Experts discuss what events led up to the Korean war,
what happened during the conflict,
and why it’s still relevant decades later.

Panelists

LT. Col Dick Raybould (Retired US Army)

LT. Col. Chris Gedney (Retired USAF)

Moderator

Walter Jones, Marriott Library, Librarian

Branch: Marine Corps ** Served In: Korea

It all began in 1950 when a friend dared seventeen-year-old James Andrews to join the Marine Corps with him.

Less than a year later, on September 12, 1951, a general would focus his binoculars on a heavily fortified hill in Korea that was erupting with enemy automatic rifle and grenade fire.  Two of his men were near the top, sitting back-to-back, and engaging the enemy. The rest of the platoon was at the base of the hill pinned down by fire coming from the bunkers and trenches above.

The two soldiers were Private First Class Andrews and PFC Vernie Collins. They had been made platoon point men because of their remarkable skill and intuition, and it was their ability to locate and avoid several enemy mines and trip wires that enabled them to reach a position on Hill 673 undetected.  Halfway up, Andrews spotted a well-camouflaged bunker. Andrews threw in a grenade, and the entire hillside erupted with fire from the enemy and from their own base below.

As they continued to work their way up the hill – while shouting to their platoon below to cease fire – grenades showered down from the ridgeline above them. Andrews was hit in the back by shrapnel. He took off his jacket to have Collins check the wound, which Collins said was just a scratch.  They worked left and could see a second bunker below with a trench connecting it to the first bunker.  Thinking they were doomed, Andrews says their only thought was to take as many of the enemy with them as they could.

Sitting back to back, Andrews took out five enemy soldiers in the trench while Collins shot anyone on the ridgeline who showed himself. Andrews climbed down to the still-active bunker while Collins returned to the squad to assist the wounded. A grenade thrown from the bunker blew Andrews into the air and destroyed his rifle. Andrews climbed on top of the bunker, reached over the front and threw a grenade into it. He then descended the hill to find his squad mostly dead or wounded.

Collins was helping a wounded soldier when he was hit. Andrews then attended to Collins. Another grenade exploded, blowing Andrews off his feet a second time. Two machine gunners came up the hill. Andrews took both of them with him up the hill. As they entered a trench, one was shot in the head. Seconds later, the other machine gunner was also shot in the head. Andrews, armed with only his pistol, located the enemy sniper popping up from a hole and shot him. Another platoon arrived, and Andrews rallied this platoon to follow him up the hill to finally secure it.

Six months before his three year enlistment was up, Andrews was offered a commission that he declined. He separated from the Marine Corps as a Staff Sergeant with a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts. Of his experience, he says, “I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance in Hell of getting out alive but I would give my life at any time for any one in my squad.”

Branch: Army ** Served In: WWII

Charles R. Hughes was born in Coatesville, PA, where his family owned a small farm and grew tobacco and tomatoes. When WWII broke, Hughes was enrolled in West Chester State Teachers College. In 1942, he enlisted in the Army to take advantage of a rigorous engineering program that allowed recruits to stay in college as long as they kept up their grades.

The Army moved all of those in the engineering program to the infantry when things got tough for the allies in North Africa. Soon, Hughes was on a freight train to basic training in Georgia. His test scores were so high upon graduation that he was allowed to choose to go to engineering school in Washington, PA, but after 6 months, the school was closed. Hughes was eventually assigned to E Company, 379^th Infantry Regiment of the 95^th Infantry Division heading overseas to France. They entered combat in October, 1944.

On the front line, a less-than-supportive sergeant made Hughes the unit’s First Scout and gave him extra tracer rounds with which to draw fire from a position about 100 yards ahead of the rest of the unit. The First Scout’s average life expectancy at that time was 15 minutes. Hughes filled this assignment for over two months before he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and squad leader.

On the morning of April 12, 1945 Hughes and his squad were assigned to clear the last in a group of houses they had to pass. Hughes had sent out his first scouts but they failed to return so he assumed that role. The unit had not gone far when machine gun fire erupted. A tank destroyer pinned down the machine gunners and allowed his men to move single- file along the narrow street.

Hughes was hit and his left leg was shattered.  He dropped into a small ditch behind a hedge between him and the trooper who shot him. Having lost his rifle, Hughes pulled the pin on a grenade and threw it through the window of the house, killing the men inside. The trooper who had shot him was outside the house, however, so Hughes threw his second grenade, bouncing it off the wall of the building across the road so it would land right in front of the SS trooper. The plan worked.

Just after that grenade exploded, one of his men dropped into the ditch and landed on his wounded leg. Hughes passed out. A medic dressed his wounds and carried him back to a jeep, where Hughes saw the only surviving SS trooper from the battle lying on a stretcher. Hughes learned that he himself had killed nearly the entire enemy squad.

