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Korean War Project Newsletter - June 25, 2009 Volume 12 - 3
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Table of Contents:
1. Editorial
2. Our Newsletters
3. Book Of Remembrance Ready For Publication
4. Fort Worth Star Telegram - June 25 2009
5. Membership Drive - Keep Us Online
6. This Mailing List
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1. Editorial
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June 25th 1950 is a date etched into stone as well as in the minds of millions of men and women who lived and fought through the war.
Veterans memorials dedicated to the memory of those who fought, suffered, bled, died or fled the terror continue to be erected across the US and in the allied countries who participated in the war.
The truce continues to be unsettled. As weather watchers in Texas or Oklahoma always say, "wait 10 minutes." The same can be said for the decades of military and political maneuvering over the fate of a divided nation.
Although Korean families on both sides of the border desire peace and reunification, there does not seem to be hope of a peaceful resolution in our immediate future.
In the Republic of Korea, Korean and American military stand watch. In the North, there is constant turmoil and constant economic issues.
South Korea continues to flourish but the residents never forget the sacrifices of those who came from so far away to help them in desperate times.
Through our newsletter, Hal and I have been able to relate wonderful stories of gratitude extended to veterans by Korean citizens. As far away from Texas as Australia, Great Britain, France, and Korea, these stories resonate.
As always, we remember those who served from 1950-1953. We also want to thank those US servicemen and women who have continued to serve in Korea even today helping to protect the safety and prosperity of a resilient people.
We Remember: June 25th 1950 - July 27th 1953
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2. Our Newsletters
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The 60th Commemoration of the beginning of the Korean War is just around the corner. Our newsletters will address the upcoming events to include reunions, worldwide events and more.
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3. Book Of Remembrance Ready For Publication
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The first comprehensive compilation of the Lost In Korea is now ready for publication.
We have been working on this project since 1993.
But we need a sponsor for the first publication run.
A key element of the work is the constant correction of errors in the original records.
The most glaring errors involve misspelled names or incomplete names that have lingered for decades. Even in the last few days, we have added a number of name changes, unit changes, and birthdays. This work continues each day from input by family and friends on our Remembrance pages.
We have added thousands of birth dates, date of casualty occurrences, hometowns, unit affiliations and cause of death.
We have been able to add thousands of awards as we discover that data.
And we now have 5169 Remembrance photographs.
Many of you have seen media articles that describe our desire to "Remember."
These articles have been published over the past decade in hundreds of newspapers as well as radio and television, including CNN, Fox News, and NBC. Many of the casualty corrections come from readers and viewers who had no idea the Korean War Project existed. A new story just appeared today in the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
The layout for the book is finished and 99 percent of the data is ready to print.
Corrections will continue right up to the day we send the book to the printer. And next additions will certainly add all new corrections.
The stumbling block is cost of production of the book itself. Virtually all the pre-press work is completed.
A donation of software from EM Software courtesy of Chris Ryland allowed us to completely automate the final product in a matter of hours.
The Korean War Project has not been able to raise the funds needed. Yet.
The book will become a reality if first run costs of about $20,000.00 can be obtained. All we need is the cost of printing.
This is an opportunity for a group or individual to finally make a comprehensive casualty book a reality.
Details:
The book will be a coffee table sized edition, approximately 600 pages in hardback.
The donor will have the opportunity to dedicate the book to the person or persons of choice.
It is time we finally have a Book of Remembrance for the Korean War.
And a most important fact is when we publish a Book Of Remembrance, we can finally develop the funds to insure the Korean War Project can gain financial stability after years of struggle.
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3. Fort Worth Star Telegram - June 25 2009
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"Errors abound on Korean War registries, and group works to correct the record"
www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1452677.html
By Chris Vaughn
Copyright Fort Worth Star Telegram, 2009
Fifty-nine years ago this summer, Army Pfc. Benjamin Hower died in Korea. A Holocaust survivor, immigrant and enlistee in the 1st Cavalry Division, Hower survived only two months into the war, which commenced on this day in 1950 and lasted 37 bloody months.
There’s only one thing wrong with the story.
His last name was Hauer.
For decades, the U.S. government has listed him with what his surviving family says is the wrong spelling. And two men in Dallas who run a Korean War Web site say it’s shockingly common to hear from families that the official casualty list is incorrect.
"We’ve run into hundreds of cases of misspelled names," said Hal Barker, who with his brother, Ted, runs the Korean War Project Web site.
In fact, the Barkers say the mistakes involve more than last names. First names, middle names, hometowns, even countries are wrong, they say, and it’s a tender spot for many families.
