They Fought Valiantly for Their Country’S Survival: The Korean War 25 June 1950 - 27 July 1953 as Remembered by South Koreans Living in British Columbia

By Bob Orrick

They Fought Valiantly for Their Countrys Survival contains the personal accounts of South Korean soldiers and marines who fought for the survival of their country following the North Korean sneak attack on South Korea that was the start of the Korean War 25 June 195027 July 1953. Inasmuch as a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities was signed at Panmunjom on 27 July 1953 and the shooting stopped, the Korean War remains very much in the forefront of world news as a declaration of peace has not been signed as the 2.5-mile wide demilitarized zone between the two Koreas attests in stark, menacing evidence.
The accounts that are contained within this book are real and reveal in clear prose the devastation, the pain, the agony, the danger, the fear, the betrayal, distress, wounds, death, turmoil, separation, and love of family that was the constant with these South Koreans as they stood in the forefront and stopped the evil known as communism and set in place the seed that culminated in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall a few decades later. The South Koreans who fought valiantly during the thirty-seven-month Korean War, stopped the spread of communism in the Far East. Truly, theirs was a heroic stand that the free world can applaud today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 28, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503536234

Bob Orrick

Bob Orrick, CD, Royal Canadian Navy, 1950–75; Korea 1952–53, HMCS Athabaskan DDE219. Following honorable discharge in 1975, Bob was a reporter and photographer then editor of a Vancouver Island, British Columbia, community newspaper. In 1979, he was appointed ministerial assistant to a British Columbia government cabinet minister. In 1986, Bob resigned his position and became a founding owner and vice president of a Vancouver-based international marketing company. In 1989, he left the firm; later that year, Bob was appointed national public information officer, Korea Veterans Association of Canada Inc.—a position he held for three years. During his tenure as PIO, Bob worked diligently to educate Canadians about their country’s involvement in the Korean War; moreover, Bob worked tirelessly to convince Ottawa to recognize the volunteerism of the 27,000 Canadians who served in Korea 1950–1953 and to award a suitable medal. In November 1981, Governor-General Ray Hnyatysen awarded the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal [Korea] to a select group of Korean War veterans. Other veterans received their medal via Canada Post. In addition, Bob spent twelve years as a private ESL tutor, and in June 2005, he retired to concentrate on his writing. Since then, Bob has spent many years researching and writing about the Korean War and has published two books on the subject as well as one book on former warships that have been turned into artificial reefs.

Book preview

Copyright © 2015 by Bob Orrick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/23/2015

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

702690

CONTENTS

Foreword

A Fallacy

A Previously Little Known Far East Landmass

A Look Back At Korean History

The South Korean Story

Was It Worth It?

History Is Not Just Another Name For The Past, As Many People Imply. It Is The Name Of Stories From The Past

National Flag Of The Republic Of Korea [South Korea]

For As Distress The Soul Can Wound ’Tis Pain In Each Degree: Bliss Goes Out To A Certain Bound, Beyond Is Agony

