Korean War · Photographed in communist custody · Never returned
The Soviets put his picture in newspapers around the world. The Pentagon did not confirm his capture until 2010.
Watch: What Happened to Major Sam Logan. Produced by the project (The DMZ War). It is one of the very few confirmed videos of an American Air Force officer at a crash site from this period, so it shows what such a video looks like. The still photograph below is the November 1950 Soviet news agency release discussed in the film.
The man
After Soviet media published his photograph, his widow wrote the Pentagon: “It isn’t possible they have no record of Maj. Logan, since his picture and pictures of his plane appeared in the Russian news – with the statement he had been taken prisoner.”
Key facts
- Who: Maj. Sam Logan, U.S. Air Force, a B-29 crew member (a captain when lost).
- When and where: Shot down north of Pyongyang in September 1950; a message signed with his name on a Pyongyang jail wall gives the date as Sept. 9.
- What was reported: The official Soviet news agency released his photograph in captivity in November 1950.
- Status: Not returned in the 1953 prisoner exchange. His fate after November 1950 is unknown.
- Do you have information on what happened to Sam Logan? Contact us in confidence, in English or your own language.
What is known
Sam Logan was a captain in the U.S. Air Force when he was shot down — a Vanderbilt graduate and a stamp collector, flying a B-29 bomber. He was later promoted to major.
He and his aircraft commander thought for a moment they might reach the ocean and ditch the damaged bomber near U.S. rescue forces. Then one of their engines blew up. The crew bailed out over enemy territory north of Pyongyang, and five parachutes were seen.
Weeks later the U.S. military located the wreckage and ultimately recovered five bodies. (DPAA’s profile says the remains of four crew members were recovered near the crash site.) A Korean witness said a survivor referred to himself, or to one of the dead crewmen, as “Jerry” or “Cherry” — Clarence Cherry was a member of the crew. Later a second-hand account from an enemy prisoner said seven of the crew had been captured and the rest died.
The jail wall. On 16 November 1950, a U.S. official entered a Pyongyang jail that the enemy had been using and found two messages scratched into the wall:
“Tom Odenbaugh, 2d Lt. USMC — Shot down 30 Sept. 6 October”
“Sam Logan, Capt. USAF — Shot down 9 September. 27 September.”
Logan was not the only American to scratch his name on that wall. 2nd Lt. Thomas Odenbaugh, USMC, a Marine from Iowa lost with his helicopter three weeks after Logan went down, left the message above his. Odenbaugh was never returned and has never been accounted for either. The two men were held in the same enemy cell, and their cases have almost always been worked apart.
The photograph. In November 1950 the official Soviet news agency released a picture of Logan, together with a picture of his downed bomber, claiming he had been captured on 1 November. The photograph — Logan in his t-shirt — was carried by Soviet media around the world and reprinted widely in U.S. newspapers. It was, in the authors’ reading, meant to display an American trophy.
Logan did not return during the 1953 prisoner exchange. Returning prisoners had no real information about him.
What remains unresolved
What happened to Sam Logan after November 1950 is unknown.
In 1954 the Air Force told his mother that he and two fellow crewmen “may have been prisoners of war but this has never been confirmed” — implying the service either did not have the Soviet photograph or did not regard it as confirmation that he was a prisoner.
The Pentagon certainly held the photograph in the years immediately after the war. It was then apparently lost. According to an internal government email obtained by PIP, the Pentagon’s POW office did not obtain Logan’s picture — the one widely carried in American newspapers — until 1998.
In 2004 the Pentagon stated that there were “no confirmed survivors” from the aircraft and only “unconfirmed evidence” that Logan was captured, despite the photograph, the name scratched in the jail cell and the mention of his name in communist propaganda after November 1950. DPAA now states that in 2010, based on information from Russian archives, it was confirmed that Logan survived and was taken into enemy custody. His fate after capture is unknown.
The Pentagon has also argued that if Logan survived the crash he was probably killed in Pyongyang, because North Korean forces were known to kill prisoners during retreats, and because Logan “does not appear at any point within the known flows of POWs from the Korean War.”
Why the case matters
That last phrase is the whole argument, and it is circular. It holds that a prisoner cannot have survived unless another prisoner who came home saw him — which assumes the communists never moved captives anywhere except the North Korean camps they acknowledged.
PIP’s research puts the alternative directly: what if the Soviets — perhaps the very man who took Logan’s picture, since Soviet advisors and intelligence officers posed as correspondents — simply put Logan and Thomas Odenbaugh, both of whom had useful knowledge of American aircraft, on a truck heading north?
That is a question, not a finding. But it is the question the photograph forces, and we have not seen an answer to it.
Logan’s case matters because the evidence of his capture is about as good as this record ever gets: a name scratched in a jail wall by a man who knew he might not be seen again, and a photograph published to the world by the government that held him. Even so, the Pentagon did not confirm his capture until 2010, and then on the strength of Russian records.
Evidence and sources
- The 16 November 1950 discovery of the jail-wall inscriptions in Pyongyang naming Logan and 2d Lt. Thomas Odenbaugh, USMC, with their shoot-down dates.
- The November 1950 Soviet news agency release of a photograph of Logan and of his downed B-29, and its subsequent worldwide circulation.
- U.S. recovery of the aircraft wreckage and five bodies; the Korean witness account referring to “Jerry”/”Cherry”; the second-hand enemy-prisoner account of seven crew captured.
