Tag: Korean War

A box of remains returned to US investigators back in 1994 has been identified through DNA analysis as Private First Class David S. Burke and is set to be buried this week with full military honors:

The remains of a soldier declared missing in action 65 years ago during the Korean War will be buried this week with full military honors.

Pfc. David S. Burke, 18, of Akron, Ohio, will be laid to rest Friday in Rittman, Ohio, according to a statement by the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

On Nov. 25, 1950, Burke was among 136 soldiers and four officers taken prisoner from Company C, 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, after an attack near the China-North Korea border. The unit, which suffered heavy casualties and was surrounded by Chinese troops, was forced to surrender, the statement said. Burke was declared missing in action after the battle.

Prisoners of war who returned to America in September 1953 reported that Burke had died of malnutrition between March and May 1951, and his status was amended to deceased.  [Stars & Stripes]

You  can read more at the link.

Many people have a favorite Christmas memory which for this Korean War veteran was Christmas in 1950 in Gyeongju of all places:

Amid the horrors and devastation of war, a midnight Mass 65 years ago in a dilapidated church in Kyong-ju, South Korea, would prove to be a miracle of sorts for Army Pfc. Norman Deptula.

It was December 1950, six months into the Korean War. Deptula, then 21, was among the approximately 100,000 United Nations troops who had just been evacuated out of North Korea. He had been among the “Chosin Few” who had escaped intense battles against overwhelming Chinese forces in the Chosin Reservoir campaign.

In a telephone interview Wednesday from his home in Webster, Mass., Deptula, now 86, recalled how frightened he was after an estimated 300,000 Chinese crossed over the Yalu River into North Korea, intent on annihilating the U.N. forces.

“We were outnumbered. The odds were stacked against us,” Deptula said, adding that he didn’t expect to make it out alive.

When the Chinese invasion started that October, Deptula was in Koto-ri, a small village in the Chosin Reservoir area, assigned to the Army Signal Corps’ 581st Signal Radio Relay Company. “I wasn’t in the infantry, but I saw a hell of a lot of tragedies,” he said.

It was a brutally cold winter, making the war that much worse for the combatants, many of whom suffered frostbite and lost limbs.

Images of the war dead, their limbs frozen solid and stacked in trucks and jeep-drawn trailers, still haunt Deptula today. Many were buried in trenches quickly dug by bulldozers as the U.N. forces made a hasty retreat.

To get to the evacuation point at Hungnam, Deptula said, the U.N. forces had to “fight like hell,” to break through the encircling Chinese forces. It took 26 hours just to go 40 miles, he recalled.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

Men of Co “F”, 9th Inf Regt, 2nd U.S. Inf Div, enjoy their Christmas Day dinner at CO HQS, Korea. 25 December 1951. [Army.mil]

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas holiday!

Men of Co “B”, 4th Signal Bn, X US Corps, prepare to decorate the Christmas tree at Bn HQ. Korea. 11 December 1951. [Army.mil]

Park Jong-wang (R), director of veterans policy at South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, poses with Thomas J. Hudner (C) at the latter’s home in Massachusetts on Dec. 14, 2015 (local time), after conferring South Korea’s Taegeuk medal of honor, the top military decoration. Hudner, who fought in the Korean War (1950-53) as a pilot, went to North Korea in 2013 to look for the remains of Jesse Brown, his wingman. (Photo provided by South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs) (Yonhap)

Here is an interesting story about how a Korean train was used in an attempt to rescue US soldiers besieged in the city of Daejon during the Korean War.  Two of the Korean railroad workers from this rescue attempt were honored recently by the US military:

Two train workers who risked their lives in an ill-fated attempt to rescue U.S. troops during the Korean War received honors Tuesday from the Pentagon in Daejeon, South Korea.

Hwang Nam-ho and Hyun Jae-young were posthumously awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service for helping to guide a train carrying about 30 troops through enemy territory on July 19, 1950, in a bid to reach forces cut off by a North Korean advance.

Trapped personnel included Maj. Gen. William Dean, commander of the 24th Infantry Division and an eventual Medal of Honor recipient.

Hwang and Hyun were among the few survivors of the rescue mission, which nevertheless made it to Daejeon on the bullet-riddled train, according to KORAIL, the Korea Railroad Corp.

The train’s lead conductor, Kim Jae Hyun, died from multiple wounds and received the same award from the Pentagon in 2012.

On Tuesday, Hwang’s and Hyun’s relatives accepted the awards on their behalf in front of Patriotic Railroad Square, where statues of the three men stand. U.S. military officials and railroad company representatives were on hand to honor the wartime workers.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

While the public expected Dwight Eisenhower would make a trip to the peninsula, as he promised to do so during his campaign, they didn’t know when it would happen. On December 2, 1952, Eisenhower arrived in Korea and spent three days surveying troops there. To keep details of the visit hidden, the administration gave off the impression he was still in the country by making a number of cabinet appointments from the president’s home.  [Business Insider]

Chow line for Thanksgiving dinner of 1st SigBn at Hamhung, Korea.  [Morning Calm Weekly]

I am not surprised how little US non-profit and corporate support the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC is receiving.  It is called “The Forgotten War” for a reason.  However, it is great to see how much South Korean corporations have stepped up to help the National Park Service maintain the memorial.  With that all said shouldn’t this be something the government should be funding in the first place and not rely on private donations?:

The Korean War Veterans Memorial on the National Mall is often considered one of the most striking of the war memorials, with the seven-foot-tall stainless steel statues of soldiers anticipating combat, and its dark gray granite wall etched with images of those who supported the troops.

While more than 36,000 Americans died in the combat mission in the Korean War, historians often call it the “forgotten war.” And now, with the Korean War Veterans Memorial Foundation struggling to set up a maintenance fund for the memorial, and to build a Wall of Remembrance, those looking for the necessary financing are feeling forgotten all over again — the only backing is coming from overseas.

“Our greatest support comes from corporate Korea,” said William E. Weber, the chairman of the foundation and a retired colonel in the United States Army who served in the Korean War. “American corporations — forget it.” He said no American corporate entities had committed to supporting the foundation’s efforts to meet its $5 million fund-raising goal.  [New York Times]

You can read the rest at the link.