My grandpa's cousin served in the Army during the time of the Korean War and at some point he had enough of the army and disappeared from the Army without a discharge. That way he could never contact his family again. He however did send them some letters and and than disappeared. It has been a big family story for decades and I know the likely hood of finding out what happened to him is pretty low but because I love intense research I decided to look around for anything that might help me out. I know this is an rare topic on here but if anyone has any tips that would be appreciated.
Check any archives available; military and civilian. Something might turn up. It seems unlikely for archive searches to bring up much, but my elderly cousin managed to trace my family's history back to the 8th century (after we had lost all dating beyond 1898 for some parts and 1599 for another) by starting with one archive/library and moving to another. He didn't think he'd get far (especially after learning the old family castle and therefore the history had been destroyed by the Imperial German Army in WWI), but it came through in the end. Persevere and you might come across something that opens things up. A case of desertion might mean that you'll never find anything out (he'd adopt a false name), or it could be disappointing (an execution/blown up by a mine/foolishly left in civilian clothing and was shot as a spy/you find nothing at all.) It can be expensive; my cousin's search started in a local library, then the national archives in Helsinki, then in various archives in Warsaw, Krakow, Prague, and Munich. Little hints can be spread across countries and even continents, and that makes it time and money intensive. It's a very expensive hobby if you follow up leads, especially if the information might be in Korea or held by one of the other belligerent nations. Given the scale of the Korean War, information might be as far as Beijing, Tokyo, or London; some little slip of information too insignificant to be kept in multiple archives. Considering that it relates to the military, you might be barred from accessing a lot of information that'd help your search, and that might be a very anti-climatic end to an investigation (especially if you've put a lot of effort in.) War destroys a great deal of information as well as deliberately hiding it. You might never find out what happened.
Thanks. He disappeared without a trace in 1957 and was never heard from since. He was in the US at the time. I looked into military records and they are very strict about giving record to just anyone. You have to be a close family member to receive. He could of left the country, changed his name, or even committed suicide. It is wide open.
Do you happen to have those letters he sent? Maybe there's a cancellation stamp of where it was mailed from and maybe you could narrow some search to that geographic location.
