Voice of America Press Releases and Documents
Korean Veteran Searches for Missing Friends
Radio Scripts - English Feature 7-39314 California
INTRO: The Korean War is often referred to in the United States as the Forgotten War, coming as it did between World War II and the highly controversial Vietnam War. But not everyone has forgotten Korea. More than 54,000 American soldiers died during that war, and some 8,000 still remain listed as missing in action. As we hear from Jason Margolis, even after five
decades, a California veteran is still fighting to locate and bring home the remains of his buddies
TEXT: Ron Broward was 17 years old when he was sent to Korea. As fate would have it, he was in the same unit as his older brother's best friend, Jackson Rarrick. Fifty-three years later, Broward looks back at a photo of the two young Marines[degrees]
CUT 1: BROWARD This is P-F-C (Private First Class) Rarrick and myself on my 18th birthday. Somebody took that (photograph) when we were on an outpost[degrees] And he (P-F-C Rarrick) took out a bottle, a little mayonnaise jar, and he said, Open your hands, so I opened my hands, and he poured into it, it was Downey Dirt from where we lived. [I] Touched something from home. TEXT: A few days later during that spring of 1951, the young Marines of the First Battalion, First Regiment, were overwhelmed by 140,000 Chinese soldiers at the battle of Horseshoe Ridge in South Korea.
CUT 2: BROWARD You have to understand, when you get run-over, it's very chaotic: the people on top of you, so the best you can do is get your wounded out. That was the last time I saw him, myself[degrees] TEXT: Today, Ron Broward runs a successful business in Davis, California. At age 71, the blonde hair he had as a young soldier has long-since grayed, but he still looks the part of a tough Marine. And after all this time, Mr. Broward says he still has not completed his military service: not until he
brings his buddies home. He's made nine trips to Korea, looking for clues and talking to elderly farmers to try to locate the remains of the soldiers he served with.
CUT 3: BROWARD I just think we owe it to them. They were youngsters, they never really had a chance. And it's our duty to bring them home. TEXT: Six years ago, Mr. Broward learned about the military's program to help recover missing soldiers. He convinced military officials to conduct a search and recovery mission at Horseshoe Ridge, and he set out with a team of forensic experts, guiding them where to look. After 18 days of excavation, they found skeletal remains of nine people, but were unable to positively identify any Marines. A second expedition yielded no further clues. In total, only 15 missing soldiers have been identified from Korea, compared with more than 700 soldiers from Vietnam. One problem is the need for more family samples of mitochondrial DNA.
CUT 4: LENEY It's a type of DNA that individuals only inherit from their mothers. It's present in rather large quantities in remains. It preserves well and it's relatively easy for us to recover. TEXT: Dr. Mark Leney is the DNA manager at the Joint POW/MIA (Prisoner of War/ Missing in Action) Accounting Command in Hawaii. He says forensic experts can use a sample of this DNA from anyone on the mother side of the family. But the military has samples for only four out of every 10 Korean war casualties. And it's a challenge to gather more samples, says Larry Greer with the military's Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office.
CUT 5: GREER The war was so long ago, the U.S. government ceased contact with most of those families in the mid to late 50's.
TEXT: But Ron Broward isn't giving up[degrees]
CUT 6: BROWARD (SOUNDS OF PAPER SHUFFLING) This is an isolated burial roster from North Korea. And all the names crossed out were guys that they found[degrees] TEXT: Mr. Broward says he spends about three hours a day combing through stacks of documents. Right now, he's cross-referencing unmarked burial plots with the dates that unknown soldiers were evacuated from Korea. He regularly meets with politicians and military officials, lobbying them to expand efforts to gather mitochodrial DNA.
Mr. Broward says he thinks the remains of his best buddy are either in an unmarked grave at the military cemetery in Hawaii, or buried under a rural farm road near the battleground at Horseshoe Ridge. He's hoping the military will make one more trip to the old site.
CUT 7: BROWARD I still think we'll find him. I know exactly where he was at. There are certain things that never leave your mind. I can remember battles just like yesterday. Something that never leaves you.
TEXT: For the Voice of America, I'm Jason Margolis.