[SOLDIER DEAD]
Soldier Dead
[HOW WE RECOVER, IDENTIFY, BURY, AND HONOR OUR MILITARY FALLEN]
MICHAEL SLEDGE
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright 2005 Michael Sledge
All rights reserved
E-ISBN 978-0-231-50937-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sledge, Michael.
Soldier dead : how we recover, identify, bury, and honor our military fallen / Michael Sledge.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10 0231135149 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13 9780231135146 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10 0231135157 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-13 9780231135153 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10 0231509375 (electronic)
ISBN-13 9780231509374 (electronic)
1. Military funeralsUnited StatesHistory. 2. War casualtiesUnited StatesHistory. 3. DeadIdentificationHistory. 4. Repatriation of war deadUnited StatesHistory. 5. BurialUnited StatesHistory. I. Title.
U353.S58 2004
355.6990973dc22 2004055272
A Columbia University Press E-book.
CUP would be pleased to hear about your reading experience with this e-book at .
Designed by Chang Jae Lee
This book is dedicated to the memory of Col. R. P. Harbold of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, whose efforts in both World War I and World War II helped to ensure that the remains of deceased U.S. servicepersons were treated in a manner befitting their sacrifices, assuring their families that their loved ones had been found, identified, returned, and buried in a manner of which they and our nation can be proud.
Soldier Dead is also dedicated to the men and women of all the military branches who, though they probably are unaware of Colonel Harbolds actions, continue to accord our military fallen the honor, respect, and duty that he would have expected and demanded.
The final dedication is to our servicemen and -womenpast, present, and futurewho knowingly and willingly risk their lives for the values and safety of our nation-state. They ask to die (if they must) for a good cause if possible, but in any event, only to be remembered.
[ Contents ]
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to list everyone who has rendered aid to me in writing this book, and no matter how long my acknowledgments are, they will be inadequate, for I have received far more assistance than I had ever thought possible.
Among military personnel, Larry Greer, Public Affairs Officer for the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO), took my first phone calls as I began my research and was a continual source of aid. Larrys photo of the remains of Lt. Michael J. Blassie, which graces the cover, is poignant for both its beauty and its representation of the live, dead and unidentified, and finally identified process that is detailed extensively in Soldier Dead. Doug Howard, Deputy Director of the U.S. Army Mortuary Affairs Center (MAC), provided assistance throughout the research and writing period. David Roath, Director of the U.S. Army Memorial Affairs ActivityEurope (USAMAAE), dedicated large blocks of his time to me both during and after my trip to his facility. Johnie Webb, Senior Advisor to the Commanding General, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), and Col. Paul Bethke, former Commander, U.S. Army Central Identification LaboratoryHawaii (CILHI), met with me and later kept me informed about current efforts to recover and identify our missing. Dr. Steve Anders, Historian for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps, guided me through the voluminous archives in his keep and researched material that called for his expertise.
Among civilians, Peter Maguire, author of Law and War: An American Story and Facing Death in Cambodia, whom I met during my first trip to the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, contributed valuable information as well as his friendship and support. Mitch Yockelson, Historian at the National Archives, patiently taught me to find my way through the overwhelming amount of material stored under his care. Paul Sledzik, Anthropologist and Curator of the National Museum of Health and Medicine at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), guided me through many of the technical forensic aspects of this book. Andi Wolos is founder of a POW advocacy Web site (www.aiipowmia.com), contributed immensely to my knowledge of how the personnel reporting and recovery apparatus works within the government and military. Her experience and insights have helped me to understand not only what has happened since World War II but also how the past has influenced subsequent events. Terry Buege, whose husband was shot down during the Gulf War, shared her fears and tears with me. She made the World War I and II letters from parents and wives I had read even more heart-rending.
Among those who no longer stand on the same side of the grave as I, James (Jim) Shenton, noted scholar of American history who taught at Columbia University for more than fifty years, recalled his days as an army medic in World War II and recounted details of how he carefully tended to the dead. Jim died on July 25, 2003, before I could arrange a face-to-face meeting, but his words of encouragement have strengthened and live on in the pages of this book.
On the business side, my agent, Laurie Harper, never doubted that this was a powerful story worth the telling and the reading. Her indefatigable efforts to find a publisher who understood Soldier Dead reflect the dedication and perseverance of the men and women who always somehow find a way to take care of our fallen, despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Also, Peter Dimock and Leslie Kriesel and the staff at Columbia University Press provided invaluable editorial insight and copyediting. Chang Jae Lee created a design perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the book.
And finally, friends and family were always there when I called upon them. Jim Montgomery and Stella Chapman nurtured me in my formative writing years. My breakfast buddies never once let on if they were tired of me talking about the book. Bobby, Logan, and Jessica, my three children, were always supportive, even when my path led to danger. And, finally, I cannot adequately express my appreciation to Cathy Sledge and Cathy Amy for their extensive editing and reorganizing. To all, I can only say, Thank you.
It is the dead who make the longest demands on the living.
SOPHOCLES, Antigone
PRIVATE 1ST CLASS FRED FORY studied the map in his hand, trying to match the contour lines with the terrain in front of him. Once oriented, he and his squad lined up one or two arms lengths apart and began walking across the grassy field, keeping a careful eye out for trip wires and unexploded ordnance.
Fory had grown up hunting and fishing in Louisiana, and his woods experience proved invaluable in his assignment with the Army Graves Registration Service. His duty, and that of his squad and many other units that were fanned out across South Korea, was to find and retrieve the remains of U.S. servicemen who had given their lives for their country. During three years of fighting the North Koreans and Chinese, thousands had fallen, and many lay in foxholes, in bunkers, in fields, and on mountainsides. Their buddies, hard pressed to save their own lives, had been forced to leave them behind, but they had made a promise to come back someday, find them, identify them, reunite them with their families, and give them a proper burial with all due honors. And while the fallen slept, their bodies returned to the soil.