Hardship, Family Disruption And More

Stories Arranged Chronologically To Coincide With The War’s Progression

From Korean War To Peaceful Canada

Hurry! Hurry! Culture

Korean War And Valley Of Shadow Of Death

A Republic Of Korea Navy Commander Recalls The War

My Korean War Experience

The Korean War And My Life In Canada

How I Became An Escort Soldier For The Commander Of The Military Police Division

Everlasting Pride In Being A Marine

Being Part Of Incheon Landing Strategy

Not Afraid Of Delivering My Duty In The Territory Of The Enemy

Unforgettable Memory Of My Hometown And My Fellow Soldiers

Being A Commando Was An Important Pointer Of My Life

Farewell Flame-Thrower

For My Fellow Soldiers Who Share The Moments Of Life And Death

Tragedy That Cannot Be Blamed As Our Fate

War And Miracle

From Joseon National Constabulary To The Republic Of Korea Armed Forces

The Korean War At The Crossroads Of My Life

June 25Th Korean War That Changed My Life

Facing The Future With Courage

To The Hill Of Gethsemane

Days In The Battlefield That I Managed To Overcome With Faith

From Manchuria To Seoul

Standing In Front Of Korean War Memorial, Ambassador Of Peace

Korean War That I Shared My Fate With Canadian Soldiers

Over And Over Crossing The Line Of Life-Or-Death

Four Years Of Valuable Time In Medical Corps

Poppy Campaign

My Nursing Officer Days

A Soldier Speaks After Death

A Moderate Change Of Pace

Looking Back On 17 Years In Canada

23 Days Of Cross Country (From South To North) In South Korea

Time In A Settler’s Basket

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

Dewdrops

The Reality Of The Korean War

Miscellaneous Information

Customs

Religion

Music And Dance

Three Inside Stories From North Korea

Conclusion

A Closing Thought

Permission To Translate

FOREWORD

T hey say life is greater than fiction, and movies are what life is made of.

In 2004, my mother and I watched the blockbuster Hallyu (Korean Hollywood) movie during the Asian Film Festival titled Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War. It was about two brothers who, through the Korean War, get separated and subsequently end up fighting on opposing sides of the war. It was heart-wrenching. And bloodier than bloody. There was not a dry eye in the theatre. As the credits were rolling, no one moved from their seats. The packed theatre was quiet, but sniffles and muffled sounds of crying could be heard. I was trying not to sob. My mother turned to me with wet eyes and whispered, It was much worse than that.

Each story of the Korean War shared in this anthology could be the sequel to Taegukgi. They are stories of suffering, tragedy, loss, love…of epic proportions. They are what movies are made of.

What happened on the Korean peninsula during the Korean War, more than 60 years ago, has made all the difference - geo-politically, historically, economically and personally. I owe my life to all those who fiercely defended the Republic of Korea and protected her people from being swallowed up by communist aggression and the darkness that still envelopes the north.

Millions died in the war; 516 Canadians among them. But looking at the Republic of Korea today, we know their ultimate sacrifice was not in vain.

Though Korea remains divided more than 60 years later, the stories in this book remind us of the real people and the events that impacted their lives and shaped our collective history. We must learn as much as we can about what really happened in the Korean War, and never forget, so that history does not repeat itself but helps us find a way forward, toward peace on the Korean peninsula one day.

We must remember them. Lest we forget.

The Honourable Yonah Martin

Deputy Leader of the Government

Senate of Canada

A FALLACY

T here are some who insist that the Korean War was not a war but, rather, a ‘police action.’ They insist it was a police action because a declaration of war was not issued by either the communists or the United Nations. ¹ Additionally, these same people claim that those who served in Korea were peacekeepers.

Those who insist that the Korean War was a police action are standing on sand – a military action is a military action whether or not a formal declaration of war was issued. War is war regardless of which term is used and war is hell. For proof of that statement, read the stories that follow and try to understand the horror, misery and desperation that the Koreans endured during what much of the world termed a ‘police action.’ Or, look back into history and see what the world endured during the Great War of 1914-1918 [World War One] and the millions upon millions of people who died during the War to End All Wars; or look to World War Two, the six-year long struggle between right and wrong that shook the world out of the Great Depression in a most ugly manner and, as with the Great War, saw millions perish in battles and actions that were beyond belief a generation earlier. These were wars and soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and innocent civilians on both sides died in great numbers; yet, when it comes to the Korean War, many people just raise their eyebrows and move on to another topic of discussion because they either do not know of the Korean War or choose not to think about it. Upwards of five million casualties, 47 per cent of the Korean Peninsula landmass was destroyed, families uprooted and torn apart – some members never to be seen again – all just to satisfy the demented ideals of communism. Despite the agony of the Korean War visited upon the Koreans – north and south – the world citizenry ought to offer up a heartfelt cry of Thank You to the South Koreans and the United Nations member countries that came to the Republic of Korea’s plea for assistance when the communist North Koreans pulled off a sneak attack and rolled into and over their southern neighbour with armoured might, 90,000 well-equipped and led soldiers and artillery at the stroke of 4 am on Sunday, 25 June 1950. The world awoke to yet another war and to 37-months of intense fighting to stop the spread of communism in the Far East.

