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Ted Barker
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We are announcing the publication of the "Korean War Project Remembrance 1950 - 1953" book.
The book is the first comprehensive listing of Korean War losses. It is not a narrative book.
Funded by a grant from Mary Grigsby Urquhart.
- Hardback
- Library Quality
- Stitched Spine
- 528 pages
- 37,053 Names
- 500 Copies only Printed
Questions? -
Email Ted For Information
About The Korean War Project Remembrance File
37,053 KWP Names vs 36,574 DOD Names
This book is the result of over 30 years of research to correct errors and omission in the official Department of Defense databases.
This is the story of the Korean War Project Remembrance casualty file.
The idea of the Korean War Project began in August, 1979, when I wrote the Commandant of the Marine
Corps to find out why my father wore the Silver Star on his dress blues. I learned my father attempted a
helicopter rescue of a downed pilot during the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge. The young pilot was captured
and died as a Prisoner of War. He was never recovered and remains Lost.
(Return to Heartbreak Ridge)
Originally, I was interested in why my father would not talk about Korea. Later, I would learn that no
Memorial to the Lost from Korea existed. I learned of a fundraising group in Washington, D.C., and volunteered
to join that group. That group splintered after internal discord and complicated litigation so the
thought of a Memorial was dropped by Congress.
(The Korean War Veterans Memorial Story)
To fix the problem, I created what would become the primary fundraising solution for the Memorial, the
Korean War Memorial Trust Fund administered by the American Battle Monuments Commission. In conjunction
with William “Bill” Temple, of I Company 38th Infantry, we were able to lobby both the House and
Senate and convince the appropriate Committees to sponsor a bill based on my concept of funding.
(Letter from General Stilwell)
During this time there was much talk of listing the names of the Lost on the proposed Korean War Veterans
Memorial. This was discouraged by various government agencies due to the fact that no actual
confirmed list of names existed.
When the Internet became available to the public in 1995, it set the stage for intensive collaborative
research to create a best effort compilation of names of the Lost from the Korean War. This book is the
result of over 40 years of work ultimately involving tens of thousands of veterans, families, and groups.
To best outline how the Korean War Project Remembrance File evolved over decades, we have divided the story and answers into a series of questions.
About The Korean War Project Remembrance File
37,053 Names
To best outline how the Korean War Project Remembrance File evolved over decades, we have divided the story and answers into a series of questions.
Our current total of casualties is 37,053. On our final day before sending this to the printer we found three more Air Force casualties from a B-26 air crash in Japan.
Why do I see the number 36,574 as the official tally of Korean War losses?
The current official Department of Defense total of losses from the Korean War is 36,574. In the early 2000s, this became the database of record at the Department of Defense.
For many years, this number has been widely disputed due to many errors and omissions. While there is a bare ring of truth to the 36,574 figure, many hundreds of names are misspelled, missing, or simply wrong. The errors and omissions go back decades.
The origin of the 36,574 number is complicated. A primary set of records deemed Records Group 330, was created by the Directorate for Information Operations and Reports, Manpower Management Information Division, Department of Defense, in 1977 with later modification in 1996. The data was taken off punch cards. The record set contained 33,642 files. The description from the National Archives cites “U.S. military personnel who died by hostile means (i.e., battle deaths).”
RG 407, or Archive Journal.
Records Group 407, known as TAGOKOR, was created by the Adjutant General’s Office, Department of Defense, Department of the Army, in the time period 1950 to 1970. Total records: 109,975. This included 27,727 records of Army personnel who died, including personnel who died while a prisoner of war or missing in action, and 82,248 records of nonfatal Army casualties. The data was taken off punch cards.
What is the Marty O’Brien Non-battle Dataset
During the 1990’s Martin J. O’Brien of Augusta, Maine, conducted an exhaustive study of non-battle deaths. In 1997 O’Brien published his research in a booklet format that became the primary research document for non-battle deaths. His research prompted the inclusion of approximately 2,452 names to the existing Department of Defense datasets. The true number of non-battle will never be known.
American Battle Monuments Commission Honor Roll
Prior to and subsequent to the Dedication of the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C., on July 27, 1995, the ABMC created a file of approximately 37,000 names of personnel who died in the Korean War and the time period of postwar operations after July 27, 1953. The dataset included losses outside of the zone of Korean operations. The Honor Roll was designated “unofficial” and was not a database of record.
The Honor Roll was an enormous work by American Battle Monuments Commission staff and became a primary research tool. But much of the data was unconfirmed and incomplete.
How does the Korean War Project fit into Korean War casualty program.
In 1982, I began visiting the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland, and the Navy History Command and the Marine Corps History Division units in Washington and at Quantico, Virginia. I amassed dozens of boxes of records relating to the Korean War. This continued as I detoured from my original historical work relating to my father to working toward what would become the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
In 1992, when the RG 330 and RG 407 databases became available, I purchased a large data cartridge of the two databases as well as the Vietnam dataset available at that time.
