|
| |
  
|
First Lieutenant Arthur Franklin Mulock, Jr.
(Page 2) |
| Arthur was honorably discharged from the Army after World War II ended. He
returned to his home in Waltham where he married his high school
sweetheart, June Wales, and enrolled in Springfield College. Upon
graduation, he was then commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant and reentered the
Army. He was assigned as a Platoon Leader with L Company, 3rd Battalion,
34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Division when they were thrown into combat in
the summer of 1950 to slow the communist invasion of South Korea. Arthur
was initially listed as missing in action for many years until his name
appeared on “Johnson's List.” This list was secretly kept by an 18-year
old soldier, Wayne Archer (Johnnie) Johnson, from the time he was captured
on July 11, 1950 until he was repatriated almost 38 months later. Although
Johnson presented his list to a debriefing officer after his release from
captivity, it was not made public until 1994 at a reunion of Korean War
POW survivors when he again presented his list to his comrades. The list
confirmed that Mulock was not missing in action but had died in captivity.
The list included the names of 496 American soldiers who died after being
captured by the communists. Johnson was awarded the Silver Star at one of
his reunions by the Pentagon after they realized he had laid his life on
the line for his comrades. Further research revealed that Arthur’s name
was mistakenly added to Johnson’s list, and a check with Department of the
Army in 2003 shows that he was still carried on the records
as a POW. A former POW named Shorty Estabrook founded a group called the
“Tiger Survivors.” The “Tiger Survivors” are those men who survived the
grueling march from South Korea to North Korea after being captured. They
nicknamed the brutal North Korean Major who was in charge of them the
“Tiger.” Estabrook mentioned that Arthur’s name along with his appeared on
a list of American Korean War POW’s taken to Russia for imprisonment but
Estabrook said that this was not true. Estabrook said that he remembered
seeing Mulock’s name on a blackboard in a school in North Korea that was
used as a prison. |
|
Copyright Irving T.
Shanley, Unauthorized copying or use in any manner is strictly prohibited
– September 2004 Page 2 of 3 pages |
|
Top of Page |
|