The Korean War did stop the spread of communism in the Far East and paved the way for the eventual tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union. Let no one express the thought that the Korean War was simply a police action in a far off land most had not heard of prior to 25 June 1950 – it was a war with all the attendant horror, agony, destruction, and misery of any previous war.

People die in war and many people died in the Korean War. A simple police action? No, a terrible war that left millions of Koreans stranded amid a temporary, so-called facilitative line that became hardened into an international boundary between the North and South. Today, the truth of the Korean War can be seen readily when the capitalist, prosperous South is compared to the communist, terror-filled gulags/camps of the North. Today, South Korea is heralded as a successful economy whereas North Korea is a shunned leper – a self-imposed, inward-looking collection of failures.

In the early days of the Korean War, USA president Harry Truman referred to the United States response to the North Korean invasion as a police action under the aegis of the United Nations.

Use of the term police action is intended to imply either a claim of formal sovereignty or of authority to intervene militarily at a nation’s own discretion.

Veterans often display a high degree of disdain for the term ‘police action,’ as it somehow implies that their sacrifices were not legitimate and perhaps also that they are not even veterans of a true ‘war.’

The stories that follow are stories of South Koreans who fought in the Korean War and if any person who claims the 25 June 1950 to 27 July 1953 war was just a police action, then they ought to sit down and have a heart to heart talk with the South Korean veterans.

A PREVIOUSLY LITTLE KNOWN

FAR EAST LANDMASS

K orea [Core’e], a little-known Far East peninsula tucked nicely below China and between the Yellow Sea to the west and the East Sea [Sea of Japan] to the east with the Korea Bay off the northwest corner and the Korea Strait to the south of the 684 mile north-south landmass; unknown that is until the late 19 th Century when the Hermit Kingdom finally opened to Western nations. But even then, the Korean Peninsula became the battleground of foreign power conflicts for influence in North Asia. Russia and an expanding Japanese empire struggled for economic and political control, ² while China sought to maintain the traditional status quo of loose suzerainty ³. The Western powers – the United States, Britain, Germany and France – wrested such economic concessions as mineral and timber rights from the beleaguered 500-year old Yi Dynasty.

Man began to inhabit Korea in the Paleolithic Age [ca. 700 thousand B.P.]. In the Neolithic Age, which lasted from around BC 6000 to about BC 1000, people subsisted mainly by plant gathering, hunting and fishing. It is assumed that in that age they began to engage in farming. The inhabitants in the Bronze Age [around BC 1000] are believed to have used the new metal-working technology. Full-fledged farming started in the Bronze Age.⁴

The Koreans are descendants of a number of tribes who migrated into the peninsula over the centuries from Central Asia, Manchuria, Siberia, and other spots on the continent.

Over several thousand years they have developed into a highly homogeneous people. While sharing physical characteristics with other peoples in the Mongoloid race as well as certain patterns with other nations as part of the great Sinitic⁵ world, the Koreans remain fiercely independent and distinctive in their culture, language, dress, and cuisine.⁶

The Korean Peninsula covers a land area of approximately 220,000 square kilometers [84,942 square miles] and a coastline dotted with some 3,400 islands; and extends due south of Manchuria, curving gently east and then west like the jade commas dangling from the golden crowns of its ancient kings.

A LOOK BACK AT KOREAN HISTORY

T o understand and appreciate South Korea and South Koreans today, one must look back into the history of the Korean Peninsula to see that much of today’s South Korea was seeded almost 5,000 years ago. Between that time and about 500 years ago, Sui and Tang armies from China, the Golden Tartars, the Mongols, and others, have marched on Korean soil, only to recede like the seas on its three shores, able to conquer but not subjugate its people. Finally, from the end of the 16 th Century, Korea deliberately sought isolation - a reaction to the appalling suffering and destruction wrought by two successive Japanese invasions. Even in the 19 th Century, when China and Japan had been opened to the West by gunboats and persuasion, Korea remained the Hermit Kingdom, and was virtually unknown abroad. ⁷

