Established by Congress with the passage of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act, it is a day to ensure America remembers and shows that it stands behind those who serve and, as a country, will do what it can to account for those who have not returned.
A local man, 93-Year-Old Korean War Veteran Charles Ross, talked about his experience in Korea as a prisoner of war.
It bugs me so few know what the 38th Parallel is let alone not knowing of the Chosin Reservoir. I wasn't there but I'll never forget the men that were. They are American hero's.
ReplyDeleteMy, way smarter than the average Millennial, daughter who has done extensive research on the Korean conflict paid a visit to the DMZ about 4 years ago. She said it was very eerie standing on the site staring into North Korea knowing what occured there 7 decades earlier.
ReplyDeleteUp until recently, maybe still, 30 days continuous in Korea or 60 days overall qualifies one as a Korean War Veteran. Because all they did was stop openly shooting. War is still going on, daily, weekly, yearly. Lives are still being lost through active attacks.
ReplyDeleteHuh. I didn't know that. My dad was stationed in Korea 1963-64, came home for a year and went to Vietnam.
DeleteI was in the 101st in the mid-90s. The Army used to levy guys out of Ft. Campbell to Korea for a year, then send them back, often to the same platoon. As a result, we always had 4 or 5 guys in every platoon with recent experience in Korea, usually up on the DMZ. I heard a lot of stories about “random” and “accidental” mortar shells being launched from North Korea, or attempts by North Korean patrols to instigate confrontations. Pretty wild stuff, although not all of it was one way.
DeleteWhen I hired into my shop job in 1978, a maintenance man who worked there, had been a POW in Korea. He never spoke of it, but he hated Asians of any type,
ReplyDeleteI recall one time, during a break, the maintenance man, Frank, went into the break room to get a cup of coffee. There was a Vietnamese gun sitting in there, at a picnic table. Frank bought his coffee, turned around, saw Vien Le, and Frank took his cup of hot coffee, and threw it right into Vien Le's face, and walked out, without saying a word. Back then, the shop did not fire Frank, which of course, today would have happened in a heartbeat.
Like I said, Frank never said a word about his captivity, but it is easy to imagine. We also had another Vietnamese guy working for us, who escaped from Vietnam in 1975. He was a helicopter pilot for the South Vietnamese Army, and he and 2 of his fellow soldiers were lucky to escape with their lives.
He still has family there, and many years later, he was able to go and visit them. His mother was alive, and he got to see her, one last time, before she died. This man's name was Thu Van Le, and he was fairly young. The other man did not know how old he was, but he looked like Yoda, from Star Wars, and never changed from the day he hired in, until the day he died. He had to have been ancient.