The Korean DMZ........

Very Little press and information has been given to troubles that the US Army had on the Korean DMZ in 1966/68/69. Reports vary but it is thought that around 50 or so American soldiers died. Many more were wounded. This story pretty well sums it up for some people... These guys really had a tough time. Not me, I worked much closer to Seoul.



The Korean DMZ War (1966-69)

By Mark Hartford

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This Veterans Day, November 11, 2006, at 10:30 AM, former soldiers who served in Korea after 1953 will gather at the Korean War Memorial to place a temporary plaque that recognizes the sacrifices of those soldiers that served, fought, and sometimes were wounded or killed in combat with the North Korean Army. The majority of those who were killed or wounded after 1953 died during the "DMZ War," which occurred between 1966 and 1969. Senate bill S2914 has been introduced by Senator Mike DeWine from Ohio; it calls for placing a permanent plaque on or near the Korean War Memorial honoring the sacrifice of these men.

Members of VVAW and their supporters in or near Washington DC are invited to attend this memorial service to show support for these forgotten veterans and their unknown war. You are also asked to contact your congressional representatives and senators to support the passage of this bill.

I served in Korea at the start of this war. Here is part of the story.

Forty years ago, in June 1966, I stepped off the back of a two-and-a-half-ton truck to start a thirteen-month tour of duty with Company B 1/23rd, 2nd Infantry Division, in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. I became part of a contingent of American soldiers who were tasked with defending a nineteen-mile stretch of the DMZ from infiltration, sabotage, and assaults from North Korean Army (NKA) forces.

Before my tour of duty was complete, I would walk endless miles of rice paddies (swampy in the summer, frozen over in the winter), around (and sometimes through) minefields placed when the DMZ was first created, and up and down the sides of steep hills grown back to their natural state, covered with brush and trees, in search of the enemy. I carried a "basic load": M-14 rifle, 100 rounds of ammunition in five clips (one locked and loaded, the other four in pouches), four grenades, a bayonet, a flak vest, a helmet, a canteen of water, and usually a poncho. Occasionally, I would trade my M-14 for a shotgun or an M-79 grenade launcher.

On constant alert for any sudden noise or movement that might pose a threat, we would search "spider holes" that had been made by twisting the overgrown rice and other vegetation into a compact, insulated, and nearly invisible hiding place for NKA infiltrators. We "cleared" old bunkers and other artifacts left from the Korean War throughout the DMZ, expecting to die each time we threw ourselves into them. We walked through decayed villages and cemeteries left by families forced to move when the DMZ was first designated as part of the armistice agreement (the "temporary" halt of hostilities most people associated with the end of the Korean War).

We would spend three to four days rotating up onto guard posts (ours was "GP Dort") set up in the DMZ to watch for any movement of forces by the North into or closer to the DMZ. We lived on stale water and C rations. And of course, there was the NKA speaker system, each big as a house, blaring everything from rock and roll to Korean folk music, day and night, to harass us and provide cover for the infiltrators moving north and south through the zone.

I experienced the tedium of long nights, fighting off fatigue, waiting in the dark for opportunities to kill the enemy, then the sudden terrifying moment when the night would split open with loud explosions and flashes of tracer rounds as sudden movement in the dark unleashed the firepower of our waiting force. I saw for the first time a dead NKA soldier, an infiltrator, killed in the heat of the fight—killed within inches of releasing a grenade meant to kill our forces. I felt the loss of my own comrades, ROK and US soldiers killed by ambush, blown up in their barracks at night as they slept, all sent home to a country totally unaware of their death and our small war in faraway northeast Asia.

We won this low-intensity guerilla war, which had been started by North Korea. It officially started on November 2, 1966, when a unit of US soldiers and one KATUSA ("Korean Augmenting The United States Army") were ambushed by an NKA squad, killing all but one American, who was badly wounded. The wounded soldier was seventeen years old at the time. Private Reynolds, the only American who was able to fight back after the first assault, died where he fought. He was nineteen years old and had been in-country for only seventeen days. I found out recently that he was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for valor.

When I first arrived in Korea, all of the units that operated in the DMZ were undermanned. This resulted in us patrolling night after night, after night shift to day patrol, and then immediately leaving for a four-day stint on GP Dort, with little or no downtime. We would patrol with as few as four or five men to a squad authorized for nine men. Often it was just myself as the squad leader, two KATUSAs, and one other US soldier.

