Personal Stories of American, Korean, and Chinese Soldiers
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Military History History 2-13-2004 Voices from the Korean War: Personal Stories of American, Korean, and Chinese Soldiers Xiaobing Li University of Central Oklahoma Richard Peters Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Li, Xiaobing and Peters, Richard, "Voices from the Korean War: Personal Stories of American, Korean, and Chinese Soldiers" (2004). Military History. 37. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_military_history/37 Voices from the Korean War This page intentionally left blank Voices from the Korean War PERSONAL STORIES of AMERICAN, KOREAN, and CHINESE SOLDIERS Bichard Peters and Xiaobing Li THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 2004 by The University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2005 Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com 08 07 06 05 04 54321 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peters, Richard A. Voices from the Korean war : personal stories of American, Korean, and Chinese soldiers / Richard Peters and Xiaobing Li. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8131-2293-7 (Hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Korean War, 1950—1953—Personal narratives. I. Li, Xiaobing, 1954- II. Title. DS921.6.P37 2003 951.904'28—dc21 2003014586 ISBN 0-8131-9120-3 (pbk : alk. paper) This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America Member of the Association of American University Presses Contents List of Maps vii List of Photographs viii Abbreviations x Note on Transliteration xii Preface xiii Acknowledgments xvii Part One. The Korean War: A Short History 1. Background and Origins of the War 3 2. The Opening Phase: South toward Pusan, North to the Yalu 15 3. China Enters the War 21 4. The Chosin Reservoir Retreat and Advance to the North 25 5. Truce Talks and Prison Riots 35 6. Trench Warfare and Peace 40 Part Two. Many Faces, One War 7. Getting to Korea 51 8. A Mortar Man's Story 55 9. Escaping the Trap 65 10. A North Korean Officer's Story 76 11. China's Crouching Dragon 85 Part Three. Chosin Accounts 12. The Chosin Reservoir: A Marine's Story 97 13. The Chosin Reservoir: A Chinese Captain's Story 117 Part Four. On the Front Lines 14. The Hwachon Reservoir Fighting 127 15. Life on the MLR 131 16. A BAR Man's Story 134 17. First Combat 141 18. Outpost Harry 150 19. A ROK Lieutenant Survives the Bloody Ridges 156 20. The Chinese Go Underground 173 21. North and South: A Korean Youth Serves in Both Armies 185 Part Five. Behind the Front Lines 22. The "Lighter" Side of the War 201 23. A Korean Housewife's Story 206 Part Six. POW Camps: North and South 24. An American Officer Observes the Koje Island Uprising 213 25. One Week of War, Three Years of Captivity 216 26. A First Sergeant's Experience 235 27. Organizing the Riots on Koje: Colonel Zhao's Story 242 Perspectives on the War 259 Notes 265 Selected Bibliography 273 Index 280 Maps 1. The North Korean Invasion, June 25-28, 1950 12 2. The UNF November Offensive, November 6-26, 1950 26 3. The Line of Contact, July 1, 1951 44 4. The U.S. Eighth Army Front Line, October 31, 1952 142 5. The Demarcation Line, July 27, 1953 260 Photographs 1. Tending to a wounded soldier in a MASH unit 42 2. A battery of 105mm howitzers 45 3. The entry dock at Pusan 54 4. Preparing to fire a 4.2-inch mortar 60 5. Firing quad-.5Os from the platform of a half-track 71 6. Lieutenant Leslie Davis 72 7. Privates First Class Herman Nelson and Joe Kopf 75 8. North Korean soldiers defend their position 83 9. The 347th Regiment charges a UNF position at Unsan 90 10. Private First Class Harold Mulhausen 103 11. Chinese commanders plan an attack on the UNF at the Chosin Reservoir 120 12. The 172nd Regiment attacks the First Marine at the Chosin Reservoir 122 13. Back slope of the MLR 132 14. A view from the American MLR 133 15. Corporal Albert Snyder 136 16. Preparing to fire a 57mm recoilless rifle 138 17. Private First Class Richard Peters 144 Photographs ix 18. Evacuating a wounded soldier 151 19. Medics carrying stretchers 154 20. Chinese soldiers work on their underground tunnels 176 21. A Chinese soldier patiently waits for a water drop from the rock 177 22. The 134th Regiment in the tunnels on Hill 