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=========================================================== Hal's concept to create this site to feature his photography and publish his online book,
"Return To Heartbreak Ridge" was a way to visually show the result of all the sacrifices. The "Old Lady" and the beautiful children in the photos from Korea surely capture the emergence of the
Republic of Korea as a powerful, bustling nation. With that in mind, many of our newsletter articles have featured snippets of what all that has meant to you and the generations that have followed.
Between the website and the newsletter we both hope a light has been lit, one that can help to answer those questions. Article 1 of this newsletter speaks for itself.
========================================================== Marvin went to Korea in September of 1950 on the General Simon Buckner, as many of you
did. He traveled back and forth to the MASH 121 unit with wounded. Here is the latest exchange and it features Mr. J.H. Kim, the young boy from the Evacuation who later served in the Army and has been the coach of the
USA Karate team! From Marvin: Good morning Hal, I am now 72 years old, and trying to find the guys I served with in Korea. They are, Capt. Rounds, Lt. Preston, Jack Beams, Ben Smallwood, Robert Richie, Don
Hainline, Jack Luna. I have located my first sergeant, Bob Tonkins, he lives in Mt. View, California, also located Karl Setzer, he lives in Mineral Bluff, Georgia. The Korean child we took under our care in Hungnam,
Korea is J. H. Kim, we always called him Kim. Kim was a asset to our group, he helped in every way he could, and did very well for being only 10 years old. When the Chinese came into the picture, some of us were flown
up to help evacuate the wounded by air, and when we got back to Hamhung we were told to get rid of excess supplies and go to the docks for evacuation by sea. Kim was hidden in the back of the three quarter ton
ambulance, and that and the jeep ambulance were lifted aboard ship. We couldn't leave him behind, he was part of our family. Nothing was ever said about bringing him aboard, we saw to it that he had food, as it was
colder than hell. When we rotated, the outfit looked after Kim, and through one of the dentists, he was eventually brought to the USA, where Kim took advantage of everything he could to get a good education. Later Kim
joined and served in the Army as a tank driver in Germany, and after serving, he became a professor in a college in New Jersey. After retiring Kim, runs J.H. Kim Karate Institute, and is a 9th degree black belt,
and has been the head coach of USA Karate Team, and National and International Karate Judge and Referee. We are so proud of Kim. I and my wife had the privilege of meeting Kim in Washington DC, and spending a couple of
days with him, going too the Korean War Memorial. God Bless the USA and all it has to offer all people. Thank you Hal for all your efforts to help all veterans. Sincerely Marvin L Lonergan
See: Guestbook, type in Lonergan, follow the link, start here: ========================================================== Pen Pal Kelly Ross forwarded the Reuters article to us on the 25th. Since then I have been
tossing email to Chae-young Lee of the Korean War Abductees' Family Union in Seoul. Mr. Lee and his associates have been instrumental in arousing public sentiment about the 80,000 plus Koreans who have not been fully
accounted for after being impressed into service by the armies of North Korea and China during the war. See: Many hundreds of thousands of civilians from both North and South became entangled in the mass movements
caused by the hostilities, especially in the first 14 months of the war. Many thousands were impressed into either the military or labor units. As the tide of battle swayed back and forth, many thousands of those
were captured or killed by the fighting. It was not unusual for both sides to move captured able-bodied persons into their forces. Many of those, again, North and South, changed hands again as fortunes changed. However, many on
both sides languished in internment camps or died there. We have not obtained permission to reprint so this link should work for all interested parties: Yahoo link: For more, go to As I wrote to the KWVA leadership after receiving email about this
unprecedented release of Korean citizens, US family members will get their hopes up about the possibility of the DPRK opening up about the 8100 not fully resolved cases of missing US servicemen who were either POW or MIA
during the war. Department of Defense officials will indicate there is no proof that any of the US or UN missing are still living. Families continue to hope. The steady escape of South Korean Nationals out of North
Korea into Manchuria over the past 10 years does underscore the thin thread of hopefulness. US efforts via the DPMO - Dpt of Defense have been stalled since May 27th. Our JPAC - CIL teams were pulled out. I talked to
the PIO in Hawaii who sent out the Press Release (May 29th) but he could not shed more light on the reasons. Welfare of our troops in the North seem to be the root cause by Dpt. of Defense to withdraw. It is no secret
that the "tap dance" with the DPRK is not going well as current headlines show so well. Let us celebrate with the Korean families who have been released while we can hope that the future of US - DPRK
relations will improve. =================== Note: a good book from a former North Korean resident, Dr. Donald Chung, depicts the trauma of a young man, his escape from danger into the maws of the war. "Three Day Promise" is the story of how Dr. Chung survived and his promise to his mother to return. Dr. Chung was able to return to the DPRK to visit his family.