Our equipment was not the newest—by then, M-16s were in use in Vietnam, but ours were still the older, heavier M-14 rifles. Okay, that was a benefit, given the reports from the field in Vietnam that the M-16 had a tendency to jam. The M-14 was a solid weapon. If kept clean, it would work anytime you called on it—accuracy was up to the shooter.

Our radios were not of the latest generation either, and this was a real problem. They often did not work at all, leaving us in the zone without a way to call for backup if we needed it. It was quite a boon when the first PRC-25 radios came into use. Then we had much better communication in the field, and they were lighter and more compact in size.

Sometimes we would become frustrated by our inability to strike back after our soldiers were killed and wounded. Like soldiers everywhere, we would look for ways to retaliate. It was this attitude that led to my personal incursion into North Korea to attack the huge speaker system that blared propaganda at us every night, and hopefully to kill those protecting it. Our action had the objective of retaliation for the ambush of our soldiers on November 2, 1966.

Before the DMZ War was over in 1969, over fifty of our soldiers were killed by hostile fire or other actions (half the casualties since 1953 to the present), and over a hundred more were wounded. Near the middle of the war, the Army finally caught up with reality and began paying hazardous-duty pay to those operating in the DMZ. After I left, Agent Orange was used to defoliate both sides of the fence.

Soldiers who served in the DMZ from 1968 and later were often exposed to Agent Orange and have suffered the same medical problems as those exposed to it in Vietnam. It is just recently that veterans from Korea have been accepted to be assessed for compensation for the ill effects of Agent Orange.

These are the soldiers I know about who were killed along the DMZ during my tour:

Hensley, Sgt. James: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 11/02/66
Benton, Pfc. John: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 11/02/66
Burrell, Pfc. Robert: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 11/02/66
Fisher, Pvt. Morris: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 11/02/66
Hasty, Pvt. Les: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 11/02/66
Reynolds, Pvt. Ernie: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 11/02/66
Tyler, SP4 Press Jr.: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 02/12/67
Mueller, SP4 Carl R.: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 05/22/67
Smith, Pvt. Baron J.: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 05/22/67
Ashforth, SP4 Leonard: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 07/16/67
Boyd, Pfc. Tommy D.: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 07/16/67
Gibbs, Pfc. John L.: 23rd Rgt., 2nd ID, d. 07/16/67

I honor and remember them very day.

When it came time to return to "the world," I rode out to the replacement center with the other two soldiers with whom I had arrived in-country. We boarded a plane full of soldiers going home. I finally ended my trip many hours later in the Los Angeles airport. At that moment, I was transformed from a stressed, well-tested infantry soldier back into a nineteen-year-old kid. I was too young to vote, buy beer, or get married, but I was a veteran of a foreign war.

Thank you, Hallmark. Your posts are very informative.
I think it would be unwise to take the threat of North Korea lightly. I was watching TV last night and one of the guests on the show said that just because they launched a rocket once doesn't mean that they can do it again. I think he's in denial about the threat they pose.

Very interesting Hallmark. The last comment, by Major Vandon E. Jenerette, US Army Retired, regarding the 1988 Olympics....South Korean government was fearful of what the north might do. Thankfully the olympics went off without a hitch, after the military provided the north with a little air-exercise demonstration.

A very interesting read is "Escape from Camp 14"



