The ambulance driver gave his name, then vanished along with his ambulance. No dispatcher in Boston ever admitted sending either of them.
In February 1945, an unconscious, gravely ill man was brought to Boston's U.S. Public Health Service Hospital. The ambulance driver identified him only as "Charles Jamison" before disappearing. Decades of investigation never determined who he actually was.
Arrival
A nurse on duty admitted the man immediately given the severity of his condition. He was suffering from a bone marrow infection that would leave him permanently paralyzed from the waist down, along with severe speech impairment. His clothing carried no identification, labels, or laundry marks of any kind. He had a two-inch scar on his right cheek, was missing the index finger on his left hand, and had faded tattoos of American and British flags, hearts, and a scroll that appeared to read "U.S. Navy."
An Ambulance That Never Existed
When hospital staff tried to follow up, they found no ambulance service in or around Boston had any record of dispatching a vehicle to the hospital that day. No one ever called to ask about the patient. Given the tattoo suggesting naval service, investigators sent his fingerprints to both the FBI and the military — neither had any record of him, which would have been unusual had he actually served.
A Manifest That Didn't Add Up
A name matching his — "Charles William Jamison" — turned up on the manifest of a U.S. Navy troop transport ship that had docked in Boston just two days before he arrived at the hospital. The entry claimed he'd been repatriated after four years in a German POW camp, picked up in Southampton, England, and gave his age as 49 and birthplace as Boston. It also claimed he'd served on a ship called the "Cutty Sark" — a vessel that hadn't sailed in 50 years. Unlike the rest of the typewritten manifest, his entry was handwritten in ink. No one connected to the actual transport ship recognized him or could explain who had added the notation, and no Charles William Jamison was found in Boston birth records from the relevant years.
A Possible Match From New Zealand
Authorities in Invercargill, New Zealand, later contacted the hospital, saying Jamison's description closely matched a crew member of the freighter "Hinemoa" named James Jennings. Jamison had, in fact, mentioned serving as a mate on a ship carrying nitrates from Chile to England that was sunk by German forces — details that checked out against the Hinemoa's actual history. But the name "James Jennings" meant nothing to him, and the freighter's crew records contained no one matching his description either.
Decades Without an Answer
Over the following 30 years, hospital staff and researchers pursued numerous leads, occasionally prompted by fragments Jamison himself recalled, but none ever led to a confirmed identity. He remained hospitalized for the rest of his life, dying still unidentified.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was Charles Jamison's real identity ever confirmed?
No. Despite decades of investigation, including FBI and military fingerprint checks, his true identity was never established.
Was he injured in combat?
No. His paralysis resulted from a bone marrow infection, not war injuries, though his tattoos suggested a possible naval or merchant marine background.
What happened to the ambulance that brought him in?
No ambulance service in the Boston area had any record of dispatching a vehicle to the hospital that day, and the driver was never identified or found again.