In times of peace, Korea was a cultural channel between the succession of vast, highly developed empires in China and the islands of Japan. Before the peninsula was united by the Silla Kingdom in 688, its contemporary Paekche Kingdom had contributed significantly to Japanese culture and knowledge. The Silla Kingdom itself traded with nations as distant as India and Persia, as well as China. During its renascent periods Korea was an originator and repository of philosophic, religious, and artistic achievements that influenced much of Asia.⁸

After years of upheaval and uncertainty, the nation was annexed by Japan in 1910. A determined struggle against this foreign domination became the crucible of a modern Korean nationalism and patriotic fervor, qualities the Korean people would sorely need in the darker days ahead.⁹

During the period of Japanese occupation, Koreans were not sitting idly by being subservient to their Japanese masters – the flame of patriotism and independence remained alive in Korea. Revolutionary groups and movements sustained the Korean hope for freedom, defying the Japanese wherever possible. These were, of course, hunted down by the Japanese and many patriots fled from Korea to escape torture or death.

A strong communist party also sprung up in Korea. Organised in 1925, it pushed the underground movement against Japan. The Korean communists were in contact with the Russian communists through the Far Eastern Division of the Comintern [Communist International, Third International, Moscow, 1919].

In this setting of turbulent and long-suppressed patriotic emotions, it was inevitable that the political void caused by the fall of the Japanese Empire at the end of World War Two should touch off a struggle for power¹⁰.

Following Japan’s surrender and the end of WWII, the Soviet Union and the United States each staked a claim on the Korean Peninsula with the Soviets grabbing the north and the Americans opting for the south. The division between the north and south was based on a hastily-drawn ‘facilitative line’ meant to be a temporary division in order to allow the Soviets and Americans the wherewithal to accept Japanese surrender. The Americans had wanted to have Seoul in their administrative area so that they could accept the Japanese surrender in Korea.

The gloom of colonialism was replaced by the despair of division of one of the world’s most homogeneous people when Moscow refused to allow United Nations-supervised elections in the northern zone. ¹¹

Numerous attempts by the United Nations to join the north and south into a homogeneous peninsula failed. From 1945 to 1948, the UN made repeated attempts to unite North and South Korea under one central government; but all efforts were balked by the Soviet Union. The Republic of Korea, [South Korea] headed by President Syngman Rhee, was created in 1948 after an election organised by a UN Commission. The Republic was accepted by the United Nations, except for the Soviet Union and her satellites, as the lawful government of Korea. North Korea had refused to take part in these elections and shortly afterwards Soviet Union announced that it had held its own elections in the North and had formed the Korean People’s Democratic Republic which the Soviets then claimed as the rightful government of Korea.

As the world soon learned, that facilitative line became a hardened border between the Soviet-dominated North and the American-controlled South.

From that point forward until the 25 June 1950 sneak attack on South Korea, the division between the North and South hardened to the point that any possible unification of the Peninsula became impossible under the then-current conditions; communism in the north and democracy in the south.

For the next 37 months, democracy as presented by 21 UN Member nations and communism represented by North Korea and China, tore apart the Korean Peninsula, devastated about 47 per cent of the area’s landmass, destroyed emerging economic enterprises and left approximately five million casualties. In the end, the War came to a stop just about where it had begun with neither side victorious; a ceasefire was signed at Panmunjom and has held, albeit rather shakily at times, since that day in July 1953.

From then to present time, the two sides have maintained heavy military presences at what the world has come to know as the DMZ [Demilitarised Zone], a 2.5 mile [4 km] wide no-man’s land where only vegetation and some wildlife flourish amid the landmines and machine gun emplacements that look down and across the DMZ with menacing readiness for action.

THE SOUTH KOREAN STORY

S ince the 27 July 1953 ceasefire that ended open hostilities between the combined Communist North Korean and Chinese Communist forces versus the United Nations Force of 21 countries and the Republic of Korea, many accounts have been written by various authors about the Korean War and its aftermath. Some of the accounts reveal horrific episodes that when read, taxed the credulity of the reader; yet are true. Others tend to lean more to the anecdotes of soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who served in one of the UN Force’s many units. Often overlooked in these accounts are the heartbreak and devastation that were the daily occurrences of the South Koreans, whose newly established country was merely a couple of years old having come into existence in mid-1948 by United Nations fiat, when the Korean War erupted in June 1950.

