The contents of 1st Lt. Robert Niemann's wallet — including family photos, a lottery ticket, driver's license and other ID cards — were listed on a document in a Russian archive in Moscow.
Retired Soviet Col. Viktor Bushuyev, in 1993, recalled interrogating the tight-lipped U.S. fighter pilot from New Ulm, Minn., at the end of the Korean War 40 years earlier — only to later tell investigators he must have mixed up Niemann with another prisoner.
For years now, Niemann's brother and daughter have taken turns attending annual meetings with military officials in Washington, D.C. — trying to answer gnawing questions about just what happened to Bob.
Did the enemy pluck his wallet from his dead body amid the wreckage of his fighter jet — shot out of a cloudy sky over North Korea on April 12, 1953? Or did he survive the crash and face questioning as a prisoner three months before the end of the Korean War?
Unlike most of the 54,246 Americans killed in the Korean conflict, Niemann's remains have never been recovered.
"Well, it was a long time ago — you kind of get used to it," said Richard Niemann, 86, of Hopkins — the lost flier's younger brother.
"Nothing is conclusive," added Ann Bakkensen, who was 11 months old when her father disappeared. She turns 66 on Monday.
Bakkensen's quest for closure has taken her from her home in Oregon to the 1995 dedication of the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C. She wound up under a tree that day, talking with other Korean War families far from the crowded ceremony on the National Mall.