Korean War veteran taking on new mission

By Bill Archer
Bluefield Daily Telegraph

April 08, 2007 09:01 pm

— BLUEFIELD — Harold Davis hasn’t forgotten his comrades who died in the Korean War, and he doesn’t want anyone else to forget either. For the past 15 years, Davis, from Wilmington, N.C., and two other men he has never met — Ed Moynagh from California and Ray Sestak from New York — have worked to identify the remains of soldiers who fought and died in the Korean War and reunite them with their families.
“The government let this fall through the cracks,” Davis, 76, said in a telephone interview. “When a lot of the guys who went into service back then joined, they put down where they were living at the time they entered the service as where they were from. That could have been the place where they were living at the time. Nowhere does the government have all the information they need to search for the families of soldiers who were missing in action, but have since been found.”
Davis got involved with the effort to link the remains of U.S. MIA soldiers discovered in Korea with their families in a round-about way. He moved to New Hanover County, N.C., and discovered that the county did not have a War Memorial listing the names of soldiers who were killed in action. He worked with his local American Legion post to raise funds to erect that monument.
“Years later I realized that very few family members came forth and said thanks or anything,” Davis said. “My thoughts were, ‘Who are these people?’ I knew I was not from New Hanover County, and I didn’t know any of the people on the monument. I asked around, and no one I talked to knew them either.”
Davis decided to research the lives of the men who were killed in action during the 20th Century, write a brief biography of the military and civilian lives of them and make it available in the local library. “In my research, I found out the government was looking for DNA from family members of some whose names were on the monument,” Davis said. “That is how I was introduced to the project.”
After he got involved, Davis encountered Moynagh and Sestak, both of whom were doing essentially the same thing, but differently from the approach Davis took. Davis is taking one state at a time and posts queries on genealogy sites, contacts libraries, veterans organizations and newspapers. “These are some of my tools,” Davis said.
Moynagh focuses his efforts on following up with people who have made direct contact with the Korean War Project Web Site and Sestak “is a computer wizard” who maintains the lists and builds the database.
“There are a lot of people out there helping me in my research,” Davis said. “They will see my posting and start looking around. Local newspaper articles have proven very productive. It makes a great story that involves local people.”
Davis contacted the Bluefield Daily Telegraph with the hope of finding the families of three Mercer County soldiers — Albert William Boland who was 32 and serving in A Battery, 38th Artillery Battalion, (1055MM) 2nd Infantry Division when he was reported MIA on Nov. 30, 1950; Ronald Cales Huffman who was 17 and serving with K Company, 38th Infantry regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, when he was listed as a prisoner of war on Feb. 12, 1951; and Billy Joe Williams who was 19 and serving with B Company, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division when he was reported as a POW on Nov. 30, 1950. Boland, Huffman and Williams are listed as Caucasian.
Davis is also searching for the families of two Tazewell County, Va., soldiers: James Lewis Townsend who was 22 and serving in B Battery, 58th Artillery Battalion, (105MM) 3rd Infantry Division when he was reported MIA on Aug. 8, 1951; and Johnny Lee Patton who was 35 and serving in C. Company 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division when he was KIA on July 28, 1950. Townsend is listed as black, and Patton is listed as Caucasian.
Davis is also searching for a McDowell County soldier, Bill Thomas Sizemore, who was 22, and serving with L Company, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25 Infantry Division when he was KIA on Sept. 7, 1951. Sizemore is listed as Caucasian.
“I’m a combat veteran out of Korea,” Davis said. “I served with the 224th Regiment of the 40th Infantry Division in 1952 and ‘53. I didn’t think about it for 30 years, then I started to wonder where I had been. I started making a record of those places.”
After the Korean War ended, Davis pointed out that the enemy never returned or accounted for more than 8,000 American servicemen. “Since that time, DNA has been perfected and they are recovering remains in North Korea,” Davis said. “Our government is obligated to return those remains to the proper family.”
The government has obtained DNA samples from most of the families of the MIA, KIA and POW servicemen from Korea, but “there are 54 families in West Virginia that have not been located.” Davis described himself as “an old combat veteran out of the Korean War and thankful that I did return. I consider this a very noble cause,” he said.
Anyone with information on the families of the servicemen can e-mail Davis at (hgdavis@bellsouth.net) or call (910) 791-2333.
– Contact Bill Archer at barcher@bdtonline.com