In Korea, Pharis experienced horrific events. He witnessed his new commander, Colonel Martin, being cut in half by a Russian tank after engaging in a street fight with only a bazooka to defend himself. Less than forty yards separated Pharis from his higher-ranking officer, Second Lieutenant Thornton, when a North Korean madman dubbed The Tiger shot him in the back of the head on the infamous Death March. On numerous occasions, Pharis feared his life was over, including the three times he stood in front of a firing squad.
Some fellow POWs have been quoted in Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten War by Lewis H. Carlson and In Mortal Combat by John Toland. In contrast, Pharis shares his personal experiences from the beginning to the end of the Korean War and recalls how he endured the challenges and miraculously survived.
In Korea, Pharis experienced horrific events. He witnessed his new commander, Colonel Martin, being cut in half by a Russian tank after engaging in a street fight with only a bazooka to defend himself. Less than forty yards separated Pharis from his higher-ranking officer, Second Lieutenant Thornton, when a North Korean madman dubbed The Tiger shot him in the back of the head on the infamous Death March. On numerous occasions, Pharis feared his life was over, including the three times he stood in front of a firing squad.
Some fellow POWs have been quoted in Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten War by Lewis H. Carlson and In Mortal Combat by John Toland. In contrast, Pharis shares his personal experiences from the beginning to the end of the Korean War and recalls how he endured the challenges and miraculously survived.
Sacrifices for Patriotism: A Korean Pow Remembers the Forgotten War
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Overview
In Korea, Pharis experienced horrific events. He witnessed his new commander, Colonel Martin, being cut in half by a Russian tank after engaging in a street fight with only a bazooka to defend himself. Less than forty yards separated Pharis from his higher-ranking officer, Second Lieutenant Thornton, when a North Korean madman dubbed The Tiger shot him in the back of the head on the infamous Death March. On numerous occasions, Pharis feared his life was over, including the three times he stood in front of a firing squad.
Some fellow POWs have been quoted in Remembered Prisoners of a Forgotten War by Lewis H. Carlson and In Mortal Combat by John Toland. In contrast, Pharis shares his personal experiences from the beginning to the end of the Korean War and recalls how he endured the challenges and miraculously survived.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781452556048 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Balboa Press |
| Publication date: | 10/30/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 240 |
| File size: | 8 MB |
About the Author
This is the only book she has written. As an entrepreneur, she has founded an insurance agency, a wholesale business, and an underground utility construction company.
As a single parent, Helen reared a daughter, Dawn, and a son, Derek. The three live in Charlotte, North Carolina. She boasts of five wonderful and amazing grandchildren. The eldest, Jeffrey, served five years in the US Army and deployed to Iraq for fifteen months. Amanda landed a full basketball scholarship at UNCG and continues to pursue her dream of playing in the WNBA. Megan, Jessey, and Kody are young adults who are searching for their own unique destinies.
Read an Excerpt
Sacrifices for Patriotism
A Korean POW Remembers the Forgotten WarBy HELEN GREENE LEIGH
Balboa Press
Copyright © 2012 Helen Greene LeighAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-5605-5
Chapter One
Before the Korean War
When Franklin Delano Roosevelt became the President of the United States in 1933, he had to face one of the nation's most extreme crises, the Great Depression which began on October 29, 1929. In his later years as President, he had to face another crisis, the worst war of all time, World War II.
Within hours after Roosevelt's inauguration on March 4, 1933, he moved decisively to get the country on the road to recovery. First he declared a "bank holiday" to stop the panic run on the nation's banks to withdraw money. He called a special session of Congress and ninety-nine days later, it passed some of the most significant laws and reforms in the nation's history. Roosevelt cut back on the federal payroll and veterans' pensions and reformed the nation's currency, finances, and banks. He provided funds for relief for the desperately poor, jobs on public work projects, and new terms for farmers, industries, and home mortgage holders.
With the help of Congress, Roosevelt established several institutions which are still in force today. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) which involved building numerous dams that would produce cheap electricity. He established the National Labor Relations Act, giving workers and the labor movement greater rights. He set up the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate the stock market and protect investors. He established Social Security to provide pensions for the elderly.
Although Roosevelt had always enjoyed the life of an aristocrat, very soon after becoming President, he became known as the true friend of the common man. The American people loved his policies and they loved Roosevelt. His popularity became so great with the American people that, when he ran for his second term in 1936, he carried forty-six out of forty-eight states.