The book was donated to the KWP by Dr. Chung. See our Bookstore for details. Link: ========================================================== This past year has been hectic for the internal machinations of the website. Those of you who are interested in spam, network hacking, hardware and software
issues will appreciate this update. Some of this has been stated before. Since we have so many new users each month, it is worth re-telling. For the past 4.5 years this site has been pummeled by Asian spam and more
recently by Brazilian game spam. It has created huge logistic issues for Hal and I, not to mention all you end users. Add to that the hundreds of email virus or outright site hacking exploits we receive each and every day. Anyway, we have been learning and programming on this end to combat those who will not desist. Thus, the site has been up and down, often slow to respond and not keeping pace with our goals. No violins or flowers
needed, however! You will see that the BBS area now has a 6 hour wait time for your messages to appear. This ties in with the masking of email addresses on the Guestbook, Remembrance and Looking For sections. To post a message, a three stage process has been created to ensure that your data is correct and to protect all users from spam, especially the Nigerian 419 scams. A pain, yes, but necessary. Why is the
website slow? The machine is now 6 years old and our database and operating system over-taxed from volume of usage. Fix! After this newsletter, we shall complete a build-up of two new servers from parts on hand.
The learning curve on the new software has been a year long venture. The trial stages will likely see some errors or down time, bear with us. Why is the website down? Often times the severe weather takes down our
power or the lightning storms force us to "down the server" to prevent damage to the equipment. The site has been running from home since November of 1998 to help control costs of operation.
========================================================== A couple years ago the KWP published
an article on the efforts of a San Diego group who were searching for funding and 'hands on help' to restore a Tug Boat. They have come a long way! ----- For Immediate Release Did you know the Army has boats? San Diego's only Tug Boat Museum, part of the non-profit organization, Coordinated Maritime Services of San DiegoT, features a retired
Korean-War era Army tug boat, built in 1951. The tug boat is a member of the Council of American Maritime Museums and Historic Naval Ships Association. This beautiful 100-ft. tug boat is also used for Coordinated
Maritime Services' hands-on "learning by doing" training programs for all maritime careers, ashore and afloat Still undergoing restoration, the tug boat offers educational guided tours every Saturday from
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Located on Harbor Drive downtown, look for the distinctive bright yellow smoke stack alongside the dock and come aboard. Teachers and group organizers please call 619-200-7417 for other times.
Volunteer assistance is needed in many areas, from hands-on projects to fundraising and tour leaders. A great opportunity for students, seniors, and corporate teams, lend a hand and be part of this historic restoration project. Coordinated Maritime Services of San DiegoT is a non profit organization that promotes maritime career, education, and service opportunities, and heightens public awareness of the role of the Port in the economic life
of San Diego. CMS rescues donated derelict or deteriorated vessels and restores them with volunteer assistance and students, providing internships, apprenticeships, and new job opportunities to young people and
employable adults in transition. There is a demonstrable need for shipyard employees, and positions from entry level deckhand and engineer to hospitality, charters, cruise ships and tourism fields. The empowering skills
acquired last a lifetime, affect future income potential, and offer a chance to become independent and self-supporting. At the present time, CMS is also restoring the "Lady Dee", a 43-ft.sailing ketch. CMS'
Maritime Learning CenterT in Barrio Logan offers maritime career education and training with career resources. For more information, call 619-200-7417 or visit
========================================================== Cindy Lear typed in a Guestbook Entry on 12/22/1999.
It was to see if she could find anyone who knew her uncle, Russell Jackson Lear, LTJG USN. At that time the family did not have much information about Russell. The Family Outreach by DPMO - Dpt of Defense was really in
it's early years. KWP volunteers put Cindy in touch with the Navy Casualty office but over the years we lost touch. In May of 2005, the KWP received a telephone call from David Owen from Pasadena, CA. Ted
did a Switchboard search for David and found Giving brother John those clues, David waited for results. The KWP sat back and waited. Sure enough, a letter came in from John in
September. "I'm your guy"! he wrote to Cindy.John not only had the details of the ship, the squadron, photographs, memories but he had other men who had always wondered about the Lear family.
