just south of Manpo. But there isn't one farther along in the area of the Apex Camps. (We'll talk about them next time.) So there are a couple of possibilities for working in the Manpo area, if it's ever allowed. Our recovery teams could be flown into the airport and encamped there, then taken by truck to specific work sites around Manpo, Kosan, and Juiam-nee. The teams might also work the lower end of the Death March trail that began at Manpo on 31 Oct 1950 (more on that next time, too).

If the Manpo Airport were not usable, then the teams might be trucked in from Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. Or, a real thin possibility, they might even be allowed to enter North Korea from across the Yalu River in China. Manpo in North Korea and Chi-an in Manchuria are "sister towns," and Chi-an has road and rail links to the outside world, as well. For now, all of this is very iffy... but it is an important part of what we would like to do. I'll pick up the story in Manpo next time...