Branch: Army ** Served In: Vietnam

Ed HerrNeckar entered the US Army in 1958 and served the first eight years as an enlisted man.  After an initial stateside assignment with the Air Defense Artillery, he served in the Republic of Panama.  He was then assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point where he took a colonel’s advice and applied for Officers Candidate School.

Commissioned in the Signal Corps, HerrNeckar was subsequently sent to the Republic of Vietnam and served with the 221^st Signal Company and the 69^th Signal Battalion.  For a short time he was attached to the 101^st Airborne Division in Chu Lai where he led a Combat Photographic Team supporting patrols in the area.

After returning to his unit in Saigon, HerrNeckar was caught up in the Tet Offensive of 1968, where he helped a reaction force clear an Air Force compound that had been overrun by enemy attackers. HerrNeckar went down an alley under fire and dragged a stalled jeep out by crawling on his back under the vehicle.  This opened the way for US forces to advance and recover the compound.  For this, HerrNeckar was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism in ground combat.

Upon returning from Vietnam, HerrNeckar went to flight school and was trained on the AH-1G Cobra attack helicopter. He went back to Vietnam in 1970 as a pilot with D Troop/1^st Squadron/1^st Cavalry Regiment of the Americal Division, where he flew missions in support of various operations and units.  While supporting the 5^th Special Force Group he put his Cobra between enemy fire and a Special Forces team being extracted.  He received and returned fire and remained at a hover while the A-Team was safely extracted.  Two UH-1 helicopters were shot down in this operation and two of the eight crewmembers were killed in action.  HerrNeckar says this story cannot be told without remembering the two pilots that made the ultimate sacrifice. For this action he received the Air Medal for heroism in Aerial Flight.

Having served 20 years in the Army and having done two tours in the Republic of Vietnam, HerrNeckar

retired as a major in 1978.  He was awarded two Bronze Star medals, one with V device, the Air medal with V device plus 14 Oak Leaf Clusters for subsequent awards, two Meritorious Service Medals, Vietnam Service medal, Vietnam Campaign medal, National Defense Service medal, Army Commendation medal and 2 Good Conduct medals (only awarded to enlisted personnel) among other awards.

Branch: Army ** Served In: Vietnam

Kim Fisher entered the US Army just prior to his 22^nd birthday, after completing an LDS mission to Germany in 1968. He served for two years on active duty.  After basic training and infantry training, Fisher was sent to the Non-commissioned Officer (NCO) Academy and graduated with the rank of Staff Sergeant well in advance of his peers. He then attended the US Army Ranger School but was reassigned before completing that training back to the NCO Academy as a Tactical Sergeant or Tac.  He instructed other soldiers on how a sergeant in the US Army was expected to perform and gave them the skills to succeed in that role.  In September of 1969, he was assigned to the 25^th Infantry Division (“Tropic Lightning”) in the Republic of Vietnam.

Fisher’s tour in Vietnam continued the trend his career had taken so far with his assignment as a platoon sergeant with C Company/4^th Battalion/23^rd Infantry Regiment, a position usually taken by a Non-Commissioned Officer with much more time in Army. Fisher only had about a year in the Army. Due to the vagaries of service he was frequently without an officer and performed the duties of both platoon leader and platoon sergeant himself.

During this time he was awarded the Silver Star twice for actions in contact with the enemy.  In one particular incident, he performed first aid on one of his soldiers while pinned down under heavy automatic weapons fire from the enemy.  He was able to drag the wounded soldier to a covered position when a mortar round landed at his feet.  Luckily, it was a dud.

Fisher says all he ever wanted to do was help his fellow soldiers survive and get back home.  After returning home himself, he graduated from the University of Utah and then went on to dental school and became a successful dentist.

Branch: Army ** Served In: Iraqi Freedom

Gordon “Gordy” Ewell joined the Utah National Guard after he graduated from Emory County High School in 1985.  He began his military career as a radio telegraph operator for the 1457^th Engineering Battalion, but soon decided to change course and become a Combat Engineer and demolition specialist.

Ewell was mobilized as part of the 115^th Engineering Group as one of 40 individuals chosen to be part of the first Explosive Hazard Coordination Cell in Iraq. As a combat engineer, Ewell  served in the route clearance section of the team, and was sent to units around Iraq to teach them how to hunt for, find, and – in many cases – detonate IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) before they could hurt others.  In December 2005, only a couple of weeks after Ewell arrived in Iraq, he received his marching orders.  The outgoing commander of Multi-National Corps Iraq head-butted Ewell and told him to “take care of” his soldiers.  Ewell said that directive was what kept him going – in his words, “maybe longer than I should have.”