(CNN) -- Shin Dong-hyuk is the only known person born in a North Korean prison camp that escaped and survived to tell the tale.
Journalist Blaine Harden first uncovered Shin's story in 2008 and has now turned it into the riveting new biography "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West."
North Korea has been splashed across world headlines in recent weeks over its threat to launch a long-range rocket, its suspected nuclear program and for its continued defiance of the West. If you want a singular perspective on what goes on inside the rogue regime, then you must read his story.
It's a harrowing tale of endurance and courage, at times grim but ultimately life-affirming. In the book, Harden offers an unnerving glimpse into one of the world's most repressive regimes. Until now, little was known about North Korea's labor camps, even though they've existed for decades. They're believed to hold between 150,000 and 200,000 prisoners and while they're plainly visible in satellite photos, the North Korean government claims they don't exist.
Shin knows otherwise. He was born in one of these "hidden gulags." He grew up in squalid conditions with unending, back-breaking work, and knew nothing of the outside world. He was starved, beaten and tortured. One of his earliest memories: Being forced to watch the execution of his mother and brother.
It wasn't until Shin was 23 years old he was able to climb through a high-voltage fence and escape. Somehow, Shin found his way to China, South Korea, and eventually the United States. Today, Shin lives in Seoul, but is still dealing with the psychological trauma of his former life in the camp.
Harden, a reporter for PBS Frontline and a contributor to The Economist, brings Shin's amazing story to life. CNN recently spoke to him about the book and his relationship with Shin. The following is an edited transcript:
CNN: This is an amazing story, how did you learn about Shin and when did you first meet him?
Harden: I heard about Shin from a human rights activist in Tokyo, where I was living and working as a correspondent for The Washington Post. At the time, I was desperately searching for a way to write about life inside North Korea. I quickly flew to Seoul and met Shin there for lunch in December, 2008. That meeting is detailed in the book.
CNN: What did you think of Shin and how difficult was it to confirm the details of his story?
Watch an interview with Shin Dong-hyuk
Harden: Talking to Shin in person, his story sounds believable. It's because of the intensity and precision of his memory. His body, too, is a map of what he endured, with burns on his back and legs, and his partially-severed finger. His arms are bowed from childhood labor. Confirming the details of his story is impossible, if you mean going to Camp 14 and asking questions of his captors and torturers.
North Korea denies the existence of Camp 14 and all the other labor camps. Outsiders, including the (International Committee of the Red Cross), have never been allowed to visit them. The only way for North Korea to "refute, contradict or invalidate" the testimony of Shin and other camp survivors would be to permit outsiders to visit the camps. Otherwise, their testimony stands.
CNN: What did you find most shocking or disturbing about Shin's ordeal?
Harden: His anger at his mother -- and his statement that he was glad to see her die: These were the things that shocked me most upon meeting Shin. But as we continued to talk -- over the course of day-long conversations that extended for weeks in Seoul and later in Southern California -- I came to understand that guards had raised him to be suspicious of everyone.
He saw anyone who stood between him and his next meal as a potential enemy. He was raised to see personal redemption in acts that ratted out his own family. He believed that his mother, by discussing an escape plan with Shin's brother, had been irresponsible and reckless. Since he was a toddler, he had been forced to memorize camp rules that prescribe death for anyone who tries to escape or knows about an escape plan but does not report it immediately.
The moment Shin heard that his mother was considering an escape, his camp-bred instincts kicked in. He had to betray her: He knew that if he did not, it would mean his torture or death. He did turn her in. But he was tortured anyway.
Watch the book trailer for "Escape from Camp 14"
CNN: How is Shin doing now?
Harden: He is now living in Seoul, after spending the better part of two years in Torrance, California; Seattle; Columbus, Ohio, and Washington D.C. He has begun working with a partner on a webcast aimed at telling the Korean-speaking world more about North Korea and the camps. His life's goal is to raise awareness of the camps. He wants them closed as soon as possible.
Everything else in his life is secondary to that goal. That is why he was willing to go though the misery of long interviews with me. In the book, in trying to explain how painful those interviews often were, I used the image of a dentist drilling without anesthetics -- for more than two years. Shin did not like it, but he put up with it because he wants everyone to know what went on in Camp 14 -- what still goes on.
CNN: Shin must have left a lasting impression on you, what kind of impact did his story have on you personally?
Harden: His story has obviously touched me profoundly. And like him, I want everyone in the world to know about the camps and to understand -- through an emotionally wrenching immersion in Shin's life inside Camp 14 -- that North Korea's dictatorship is sustained by child slavery, starvation, and unimaginable cruelty.
Check out Blaine Harden's website and read an excerpt from the book]

Thank you, HG. I never knew it was that bad at the DMZ. Your info was very enlightening.

I saw a CBS program (60 Minutes?) on that escapee. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50136263n

Yomama wrote:Thank you, HG. I never knew it was that bad at the DMZ. Your info was very enlightening.

I saw a CBS program (60 Minutes?) on that escapee. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50136263n

Korea utilizes every inch of land available to farm including the highway medians. Twenty years ago, the Korean government offered land in the DMZ.... the catch was the land had to be farmed and the government would pay $250,000 a year to the farmer.... there were only a few that agreed to live in the DMZ and farm. The fear of being abducted or killed was to great.

Thank you so much for the history and the book recommendation. We never seem to learn from history, do we. A damning account of our species if ever I read one.