I will never leave a fallen comrade. -- U.S. Army Soldier’s Creed

The government’s lies are devastating to those whom they harm. For soldiers conducting post-armistice operations near and within the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), fears of reigniting resumption of the Korean War led our government to shroud those killed and wounded by the North Korean Army and its landmines in lies and deceit. This was done for political expediency (e.g., unpopular overseas interventions, hopeful negotiation of a Korean War peace treaty, presidential campaigns, etc.) and “budgetary constraints.” I believe it is time to make this outrage public.

Surprisingly, the Department of Defense does not have a standard definition of combat. For example, the United States Army thinks combat only existed after the discovery of gunpowder and explosives. For the United States Marine Corps, it is up to the hierarchy to decide whether you are in combat using a sliding scale based on political expedience. Marines who are under indirect fire (artillery or mortars) “are not normally eligible for the CAR (Combat Action Ribbon) unless they actively engage the enemy in counter-fire actions;” or “being awarded the Purple Heart does not automatically make a service member eligible for the CAR, nor does merely serving in a combat area or being exposed to enemy fire or threat of enemy fire.”

This Memorial Day, it is time to recognize the following soldiers whose deaths in Korea should be categorized as killed in action and not “non-hostile dead” or “accident.”

A look at the Defense Casualty Analysis System or the U.S. Army Casualty Information System available at the National Archives provides an insight into how service members killed by the North Korean People's Army (NKPA) or their landmines are categorized:

• Major Arthur G. Bonifas and First Lieutenant Mark T. Barrett on 18 AUG 1976 were killed by NKPA with clubs and axes are listed as “non-hostile dead: died of wounds/injury.”
• Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Joseph A. Miles, Sergeant (SGT) Robert C. Haynes, and SGT Ronald E. Wells, three airmen who were killed on 14 JUL 1977 when an Army CH-47 helicopter was shot down after straying into North Korea, are listed “non-hostile dead: died of wounds/injury.” Adding to this farce is the entry for complementary cause of death: “injuries sustained in a vehicle accident (vehicle major cause).”
• Sergeant First Class (SFC) Thomas L. Anderson, on 7 DEC 1979, was killed by triggering two landmines after a patrol inadvertently strayed into a North Korean minefield is listed as “non-hostile dead: died of wounds/injury.”
• CWO David M. Hilemon, who was killed on 17 DEC 1994 when an Army OH-58 helicopter shot down after straying into North Korea, is listed as “non-hostile death” and an “accident.”

Interestingly, Major Bonifas was posthumously promoted and awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device and the Purple Heart, a decoration for being combat wounded. CWO Hilemon also received the Purple Heart. So which is it, combat or not?

Often, as in the case of the deaths of MAJ Bonifas and 1LT Barrett, or as far back as a 1963 ambush where two U.S. soldiers were killed when their jeep was ambushed by the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA), they are characterized as murders.

It is insulting to Korean DMZ veterans that the deaths caused by enemy actions are listed as “accidents,” “non-hostile dead,” and “murders” and not as killed in action.

A legal opinion to determine captured CWO Bobby Hall’s (CWO Hilemon’s co-pilot) status written in 1994 for the legal counsel of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated:

Army International and Operational Law and the Department of State agree that since the United States, as a member of the United Nations Forces in Korea, is still engaged as a matter of law in an ongoing armed conflict against North Korea... Although active hostilities have been suspended for over forty years under a formal armistice agreement, the state of armed conflict between the United States and North Korea still exists.

These soldiers have been left behind. It is long past time for their deaths to be properly recorded as killed in action. History demands it.

Image: National Archives