Washington ------ The Air Force had indications
 that dozens of missing American airmen were alive
 in Chinese or North Korean prisons two years after
 the Korean War, according to a newly declassified
 report. The report provides new details about how many
 men were left behind even after the exchange of
 prisoners and who these Americans were. It also describes
 a dramatic failed attempt to rescue five members of a B-29
 bomber crew shot down six months before the war ended in
 July 1953.
      The report, labeled "secret," said the five "were known
 to be alive in communist hands as of the close of the Korean
 conflict."
 389 Men Unaccounted For
 The five never returned. Their names_and most of the others
 mentioned in the newly released Air Force intelligence
 report_are on a Defense Department list of 389 men from
 all services who are unaccounted for from the war and about
 whom the U.S. government believes China or North Korea
 had information.
      Both China and North Korea maintain they withheld no
 American POWs from the war.
      Chinese troops fought the war on North Korea's side
 against the U.S.-led United Nations forces. China took
 control of the prisoner-of-war camps in North Korea in
 1951, and in some cases transferred U.S. POWs to China
 for interrogations.
      Compelling but unsubstantiated reports have emerged in
 recent months suggesting a small number of U.S. servicemen
 from the war may still be in North Korea. For the first time
 since the end of the war, North Korea has begun addressing
 the issue. It has agreed to discuss cases of missing
 servicemen, and it is allowing Pentagon investigators this
 summer to search areas of the country where remains of
 American servicemen are believed to be buried.
      On Monday, North Korean soldiers handed over four
 sets of remains believed to be those of American soldiers.
 Some Information Sketchy
 The declassified Air Force report, dated Oct. 19, 1955, and
 prepared by the Escape and Evasion Section of the 6004th
 Air Intelligence Service Squadron, offers no proof that any
 of the 137 men it mentions were still alive then; most of
 the cases were based on sketchy information from repatriated
 POWs, enemy propaganda broadcasts and intelligence
 sources in North Korea.
      The report was declassified on June 5 and is on file at
 the National Archives. It describes the 137 men as Air Force
 MIAs who "may possibly be alive or may have been alive in
 communist captivity at one time" during the war.
      The strongest statement in the report pertains to the case
 of the five B-29 crew members: 1st Lt. Gilbert L. Ashley Jr.,
 Airman 2nd Class Hidemaro Ishida, 1st Lt. Arthur R. Olsen,
 2nd Lt. John P. Shaddick and 1st Lt. Harold P. Turner.
      Their B-29 was shot down about 10 miles south of
 Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Jan. 29, 1953.
 Three other B-29s later spotted "what appeared to be a
 signal" of flashing lights, possibly from the downed airmen,
 the report said.
 Daring Rescue Attempt
 Although the site was behind enemy lines, a rescue attempt
 was made on May 24. It failed.
      The pilot of the rescue plane made radio contact with
 Ashley on the ground as they prepared to pinpoint the
 airmen's location and arrange a "snatch" pickup in which a
 harness and cord dropped to the men would be hooked by a
 cable extended from the rescue aircraft, allowing the men to
 be reeled in to safety.
      "The pilot reported that the voice was definitely that of
 the American who had previously been identified as Lieutenant
 Ashley," the report said. It said the rescue plane was
 damaged by machine gun fire, forcing them to abort the
 mission.
      "Ashley and four crew members (Turner, Olsen,
 Shaddick and Ishida) were known to be alive in communist
 hands as of the close of the Korean conflict, July '53," the
 report said. It does not say how the Air Force knew this.
 Was He Still Alive?
 In his book "Soldiers of Misfortune," journalist Mark Sauter
 wrote that U.S. intelligence officials received a message,
 apparently from Ashley's North Korean captors, that was
 interpreted as confirmation the five were alive as of Aug. 4,
 1953.
      Ashley, of Rock Hall, Md., was 30 years old at the time
 of his shootdown. Ishida's hometown was listed as
 Richmond, Calif. Hometowns for the other three crew
 members could not be determined.
 Pilots Seen Months After Shootdown
 The Air Force report also describes the case of Capt. Harold
 M. Beardall, who went down in North Korea aboard a B-26
 bomber on May 21, 1951. It mentions several sightings of
 Beardall by other American POWs months after the
 shootdown.
      Beardall was said to have been "held separately from
 other Air Force" POWs in North Korea. His name was on
 Chinese hospital records of officers who were interrogated, it
 said. "Names of this type we feel are alive," the report says.
      An unidentified source is quoted in the report as saying
 Beardall was tried as a war criminal, apparently by the
 Chinese. Such "trials" were held for many U.S. officers, and
 their "convictions" used as grounds for refusing to repatriate
 them.
      Maj. Kassel M. Keene, for example, who went missing
 on Nov. 19, 1951, was said to have been sentenced in July
 1953 for assaulting a fellow prisoner. "According to the
 sentence, he was not to be effected (sic) by repatriation,"
 the report said.
      Some men listed in the Air Force intelligence report were
 described as having been seen by other American POWs at
 Kaesong, North Korea, where U.N. prisoners were taken in
 preparation to be repatriated shortly after the end of the war.
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