Korea
From Bougainville to Hungnam: A Marine’s Life of Service
He’s one of the main reasons I’m in Korea. But after spending more than three years researching the Marine colonel who dedicated his life to country and Corps, I’m still no closer to knowing what made him click. I’ve pieced together some of the “who, what, where, and when” of his life, but it’s the…
Read MoreOn the East Side of Chosin
As the helicopter took off and disappeared over the North Korean mountains, Lt. Col. Don Faith, watching from his desolate, wind-swept command post at Chosin Reservoir, threw his newly awarded Silver Star into the snow. After enduring a horrific night of fighting against overwhelming Chinese forces, his commanding officer had just ordered him and his…
Read MoreTwo Medal Of Honor Recipients, One Small Town
With just a few elementary schools, a middle and high school, two hospitals, a community center, a “busy” main street, and 13,000 residents, South Charleston, West Virginia, is an all-American community like thousands of others across the country. But there’s something special about the small town that sets it apart from the rest. South Charleston…
Read MoreGuided by God’s Own Hand: Captain Leonard LaRue and the Meredith Victory
From deadly World War II Murmansk runs, to history’s greatest rescue operation by a single ship, to a life of prayer as a Benedictine monk, Leonard LaRue, or Brother Marinus as he was called after entering St. Paul’s Abbey in Newton, New Jersey, led a life of service to others. He has recently been remembered…
Read MoreBrothers in Arms: A Story of Sacrifice and Survival
For 19-year-old Pat Finn, a Minnesota Marine with Item Co, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, the night seemed colder and darker than any of the others he’d experienced since landing in Korea. His battalion had just arrived at a desolate, frozen lake he would remember for the rest of his life: the Chosin Reservoir. Home by…
Read MoreA Hat Full of Candy and Chocolate
The horrors of war surrounded her: bombed-out buildings, smoldering barricades, the rumbling sound of planes, artillery fire, troop trains, and tanks; wounded soldiers, corpses, and panic-stricken families searching for lost loved ones; and as far as the eye could see, thousands of desperate and frightened refugees. But for five-year-old Rhee Mai-ja, a beautiful, bright-eyed Korean…
Read MoreThe First and Only Time
It’s only happened once. And the chances of it happening again are slim to none. When North Korean soldiers and T-34 tanks attacked across the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950, and stormed into Seoul three days later, the United Nations wasted no time in taking a stand. With the adoption of Security Council Resolution…
Read MoreWe Will Always Remember You
How many times have you heard it? Someone receives a gift, compliment, or helping hand and simply says, ”Appreciate it!” The other person replies, “No problem.” They move on. Call me antiquated, even a “dinosaur” if you like, but I prefer the old-fashioned, “Thank you!” followed by a modest, “You’re welcome!” Why not? It’s polite…
Read MoreThere Was an Angel on Her Back
On March 26, 1953, nearly four months to the day that the Korean War armistice was signed, one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history began: The Battle for Outpost Vegas. Located in the strategically important “Iron Triangle,” a bitterly contested area along the DMZ, or MLR, Main Line of Resistance, Outpost Vegas was…
Read MoreOn a Hill Far Away
We’ll never know the terror 18-year-old Marine PFC Edward “Eddie” Thorn experienced in the final minutes of his life, but we do know that what he and hundreds of other Marines went through at the Chosin, or “Changjin,” Reservoir was unimaginable. Shivering on a wind-swept, snow-covered hill on the night of November 28, 1950, PFC Thorn…
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