After the end of World War Two, the UN attempted to forge a single country on the Korean Peninsula that had, for 35 years, been occupied by Japan¹². Sadly, the communist north did not see the merit of having the Peninsula as one under a non-communist government. Despite the best efforts of a UN committee,¹³ the north and the south remained separated. The 38th Parallel that had been hastily installed as a line to facilitate the ceasefire between the North and the South became a hardened international boundary.

On Sunday, 25 June 1950, at 4 a.m., the Soviet Union-backed Communist North Korea attacked its southern neighbour with upwards of 90,000 heavily armed, well-led soldiers supported by artillery and Soviet T34 tanks, who swarmed over the 38th Parallel. The South Koreans and Americans were unable to muster a strong defence and within three days Seoul, the capital of South Korea, fell to the invaders. Shortly after, much of the Korean Peninsula was under the communist’s control with only a small area in the south-eastern section – the Pusan Perimeter – able to hold out.

Following an American call for North Korea to leave South Korea and for the border to be re-established, the United Nations Security Council voted to create a UN Force composed of member states that saw merit in coming to the aid of South Korea. Canada was among those that answered the call and was among the first to provide assistance in the form of three destroyers augmented later by an additional five destroyers. In all, 21 UN member states ¹⁴ became involved in the Korean War. The UN Force was the first for the UN but it was not the last – the First Gulf War came later.

The mandate was to remove the belligerent North Koreans from South Korea and restore the border – it did not include invading North Korea inasmuch as that did happen as the UN Force forced the Communist North Koreans back across the 38th Parallel. The UN Force swept up North Korea all the way to the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and Communist China. The Chinese did not take kindly to the UN Force, at that time led by US General Douglas MacArthur, a known anti-communist, just outside their border. The Chinese announced that if the UN Force did not withdraw from North Korea, China would come in on the side of its communist brethren. Over the night of 27/28 November 1950, the Communist Chinese crossed the border in mass and swept the US 8th Army aside and pushed the US Marine 10th Corps to take a giant step to the rear. The Marine’s retreat was much more orderly than was that of the Army’s 8th and the Marines were able to take with them much of their artillery and support equipment. The Marines had the benefit of US Navy and US Marine aircraft to assist them in their orderly withdrawal whereas the Army’s 8th did not; however both units lost men and material as the Chinese Communist pushed south with little or no resistance. The tide of the Korean War changed, again, overnight as the UN Force was swept south across the 38th Parallel. Once again, Seoul fell to the Communists. After intense fighting, the UN Force pushed the communists out of Seoul and the South Korean capital city was in UN hands.

Prior to the Chinese entry into the War, it had appeared that the Korean War was likely to end soon, as some had predicted when the UN Force swarmed north to the Yalu River; but, as events were soon to show, such was not to be the case. At that point, the War moved from being a mobile battle to a static one; from one where the opposing armies chased each other up and down the Peninsula to one where each side dug in and defended to the death the ground it held. The area around the 38th Parallel became known as the Jamestown Line and it was from that line that most of the so-called static battles were fought with each side making incursions into the other’s territory. Often these incursions occurred at night and became hand-to-hand battles between the opposing soldiers. Many times, the Chinese had a 10-1 advantage in manpower over the UN Force units. Yet, despite this overwhelming superiority in numbers, the UN Force units held and won the day. And so, after 37-months of fighting, the Korean War ceased with an armistice signed at Panmunjom on 27 July 1953; an armistice not a surrender.¹⁵

For the next few years, the UN provided blue-beret peacekeepers on the land and sea. For Canada, HMCS Sioux, the last of its eight destroyers, departed the theatre on 07 September and returned to Esquimalt on 24 September, 1955. Following Sioux’s departure, a small unit of army personnel remained in Japan to close up shop before returning to Canada.

Upwards of five million souls were sacrificed to satisfy a despotic leader’s attempt to place the Korean Peninsula under communist control. The world knows the price paid and while it was high, the separation between the North and South is much more than a former static defensive line.

