McKee, Robert Edgar

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. 

                                      

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)

 

Robert McKee is listed on the "HONOR ROLL OF FORGOTTEN AMERICANS" yet is noted as having died "while missing" by the National Archive.
https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000PreYTEAZ

03/13/2021

Service Member   CAPT ROBERT EDGAR MCKEE
Return to Service
Member Profiles
  • KOREAN WAR
  • UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
  • Unaccounted For

On October 18, 1950, a T-6 Texan (serial number 44-82514) with a pilot and one observer aboard departed Seoul Air Base on a tactical air control mission over Pyongyang. The last contact with the aircraft was at take-off, and the aircraft did not return to base as scheduled. The route was searched for several days but a crash site was never located and the two crew members were never heard from again.

Captain Robert Edgar McKee, who joined the U.S. Air Force from Massachusetts, served with the 6147th Tactical Control Squadron. He was the pilot of this T-6 when it disappeared. No returning POWs mentioned having contact with Capt McKee, nor was he seen at any known holding point, interrogation center, hospital, or permanent POW camp. He remains unaccounted-for. Today, Captain McKee 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.