Mistaking Antifreeze for Alcohol... Why the Deceased Are at the Korean War Memorial Wall

Serious Errors at Washington Veterans Memorial Park
NYT: "1,015 Spelling Errors and 500 Missing Names"
U.S. Department of Defense's Fundamental Failure in Managing Fallen Soldiers

Errors such as misspelled or missing names of American war dead have been confirmed on the "Wall of Remembrance" at the Korean War (6.25) Veterans Memorial Park in Washington D.C., USA. In response, the U.S. Department of Defense has acknowledged the errors and expressed its intention to correct them.

The New York Times (NYT) reported on the 9th (local time), citing Korean War researcher and historian brothers Hal Barker, that 1,015 spelling errors were found on the Wall of Remembrance. It was also confirmed that the names of about 500 war dead were missing from the wall, and that 245 soldiers unrelated to the Korean War were inscribed.

NYT gave the example of the name of Corporal Frederick Bald Eagle Bear, who died during the Korean War, being inscribed as Eagle B F Bald. Additionally, the name of bomber pilot Walder McCord, who died in a crash during a night mission, was missing from the memorial wall, and the name of helicopter pilot John Coelsy, who was shot down and killed while trying to rescue another pilot, was misspelled.

On July 27, 2022 (local time), the Memorial Wall for the Fallen Soldiers of the Korean War, opened to the public at the dedication ceremony held at the Korean War Veterans Memorial Park in Washington D.C., USA.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

Furthermore, the names of soldiers who died in motorcycle accidents or from drinking antifreeze mistaken for alcohol, completely unrelated to the Korean War, were also found on the Wall of Remembrance. Historian Hal Barker criticized this as "a mess full of old record errors and typos."

The Barker brothers explained that this phenomenon occurred because there were many errors in the Korean War casualty lists held by the U.S. Department of Defense itself. They said that errors in the lists occurred during the management process using IBM's "punch card computer," which stored information by punching holes in paper cards in the 1950s.

Punch cards had a limited capacity for inputting information, so errors could occur if names were long or complex. Although the Department of Defense digitized the punch cards, it is presumed that the originally misentered lists were not corrected.

Regarding these errors, the Department of Defense issued a statement to NYT saying, "We encourage families of the deceased and related citizens to notify the relevant departments of any missing, misspelled, or erroneous names," and "We will cooperate for necessary corrections or additions in the future." However, the Department did not comment on whether it would remake the granite panels.

Meanwhile, the Korean War Wall of Remembrance has the names of a total of 43,808 veterans inscribed on 100 granite panels, including 36,634 U.S. war dead and 7,174 Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA) war dead. Unlike the World War II and Vietnam War memorials, which do not have sculptures inscribing the names of the fallen on the Korean War memorial, the Wall of Remembrance was built with budgets from both South Korea and the U.S. and private donations in response to calls for such a monument.

Subsequently, in 2016, the U.S. Congress passed the construction law, and the South Korean National Assembly also adopted a resolution urging support for the construction. Fundraising by the memorial foundation and budget support from the South Korean government were also carried out.