Today¹⁶, the North struggles to feed its people while maintaining an increasingly aggressive military with thoughts of nuclear warheads while the South’s prosperity has reached a high water mark and has been recognised as among the top 10 economic countries in the world. A world of difference separates the communist North from the capitalist South.

None of this would have transpired, however, had the United Nations not assembled a force of 21 member countries – 16 combatant and five hospital/medical – to stem the flow of communism in the Far East in June 1950; and while the Korean War did not end with a clear cut victory for either side, it can be said and has been written here that democracy was the victor and communism was the vanquished.

For Canada, 27,000 army, navy, and air force personnel served in the War with an additional 7,000 serving in the post-July 1953 period to September, 1955.

Inasmuch as the casualty rate among the UN Force members was high, it paled when compared to the loss of life that the Koreans suffered. Not only did the Koreans suffer greatly because of the War, nearly half of the Peninsula was destroyed as the combatant forces battled up and down the length of the Korean Peninsula.

Estimating casualties from any war is not a precise exercise but from several sources, the following fairly represents the total for each country involved. The numbers include dead, wounded or missing in action.

Those figures do not include the hundreds of thousands – some sources suggest many times that number - of civilians who were killed or wounded or are still missing six decades after the ceasefire was signed in July 1953.

Some reliable sources give the total number of casualties at five million. A rather large number but as often happens when significant events happen away from the spotlight of the world’s media – as was the case for much of the Korean War – those five million were lumped into what became known as the Forgotten War; but not forgotten by the South Koreans.

WAS IT WORTH IT?

T he question has been asked, usually by those who have no understanding of or knowledge about the importance of the Korean War in the long-history of world-changing events Was it worth it?

In the end, after 37-months of intense fighting, often hand-to-hand death struggles between determined enemies, that produced upwards of five million casualties and destroyed 47 per cent of the land mass, the question was asked: Was it worth it?

The simple answer is a resounding YES!

The following extract from the Korea Veterans Association of Canada, Inc. website is germane.

The democratic nations of the world owe a debt of gratitude to those who served in the United Nations Forces in Korea. As President Truman stated following the outbreak of the War, If South Korea was allowed to fall, communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our shores. There is no doubt that Soviet Premier Josef Stalin envisioned a world dominated by communism. Although militarily the War ended in a stalemate, it was a victory for the UN inasmuch as it preserved the democratic rights of South Korea and sent a strong message to the Soviet Union: Free nations of the world are prepared to stand and fight for those freedoms.

Had the United Nations member countries that came to the aid of South Korea not done so, the truth of American President Truman’s words would be seen throughout the Far East as it is seen currently in North Korea. The comparison between the prosperous South and the retarded North is startling and is a constant reminder that freedom is superior to communism.

HISTORY IS NOT JUST ANOTHER NAME FOR THE PAST,

AS MANY PEOPLE IMPLY. IT IS THE NAME OF STORIES FROM THE PAST

S o wrote Alan John Perivale Taylor, [25 March 1906- 07 September 1990], British historian. His words ring true today when many attempt to rewrite history without the truth of those stories from the past.

This book’s express purpose is to present some of those stories so that future historians, or others, will not be able to rewrite the truth about the Korean War. Without exception, the personal stories contained herein were penned by South Koreans who either served in the Republic of Korea armed forces during the Korean War or are civilians who emigrated from South Korea to Canada for personal or business reasons. Though different, they are the same¹⁸.

Before we get to the individual stories, let us put the Korean War into perspective and place it squarely where it belongs in the long history of world politics and so shine a bright light on the adversity and pain that so many Koreans endured during the 35-year Japanese occupation of the Peninsula and the following five years of unease and distrust that followed the end of World War Two up to and including the devastation that was the Korean War, 1950-53.

The entire world knows of the Holocaust that was the price so many Europeans paid for being on Fascist Adolph Hitler’s ‘hit list.’ A visit to present day Israel and Jerusalem will provide anyone who is the least bit interested in this most heinous period in history with a close up and personal experience if they tour Yad Vashem. In this most magnificent museum – a monument to mankind’s evil – are the stories of millions of innocent people, mostly Jewish, who died simply because they were seen as being expendable and in the way of Hitler’s invidious dream of the Third Reich that