June 2013

On 11 April 2013, a long journey came to an end.  Capt/Chaplain/Father Emil J. Kapaun [Hq/8 Cavalry, POW 2 November 1950, death reported on 23 May 1951] posthumously received his Medal of Honor from President Barack Obama.  Nine surviving POWs who had known him were there, alphabetically: Gerald “Bob” Cavagnaro, Richard A. Caverly, Ray Michael Dowe, Jr. Robert L. McGreevy, Herbert A. Miller, Joe...
read more

March 2013

I’ve often been asked, how many men were Prisoners of War (POWs) during the Korean War?  I don’t know exactly, and this story is worth telling.  Government figures are quite good, and the number most often seen is 7140.  It takes in 2701 men who died as POWs, 4418 who returned alive, and 21 who refused to come home.  Those who came back alive include Little Switch and Big Switch,...
read more

June 2012

More of us are using home computers, or even “smart” hand-helds, so here is an updated list of POW camps we’ve spoken about.  You can enter latitude and longitude from the right-hand column in Google Maps, go to satellite mode, and zoom in.  WGS-84 is today’s international map system.  A few comments follow: Camp Context Used WGS-84 for Google Kosan pre-Apex Oct 1950 126 08 00 E, 41 02 45 N...
read more

March 2012

It’s been a while since we’ve spoken of the Chosin Reservoir.  Very likely our recovery teams will be back in North Korea later this year.  One of our two previous base camps was on the east side of the Chosin–the other was at the Unsan battle zone, farther west.  We hope to be working on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir this Spring, and even to do some exploratory work on...
read more

December 2011

We’re still losing friends, but I have a story to tell on one . . . a very helpful story.  Dr. (Capt.) William R. Shadish was captured on 1 December 1950 when the 9th Infantry Medical Station was overrun by Chinese forces near Kunu-ri.  He was a good man, and he was with us at several of the annual meetings. As POWs were bundled up from around Kunu-ri, groups formed and moved by night. ...
read more