News-Info-Alerts

Re: 50 Years Later

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: March 25, 2002

"Missing soldiers' families cannot forget
ERIC FRAZIER -Staff Writer


Fifty long years have passed since Army Cpl. Melvin Morgan of Stanly County disappeared somewhere in Southeast Asia, captured by enemy forces during the Korean War.

For his siblings, time hasn't healed the pain of loss, or the need to know exactly what happened to him.

"This has been a dark cloud hanging over my head for 50 years," said Gilbert Morgan, 69, of Midland. "I'd love to see this brought to closure before I leave this earth."

On Saturday, similar hopes drew about 125 others to Charlotte's Renaissance Suites Hotel near the Charlotte Coliseum. There, about two dozen military officials offered the one thing relatives of missing soldiers treasure most -- information.

In a monthly ritual repeated in cities across the country, experts from the U.S. Defense Department's POW/Missing Personnel Office walked relatives through the case files on their missing loved ones.

They also explained how they go about the painstaking and sometimes dangerous task of recovering remains from foreign battlefields and identifying them. Families deserve to hear the information firsthand, officials said.

"These families have waited for decades and decades for answers," said Larry Greer of the POW/Missing Personnel Office. "We want to tell them everything we know."

Such meetings began in 1995, partly in response to public criticism and complaints from family members who felt their search for answers were stymied by red tape.

The officers -- mortuary specialists, counselors, scientists trained in DNA testing -- go from city to city, meeting with relatives. Saturday was their first visit to Charlotte.

They have plenty of cases to work on. More than 88,000 Americans are missing from World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War. Nearly 400 soldiers from the Carolinas remain missing from the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Robin Croswhite of Charlotte came to the meeting carrying a large framed picture of her uncle, Army Pfc. Thomas Stagg. He was 19 when he disappeared in 1950 during the Battle of Chong Chon River in Korea.

For years, Croswhite said, no one in her family talked about it. But then military researchers tracked her down, asking whether she would donate a blood sample for a DNA test. She learned Saturday that the government has found the remains of more than 100 soldiers in the same area where her uncle disappeared. Her DNA might show his remains were among those found.

"I felt like I never knew anything," she said. "It's very emotional."

Gilbert Morgan and his sisters -- Jane Johnson and Patricia Furr -- learned their brother would be buried with full military honors when his remains are found.

"It's not like they take you for granted and forget you," Morgan said.

Johnson turned to Greer of the POW office. With tears in her eyes, she said: "I'm so proud of that. I really appreciate you guys.""