diff --git a/gcc/cobol/genapi.cc b/gcc/cobol/genapi.cc
index 3a09aa4be53c961fec998a362590efcd47d4fd31..8e4bc479d624b9f9f19ba1451b27fdb83f3f3858 100644
--- a/gcc/cobol/genapi.cc
+++ b/gcc/cobol/genapi.cc
@@ -14946,6 +14946,11 @@ parser_symbol_add(struct cbl_field_t *new_var )
         ENDIF
         }
       }
+    else
+      {
+      gg_assign(new_var->var_decl_node, boolean_false_node);
+      }
+      
     return;
     }