The family of Army Sgt. First Class Ogden Neil Thompson descended on Aurora this weekend from across the country – South Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi, Washington – to pay tribute to this local hero, but also to tackle a mystery.
On Saturday morning, a portion of Route 25 from Sullivan Road to Ashland Avenue was dedicated in honor of Thompson, the second of four such events to keep alive the memories of those from the Fox Valley who paid the ultimate sacrifice for this country.
Thompson served in the U.S. Army’s 1st Cavalry Division, 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, and was stationed near Unsan, North Korea, when, on Nov. 1, 1950, during a surprise Chinese offensive, his unit was overrun in one of the most intense battles of the Korean War.
Thompson’s body was never recovered and he was officially declared presumed dead on Dec. 31, 1953, making him one of 394 Illinois service members still missing from this war.
According to state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, who sponsored legislation for these road signs, the 20-year-old Aurora soldier “went missing during the ensuing chaos and was never recovered, with eyewitness accounts suggesting he was killed while attempting to evade enemy forces.”
The fact there is not even a grave to visit had to make his death even tougher for Thompson’s hard-working parents, Freeda and Homer, who worked at Burgess-Norton in Geneva, as well as their eight surviving children.
Because Thompson died so young, many of those descendants, including Ogden’s nieces and nephews who were born long after their uncle was killed, knew little about him.
“Our mother didn’t say a whole lot … just that he was killed in the Korean War,” said Tammy Kitchen, who drove to Aurora from South Carolina with her cousin Sherry Waddell for the Saturday ceremony. “It’s the way it was back then. They didn’t talk about the hard stuff. They just soldiered on.”
Most everyone in the family, however, knew one compelling fact which has led to a “mystery” they hope to one day solve. While he was serving overseas, Ogden Thompson fell in love with a Japanese woman he nicknamed Tiny and the couple, who married in a civil ceremony there, had a baby boy named Michael.
From the accounts of Ogden’s mother, and then a treasure trove of loving letters that were found after her death in 1999, the family knew that the written permission she and her husband had to give to their underage son so he could bring Tiny to this country and marry her here were returned unopened. Eleven days earlier, he was reported missing.
“That’s the real mystery,” said Kathy Asbill, who made the trip from Virginia with her father Irvin Thompson, Ogden’s last surviving brother.
Despite plenty of attempts to locate the fallen soldier’s family in Japan – letters to politicians and other officials, contact with embassies, documentation searches and Korean War internet postings – all efforts came up short. But Thompson’s family is hoping this weekend’s activities, which have brought close to a couple dozen together with North Aurora nephew Bill Perrin hosting, will provide the incentive to keep searching.
“The story is to be continued,” insisted Kitchen.
Certainly sifting through a table filled with photos, letters and other memorabilia has helped ignite the desire to keep the fallen hero’s memory and legacy alive. Particularly compelling is the loving correspondence between Ogden and his parents as they shared bits of news about life in Aurora and about his siblings, including oldest brother Arthur, who was serving in the Navy during the same war. Fortunately, the two brothers managed to meet in Japan on a mutual leave at one point.
The fact those later letters never reached Ogden – one was written by his mother the day before they were notified he was missing – only adds to the emotional narrative that has come to mean so much for his family.
“I cannot even imagine how hard it must have been” to get those returned letters, especially the one giving consent to have their son’s wife and child come to the United States,” noted Asbill. “What a difference one letter could have made in everyone’s life, especially Mike.”
Now 88 years old, Irvin Thompson – a Navy veteran like three of his brothers – still recalls that day his parents received word his big brother was not coming home. Nearly 14 at the time, he climbed alone into the attic of the family’s home on North Sumner Avenue. “And I just cried,” he told me. “It was the first time I’d cried in a long time.
“It was like an emptiness.”
Irvin remembers his brother, who never graduated from high school but was determined to join the military, as “very outgoing” and who “could do a lot of things.” That included starting to build a cabin when he was only 12 years old with the goal of finishing the project when he returned from the war.
Kathy Asbill said her dad talked about his missing brother at least several times a year – usually on patriotic holidays. And the family “spent hours and hours writing letters trying to find out what they could” about him after he left Aurora.
Her father “instilled in us that American military pride,” she added, noting that last week the family attended an event in Greenville, South Carolina, where the remains of World War II Army airman Clarence Gibbs were brought home from Germany after being missing for 81 years.
More Top Picks Best Kitchen Sinks
Ogden’s loved ones do not give up hope. Nor do they take for granted the road sign memorial on Route 25 that will keep Ogden Neil Thompson’s name in the public eye, thanks in large part to North Aurora Gold Star father Bob Patterson and the memorial foundation for his son U.S. Army Spc. Christopher Patterson, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2012.
In May, U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Ted Katsoolias of St. Charles, who was reported MIA on Thanksgiving Eve in 1950 during the Korean War, was honored with a sign on a portion of Route 59. Upcoming dedications include another Korean War MIA, Army Pvt. First Class Wayne Wilder Hill Jr., and Army Staff Sgt. Robert Herreid, a star athlete from Mooseheart who is one of 63 Vietnam War MIA from Illinois.
The Thompson family’s gratitude was evident in the words they shared at Saturday morning’s road dedication, which rain moved inside the Batavia VFW post.
“For almost 75 years, our family has carried the weight” of Ogden’s “absence, the unanswered questions, the grief and the hope that one day his remains will be returned to the United States,” Asbill told the crowd of around 60 or so who gathered for the event.
“Naming this road in his honor will serve as a lasting reminder of his heroism and courage, and of the sacrifice borne not only by him but also all who love and remember him,” she continued. “We represent military families with enduring strength who wait, hope and remember.
“Thank you for standing with us today to ensure his name and story live on.”