Fifty years after the Korean War began, Utah officials are hoping to start a database that might help connect families of missing servicemen with the remains of the servicemen.
According to information obtained from the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs, 26 Utahns remain missing in action in Korea whose families military officials have not been able to locate. In alphabetical order, the servicemen are:
Army Cpl. Ralph Asher
Army Cpl. Neldon Blackett
Army Pfc. William Brown
Air Force 1st Lt. Clayton Conley
Air Force A1C Howard Croshaw
Army Cpl. Gerald Durbin
Army Sgt. Frank Gallegos
Air Force 1st Lt. Robert Gillespie
Army PFC Frank Hoesch
Army Sgt. Walter Jensen
Army Sgt. Hugh Killam
Navy AN (E3) Lawrence Larsen
Air Force 1st Lt. Grant Madsen
Army Capt. Auburn Marr
Army Cpl. Joseph Marrelli
Army Master Sgt. Richard Matthews
Army Cpl. Morris Mickelsen
Army Maj. Paul Nestler
Army Sgt. David Pethel
Army Sgt. Orville Phillips
Army Cpl. Vincent Ryan
Army 1st Lt. Jack Saunders
Army Pfc. Glen Shupe
Army Sgt. Howard Stewart
USMC Cpl. William Edward Wagner
Army 1st Lt. Samuel Westerman
Recently, relations between the United States and North Korea have thawed somewhat, as evidenced by the visit to Pyongyang in October by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Since 1996, North Korea has allowed Defense Department experts to investigate and excavate possible sites where the bodies of American servicemen may be located.
According to a letter by Robert L. Jones, deputy assistant secretary of defense for prisoners of war/missing personnel, more than 70 remains have been recovered through these joint recovery efforts.
"Unfortunately, contact with most of the families of missing servicemen from Korea was lost over the course of almost 50 years," Jones wrote to Lavonne Willis, director of the Utah Office of Veterans Affairs.
"Only recently has there been a renewed effort to find these families." The Defense Department asked Willis — whose department passed along the request to the Deseret News — for help in locating families of the missing men.
That way, officials can keep the families informed of efforts to recover the remains. Also, certain family members could provide blood samples that the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory can keep on file for possible help in identifying remains.
Jones said family members can call his office at 703- 602-2102, extension 167.
Ralph Young of the Utah Department of Veterans Affairs is asking for public help in locating family members. "If anybody knows of any of these families, either contact the number (that Jones provided) . . . or give us a call here at the Utah Division of Veterans Affairs, 1-800-894-9497," he said.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com