597.9 180 23. Working on a supply road 204 24. Stuck in the mud 233 25. Master Sergeant James Hart 240 26. Chinese soldiers sign up to go to the Korean War 246 27. UNC guards and Chinese POWs after the Koje riots 257 Abbreviations CCP Chinese Communist Party CCYL Chinese Communist Youth League CIA Central Intelligence Agency CINCFE COM Commander-in-Chief, Far East Command (U.S.) CINC UNC Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command CO Commanding Officer (UN) CP Command Post CPVF Chinese People's Volunteers Force CUF Communist United Front (POW Camps, UN) DPRK Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) FDC Fire Direction Center (UN) FECOM Far East Command (U.S.) FO Forward Observer HQ Headquarters JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff KDP Korean Democratic Party (South Korean) KMAG Korean Military Advisory Group (U.S.) KMT Kuomintang (Taiwan) KNP Korean National Police (South Korea) KWP Korean Workers' Party (North Korea) MASH Mobile Army Surgical Hospital Abbreviations xi MLR Main Line of Resistance NCO Non-Commissioned Officer NKPA North Korean People's Army PG Prisoner Guard (POW Camps, UN) PLA People's Liberation Army (China) POW Prisoner of War PRC People's Republic of China R&R Rest and Recuperation RCT Regimental Combat Team ROC Republic of China (Taiwan) ROK Republic of Korea (South Korea) ROKA Republic of Korea Army UN United Nations UNC United Nations Command UNF United Nations forces UNTCOK United Nations Temporary Commission of Korea U.S. United States USAF United States Air Force USO United Services Organization (U.S.) WWII World War II Note on Transliteration THE KOREAN NAMES of persons, places, and terms are translated by the co-authors, who follow the traditional East Asian practice that the surname is usually written first, as in Kim II Sung. Exceptions are made for a few figures whose names are widely known in reverse order, such as Syngman Rhee. If a place has different spellings in Korean and English literature, parentheses are used at its first appearance—for example, Hahwaokri (Hagaru-ri). The pinyin romanization system is applied to Chinese names of persons, places, and terms. The transliteration is also used for the titles of Chinese publications. A person's name is written in the Chinese way, the surname first, such as Mao Zedong. Some popular names have traditional Wade-Giles spellings appearing in parentheses after the first use of the pinyin, such as Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek), as do popular names of places like Beijing (Peking). Preface EXPLAINING THE METHODS employed to collect these soldiers' sto- ries poses something of a problem, in part because three different nationali- ties are involved—American, Korean, and Chinese. Since the co-authors worked independently, we proceeded quite differently. Consequently, as co- authors we decided to describe the process in the same way, independently, and to break it down by nationality. We will begin with the recollections of the American veterans. Stories by American Soldiers (Dr. Richard Peters) Obtaining stories of American veterans of the Korean War was undoubtedly much simpler than collecting stories on the Chinese and Korean veterans, but it was not without some problems. One might assume that since I served in Korea during the war, I needed only to contact some of the men in my unit, the Fifth Regimental Combat Team. But like many veterans, I had not kept in touch with a single person. Nor did I belong to any of the estab- lished veterans' organizations where one could expect to meet Korean War veterans. Fortunately, an active chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association existed in Oklahoma City. I joined the chapter and began attending their monthly meetings. I was pleased to learn that the veterans in the chapter represented a large number of the units that had served in Korea during the war. After becoming acquainted with some of the members, I encouraged them to write (or tape) their stories about the war with the hope they would someday be published. I encouraged them to write about their noncombat experiences as well as their time in combat, because hard work, boredom, xiv Preface and even humor are also part of war. Eventually, some of the veterans began to write down their wartime experiences.