A Korean War vet with pen in hand tells this story.

The year was 1956. The city, Chicago. It was a sizzling hot day, Aug. 21. It was so hot you could fry an egg on the pavement.

A man walked slowly along Michigan Avenue. His hair was disheveled, his clothes ragged and torn. He appeared to be confused and he smelled like a skunk. People had to hold their noses when they passed by. Soon a police car stopped. Two policemen got out of the car and approached the man. The cops asked him what his name was. They also asked him where he lived. He didn’t seem to know what they were talking about.

They noticed he had a crushed dog tag around his neck and thought perhaps he might be a lost veteran. They escorted him to the nearest police station where they attempted to question him further, but he could not answer any of the questions. The policemen then began to form a picture of a veteran with amnesia.

At that point, they called the Bureau of Missing Veterans in Washington and made contact with investigator Johnny Johnson. Johnson, one of the main investigators, immediately made arrangements to bring this lost veteran to D.C.

A few days later our lost veteran arrived at the bureau. Johnson and colleagues questioned him intensely. They soon decided to admit him to a local hospital where he would receive shock treatments, hoping to revive his memory. He also was seen by a psychologist specializing in war traumas. The team at the bureau decided to place a photograph of the veteran in the Chicago Gazette.

The sessions with the psychologist were ongoing, and several weeks later, investigator Johnson got a call from the veteran’s wife. She conveyed to Johnson that as soon as she saw the photograph in the paper, she recognized him. In fact, she showed the photograph to her two children and said, “Look! Here is your daddy!”

The veteran’s team made another critical decision and took the veteran home to Chicago, to his home where his family resided. They told the veteran’s wife to give her husband time, to be patient and he would regain his memory.