News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci
(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Archival Activities

Date: October 01, 1998

DPMO HIGHLIGHTS OF RECENT ARCHIVAL ACTIVITIES

June 1998

During this period, numerous DPMO researchers concentrated their efforts on Korean War Records at the National Archives in College Park, MD. Archivists completed the review of US Air Force Korean War Casualty Records. They also finished a project that involved screening US Navy Repatriated POW Debriefings for casualty information. Casualty information from both sets of records is being crosschecked with data in the PMKOR (Personnel Missing-Korea) database to check for discrepancies. The information is also being used to update the Aircraft Loss Database records.

Additionally, new projects were begun, including a review of operational records for all US military units that were involved in combat actions north of the 38th Parallel (now North Korea). Researchers are extracting and photocopying information that provides data on locations of units or information on casualties. This information will be used to identify potential sites for future excavations in North Korea. When remains are found, this information will help to narrow the field of candidates for identification. Another new initiative includes the input of Navy and Marine Corps aircraft loss data into the Korean War Aircraft Loss Database. This database will eventually contain all US Armed Forces and Allied aircraft losses.

May 1998

This month, two archivists traveled to North Korea to conduct research in Pyongyang. During a visit to the PeopleÍs Victorious Liberation War Museum, they photographed identification media of US Personnel. The names on the media were then compared against the DPMO database of Korean War unaccounted-for personnel. The researchers discovered that the media included names of two personnel listed as Missing-in-Action and one individual who is a deceased Prisoner-of-War whose body was never repatriated. DPMO requested that the Korean PeopleÍs Army representatives search for additional information on these three individuals as soon as possible. At the PeopleÍs Grand Study House, the researchers reviewed personal accounts of US aircraft shootdowns as witnessed by Korean PeopleÍs Army personnel during the war. This information is currently under analysis at DPMO.

April 1998

Several researchers returned to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, MO to continue the review of Headquarters Far East Forces and Headquarters Fifth Air Force Korean War records. They discovered valuable information that will be used to expand and update the Korean War Aircraft Loss Database. The data included: Fifth Air Force daily aircraft loss reports from June 1951-53; 3rd Air Rescue and Recovery Squadron search and rescue reports; and casualty records and aircraft loss records that will permit DPMO to associate a specific tail number with the aircraft crash location and individual crew members. To date, 374 boxes of records containing some 3 million documents have been reviewed at NPRC.

Other DPMO personnel spent the month at the National Archives in College Park, MD researching Vietnam War Aircraft Loss and Incident Reports for 1968-72. They conducted a detailed review of the 1968 records to determine the overall value of the reports. The archivists extracted and photocopied all 1968 reports pertaining to incidents involving unaccounted-for personnel. The reports were then provided to the Research and Analysis Division (RA) at DPMO and to the Joint Task Force-Full Accounting Office in Hawaii for further analysis.

March 1998

In mid-March, DPMO researchers traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to assess World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War records stored at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) archives. During this review, researchers conducted an in-depth study of a portion of Korean War records to help them analyze the value of the ICRC materials. This sample of records Ümostly from the ICRC, North Korean Red Cross, and Chinese Red Cross- did hold key information.

DPMO personnel discovered names of four personnel who were listed by the ICRC as POWs but who were not carried in US records as POWs. All four were considered to be unaccounted-for personnel, but two were listed in US records as Killed in Action and two were listed as Missing in Action. Changes were immediately made to the DPMO consolidated database of Personnel Missing from the Korean War (PMKOR) and appropriate documentation was forwarded to the Service casualty officers. DPMO researchers plan to undertake a full review of the ICRC records that become available in the future to determine if there is other information that may shed light on the fates of unaccounted-for Americans.

February 1998

Two DPMO researchers and an Air Force Casualty Office researcher visited the National Records Center in St. Louis in mid-February. They reviewed approximately 200 linear feet of records, including Air Force Casualty Records for 1950-52 and closed casualty files for January-December 1951. During this search, information was uncovered which confirmed that the remains of four USAF personnel listed as Killed, Body Not Recovered in the PMKOR database were, in fact, recovered. Those names have been removed from the PMKOR database and Service casualty officers have been informed. Researchers also found information in the Air Force casualty records that they used to update the DPMO Korean War aircraft loss database. DPMO personnel identified additional unit-level records and 150 linear feet of other US Air Force Korean War-era records to be searched at a later date.

January 1998:

DPMO SP/AR personnel reviewed Vietnam Era classified logbooks at NARA II. They discovered that the logbooks contained the 1966 and 1967 records of the 3rd Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Group. After discussions with the JTF-FA, it appears that the logbooks are the "missing" volumes of the aircraft Search and Rescue records maintained at the JTF-FA office, which currently cover the years from 1968 through the end of the Vietnam War. DPMO archival personnel made photocopies of these logbooks (some 2,000 pages). A complete photocopied set has been sent to JTF-FA and a second set will be retained at DPMO for analytical reference and review.

A DPMO archivist visited the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis to review US Air Force operational records related to servicemen missing from the Korean War. During his search, the researcher discovered approximately 500 boxes of individual casualty information and aircraft loss data from the Headquarters of the Fifth Air Force and the Headquarters of the Far East Air Forces. Analysts will use information from these records to fill in missing details for Korean War casualty files and to cross-check the data contained in the PMKOR, a comprehensive listing of Korean War unaccounted-for servicemen.