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.  Most of these men were from 2nd Infantry Division, but there were others, as well, from 24th and 25th Divisions which had fought farther west near Ipsok.  Around Christmas Eve, men began to collect at a large Mining Camp, soon known as Death Valley and now marked as Pukchin-Tarigol.  Dr. Shadish, and others from the Medical Company, had tried to treat men en route.  At Pukchin-Tarigol, he had no real facilities or medicines, but at least they were in place with a little shelter.

Men lived, men died.  Dr. Shadish did what he could, and kept what notes he could on names and dates.  A large group marched out in January 1951, arriving at Camp 5 in Pyoktong a few days later.  Dr. Shadish and the last men at Pukchin-Tarigol walked or were carted out in March 1951, also arriving at Camp 5 after a few days.  Friends helped Dr. Shadish to keep his list hidden, and at war’s end, the list came out, like “Johnny” Johnson’s from Tiger Group.

For the names he wrote down, we will always be grateful, but we have made even better use of Dr. Shadish’s list.  You see, not everyone captured from around Kunu-ri, or Kujang, or Ipsok, spent time at Pukchin-Tarigol.  Some passed the foot of the valley, and went on to Sambakkol, where 8th Cavalry and 19th Infantry POWs had stayed a month before.  Others went up Kanggye, before marching west to Camp 5.  And one small group was taken to Dandong, now Antung, in China, before returning to Korea and marching east to Camp 5.

This is where the list becomes vital.  Between other POW debriefs and Dr. Shadish’s list, we have a really good idea of who stopped at Pukchin-Tarigol and who died there.  We also know of many other deaths en route.  Indirectly, Dr. Shadish’s list has already helped us to identify SFC George W. Koon, SFC Jack O. Tye, Sgt Mitchell A. Wallace, and Sgt Preston M. Burgess, all of whom had died just short of Pukchin-Tarigol.  Their remains were recovered by a JPAC team operating from the Unsan battle zone, at sites off the northern edge of the fighting area.

Next year, we hope to make even better use of Dr. Shadish’s list.  We have already held talks with the North Koreans, and it’s very likely that U.S. teams will be back in North Korea after the Spring thaw in 2012.  Still too soon to say anything more about that but hold a good thought and say a prayer.  This promises to be a very interesting year.