"Everybody who ever knew him or heard of him is probably gone, so I didn’t know how big of a deal it would be to anyone else," said Michal Hauer Spitzer, Hauer’s niece and a New York resident. "But my brother named his son after him, and I thought I would ask Hal if he could correct it on his Web site."
The master casualty list from Korea was put together by the Army in the years after the war, then turned over to the National Archives. The list was also given to the American Battle Monuments Commission, which maintains a searchable database of casualties from World War I, World War II and Korea.
It is impossible to know when and how errors might have occurred, though it is likely that some of them were simply data entry mistakes or bad assumptions. In some cases, perhaps the serviceman changed the spelling when he enlisted.
But two officials with the monuments commission in Washington, D.C., said families should contact them if they believe the record is wrong.
"When an error is flagged to us, and it’s in our power to verify it, then we make the correction," said Mike Conley, a commission spokesman. "If it’s not within our power, we’ll send it to the service and ask them to validate it. We’ll do everything we can to get it corrected."
Mistakes from everywhere
Almost 37,000 U.S. soldiers were killed in the Korean War, men whose sacrifice has long been overlooked and relegated to a historical footnote between the glory of World War II and the controversy of Vietnam.
Ted and Hal Barker, whose father served as a Marine officer in World War II and Korea, started the Korean War Project in the early 1990s, offering families a place to post a remembrance and research those still missing in action.
In the late 1990s, when they began studying the list of casualties, the number of killed from the U.S. Virgin Islands jumped out at them. Sixty-nine seemed way too many.
Then they noticed the names. Most of them sounded like Filipino names — Acevedo, Navarra and Tacazon, for example.
"It took about 10 seconds to realize they had to be wrong," Hal Barker said. "Given the number of men who could have been veterans from the Virgin Islands during that time, it would have been the largest grouping of casualties from any U.S. state or territory."
They established contacts in the Philippines and have begun correcting many of the entries to list the home of record as that island chain in the Pacific, not the one in the Caribbean.
By using family contacts and their substantial library of unit histories, the brothers also began correcting the names of Puerto Rican casualties.
"They had last names as middle names, first names as middle names, middle names as last names, you name it," Barker said.
Counties as hometowns
The Barkers have noticed that hometowns are often wrong as well.
Many casualty listings appear to carry the county name as the city. For instance, Tarrant, Harris, Bexar and other counties are listed as hometowns. Most of those from Chicago are listed as having been from Cook, Ill.
"We’ve found in the neighborhood of 10,000 that are wrong like that," Barker said.
Sometimes the families initiate contact on their own.
This week, Larry Bitter in suburban Houston sent a remembrance to the Web site about his uncle, who was killed in February 1952 in Korea.
In his message, he requested that the "s" be removed from his uncle’s last name. His name was Marine Sgt. John L. Bitter, not Bitters.
"I really didn’t expect anyone to give a damn," said Bitter, a Vietnam veteran. "I was of the opinion, and I know my dad certainly was, that it’s just the way it was. Nothing could be done."
But the Barkers changed the spelling in their database and promised Bitter that they would inform the small town in Maryland where John Bitter’s name is incorrectly engraved on a memorial.
"It’s really exciting to do this," Barker said. "The requirement is so huge, and the interest is so small. We are often the place of last resort for families."
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5. Membership Drive - We Need Your Help!!
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Consider supporting the mission of the Korean War Project by donations in the form of Membership/Sponsorship
Membership: www.koreanwar.org/html/membership.html
On that page is a link to our PayPal account. You may choose online or regular surface mail to support our efforts.
Our Pledge Drive is an ongoing process. Many of our previous donors no longer can assist. We are recruiting from those who have not participated, so if you can, jump on in, it will be appreciated.
The site is free for all to use and those who participate help to ensure that we remain online whether the donation is $1.00 or more!
For those persons or groups who cannot participate, we certainly understand.
Donations/Memberships are tax deductible, if you use long form IRS reports. Our EIN: 75-2695041 501(c) (3)
Postal Address:
Korean War Project
PO Box 180190
Dallas, TX 75218-0190
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6. This Mailing List (going to 40,000 + persons)
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We began sending this newsletter mailing in December of 1998. The first issue went to just over 2000 persons.
This list is a private list for our visitors and members. A person may join or leave the list at will. It is compiled from our Guest Book and comprises public service messages of general interest to veterans and families.
To join or leave the list: email to: Ted Barker tbarker@kwp.org
Place: Subscribe or Unsubscribe in the subject line.
Consider forwarding the Newsletter to your friends by email or print. Word of mouth is how we grow.
Thanks to all who have made this newsletter and the website possible!
Donors: www.koreanwar.org/html/membership.html
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Hal and Ted Barker
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