Ens. John Henry Nyhuis
On Fri, 18 Jul 1997
Norm Nyhuis wrote:
My brother Ens. John Henry Nyhuis was a Grumman F9F "Panther" pilot
flying from the CV-45, Valley Forge. He was a member of squadron
VF-51. He was on his 4th mission into North Korean held territory on 12
August 1950.
He and his wingmate, then Lt., now Rear Admiral (Ret)Donald Engen were
near the village of Kom Chon. My wife and I had the pleasure and
distinct privilege of meeting Adm. Engen and his wife, in Washington
D.C. about two years ago. Even after a long military career, Don still
spoke with genuine respect and affection for my brother. He was able to
fill in many gaps for me in the story of the events of that day.
I was only 18 months old when John was lost, so I only know him through
old photographs and his letters home.
The two of them were sent to attack two different ground targets: the
first being a rail line and a tunnel it ran through, I don't know what
the second one was. Don said they caught a supply train partially in
the tunnel, hit it with everything they had, disabled the train, and
effectivly blocked the tunnel. They flew on to the area of the second
target.
Enroute, the last radio transmission from John to Don, was a comment to
alter the airspeed of their approach as both planes had taken some
"hits" from ground fire. Upon arriving at the second target, Don called
to John to line up for the straffing run, but there was no answer.
Don was alone.
The radio in a Panther is located under the pilot's seat, so if the
radio was "out" chances are that John was wounded, too.
There was simply no sign of John's Panther. Don told me he immediately
turned around and re-traced the route they had just flown, returning to
the train tunnel they'd hit, earlier. Meanwhile he was on the radio
calling for others to come join the search. Several propeller driven
planes joined the search; Skyraiders and Corsairs.
These planes could stay in the area longer, with their larger fuel
capacity, and lower airspeed, permitting a more thorough search. By then
Don was running low on fuel and returned to the carrier. No trace was
ever found - no smoke or fire on the ground etc. that could be
attributed to a plane crash.
The search continued for several more days. With no success. Later
Don was sent to graves registration to see if any record could be found
of not only John but of the other missing men from the carrier.
Five of the eleven lost on that first patrol were never accounted for.
The only story I remember my parents telling was that during the
subsequent search, someone followed a lead that a North Korean POW, when
questioned, said he was guarding a section of beach several miles NW of
the 38th parallel.
On the correct day and about the "right" time, he claimed an American
plane crash landed on the beach, and both the plane and pilot were taken
captive. The Panther was the "hottest" plane the Navy had in the air at
the time, and all the pilots were told that if hit, to attempt to get
the plane out of enemy territory and ditch it at sea.
The POW said the pilot had a "broken arm".
The coincidence that gives an aire of credibility to this story is that
John was flying with a wrist brace on his right arm: he'd cracked a bone
in his right wrist playing touch football outside the BOQ at North
Island field (San Diego)just before the Valley Forge left for what was
originally intended to be a training cruise in the Philippines.
Don went on to have a very distinguished Naval career. He became the
Capt. of the carrier USS America, then commander of the Mediteranean
fleet, and retired as Vice Chief of Naval Operations. He and his wife
Mary, still live in Alexanderia, Virgina.
I was able to find John's name in the database. There was one error,
however. The "date lost" entry shows a date in 1954. Assuming you
obtained your records from the Navy, the error is understandable. John
was not officially declared "Missing and presumed dead" until 1954. As
I understand it, that was when his life insurance etc. was released to
my parents.