During his year in Iraq, Ewell went on 59 combat missions. He calls this stint his “year of living in the limelight,” a play on words evoking the green-tinged view through a soldier’s night vision goggles.  He led dozens of night missions, driving five miles per hour down some of the most dangerous roadways in Iraq, looking for disguised IEDs.  His convoy usually contained only four or five vehicles, with him in a Buffalo or a RG-31 vehicle lit up like a Christmas tree to shed light on potential hazards.  Ewell noted that it was not unusual for his team to find 15-18 bombs every night, and to engage with the enemy 4-5 times per night.  One night, he recalled, his team found 24 IEDs.

While deployed, Ewell started writing a manual for route clearance, for which he received approval from the Center for Army Lessons Learned.  The Army would eventually adopt Ewell’s writings as the first route clearance handbook. Ewell received the Bronze Star for his work as part of the first Mobile Observation Team, for writing the first route clearance handbook, and for continuing to perform his route clearance duties while engaged with the enemy.

Ewell’s vehicle was hit by IEDs six times over the course of his deployment, including one which blew out his impacted wisdom teeth.  After this explosion, Ewell was scheduled to catch a helicopter to another base to begin training another team, so he packed his mouth with gauze and caught the helicopter, only seeking medical and dental attention when he arrived at his destination. His exposure to repeated IED blasts has left him with a number of physical impairments.  In addition to the violent loss of his wisdom teeth, Ewell suffered from traumatic brain injury (TBI), loss of hearing, broken vertebrae in his neck, damage to his back, and physical loss of his right eye.  He also suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  Despite the injuries he has suffered, Ewell continues to serve with distinction in the Blue Star Riders organization, visiting wounded warriors in Utah and around the country, offering them comfort during their hospitalizations.

Branch: Army ** Served In: Vietnam

On the night of October 9, 1967, near Bong Son in the southern part of II Corps in the Republic of Vietnam, 20-year-old machine gunner and demolition expert — Richard S. Dixon — was traveling with ten members of his squad in a two-vehicle convoy returning to their 35^th Combat Engineer Base Camp. In the dark and the rain, the convoy was ambushed by at least two dozen Viet Cong soldiers firing machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and AK-47 rifles. One RPG round struck the dump truck in which Dixon was riding with seven of his buddies. The explosion knocked the truck off the road. A second round ignited the truck’s gas tank and set it and several U.S. soldiers ablaze. The unit’s jeep was hit by machine gun fire, which killed the Company XO and his driver.

Dixon was riddled with shrapnel in both legs and feet. He jumped out of the bed of the burning dump truck and was hit in his right forearm by rifle fire, which blew his M79 grenade launcher out of his hand.  Although he had a compound fracture of his right forearm, Dixon returned fire with his sidearm until the pistol jammed. He retrieved another pistol from the body of his Company XO and returned fire at close range until an enemy grenade exploded three feet in front of him. The grenade blast shredded his liver, stomach, and intestines which protruded from his open belly. Although grievously wounded, Dixon continued to fire his pistol at virtually pointblank range.

The VC force suddenly broke off contact and disengaged when parachute flares fired from a nearby Republic of Korea 105-mm howitzer battery lit up the area, where Dixon’s squad sustained 100% casualties. Dixon lay in the mud and rain alone for 15 minutes until a relief force arrived from his base camp. He was flown by medevac helicopter to the 311^th Field Hospital at Qui Nhon Bay on the South China Sea. Over the next seven months Dixon underwent many surgeries and at one point his weight dropped to 115 pounds. While he was in the hospital at Qui Nhon Bay, GEN William Westmoreland—the Commander of Armed Forces Vietnam—personally presented Dixon with a Purple Heart for the wounds he sustained during the ambush.

Branch: Air Force ** Served In: WWII, Korea

Richard Lee Burns was born in Philadelphia, PA.  After high school he enrolled in Valley Forge Military Academy where he completed two years of college. He was waiting for entry into the Flying Cadet program when he received his orders to report.

After graduation from advanced training Burns was sent to fighter school.  He says he would have gone to bomber school had he been bigger. Burns spent about 6 months training in a P-47 and his group was considered one of the best at that time. They were shipped out to India and arrived in Caroche, India after 52 days. They sailed down around the horn, zig-zagging all the way to avoid German sub attacks.

When they finally arrived at their destination, they found out that the ship with their aircraft on it had been sunk. Burns and his men took over the aircraft from the mercenary group called the Flying Tigers and flew as escort cover for the C-46 cargo airplanes flying supplies to the Chinese Army over “the hump,” the eastern-most flank of the Himalaya. Burns also flew dive-bombing and strafing missions in support of the infantry.  He flew 152 combat missions during this time.

After WW II, Burns was assigned to Japan as part of the American Occupational Force.  He was also able to take his family to Japan with him. This is where he was when the Korean War broke out.  He and his family remained in Japan, where he was assigned to the Air Rescue Squadron flying from Japan to rescue downed pilots, some behind the enemy lines.  He flew SB-17, C-47 and SA-16 aircraft as part of this assignment and completed 34 missions.

