A BOY FROM BANGOR

Around September 24, 1951, Mr. and Mrs. William Oxford received a telegram at their Bangor-area home. It was from the Department of the Army and informed the Oxfords that their son, Corporal John DeHaven Oxford, had been Missing in Action in Korea since September 1.

John graduated from Bangor High School in 1947, spent some time as a student at East Stroudsburg State Teachers College, and joined the Army in 1949. He was a chaplain’s assistant with the 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. His parents probably nursed a vague hope that it was safer assignment than front-line rifleman; they likely didn’t realize that chaplain’s assistants were there primarily to provide security for the unarmed chaplains.

The Korean Peninsula was controlled by Japan from 1910 until 1945, when World War II ended with Japan’s surrender. Japan’s hold on Korea was broken; the Peninsula’s future was now uncertain. The United States and the Soviet Union, former allies, were competing fiercely for geo-political advantage in the early days of the Cold War. Korea was a target for both. After lengthy maneuvering and negotiation, the contest was a draw. In 1948, Korea was “temporarily” divided into two countries: North Korea, aligned with the Soviets and Communist China, and South Korea, aligned with America and its allies.

On June 25, 1950, North Korea suddenly invaded South Korea, sending 70,000+ of its soldiers across the border. They enjoyed early success; the world soon realized that South Korea’s survival as a sovereign nation was in doubt. The infant United Nations condemned the invasion and called for military assistance to South Korea.

The United States would have to carry the load; there was simply no other country with the military power to fight the North Koreans. The Americans were not ready to fight a distant land war in Asia. Nevertheless, they sent what troops they had in the vicinity and prepared to send reinforcements.

One of the earliest reinforcing units was the 9th Infantry Regiment. It was stationed at Fort Lewis, WA; sailed from Tacoma in mid-July and arrived in Korea on July 31, 1950. The regiment was one of the oldest in the Army; it proudly carried the nickname of the Manchus, derived from an obscure assignment in China 50 years earlier.

The front lines had been pushed steadily southward by the momentum of the North Korean attack. The American and South Korean troops had been pushed into a pocket around the port of Pusan; the outline of the pocket was called the Pusan Perimeter which ran for almost 150 miles. Part of the perimeter was the Natking River; the two armies held opposite sides of it. Unbeknownst to each other, both armies were preparing to attack across the river on the night of August 31. The 9th Regiment’s Company B (aka Baker Company) was positioned near the river in preparation for the maneuver.

The chaplain of the 9th Regiment was Captain Lewis Sheen, an Episcopalian. According to his later report: “On the afternoon of 31 August, 1950, my assistant and I went down to hold services for Baker Company in their HQ location on the Natking River. We planned to hold the service at 1530 hours [3:30] in the afternoon and spend the night.” After the service, he did some “visiting around”; then he, along with a sergeant and a lieutenant, from B Company, settled into a foxhole for the night. They later heard noises that sounded like people crossing the river. Soon after, Company B was on the receiving end of a North Korean artillery barrage. In the small hours of September 1, they were hit by a North Korean infantry attack. The American position was ripped apart; the surviving soldiers retreated in small groups as best they could. Chaplain Sheen led one such group. It took them four days to reach safety; the Chaplain was awarded the Bronze Star for his effort.

His report clearly states that his assistant went with him to the Company B position. The assistant is never mentioned again, in that report or any other. Who was he? Was it Corporal Oxford or was it another assistant? If it was another assistant who accompanied Sheehan, where was Corporal Oxford that night?

One constant of military memoirs is a description of the overwhelming noise, smell, fear and utter chaos of combat. To try and determine exactly what happened to a particular soldier who becomes a casualty is often an exercise in futility. Corporal Oxford was declared Missing in Action. At some later time, his remains were discovered or identified and his official status was changed to Killed in Action. The remains probably were taken to the Army’s temporary cemetery at Minyang, South Korea, with the goal of eventually repatriating them.

Toward the end of September, 1951, the Army did send Corporal DeHaven home. His remains arrived by train at the East Stroudsburg station on September 27; his funeral, with military honors, was held on September 29; he was buried at Northampton Memorial Shrine.

China soon entered the fight on the side of North Korea. The war dragged on until 1953. The total number of deaths in the war - civilians and military personnel of both sides - is unknown, but certainly is in the millions. About 40,000 American men and women died. The war never did officially end; a temporary truce has been in effect for almost 70 years. For that matter, it did not officially begin – the United States did not actually declare war on North Korea or China. For this reason, it is sometimes referred to as a “police action” or the “Korean Conflict”.

The years pass. Inevitably, one generation replaces another and the family’s memory of Uncle John or cousin Jean is reduced to a few black & white photos, perhaps stored in a shoebox in the hall closet. Maybe the shoebox also contains a Western Union telegram, one that was opened with shaking hands; the one that forever changed lives, the one that begins: “The Secretary of the Army has asked me to express his deep regret . . .”

Corporal John D. Oxford