Korean War · One of the Ashley Five · Confirmed alive after the Armistice · Never returned
He was one of the five men American forces reached by radio in April 1953 and identified by name. He was still alive, in North Korean hands, after the war that was supposed to send him home had ended.
The man
Arthur Olsen was born in 1919; the National Archives lists his home of record as Blytheville, Ark., and the Associated Press later described him as from Chicago. In 1997 his brother, David R. Olsen, told the AP: “The Air Force told my parents they never had evidence that the men ever hit the ground.” The families of the five were never told of the rescue attempt, the AP reported.
What is known
1st Lt. Arthur Robert Olsen was the radar bombardier aboard B-29 42-65357A of the 28th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group, lost near Hungsu-ri, North Korea, on Jan. 29, 1953. DPAA lists him among the survivors known as the Ashley Five and carries him as unaccounted for. The story of the crew — the capture, the radio contact and the message sent after the Armistice — is told on the main case page, Capt. Gilbert Ashley and the Ashley Five.
The men on the mountain
In 1953 five men from the same B-29 were held together in a mountain village in North Korea, where guerrillas who claimed to be friendly were secretly working for the North. The U.S. tried to rescue them by air and was ambushed. Three more men from the crew are also unaccounted for.
- 1st Lt. Gilbert Ashley, the aircraft commander
- 1st Lt. Arthur Olsen
- Capt. Harold Turner
- 2nd Lt. John Shaddick
- Airman Hidemaro Ishida
- 1st Lt. Dewey Henry
- 1st Lt. Dewey Stopa
- A2C James O’Meara
Evidence and sources
- Military records of the 22 April 1953 guerrilla report and the radio contact producing “positive identification” of all five men.
- The 28 July 1953 message to Ashley and the captors’ early-August response.
- The assessment by US officials with “intimate knowledge” of the operation that the five were alive as of August 1953.
- Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency records of the loss of B-29 42-65357A and of the men aboard.
- Primary account: PIP research files.
Request for information
Please contact us if you can help with any of the following.
- Accounts from anyone who saw or knew of the Ashley crew after August 1953, including North Korean or Chinese guards, drivers or interrogators, or residents of the Paek-san region.
- Reports of any of the crew moved to China or the Soviet Union, including the source of the account given to John Shaddick’s mother in China in 1955.
- Any photograph or film of the crew in captivity, with its provenance.
U.S. officials recorded the five alive in North Korean hands in August 1953, after the Armistice. When the United States demanded them back, the captors threatened to kill them. In 1955 a man in China told Shaddick’s mother her son was alive and that his return would have to be negotiated. Did North Korea kill the five once the United States named them? Did it keep them, or hand them to China or the Soviet Union? If they were bargaining chips, who held them, and for how long?
Write to contact@powinvestigativeproject.org. We treat every approach in confidence.
Related cases
- Capt. Gilbert Ashley and the Ashley Five — the main case page, with the full account.
- 1st Lt. Dewey Stopa — same crew; captured, died at Pike’s Peak, remains never returned, ID card in the Pyongyang museum.
- James O’Meara — same crew; seen to jump, uninjured, never seen again.