The Graybeards Nov/Dec 2005 - Korean War Veterans Association

BOOK REVIEW from page 26
Land of the Morning Calm
Thomas G. Hannon (KWVA member)
125pp: now available. It can be purchased at major book stores or directly
through the publisher at www.authorhouse.com.
This book is an interesting account of the author’s experiences
as a forward observer with 955 Field Artillery Battalion
during his stint in Korea from April 1952 to May 1953. His
anecdotes provide an interesting insight into the more often than
not less-than-pleasant life of an FO in Korea, and the book is a
prime example of the benefits of looking at little slices of a war
rather than an overview in order to get a feeling for what combat
is really like.
Limbo on the Yalu…and beyond!
Robert J. Berens
Southern Heritage Press, St. Petersburg FL.. 159pp.
The author tells the story of Ted Sprouse, who was captured
in November 1950 and held until after the armistice in 1953.
Berens relates the struggles that Sprouse and his close friend
Don Cloud went through in their fight to survive. Readers
knowledgeable about the rigors POWs went through in Korea
might not find anything remarkable about the book. Those who
are not, however, will.
There is one particularly compelling section in the book, i.e.,
the struggles Sprouse went through in his personal life after
returning home. Berens account demonstrates that POWS may
have been captives of an enemy—but they often returned to
struggle with more demanding problems once they got back
home.
The Korean War And Me
Ted Pailet
iUniverse, Inc. New York, 2005. 121pp. (To order, call toll-free, 1-877-
823-9235)
i.e., lose their military bearing, propaganda-type puppet shows,
how he traded two sacks of rice for the remains of one American
soldier…in short, the book contains a variety of interesting
nuggets. In fact, if each “nugget” were expanded, it might
become the subject of a book itself.
One of the things that sets this book apart from many memoirs
about the Korean War is the basic subject matter. Pailet was
a Graves Registration specialist. At one time, he was in command
of the United Nations Military Cemetery in Pusan. His
accounts of the Graves Registration team’s activities and the
events at the cemetery are fascinating.
Another is his clever ending, which focuses on his introspection
about the value of the war. First, read the page nearby. Then,
read the clever ending below. He writes:
Unfortunately, not much, if anything, has changed in relationships
between North and South Korea, even though the
spread of Communism is no longer a threat. The border
between the countries is still closed, and opposing armies are
still sitting on ready, just like 1954. And when someone shoots
a duck above the Han River and the duck falls on one side or
the other, the duck belongs to the one on that side of the river.
Unfortunately, the book, which is one of the more readable
Korean War memoirs I have read, is too short—as were the lives
of many of the warriors whose remains the team discovered,
interred, and disinterred. Don’t duck it.
72
KWVA member Pailet describes his role in the Korean War
between 1953-54. (The sub-title is, after all, A Memoir by Ted
Pailet.) As do most books of this genre, his includes interesting
tidbits that cannot be (or are not) covered by generalists. For
example, Pailet describes a rumor in 1953 that there was a
weapon and ammunition shortage in Korea. That set off a panictype
reaction in the Tacoma and Seattle [WA] areas as GIs headed
for Korea tried to buy firearms of any type, knives, and even
brass knuckles.
His brief descriptions of the Chinese claims about the U.S.
waging germ warfare against them and the “silhouettes of men,
women, and children—some riding bicycles—that were burned
into the concrete bridges and granite steps of sturdily built bank
and government buildings” at Hiroshima beg for more treatment,
but Pailet does not linger on them. He includes information
about the North Korean soldiers trapped in South Korea
after the Inchon landing, the U.N.’s salvage operation in Masan,
which drew scrap dealers from around the world in their own
freighters, what happens to the troops when they “go native,”
November - December 2005
The Graybeards