2017.11.10 23:23
STEVE TURNHAM
Good Morning AmericaNovember 11, 2017
Korean War veteran sees path to peace in conflict with North Korea
MoreLong before he rose to the top of the military as a four-star general with global responsibilities, Volney Warner was a newly minted second lieutenant, responsible mainly for keeping his troops alive in the brutal early months of the Korean War.
"We were armed with hand-me-down World War II equipment, both weapons and uniforms," Warner told ABC News contributor Col. Steve Ganyard. "We spent a lot of time trading two cartons of cigarettes to try and get an additional A4 or A6 machine gun. And if we weren’t fighting for firepower, we were fighting for rations. It was a terrible way to fight a war."
Outgunned and outmanned, Warner’s unit once grabbed a couple of abandoned Russian T-34 tanks out of a ditch to get some armor at the front of the infantry column, until Air Force tank-busters told them it was a bad idea.
If another war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. military will have no need to scrounge enemy tanks. Now there are stealth bombers, F-35s and all manner of sophisticated weaponry giving a clear advantage to the U.S. and South Korea.
"Obviously, as the president has in fact announced, if a war starts we could win that war," Warner told Ganyard. "What we have to do that might be unacceptable to many other countries and many other people, but I think it goes without saying that we could win that war. The real question is whether we’re politically apt enough to go ahead and figure out how to not have that war."
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Many Americans may not realize it, but the Korean War isn’t officially over. The armistice signed in 1953, which established the demilitarized zone, was simply a ceasefire. The state of war is one reason North Korea justifies its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons. Warner sees an opportunity.
"I think the big thing that we have forgotten about the war is that it still exists," said Warner. "In my personal opinion, one of the best things that we can do on a political note would be to go ahead and talk to North Korea on that issue and try to formally end the war with North Korea."
Warner won a Silver Star in Korea for leading a bayonet charge on a North Korean artillery unit. He went on to serve in Vietnam, then rose through the ranks to ultimately head the military’s global rapid response system, known then as REDCOM. But the hardship of his early service in Korea remains vivid.
"Thirty-four thousand names on a wall is a high price to pay," Warner says. "As a soldier, whether it is in Vietnam or anywhere else, when I see walls with names on them, I think about, 'Could there be a better solution?' and 'Do we have the capability in this country to come up with it?'"
On Saturday, the Korean War Veterans Association will host the official Veterans Daycommemoration at Arlington National Ceremony. It is a day for America to remember the sacrifice of all those who fell in battle and to reflect on the high cost of war.
Among those who gave all nearly 70 years ago in Korea were 41 members of Warner’s West Point graduating class.
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2017.11.11 02:12
2017.11.11 03:06
It has nothing to do with war ethics or its philosophy.
For some reasons the word, “Korean War Veteran” reminds me of some old story that my former attending physician, Dr. Axelrod, mentioned while carrying me in his car and passing by a discount store, E. J. Korvette. He asked me what that sign means, and I didn’t know. Someone told him that it had been originated from “Eleven Jewish Korean War Veterans.” One day I took my wife and son to see the inside of the store. It’sjust an old story without much meaning.
2017.11.11 16:12
PS;
I loved 3 years of my military service from 1970 to 1973
- in Sokcho, Dongduchun, and in Seoul in that sequence.
I still live in vivid memories of military service as I wrote
as follows;
http://www.jinjuhighschool.com/free_board_korean/66792
Of course, I served as a medical officer as a Lieutenant
and Captain later. But I cherish my extra role as the Captain
of our Volleyball team and as An Officer in Charge of our
Military Band even though I didn't know music score then
and even now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jy6AOGRsR80
Only one thing I regret is Why they didn't send me to Vietnam
during The War in 1971 even though I volunteered to go for my
Second Year of Military Service. Instead, they sent me to the
ROK-US Joint Army which was established for the Modernization
of Korean Army after US pulled out certain army division from
Korean Peninsula.
But I still feel honored to serve my country which gave me a chance
to nuture the concerete notion of "Duty, Honor and Country".
And I really loved those 3 years in Sokcho, Dongduchun, and in Seoul
And I do miss my old friends whom I met during those 3 years of my life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUMK9wlwAgU
I spent three years during Korean War in my hometown, Myungsan-ri, Goonnae-myun, Pochun-kun, Kyunggi-do,
16 km, 10 miles, from 38 pararell, beginning 18 days short of age 10, June 25, 1950, where
somehow our family survived although our house was bombed to ashes.
My grandfather whom I try to emulate in many ways ordered my father, older brother and one older sister to flee
to make sure part of his family could survive the war in case the remaining members might be wiped out back home.
I saw too many bad things of the war and quickly realized war is an act of animals, killing each other,
no matter how you put it.
I remember seeing a long line of pow, American soldiers, walking in front of our house among other things.
So much killing of innocents. It was said then that in order to kill one communist soldier
American bombs had to kill dozens' or hundreds' of civilians including children.
I certainly clearly remember going to sleep so many nights while hearing loud the war planes and
thinking of the possibility one of the bombs might drop on our house while in sleep.
It was indeed scary for a ten year old boy.
Even after so many years, thinking about War in Korea gives me nightmares.
We can hope and pray all the political leaders will find a way to deal with NK and find a path to a lasting peace.