One mystery leads to another in case of deceased veteran
RANDOLPH -- The tall, slightly paunchy man lived as John McPhee , a Marine who served in the Korean War and earned several medals, including the Silver Star.
After he was found dead in his one-bedroom apartment last October, the city's police and veterans' agent, trying to determine where he should be buried, found no proof of his service except a faded American Legion membership card and a glass box of war ribbons without identification on them.
Randolph officials were unable to find relatives, and there was no trace of him at the National Personnel Records Center in Missouri, where military records are stored.
As months went by, the state medical examiner's office prepared to inter him in a Boston cemetery, and Randolph officials began to wonder if McPhee's claims were legitimate.
Last Monday, Randolph Veterans' Agent James Campbell received copies of fingerprints and military records that proved the man who called himself John McPhee had been a veteran during the Korean War and deserved to be buried with military honors. But, by unraveling one mystery, Randolph officials came upon another.
McPhee wasn't McPhee. He was actually Clyde Joseph Dollaway , third class petty officer with the Navy.
"We don't know why he changed his name," Campbell said. "He's not who we thought he was, but he's a veteran. It is what it is. At least he's buried with his name in a veterans' cemetery with other veterans."
Tomorrow at 10 a.m., Dollaway, 76, who died of complications from heart disease, will be buried in Massachusetts National Cemetery in Bourne. Campbell plans to recruit a Boy Scout to play Taps. Two military officers, one from the Navy, are expected to stand guard over the grave.
Thus will end one aspect of the mystery of the life of Dollaway -- who was born in Pompton Lakes, N.J., grew up in Middletown, N.Y., and enlisted in the Navy in November 1947.
Campbell said he had sent his Social Security number to the center in Missouri, but it yielded nothing because during World War II and the Korean War, the military instead issued service numbers to identify personnel.
Then Randolph police sent the number to the Social Security Administration, which traced it to Clyde Dollaway, who had the same birth date as the man who had claimed to be McPhee. The military found Dollaway's records and copies of his fingerprints, which matched those of the man in the Boston morgue.
Campbell learned that Dollaway served on the USS Winston AKA-94 , an attack cargo ship that was commissioned around World War II and was involved in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
Dollaway was honorably discharged in 1951. Around 1952, Campbell said, he changed his name to John McPhee, moved to Revere, and worked as an engineer for a Bridgewater construction firm. About a decade ago, he moved to his apartment in Randolph, where his only companion was a bichon poodle mix.
Campbell said he can think of only two reasons for the change in identity -- Dollaway had post-traumatic stress disorder and could not bear to return to his old life when he left the Navy, or he joined a witness protection program. Officials said they did not know why he chose the name John McPhee.
The Globe found one 80-year-old man named Charles Dollaway in Middletown, N,Y., who identified himself as Clyde Dollaway's cousin.
"I ain't seen him in 40 years or better," Charles Dollaway said in a telephone interview yesterday. He said his cousin had an older sister who died several years ago. Both of his cousin's parents died at least 50 years ago, Charles Dollaway said.
He said he did not know why his cousin might have changed his name and did not know he had died until a reporter called. "Nobody got a hold of me, so I didn't know anything. I didn't even know he was in the service," Charles Dollaway said.
Randolph Detective Richard Lucey , who scoured computer databases for information about Dollaway, said he can accept not knowing the full story of Clyde Dollaway. "We may never know," he said. "The whole idea behind this was getting him buried as a veteran, not as a pauper."
Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com. 