On Memorial Day 2024, I’m recalling the service and sacrifice of another soldier who shares my surname Dews. We’re not directly related, but I’d like to share what little I have been able to discover about this (possible) very distant cousin, Joseph Garrett Dews. He was declared dead on June 3, 1951, in the Republic of Korea, a sergeant first class, part of a group of captured soldiers following a fierce battle. Dews was an auto mechanic with the 15th Field Artillery Battalion, 2d Division.
Joseph Dews was born July 3, 1914, in Lakeview, Oregon to Vernon P. Dews (1895-1962) and Edith Bennett (1896-1987). Vernon was a dairyman originally from Montana, and Edith a housewife from Hamilton, Oregon. His parents married in June 1913, but divorced prior to 1920, when his mother remarried Lute Henderson. Vernon married Clara List in 1922.
Joseph had two younger siblings, Thomas Vernon Dews (1916-1953), a WWII vet, and Ida Mae Dews (1917-2002), who married Maynard Johnson. Thomas’ and Ida’s mother was either Edith or possibly Vernon’s second wife, Gladys.
Joseph was working for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in Seattle in 1934, per a newspaper announcement.
In July 1935, Joseph and another Medford, Oregon man enlisted in the U.S. Army and were assigned to the coast artillery corps in the Philippines. (Medford Mail Tribune, July 18, 1935, p .5.)
In 1940, Joseph (under the name Garrett) lived with his brother Thomas and his wife Garnet in Goble, Columbia County, Oregon. His occupation was listed as “slasher” and he was a worker on the Bonneville Dam project. The dam on the Columbia River Gorge opened in 1937.
(Oregon, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1940-1945, via FamilySearch.org)
Joseph married Evelyn Mary Clark in 1941. She was born August 5, 1924, and died November 20, 1994. She later married Marion Isaac Eacret.
In April 1950, two months before the outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula, Joseph Dews was stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington, and living with his family. His wife, Evelyn, was 29, and from Oregon. Their four children were Carolyn (7), Kathleen (5), Thomas (3) and infant Michael, born in May.
1. Carolyn Jean Dews (Jan. 2, 1943 – Sep. 21, 2003) , married Patrick Charles O’Connor, Feb. 12, 1961, div. Jun 1973.
2. Kathleen A. Dews (Sep. 6, 1944 – ), married Harold Bowers on Dec. 8, 1960.
3. Thomas Vernon Dews (August 5, 1946 – 2012), married Mary Devine Wood (1947 – ), January 16, 1965. He was a Vietnam veteran.
4. Michael Alan Dews (May 18, 1949 – February 13, 1998), married Glenda Ann Sorber, Dec. 29, 1967.
The San Francisco Examiner, Mar. 13, 1951, p. 6.
A note on his Findagrave memorial reads, “He was taken Prisoner of War while fighting the enemy near Hoengsong, South Korea on February 13, 1951 and died while a prisoner on June 3, 1951. Master Sergeant Dews was awarded the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, the Republic of Korea War Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.”
The Battle of Hoengsong occurred February 11-15, 1951, in a region in the north of the Republic of Korea. The battle was a Chinese and North Korean counteroffensive against ROK and U.S. forces and resulted in nearly 12,000 Allied casualties against just over 4,000 Chinese/DPRK casualties. One account of the action, from the 15th FA organization’s website, relates that:
At one point, GIs of the supporting 15th Field Artillery (FA) Battalion (2nd Division) encamped for the night, relying on ROK infantry for protection. When the Chinese attacked in the dark, the South Koreans fled. The enemy swarmed over the U.S. position. Some 204 artillerymen ultimately died, resulting in one of the most concentrated losses of American lives in the entire war, according to Joseph Gould in “Korea: The Untold Story.”
Retreating ROKs streamed south past U.S. support forces, allowing the Chinese to flank American positions. Soon, the Chinese owned the narrow, twisting valley north of Hoengsong and the road that ran through it — the only escape route.
Steep hills rose up on both sides of the road, turning the valley into a shooting gallery. The Chinese relentlessly rained mortar fire down on the withdrawing and vastly outnumbered GIs. Later came the hand-to-hand fighting.
“At times,” said one battalion commander, “U.N. troops lined up on one side of the road and tossed grenades at the enemy attacking from the other side of the road.”
Casualties from the 15th FA included 106 KIA and 102 captured, presumably including Joseph Dews. The artillery battalion commander, Lt. Col. John Keith, also died in captivity. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency records that Colonel Keith “was marched northward with other prisoners of war (POW) to Suan Bean Camp, and was then moved to Pak’s Palace interrogation center. Weak from malnutrition and pneumonia, COL Keith suffered further abuse while at Pak’s Palace and died there on April 30, 1951. He was reportedly buried near the interrogation center. His remains have not been identified among those returned to U.S. custody.” Perhaps Joseph Dews was also imprisoned at Suan Bean Camp.
Then, in March, U.S. Marines entered the Hoengsong area to find the aftermath of the battle. A Time magazine correspondent described what they saw:
Forty half-burned trucks and jeeps and the blown-out barrels of six 155-millimeter field pieces were scattered along the road. In the vehicles and under them lay the burned and decomposed bodies of U.S. and South Korean soldiers. Other bodies, stripped of their uniforms, sprawled by the roadside.
“It was part of the most horribly concentrated display of American dead since the Korean war began.” The Marines called the place “Massacre Valley.”
Joseph is laid to rest in Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. Thank you, cousin, for your service and sacrifice.
– By Fred Dews, May 27, 2024
See my other Memorial Day Posts:
Memorial Day tribute to Sverre Hansen, who fell in the Second Battle of the Marne, 1918
Memorial Day tribute to Buford L. Dews, World War II infantryman
Memorial Day tribute to Richard W. Dews, a paratrooper
Post image of POWs in 1950 from Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
Sources:
U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, for Vernon Dews, 5 Apr 1895, Gold Butte, Montana.
Oregon, U.S., State Births, 1842-1922, for Joseph G. Dews, 1914.
Medford Mail Tribune, July 17, 1934. Notice of “Garret Dews” on leave from CCC camp at Seattle to visit his brother.
1940 United States Federal Census, Garrett Dews with Tommy and Garnett Dews, Goble, Columbia County, Oregon.
1950 United States Federal Census, Joseph G. Dews Family, Fort Lewis, Washington
“War: Ambush at Hoengsong,” Time Magazine, March 12, 1951.
U.S., Korean War Casualties, 1950-1957
Find a Grave memorial, Joseph G. Dews.
Washington, U.S., Marriage Records, 1854-2013, Kathleen A. Dews m. Harold Bowers, 8 Dec 1960, Vancouver, Clark Co., Washington.
California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997, Vernon Dews, died 10 January 1962, Sacramento, California.
Oregon, U.S., State Marriages, 1906-1971
– Thomas Vernon Dews m. Mary Devine Wood, 16 Jan 1965, Scappoose, Columbia Co., Oregon.
– Michael Alan Dews m. Glenda Ann Sorber, 29 Dec 1967, Saint Helens, Columbia Co., Oregon.
U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
– Evelyn Mary Dews (Clark, Eacret)
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