My brother Ted and I converted this data cartridge into usable datasets with the help of Tom Holloway, a database expert from Georgia. This took a great deal of manipulation due to a huge number of errors and omissions relating to truncated names, mismatched serial numbers, odd racial classifications, and names in which the first name was traded for last name, middle name for first name, and middle name for last name.
In 1995, the Internet changed the whole complexion of data compilation and research. In Dallas, an Internet Service Provider opened up access to personal websites, and within hours, I had created the second personal website in North Texas and the second known military related private website on the Internet.
In the summer of 1995, we were invited to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency in Crystal City, Virginia, to consult on the establishment of a Korean War department. DPMO specifically wanted our knowledge on location of military records and help with finding veterans and prisoners of war who could contribute to identifying remains and finding potential locations of remains of Missing.
Shortly after visiting DPMO, we developed a series of webpages using interactive scripting so the datasets we had up to that time could be presented online. This was the first time that Korean War data was available to the public on the Internet. During this time period scores of active duty military and Department of Defense personnel contacted us for help with projects relating to the Korean War.
After our interactive casualty webpages went online, thousands of veterans, family members, and friends notified us of errors and omissions to the data we had obtained from DOD via the National Archives.
During this time period from 1995 to 1998 we were in constant contact with DPMO. In 1998, we were in correspondence with Roger Jorstadt of Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (DIOR). After a conversation on August 31, 1998, I wrote a letter attachment to an email to Mr. Jorstadt. Jorstadt had been tasked by DOD and Congress to develop a new database styled the “Korean Conflict file.”
(Email and Letter to Jorstadt)
We had been in routine contact with Jorstadt and DIOR since July 1996. There was an exchange of data relating to casualties and we expressed some of the issues we found when merging existing databases.
In a letter and email dated September 1, 1998, we stressed problems with Hispanic/Latino names. We also noted problems with Hawaiian names. We had already noted that the RG 330 database represented many Hawaiians and Japanese-Americans as “Mongolian” and Puerto Ricans as “Malayan.”
What is the definition of “In Theatre” in the Korean War?
There is no actual definition of “In Theatre” in any known set of records. In creating the DCAS file for publication in 2008, each service was required to submit their casualty records. A close line item examination of these records by the Korean War Project resulted in multiple variations from what might be expected. As of the date of publication of this book, no known definition exists. Although clearly in error, records approved officially as Korean War casualties included losses in Europe and the continental United States including car wrecks, self-inflicted, and several who lived to old age. Yet other losses clearly related to the Korean War are not considered for inclusion on any casualty lists from the Korean War.
What is the definition of “criteria” in determining official losses?
No definitive criteria have ever been established by the services to define a Korean War casualty. When we queried the Air Force Casualty Office for a definition of criteria, we were asked if we knew because they could not find any definition of criteria. When we queried the Air Force Historical Support Division, we were referred to the United States Army for guidance as the principal authority.
In 2008, after obtaining the DCAS file, we compared that file to all known files including the RG 330 file, RG 407 file, the American Battle Monuments Commission file, and additions and corrections we had made over time from primary records, families, books, historical records, and veterans.
We found that many of the errors and omission we noted in the September 1998 email and letter to Roger Jorstadt were not corrected.
With the release of the results of the official Korean War database as the final government effort, we realized in 2008 that it would be necessary to continue research until we felt that we had a best effort analysis. This took 13 years and will probably never be completed with any certainty.
There will be errors and omissions that is clear. We encourage renewed efforts to help continue the work at the Korean War Project.
Why does DCAS list 12 losses in Japan and KWP lists over 500 in Japan/Okinawa?
We noted in 2008 that Air Force losses were vastly undercounted based on actual aircraft loss records. A glaring error involved the 129 losses from the
Tachikawa R&R crash of June 18, 1953. The flight took off from Tachikawa Air Base near Tokyo enroute to Osan Air Base in Korea. Up to that time, the crash was the worst disaster in aviation history. The official explanation has been that the aircraft was not on a combat flight or mission thus did not qualify as a loss relating to the Korean War.
A basic explanation has been that losses in Japan proper and Okinawa do not count as Korean War related.
Research identified a C-47D loss on July 27, 1950, that does not show up in official loss statistics. The aircraft was a courier flight from Haneda Air Base in Tokyo to Itazuke Air Base enroute to Pusan, Republic of Korea. The pilot was Lt. Colonel George Wellington Foster, attached to Headquarters Squadron, 6000th Air Base Unit, Far East Air Force.
On the July 27 courier flight was Lt. Colonel Wilfred Jackson, a MacArthur staff member enroute to Korea. The flight also had several news reporters and a Red Cross official.
Also on the aircraft was
Major Genevieve Smith of the 115th Station Hospital in Yokohama, Japan. During this time period the 115th Station Hospital was tasked with providing personnel to staff the 8076th MASH unit in Korea, and Major Smith was enroute to this command.
