September is an important month for so many different reasons, but especially for the United States: We honor and recognize the American Labor Movement on September 4th with Labor Day, and we honor and remember lost U.S. Citizens and Service members on 9/11 Patriot Day.

For anyone who doesn’t know, The United States’ National POW/MIA Recognition Day is celebrated and honored across the country on the third Friday of September each year. In 1979 under the presidency of Jimmy Carter, the First Proclamation was signed, and ever since, every president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating this Recognition Day. This is a day where we remember those who were prisoners of war (POW) and those who have been missing in action (MIA), across our different branches of the military.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, also known as DPAA, is the organization responsible for providing the fullest possible accounting for the missing soldiers and personnel to their families and our country. They have the largest forensic skeletal identification laboratory in the world, as well as teams of people working all around the world to discover and recover missing remains of fallen soldiers.

According to dpaa.mil, as of May 22, 2023, there are more than 81,000 Americans that remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts. Out of the total, approximately 75% of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific region, and over 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea (such as ship losses and known aircraft water losses). DPAA has been searching for the remains of U.S. Military members in 45 nations, being able to strengthen diplomatic ties within nations while bringing closure to loved ones of fallen soldiers.

Fayetteville is home to countless military families thanks to Fort Liberty, formerly known as Fort Bragg. Living in Fayetteville, you more than likely either got here because of the military or know someone who is active duty or retired. With so many of us having military ties, there are even greater chances of you knowing or even being related to a soldier who was a POW/MIA.

For me, my father William Henry Jones Jr. brought our family to Fort Bragg in 2002 after his 2nd Tour in the Korean Conflict/Cold War, a war that technically has never stopped. He served in 9 different divisions, and even served in the 4th Royal Tank Battalion in Great Britain for the Late Queen of England, all in his 27 years as active duty in the U.S. Army. He then retired as a Command Sergeant Major from Fort Bragg on June 1st 2006. Though my father had a successful military career, he would have never thought he would come across a POW/MIA member in the lines of our family tree, who would turn out to be his great Uncle Calvin Solomon Jones.

Calvin Solomn Jones is my great great uncle, who I recently found out is a POW/MIA who served in the Korean War. He was reported as Missing in Action (MIA) and was listed as a prisoner of war (POW) on November 26th 1950, with a reported date of death of February 28th 1951, as per other POW witness statements.

Calvin was 21 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 29th 1949. He trained at Camp Stoneman in California and served at Fort Dix in New Jersey before being assigned to “King Company”, 3rd Battalion of 9th Infantry, 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea, where he and his troops traveled north through the 38th Parallel and up to the Yalu river, which is the northern most point in North Korea.

The 38th Parallel is a peace border between North and South Korea that acts as a cease fire zone. My father William, who did two tours in South Korea himself was also stationed near the 38th Parallel on two different occasions, and was honored to know that his great Uncle served in the same area. He says, “I kind of felt close to him in a way, because I was stationed there. I remember how close we were stationed to what they call the thirty-eighth parallel, which is the demilitarization zone; we have an enemy just on the other side of that line. And we're looking at each other every day. I remember us digging out tank fighting positions, in case they decided to attack.”

On September 27th 1950 , my uncle Calvin suffered a bayonet puncture that would wound him and send him to the 64th Field Hospital for treatment. After his treatment, he had the option to return home from the war due to his injuries, but instead he decided to return back to the frontlines with his Battalion and finish the fight with his fellow soldiers. He reconnected with his unit fighting on the front lines on October 13th 1950.

When my Uncle Calvin returned to the war, his Battalion had crossed enemy territory. In the late month of November in 1950, over 180,000 “volunteers” from the Communist Chinese Forces (CCF) were sneaking south, hiding in the North Korean hills, and staged a massive surprise ambush attack.

The 9th Infantry Calvin was a part of was hit hard during these attacks. He and his group of POWs were held in a cluster of holding villages, around a former mining camp, in the valley between the North Korean towns of Pukchin and Tarigol. This camp was also called “Hofong Camp,” “T-1, and “T-8,” also known as one of the worst camps because of the conditions and the men who perished there. My uncle Calvin was marched north and was in one of the first groups of POWs to reach the newly created POW Camp 5 in the village of Pyoktong, North Korea.

Camp 5 was as far as anyone could go and still be in North Korea, on the south shore of the Yalu River. Reports indicate that by the time my uncle Calvin arrived at Camp 5, he was gravely ill from exposure, malnutrition, and pneumonia. It is believed that he expired there at the Camp 5 location and due to not being allowed to completely search the area of Camp 5, the exact whereabouts of his body and other members of Camp 5 are still undetermined.

DPAA does not currently conduct operations in North Korea but through past operations has been able to recover over 200 remains.

There are approximately 7,500 service members still unaccounted-for from the Korean War. Of that total, it is estimated that approximately 5,300 are located in North Korea. The majority of the missions in North Korea were in Unsan and Kujang counties.

To commemorate my great-great uncle, and other North Carolina POW/MIA families, do attend the Statewide Remembrance Luncheon, Saturday September 9 at the Crown. Check out https://www.ncpowmia.com or call 910-286-6068 for tickets.