When World War II started in Europe in September, 1939, most Americans had little desire to get involved. In spite of the attitude of America, Roosevelt managed to provide support to the British but he had to be careful about America's involvement or he would risk losing his popularity. He traded ships to the British in exchange for bases. He provided them with easy loans and allowed American ships to fire on German ships to protect British convoys. Roosevelt felt that America was only involved from a distance.
In 1940, Roosevelt ran for the office of the President for an unprecedented third term, which inspired the 22nd Amendment limiting a president to two terms. His strict anti-war platform of "no Army abroad unless US is attacked" on her homeland helped him get re-elected. On December 7, 1941, when the Japanese aggressively bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, an established territory of the US since June 14, 1900, Roosevelt was prepared to lead the United States into a full-scale war.
With the war lingering on in 1944, Roosevelt decided to run for another unprecedented fourth term convincing the American people that it would be unwise to change the Commander in Chief during a war. The Democratic Party, however, couldn't agree on who his running mate should be and proposed Harry S. Truman as a sort of an innocuous compromise between the split sides of the party. Both sides conceded and named Truman as the Vice-President candidate for the Democratic Party.
Unlike Roosevelt, Truman did not grow up in a privileged environment nor did he receive a formal education. He was the son of a farmer and West Point turned his application down due to his poor eyesight. Truman did not pursue acceptance to other colleges but instead worked at a variety of small jobs until taking over management of the family farm at age twenty-two. Truman's great love for reading enabled him to become a self-educated man.
As a young man, Truman joined the Missouri National Guard and entered World War I as a Lieutenant. He commanded an artillery battery in France and, after participating in several campaigns, returned home as a Captain. At age 35, Truman married his high school sweetheart, Bess Wallace, and opened a men's clothing store. His marriage was successful; his business was not. It failed after only three years.
Before becoming the Vice President candidate, Truman served ten years in the Senate but he possessed only minor political influence in the Democratic Party. No one, including Truman himself, believed that he was a man meant for high destiny.
Roosevelt and Truman won the election and Roosevelt started his 13th year as President of the US. On April 12, 1945, just 83 days after Roosevelt and Truman took their respective positions in the White House, Roosevelt died from a massive cerebral hemorrhage and Truman had to step into the shoes of the President. Until that time, not one in a million Americans could have imagined that Harry S. Truman would ever be President of the United States, let alone a good President.
Although many Americans were uncomfortable with that "little man" in the White House, Truman proceeded decisively from the beginning, presiding over the events of World War II and dealing with other Allied leaders. The war lingered on, over six years in Europe and almost four years since the bombing of Pearl Harbor. There had already been numerous casualties and Truman estimated that another million lives would be lost if the US and our allies had to invade Japan. Truman thought that these additional casualties would be a waste of human lives and decided the war needed to end. He made the toughest decision that any president before him had been forced to make. He decided to use the atomic bomb on Japan to end the war. On August 6, 1945, the US dropped the first bomb on Hiroshima; on August 9, 1945, we dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki. Truman ended the war saving a million lives but he was criticized harshly in later years for his decision. The world soon realized that this little man was capable of making very big decisions.
Truman continued Roosevelt's programs and implemented some of his own as he continued to fight communism. In spite of his good leadership, many felt that he had no chance of winning a re-election in 1948. The liberal Democrats nominated a Progressive party candidate and the Southern Democrats nominated their own Dixiecrat candidate, splitting the Democratic Party three ways. Truman himself didn't believe he had a chance to win nor did a Chicago newspaper which jumped the gun and printed its incautious banner headline for the next morning's paper which read, "Dewey Defeats Truman." To everyone's surprise, the Chicago newspaper got it wrong and Truman took over his second term as President, a term which would be dominated by the Korean War.
Chapter Two
How the Korean War Started
Most Americans and even some of the military personnel who served in Korea do not understand why and how the conflict started in Korea in 1950 between the North and the South. In fact, most Americans aren't familiar with the Korean War at all.