Based on a query on the status of the losses aboard the aircraft, the Air Force replied to Senator John Cornyn concerning the flight.
“Because the accident did not occur in the Korean War Zone nor was the aircraft on a Korean War mission enroute to or from the war zone, the incident is not designated a Korean War related loss of personnel. Therefore, the personnel who died on board the aircraft are not included on the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s unaccounted-for list.”
(Letter to Senator John Cornyn)
When I contacted the Air Force telephone number included in the answer, I was told that the Air Force did not have access to any records that defined “In Theatre” or established criteria for an accident such as the July 27, 1950 crash.
However, I found complete references to define Korean War activities in Japan from the following documents found on the Air Force Historical Support Division website.
In the Fiscal Year 1953 file, the Air Force defines a “Combat Mission” relating to cargo aircraft.
“Cargo – A mission with the primary purpose of transporting troops and their equipment and/or supplies to specified landing areas or to furnish logistical support in the form of personnel and/or supplies and equipment to friendly forces in the field.”
The key is the element of “mission.” The Air Force currently contends that courier flights are not missions, indicating that flights like the July 27, 1950, crash that took the life of Major Genevieve Smith was voluntary and not under any military orders or mission relating to the Korean War in any way whatsoever.
The facts are known. The aircraft was piloted by a senior Air Force pilot attached to the Headquarters Squadron, Far East Air Force, flying the senior nurse “In Theatre” to Korea as well as a field grade MacArthur staff officer, a Red Cross representative, and journalists, and was on a mission to the Republic of Korea. Yet as of May 2021, none of the military losses on this flight are eligible for Korean War status or eligibility to be counted as Korean War Missing or even Cold War Missing.
To point out how errors can creep into official records, the DPAA official PMKOR file currently lists 225 Missing in Japan as of May 26, 2021. This is a long term administrative error, but nevertheless indicates issues with record keeping over decades relating to misclassification of data and misunderstanding the Korean War mission of units and personnel.
(DPAA PMKOR File June 2021)
When I talked with the Air Force official in 2020, I was told that the Air Force had minimal operations in Japan/Okinawa, and that no losses in Japan are counted as Korean War related casualties.
However, in examining the DCAS file, the Air Force mislabeled almost 200 casualties that actually occurred in Japan as losses in Korea proper.
The Navy identified losses that actually occurred in port at Sasebo and Yokosuka as losses in North or South Korea, some as Killed In Action and Wounded In Action/Died of Wounds in Yokosuka harbor.
(USS Bairoko History)
This book is an attempt to correct the errors and omissions of the official Department of Defense databases that have long been in error.
The case of Captain Vera Maude Brown, Air Force Nurse Corps
Captain Vera Maude Brown, Air Force Nurse Corps, was a passenger on a C-54D Skymaster aircraft departing from Ashiya Air Base in Japan on , 1950. Shortly after takeoff the plane crashed into the Sea of Japan and 23 aboard the aircraft perished, including Captain Brown.
The crash is noted in an Air Force publication,
“A Fit, Fighting Force – The Air Force Nursing Services Chronology,” at page 13.
Flight nurses Lt. Jonita Bonham and Capt. Vera M. Brown received Distinguished Flying Crosses when their C-54 ditched in the Sea of Japan. Captain Brown perished in the crash.
On 18 October 1950, Headquarters, 801st Medical Air Evacuation Squadron issued the following posthumous award.
"During the period 10 August 1950 to 26 September 1950, Captain Brown flew a total of 146 hours in order to attend sick and wounded personnel in aerial flight. Both in Japan and in the Korean Combat zone, Captain Brown flew in unarmed cargo type aircraft. On many occasions these aircraft were transporting ammunition, rockets, bombs, and other types of high explosives and inflammable materials, leaving no margin for air crew error. Despite adverse weather conditions, hazardous terrain, and at times, the threat of enemy attack, Captain Brown carried out her missions willingly and without complaint, continually comforting and caring for her patients, many of whom were on their initial flight. Because of her devotion to duty, loss of life and limb was appreciably reduced. While departing from Ashiya Air Force Base, Japan, on 26 September 1950, Captain Brown was fatally injured in an aircraft accident."
Officially, the aircraft was not involved in the Korean War, so an American hero, a Flight Nurse, and all others lost on the flight are forgotten permanently except at the Korean War Project and in this book.
Conclusion
A primary problem with the existing government databases is record keeping. Many Air Force air crashes and other losses simply don’t show up in official listings. However, in the last few years a number of researchers and aircraft related record businesses have evolved and crash records are readily available.
A careful analysis of the DCAS database shows scores of identified country locations are hundreds if not thousands of miles in variance with actual casualty sites. The theory of no losses in Japan/Okinawa is simply refuted by records in the possession of the Department of Defense. One just has to know what to look for prior to analysis of data.