- The Air Force’s letter to Logan’s mother stating he “may have been prisoners of war but this has never been confirmed.”
- An internal government email, obtained by the authors, showing the Pentagon POW office did not obtain Logan’s photograph until 1998.
- Pentagon case statements of 2004 and since, including the “known flows of POWs” reasoning.
- Letter from Logan’s widow to the Pentagon.
- Primary account: PIP research files. The case documents cited above are held in the project’s archive.
Request for information
“It isn’t possible they have no record of Maj. Logan, since his picture and pictures of his plane appeared in the Russian news — with the statement he had been taken prisoner,” his widow wrote to the Pentagon. “In the wee hours of the night when all is still and dark, I still hear them crying out — ‘Please help us, we want to come home.'”
Please contact us if you can help with any of the following.
- Accounts of Logan after November 1950, from former North Korean, Chinese or Soviet personnel, including the Soviet correspondent who photographed him.
- Soviet, Russian or North Korean records on a captured American B-29 crewman held in Pyongyang in 1950, including the Russian archival material DPAA says confirmed his capture in 2010.
- What happened to the prisoners held in the Pyongyang jail in the fall of 1950, including 2nd Lt. Thomas Odenbaugh, USMC.
Logan scratched his name in a Pyongyang cell, and the Soviet news agency photographed him in custody. The Pentagon argues he was probably killed in Pyongyang because he does not appear in the known flows of prisoners. Was he killed during the retreat? Or did the Soviets who photographed him take a B-29 crewman north for what he knew?
Українська
Майор Сем Логан, ВПС США — сфотографований у комуністичному полоні, не повернувся
Сем Логан був капітаном Військово-повітряних сил США, коли його бомбардувальник B-29 був збитий. Члени екіпажу вистрибнули з парашутами над ворожою територією на північ від Пхеньяна; було помічено п’ять парашутів. Через кілька тижнів американські військові знайшли уламки літака та тіла п’ятьох членів екіпажу.
16 листопада 1950 року американський офіцер увійшов до пхеньянської в’язниці, якою користувався противник, і знайшов надряпані на стіні написи: «Том Оденбо, лейтенант морської піхоти США — збитий 30 вересня» та «Сем Логан, капітан ВПС США — збитий 9 вересня».
У листопаді 1950 року офіційне радянське інформаційне агентство оприлюднило фотографію Логана — у футболці — разом зі знімком його збитого бомбардувальника, стверджуючи, що він потрапив у полон 1 листопада. Знімок обійшов увесь світ.
Логан не повернувся під час обміну полоненими 1953 року. У 1951 році ВПС повідомили його матері, що він «можливо, був військовополоненим, але це ніколи не було підтверджено». Згідно з внутрішнім листуванням, відділ Пентагону у справах військовополонених отримав цю фотографію лише у 1998 році. У 2004 році Пентагон стверджував, що з екіпажу «немає підтверджених тих, хто вижив», а докази полону Логана «не підтверджені».
Ми шукаємо: свідчення про Логана після листопада 1950 року від колишніх північнокорейських, китайських чи радянських військових, зокрема від радянського кореспондента, який його сфотографував; радянські, російські або північнокорейські документи про захопленого американського члена екіпажу B-29, якого утримували в Пхеньяні у 1950 році; відомості про долю в’язнів пхеньянської в’язниці восени 1950 року, зокрема лейтенанта морської піхоти Томаса Оденбо.
Ми шукаємо правду, а не винних. Ми не публікуємо імена джерел без дозволу. Напишіть нам: contact@powinvestigativeproject.org
Русский
Майор Сэм Логан, ВВС США — сфотографирован в коммунистическом плену, не вернулся
Сэм Логан был капитаном Военно-воздушных сил США, когда его бомбардировщик B-29 был сбит. Члены экипажа покинули самолёт с парашютами над вражеской территорией к северу от Пхеньяна; было замечено пять парашютов. Через несколько недель американские военные нашли обломки самолёта и тела пяти членов экипажа.
16 ноября 1950 года американский офицер вошёл в пхеньянскую тюрьму, которой пользовался противник, и обнаружил нацарапанные на стене надписи: «Том Оденбо, лейтенант морской пехоты США — сбит 30 сентября» и «Сэм Логан, капитан ВВС США — сбит 9 сентября».
В ноябре 1950 года официальное советское информационное агентство опубликовало фотографию Логана — в футболке — вместе со снимком его сбитого бомбардировщика, утверждая, что он был захвачен 1 ноября. Снимок обошёл весь мир.
Логан не вернулся во время обмена пленными в 1953 году. В 1951 году ВВС сообщили его матери, что он «возможно, был военнопленным, но это никогда не было подтверждено». Согласно внутренней переписке, отдел Пентагона по делам военнопленных получил эту фотографию только в 1998 году. В 2004 году Пентагон утверждал, что «подтверждённых выживших» в экипаже нет, а доказательства пленения Логана «не подтверждены».
Мы ищем: свидетельства о Логане после ноября 1950 года от бывших северокорейских, китайских или советских военных, в том числе от советского корреспондента, который его сфотографировал; советские, российские или северокорейские документы о захваченном американском члене экипажа B-29, содержавшемся в Пхеньяне в 1950 году; сведения о судьбе заключённых пхеньянской тюрьмы осенью 1950 года, в том числе лейтенанта морской пехоты Томаса Оденбо.
Мы ищем правду, а не виновных. Мы не публикуем имена источников без разрешения. Напишите нам: contact@powinvestigativeproject.org