Rochester, N.Y. – The pile of around 300 pictures of the “Forgotten War” had been forgotten itself for too long.
Stashed away in a Rochester-area basement, the pictures were recently uncovered by a relative of a soldier who fought in the Korean War.
The bundle ended up in the hands of Betty Perkins, a veteran living in Penfield.
“These are just so unbelievable,” Perkins said.
Perkins first sorted the pictures setting aside those with American soldiers and those without.
“Our gems are the people ones,” she said. “If we can find who they (the soldiers’ families) are, we can get these pictures to them.”
This task would have been impossible if not for the meticulousness of the Department of Defense.
As these are DOD photos, detailed information, including dates, places, names, and hometowns, can be found on the back of each picture.
Perkins created a list of all the people she could identify.
That list of 74 soldiers is attached to this story should you want to see if you recognize any of the names.
If you do, please send an email to achodak@13wham.com.
So far, Perkins has only been able to track down one of the soldiers – the only one on the list who lives in Rochester.
Still, Perkins is determined to connect more pictures with more families.
“I come from a military family,” Perkins said. “I feel those who have families would care about these … because it could be their father they never saw.”
