Man's search for missing brother continues
Sheila Dianoski - Mesabi Daily News
CHISHOLM - Like the U.S. flag that hangs perpetually outside his door, Jerry Verant's hope for finding out his brother's fate has weathered many seasons
As reported in last summer's Mesabi Daily News Korean War 50th Anniversary edition, Corporal Fred Louis Verant was listed missing in action while serving on the Korean front more than 50 years ago. His brother and two sisters, Betty Harwood and Frances Motta, still have no answers about what happened to the 23-year-old soldier.
The stormy turbulence that is part of losing a son, brother and best friend started with the dreaded soldier-served telegram in the fall of 1951
That downpour of tears eventually faded into a long, devastating drought of whys, hows and what-ifs - What if Fred Verant hadn't left the merchant marines just in time to be drafted into the Army and the Korean War? Why hadn't he promised two years of his life to the Navy instead of taking his chances with the draft, which placed him on front lines? How did he end up missing and where has he, or his body, been all these years?
The answerless questions piled up.
Now, Jerry Verant is trying to quench the drought in his soul by actively searching for answers. In April, he and his son, 40-year-old Joseph Verant, attended an annual DPMO briefing on the search for MIAs.
"They've been having these meetings the last couple of years," Jerry Verant said. "I figured it was time to go. Maybe things will happen by next year."
The DPMO told him that they have not turned up anything new in Fred Verant's case, but reassured him and other relatives of MIAs that they are still searching and negotiating for access to North Korean battle grounds, and will notify them if anything breaks in their case.
DPMO officials also said they still believe Verant went missing on Dec. 11, 1951 in an attack on a Chinese position near where the Imjin River meets the present-day boundary between North and South Korea. The assault lasted until mid-afternoon, when the American forces captured the Chinese-occupied front-line trenches.
American soldiers set up defensive positions, preparing for the first counter-attack. It came at 11 p.m., when Chinese soldiers advanced to throw grenades at the American positions. They retreated from the Americans' answering fire, the DPMO report says.
Enemy advances and retreats continued through the night and a constant barrage of mortars and heavy artillery took its toll on the entrenched American forces.
They were quickly running out of ammunition and their supply train was also under fire, unable to reach the front lines. By sunrise, the American troops had depleted even a cache of enemy grenades they had found in the trenches.
Then the communist forces launched their fourth attack of the battle.
Outnumbered and out-gunned, the Americans were overrun and had to fight the enemy hand-to-hand. Chinese forces flanked them and set up positions behind their lines. The surrounded Americans abandoned the trenches to fight their way back toward friendly lines.
Only half of the soldiers survived.
According to the DPMO report, Corporal Fred Verant "may have died during the first combat assault at 11 p.m. on 11 October - some unknown survivor(s) reported that he was lost in that first assault ... Given all of the artillery, mortars, and grenades that hit the American positions, it is certainly possible that CPL Verant could have been killed in the heavy fighting of 11 October 1951."
Cpl. Fred Louis Verant was presumed dead by the Army on Dec. 31, 1953.
"Some story, huh?" Jerry Verant said. "I'm just glad my folks never got to see that. It was bad enough the way it was."
The briefing was an emotional event, with 500 MIA next-of-kin attending, he said. The meeting consisted of an address by officials about on-going attempts to find the missing soldiers, a question-and-answer session and a poignant "Missing Man Table" tribute to all MIAs.
The tribute took the form of an empty seat at a round table, which signified the never-ending concern for those still missing. A white tablecloth represented the purity of the soldiers' motives when they answered the call to duty. A single red rose at the empty setting reminded the audience of each missing soldier's life and their loved ones who await answers. The vase was tied with a red ribbon, a symbol of continued determination to account for the missing. A slice of lemon and a pinch of salt represented the bitter fate of those captured and missing, and the tears of all affected. An inverted glass symbolized the inability of those missing to share in the toast.
"There were a lot of tears at that table," Jerry Verant said.
During the question-and-answer session, one woman's comment stood out, he said.
"She asked why the President doesn't just go to North Korea and ask their president to let us in there (the demilitarized zone along the countryıs border with South Korea). Itıs been 50 years," Jerry Verant said. "No one answered her."
Despite the lack of new answers, he was heartened by the meeting.
The DPMO report outlined negotiations with North Korea for access to crash sites, battlefields and prison camp cemeteries.
"The North Koreans have authorized limited access to their main military museum and national library in Pyongyang for POW/MIA-related research. The North Koreans provided our researchers with a selection of documents and artifacts from these archives for review during visits in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Unfortunately they found no information on CPL Verant," the report said. Excavations in North Korea, 1996 through 2003 have resulted in the recovery and repatriation of remains of over 180 U.S. servicemen and that effort is expected to continue in coming years ... the North Koreans have not yet allowed us access to their side of the DMZ.
"So theyıre still trying to negotiate," Jerry Verant said. "I've always wondered what happened, really, and this helps some.
"Iım glad I went."
The government footed the bill for Jerry Verant's transportation to and from Virginia, and he stayed for seven days. While there, the World War II veteran visited the Korean War Memorial and the newly completed World War II Memorial.