Changes

Family members of KAL 007 passengers would later state that these shoes were actually worn by their loved ones for the flight on that fateful night.  Sonia Munder had no difficulty recognizing the sneakers of her children, one of Christian, age 14 and one of Lisi, age 17, by the intricate way her children laced them.  (Sonia confirmed that her children were wearing these shoes when they boarded the flight).  Another mother says, "I recognized them just like that.  You see, there are all kinds of inconspicuous marks which strangers do not notice.  This is how I recognized them.  My daughter loved to wear them."  And yet, another mother (and maybe it takes a mother!), Nan Oldham identified her son, John's, sneakers from a photo in Life magazine of 55 of the 213 shoes -- apparently, a random array on display those first days at Chitose Air Force Base in Japan.  "We saw photos of his shoes in a magazine," says Nan, "We followed up through KAL and a few weeks later, a package arrived.  His shoes were inside: size 11 sneakers with cream white paint."  John Oldham had taken his seat in row 31 of KAL 007 wearing those cream white paint spattered sneakers.  He had just come from painting his suburban Washington, D.C., family home.  

Family members of KAL 007 passengers would later state that these shoes were actually worn by their loved ones for the flight on that fateful night.  Sonia Munder had no difficulty recognizing the sneakers of her children, one of Christian, age 14 and one of Lisi, age 17, by the intricate way her children laced them.  (Sonia confirmed that her children were wearing these shoes when they boarded the flight).  Another mother says, "I recognized them just like that.  You see, there are all kinds of inconspicuous marks which strangers do not notice.  This is how I recognized them.  My daughter loved to wear them."  And yet, another mother (and maybe it takes a mother!), Nan Oldham identified her son, John's, sneakers from a photo in Life magazine of 55 of the 213 shoes—apparently, a random array on display those first days at Chitose Air Force Base in Japan.  "We saw photos of his shoes in a magazine," says Nan, "We followed up through KAL and a few weeks later, a package arrived.  His shoes were inside: size 11 sneakers with cream white paint."  John Oldham had taken his seat in row 31 of KAL 007 wearing those cream white paint spattered sneakers.  He had just come from painting his suburban Washington, D.C., family home.  

From an examination of the shoes in the photo of Life magazine, pairing the sets and counting them with the single shoes, and relating them to the whole, it turns out that the total amount of shoes retrieved account for 198 of the 269 people of KAL 007 - or almost 74% of the total.

From an examination of the shoes in the photo of Life magazine, pairing the sets and counting them with the single shoes, and relating them to the whole, it turns out that the total amount of shoes retrieved account for 198 of the 269 people of KAL 007 - or almost 74% of the total.

* Note - Gen. Romanenko would meet a bad end due (according to the Republican Staff Report) to his handling of KAL 007 matters.  The Republican Staff Study reports that he was probably sent to the Gulag himself.  The Israeli Research Centre for Prisons, Psych-Prisons, and Forced Labor Concentration Camps of the USSR, resting on informant information reported, independently and prior to the Staff Study, that Romanenko's name no longer appears in KGB computers.  (Once in, a person is noted as reassigned, deceased, retired, etc., but never deleted.  It is as if Gen. Romanenko never existed).  And finally, Hans Ephraimson-Abt, the head of the US families of the victims association, reports that while he was in East Germany at the Soviet embassy, he was informed by embassy officials that Gen. Romanenko, whom he had come to enquire about (he had not!), had committed suicide.  Of course, each in its own time, could have been true.

* Note - Gen. Romanenko would meet a bad end due (according to the Republican Staff Report) to his handling of KAL 007 matters.  The Republican Staff Study reports that he was probably sent to the Gulag himself.  The Israeli Research Centre for Prisons, Psych-Prisons, and Forced Labor Concentration Camps of the USSR, resting on informant information reported, independently and prior to the Staff Study, that Romanenko's name no longer appears in KGB computers.  (Once in, a person is noted as reassigned, deceased, retired, etc., but never deleted.  It is as if Gen. Romanenko never existed).  And finally, Hans Ephraimson-Abt, the head of the US families of the victims association, reports that while he was in East Germany at the Soviet embassy, he was informed by embassy officials that Gen. Romanenko, whom he had come to enquire about (he had not!), had committed suicide.  Of course, each in its own time, could have been true.

==See Also==

==See also==

[[Soviet Officers of KAL 007 Shootdown]]

[[Soviet Officers of KAL 007 Shootdown]]