Burns was next stationed stateside in Washington, D.C. and Orlando, Florida with the Air Rescue Service. He then earned his BBA (Business Management) degree at the University of Oklahoma. Afterward, he went to Fairbanks, Alaska assigned to the Air Defense Command. He was then transferred to Colorado Springs, Co. as a Staff Officer with NORAD and CONAD. His last assignment with at Dugway Proving Grounds in Utah as the Senior AF Representative associated with the U.S. Army Chemical Command testing of chemical and biological agents.

Burns retired in 1969, while assigned to the Dugway Proving Grounds, as a Lt. Colonel.

Branch: Army ** Served In: WWII

Gilchrist “Gil” Booth entered the military on May 10, 1943, a date he remembers well because it was his daughter’s third birthday.  He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he went to radio school to learn Morse code.  Once he was sent overseas, Booth was assigned as a replacement loader/cannoner and gunner in the 743^rd Tank Battalion.  The unit was in the infamous hedgerows of Normandy when Booth joined them, but they (fought) on to Holland and Belgium and then to Aachen, Germany.  Booth recalls that they thought the war was almost over at that point, but it was the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge.  They were sent to Belgium, which Booth admits wasn’t an idea he liked very much.

Booth received the Silver Star for his actions in saving a fellow soldier. He recalls that one night, his unit pulled into a little town, flanked on one side by a brick wall, and on the other side by a pine tree. The soldiers flipped a coin to see which side Booth’s unit would take and which side another unit would take.  Booth’s unit took the side with the brick wall.

All of the crew members that were able went inside a building to stretch out, since the Germans were retreating and it was quiet.  They left two men on guard in the tank – one to sleep, one to guard.  Booth took the first guard shift, and then went to sleep.  He woke up and saw that the tank at the other end of the town was on fire, and he ran over and pulled one man out, but couldn’t save the other.  Afterward, the unit’s medic asked if Booth wanted him to take a look at his injuries, which was the first time Booth realized that his hands were blistered and his eyebrows were singed off.  Booth said he “didn’t really think much” about his heroic actions that day.  He notes, “To me it was no big deal.  If you hear someone screaming for help, you’ve got to try and help.”  He recalled that his award was kind of a joke around the unit – they called him the “Silver Star Private.”

When recalling his service, Booth noted that it was “like a terrible thing that happened, but it could have been worse.”  He recalls, “I was naïve and I thought if we win this one, we’ll have peace forever.”

Branch: Navy ** Served In: WWII

Paul Smith joined the Navy in November 1942, attended boot camp in Idaho, and volunteered for the hospital corps, becoming what was colloquially known as a “corpsman.”  Once he was sent overseas, he was assigned as a replacement to the 22^nd Marine Regiment, which was assigned a part of the First Provisional Marine Brigade. His first day in combat was July 21, 1944, the day of the US landing in Guam.

Smith’s unit was on the extreme left flank during the landing on the south side the island, and Smith felt himself lucky because the firing was not as intense there.  He recalls the first day – in which he treated 20-25 wounded Marines – being very tough. It turns out Smith may have been luckier than he thought.  There were Marines on either side of him shot by machine gun fire, which must have just missed him.  Only a few feet away another buddy was shot in the leg by the same machine gun fire that had hit the other two men, and Smith recalls laying the wounded man on a poncho and recruiting a couple of Marines to help him carry his comrade back.  As they carried him, they had to keep dropping to the ground to avoid the ever-present machine gun fire.  The Marine holding the corner of the poncho supporting the injured leg was not careful enough with the leg, so Smith switched corners with him.  Only a few steps later, that same man was shot through the shoulder.

On Easter morning 1945, Smith’s unit landed on Okinawa.  Smith says the landing was easier than Guam.  He alternated between the forward aid station and the battalion aid station, which was also near the front lines.  On May 29, after two months of fighting in Okinawa, Smith went up to the forward aid station, which he found by heading where the gun fire was intense.  There was a badly injured patient there who needed transport back to the battalion aid station.

Smith put the patient in the top stretcher slot in the ambulance, and was holding up a bag of plasma for when a machine gun burst sounded.  Smith dropped to the ground, and the plasma splattered everywhere.  Smith saw smoke from his pants, and he realized that a bullet had gone through his leg, just missing his femur.  When they assessed the wounded, Smith found that his injury was the least severe, so the ambulance was filled with other wounded men and Smith had to hold on to the back of the ambulance to make it back to the battalion aid station.  He was later evacuated to a medical ship and then to Guam for treatment.  That was his last day in combat – the battle of Okinawa ended before Smith could return to the front.

Looking back on his time in service, Smith reflects often on the fates of the men he knew in combat.  He recalls the names and hometowns of the men he treated, and he wonders often whether they survived their wounds and the war.  “I’d give anything to know what happened to them,” he says.