Data Sources - Air Force Manual No. 200-25A, Department of the Air Force, Washington, October 16, 1961 page 1. Sanitized copy. National Archives KOREAN Conflict Casualty File (KCCF) 1950-1954.
MIAs in incident; Weeks, Grady Marvin; Holcom, William Lee
03/92 -- Korea, and the men yet to be accounted for -- the "official list" -- is a list of U.S. servicemen known to have been
held as prisoners of war by the red Chinese and North Koreans from the Korean War
but not released or accounted for by the communists, as released on May 27,
1957 at a hearing of the House Subcommittee on the Far East and Pacific by the Department
of Defense.
The lists, the printed minutes of the May 27, 1957 hearing and the
"sense of congress" resolution were subsequently buried in the
archives. The original list had 450 names compiled from American POWS who were
repatriated by the Reds, as well as from photographs released by the Reds, Chinese
radio propaganda broadcasts, and letters written home by captured men. The "revised" list was narrowed down in august of 1961 to 389 men, and
all were arbitrarily declared dead by the military services, the USG still
lists them as "unaccounted for".
Names and ranks only were released at the time, and printed in "The
Spotlight" on August 27, 1979, along with the above information and background.
Further information has been compiled by the P.O.W. Network from the Hawaii POW/MIA
Korean Memorial records, National Archives documentation, and public United
States Air Force documentation, and changes made to the original published
information. (FEBRUARY 1992)
William Holcom is listed on the "HONOR ROLL OF FORGOTTEN AMERICANS" yet is
noted as having died "while missing" by the National Archive.
03/12/2021
- KOREAN WAR
- UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
- Unaccounted For
Mid-evening of August 7, 1952, a B-26 Invader (tail number 44-34698, call sign "Pintail 04") departed Kunsan (K-8) Air Base with a crew of three aviators. The briefed mission night intruder operation targeting enemy supply routes south of Pyongyang. The pilot of another Invader operating near Sinchon reported hearing the pilot of Pintail 04 radio that his aircraft was badly damaged and he was unsure if it would be able to return to base. Shortly after Pintail 04 was cleared out of the target area, the pilot was heard giving the order to bail out. The crew of Pintail 04 was not seen or heard from again. We have no information that anyone from this crew was ever in enemy hands.
First Lieutenant William Lee Holcom, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Iowa, was assigned 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3rd Bombardment Wing. He was the navigator aboard this B-26 went missing, and he was lost in the incident. No returning POWs mentioned having contact with 1st Lt Holcom, nor was he seen at any known holding point, interrogation center, hospital, or permanent POW camp. His remains were not identified among those returned to U.S. custody after the ceasefire and 1st Lt Holcom is still unaccounted-for. Today, First Lieutenant Holcom is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Deferred.
If you are a family member of this serviceman, DPAA can provide you with additional information and analysis of your case. Please contact your casualty office representative.
 1st Lt WILLIAM LEE HOLCOM
|