========================================================= Dick Predmore finally got Ted and Hal to venture
out to a chapter meeting on September 17th. The unsuspecting brothers did not know what was Dick, Marvin Dunn and Mike Doyle arranged for the brothers
to be speakers and treated them to Guest of Honor status at the luncheon put on by all the wives. The chapter meeting was rousing, Mike and Dick reported on the Texas Department meeting and Marvin Dunn spoke about the wonderful
KWVA "Tell America" program which is a key element of both Chapter and National Association. The members visit schools. The Chapter has a robust program to visit the D/FW Airport to greet US Servicemen and
Servicewomen who plane and de-plane. The Korean War Project was the beneficiary of a "passing of the hat" by the Chapter at this meeting. The donations received make the Chapter the newest veteran
organization to sponsor the KWP. Hal and Ted are Lifetime Honorary Members of the Chapter, dating to the first month of the introduction of the Chapter into the KWVA. Men from this Chapter play key roles
in the leadership of the National Association, KWVA, Inc, which is led by Lou Dechert, USA (Ret.) from Alexandria, LA by way of Texas. It was good to see so many familiar faces. Hal and Ted spoke about the
creation of the National Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington, DC. They also described the genesis of the Korean War Project as an outgrowth of Hal's work to honor Korean War Veterans. Ted reminded all the members that those who served in the late 50's, 60's and 70's are just now at the point of showing interest in looking backward. He invited all to visit our DMZ
Veterans message area on Looking For to communicate with those who have already begun the process. Thanks to all the Chapter members and their wives, whose hospitality and food is GREAT!. See: ========================================================== Previous newsletters have addressed these key issues for veterans or their surviving family members. Many
emails have come in as Congress heads for another crucial decision point on a wide variety of issues. The wartime budgeting problems, coupled with Congressional struggles to find a balance to the Federal Budget make
this a very nervous time for veterans and current duty service personnel. The recent natural disasters don't make this any easier for Congress or the White House. However, promises made to our veterans need to be kept.
But, it is up to each of us to play a role, bang a drum, call or write to keep the fire lit, as time is running out to nudge Congress. The 2006 elections are just around the corner, so do your work. Email does not do
the trick for Congress, unless you have the private email addresses. Just about all email correspondence is ignored, boy do I know! Walk into your local office when you know the Senator or Representative is in town, usually Fridays
at noon. Call to find out when your Congressman/woman is in town, get several to sign a letter and go in together. If you are in DC, knock on their doors, that always gets their attention. Get your VSO's and
organizations to write official letters to take with you. Send all written correspondence to the local office, not the DC office. Fax works well but nothing like a hand-written or typed letter. No form letters! ========================================================== Visit our Bookstore section of the site where you can browse
titles of important books or video's that have been presented to the public by our site visitors. Link: Tip: click any of the titles to get the details and cover page of the book. We have posted all the
recent books sent to us. Email sent regarding books will be our next push to post on the newsletter and website. All the books featured on the site are gifts to the KWP by the authors. Thanks to all. =========== Film in progress========== As I mentioned in our phone conversation, I'm preparing a
television documentary entitled, Field of Honor, about the veterans of the 24th Infantry Regiment who fought in Korea during 1950 - 1951, and their long battle to have the United States Army's official history rewritten to
eliminate their portrayal as having been "unreliable" in combat. I have begun interviewing some veterans of the 24th here on the West Coast, and I would appreciate your help in contacting as many of these
surviving veterans as possible, so that I could arrange to film interviews for the documentary. If you could include this in your newsletter I'd be very grateful. Michael A. Hoey Please submit to: My name is Mariscela
and I am working on a multimedia project that documents Mexican immigrants who were drafted to fight in the Korean War. If you know of a Veteran who was a Mexican National AND was drafted into the Korean War, we would love to have
them be a part of our project! Please contact us at Cordially, Two topics here: From: Christine Knauer My name is Christine Knauer. I am a PhD student at the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and
currently a visiting assistant in research at Yale University. I am writing my dissertation on the experience and recollection of Korean War soldiers of the racial integration of the military and the Korean War. With
respect to my research I am very much dependent on the willingness of Korean War veterans to share the recollections with me. I was wondering whether you could help with locating and contacting veterans or their families who would
be willing either to be interviewed, fill out a questionnaire, write down their story or even provide me with letters (copies) that they wrote during the Korean War. I would appreciate any help and hints.
