Local man seeks survivors of soldiers killed in Korea
By JIM KELLY
Sunday, May 6,
If your husband, father or grandfather was killed in the Korean War, Norman Bowers is looking for you.
Bowers, a Korean War veteran living in Thunder Bay, said the South Korean government has donated more than $1 million toward a unique project involving Canadian soldiers.
Bowers said he‘s been contacted by the Winnipeg branch of the Korean Veterans Association of Canada to seek survivors of Thunder Bay and district soldiers who died in the Korean conflict.
The KVA is seeking pictures of Canadians killed in Korea and buried in Busan, Korea. The age, birth date and day killed should be included with the photo.
Bowers said the photos will be incorporated into new grave markers identifying Canadian soldiers buried at Busan.
Bowers, who served in the Royal Canadian Navy during the war from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, said he has no idea how many soldiers from the Thunder Bay area were killed in Korea.
He suspects some of the 516 Canadians killed may have belonged to the Royal Canadian Regiment or the Princess Patricia‘s Canadian Light Infantry, and that some lived in the former cities of Fort William and Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay.
Bowers said a branch of the KVA in Thunder Bay has disbanded.
According to the KVA website, a group of Korean War veterans got together 21 years after the cease-fire and formed a reunion committee which later developed into the KVA of Canada.
By the end of its first year in 1974, the association had recruited 77 members; by 1978 another 430.
As the years passed and more Korea veterans reached retirement, creating extra leisure time, membership peaked – more than 4,000 members in 60 branches across Canada.
Anyone with information on regional soldiers killed in Korea can contact Bowers at (807) 345-7894 or e-mail him at
bowersnorman@hotmail.com.
You can also contact him at 12 Minot Ave., Thunder Bay, P7A 6N8.
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