Many people have a favorite Christmas memory which for this Korean War veteran was Christmas in 1950 in Gyeongju of all places:
At Taegu, South Korea, Norman Deptula, left, stands with two soldiers from the 581st Signal Radio Relay Company after they had been evacuated out of North Korea. COURTESY OF NORMAN DEPTULA
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]
I hope everyone is having a great Christmas holiday!
Korean KP decorates Christmas tree set up in front of serving counter of HQs & HQs Co, 19th Inf Regt, 24th US Inf Div, as Christmas Day dinner is readied for men of the Co. Korea. 25 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]
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]
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]
If you haven’t been to the UN Cemetery in Busan it is definitely worth checking out as it is the only cemetery with UN servicemembers buried together:
Hundreds of Korean War veterans around the world offered a moment of silence on Wednesday, turning to face the direction of Busan where the fallen U.N. soldiers killed during the war are buried.
In the South Korean port city, 40 veterans from 11 countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Turkey attended the ceremony that began at 11 a.m. in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery (UNMCK).
The Turn Toward Busan ceremony, arranged by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, was simultaneously observed in Canada, New Zealand and the Philippines. The ceremony was held in some 40 cities of the 21 nations that fought together to safeguard freedom decades ago.
The cemetery is the only place in the world where fallen U.N. servicemen are buried. According to the ministry, 40,670 servicemen of the 21 U.N. allied nations were killed during the conflict, with 104,280 wounded and 4,116 missing. A total of 23,000 U.N. servicemen were laid to rest at UNMCK. [Korea Times]