Thank you very much in advance for your time and effort. Kind regards, Christine Knauer Dear Sirs/Madam, I came across your website while researching the Korean War. I am working with award winning photojournalist Marc Asnin on a documentary movie proposal and multimedia project about the Korean War¹s role in
the civil rights movement. The Korean War was the first integrated war in the nation's history, and we believe it is crucial to record for historical purposes the many stories about this benchmark war's effect on societal relations
in this country. The subject of our proposal and movie is the impact of integration on soldiers in the KW and their experiences regarding civil rights once they returned back here to the United States. We
would like to find black and/or white soldiers (preferably both) from the war to interview on camera for an initial 5 minute film to present along with our proposal. Participants should have relevant anecdotes regarding how they
were treated in the armed forces, how they were treated once back home, how their attitude and the attitudes of members of the other race changed or maybe didn¹t. We believe this is an important untold chapter from the
"forgotten war" that is not only "forgotten" but, indeed, has never been properly explored in a multimedia format (film, DVD, website, installation). This is also a timely subject for recent and current (and
future) generations who have little or no historical understanding of this period in race relations and this country. Among those individuals we have already contacted and are hopeful of including in our project are:
Historian and author Gail Buckley, Professor Gerald Early from the University of Washington in St. Louis, MO, curator and author Deborah Willis, civil rights leader and former US Ambassador Andrew Young.
Please have members contact me at Best, PS--Mr. Asnin's website is (Col. Wyrick, USA (Ret.) was a member of the 21st RCT, Task Force Smith. Bill is the official historian for the 21st, TFS, and
52nd FAB.) From: Taylor, Tim A
Tim Taylor, US Army Chaplain Museum The following notification of the death and funeral of Col Magill strikes a very personal note for
many who survived the horrible Frozen Chosen days. Col. George Rasula writes the Changin Journal for the Army Chapter of the Chosin Few. We have featured his writing and web links over the years. The
following is a short excerpt from Col Rasula. Please go to the web link for the exceptional story of Lt. Magill and those of the 57th FAB during that fierce fighting. CHANGJIN JOURNAL (special e-mail issue)
Colonel Edward L. "Ted" Magill, JAGC, USAR (Ret), will be interred at the Arlington National Cemetery at 1000 hours, 24 October 2005.Attendees are asked to be at the administration building at 0930 hours. Widow is Mrs.
Marisa Magill , 433 Spring Lake Drive, Melbourne, Florida 32940-1955. In addition to service on the Board of Directors and President of the Chosin Few, Ted also served as First Vice President and Judge Advocate of the
Korean War Veterans Association. Appropriate for this occasion is remembering Ted's experience east of Chosin as a member of the 57th Field Artillery Battalion, 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT-31), 7th Infantry
Division, November - December 1950. See: Colonel George A. Rasula, USA (Ret) Hal and I received the following from Tracy Connors. We would like to remind all
our Air Force visitors that Col. Bud Biteman, deceased, was one of our earliest pen pals. We created the first website for the 18th FBW which later migrated to the Associations own server. We sure miss Bud!
------------------------- Several months ago I sent along information about Truckbusters From Dogpatch, a new book I just finished, a Combat Diary of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing during the Korean War.
I'm pleased to report that the book is now on the press. Copies will be shipped The first copies will be formally presented during the next 18th Wing Association Reunion at the Embassy Suite
Hotel, Oklahoma City, OK, 8-11 Thanks for your help in getting the word out about this important Tracy Connors
Here is the basic information about Truckbusters... Q: What has been your hands on experience with good coordination
or bad coordination of communications during the Katrina/Rita/Wilma hurricanes? Q: What would you like to see in the future as well as any quickly deployable communications package? What do you need when you get on
scene? Q: If you are a municipal official, the same questions for you. Hal has spent quite a few hours interviewing vendors of equipment as well as Red Cross, HAM operators (ARRL), and one of our friends
who lives in Covington LA. This list is a private list for our visitors and members. A person may join or leave the list at
will. It is compiled from our Guest book and is for public service messages of general interest to veterans and families. To join or leave the list: email to: Ted Barker Consider forwarding the Newsletter to your friends.
Thanks for being part of the Korean War Project family. |
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