Going back over decades, several countries fought over the control of Korea but in 1910, Japan annexed Korea and took complete control of the country. Japan set up its government in Seoul, filled with generals who had been appointed by the Japanese emperor. The Korean people, deprived of freedom of assembly, association, the press, and speech, were forced to speak Japanese instead of their own native Korean language. Any rights that they may have enjoyed in the past had been taken away. When World War II ended in 1945 and we and our allies defeated the Japanese, Japan lost control of Korea.
Even though World War II started in Europe in 1939 and America got involved in 1941, the Soviet Union didn't join the United Nations' forces against Japan until August 8, 1945, two days after the US dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. Before participating in the war, Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, asked US President Truman about allowing them to invade Korea which Truman had vowed would one day have its independence. Truman vetoed Stalin's suggestion stating that such an expedition would not be practical until after a successful landing had taken place on the Japanese mainland. Stalin subscribed to also support the independence of Korea; however, on the very next day, the Soviets went into action in Manchuria and landed on the northern half of Korea at the 38th parallel.
On August 11, 1945, just three days after the Soviets joined the war, Japan surrendered and the terms of their surrender were laid out. The terms stated that the Japanese forces above the 38th parallel would surrender to the Soviet Union; the Japanese forces below the 38th parallel would surrender to the US commander. A month after the entry of the Soviets into the war, on September 8th, American troops arrived in South Korea. Korea became two separate countries. The Soviets sealed off the 38th parallel claiming North Korea as its own. South Korea would be occupied by the US.
Recognizing the possibility of a confrontation with the Soviet Union, Truman acknowledged that the North Korea zone now belonged to the Soviets. The speculations as to the reasons the Soviets were awarded the upper half of Korea are many and probably all are true. The expedience in receiving the Japanese surrender, to prevent any single power's domination of Korea, and to stop the Soviet's advance south of the 38th parallel where it could take over Japan are some of the speculations. Not too bad a month for the Soviets. Enter a war at the very end after the enemy has been defeated, flex your muscles a little, and get awarded the upper part of Korea for an extremely small amount of effort.
Right away, both North and South Korea began to organize their respective police/military forces. As both sides strengthened, the occupants of both countries withdrew. The Soviet occupation forces withdrew from North Korea in December 1948, leaving behind 150 advisors for each army division for training purposes. The US occupation forces withdrew from South Korea on June 29, 1949, leaving behind about 500 men as a Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) to train the new armed forces.
By June 1950, the North Korean forces totaled 135,000 men including a tank brigade. China transferred another 12,000 North Korean soldiers back home who had been training and fighting in China. As early as 1949, the North Korean military had been sent to the Soviet Union for specialized training proving them to be far superior on battle expertise to the South Korean army. South Korea had a 98,000 man force, equipped with only small arms which were barely enough to deal with internal revolt and border attacks, let alone resist the North Korean army when it came South.
It is believed that both the Korean countries received monetary aid from both of their occupying countries. On October 6, 1949, the US granted South Korea $10.2 million for military aid and $110 million for economic aid for the year 1950, the first year of a three-year program. On March 15, 1950, the US Congress approved another $10.9 million for military aid for a total of $21.1 million. It is unsure the amount of money the Soviets granted to North Korea.
On March 17, 1949, the Soviets agreed to provide North Korea with heavy military equipment. Although the US had promised South Korea over $21 million for military aid, when the war broke out the military equipment was still en route leaving the South Korean forces totally unprepared to resist the invasion by the North Korean forces.
The planning of the invasion of South Korea by North Korea started at the end of World War II in 1945; at least it did in the mind of Kim Il Sung, the North Korean leader who had been appointed by the Soviet Union leader, Joseph Stalin. Kim had returned to North Korea from fighting in China in the uniform of a Major of the Red Army and introduced as a national hero on October 14, 1945.
Kim had constantly begged Stalin to give him permission to invade South Korea, citing that he could reunite the South with the North as it had been before World War II ended. He boasted that the invasion would take only three weeks because, he claimed, the South was eager to reunite with the North. Kim had enviously watched Mao Zedong, the leader in China, reunite China after his final victory in their civil war in October, 1949 and wanted desperately to show Stalin that he was a much more capable leader and warrior than Mao. Stalin denied Kim's requests for over four years stating that there was no rush for an open conflict with the Americans in Korea. Kim really believed his own propaganda that if the Soviets would just get out of his way, he could conquer the Southern region in no time. He just needed a chance to prove it.
Meanwhile in South Korea, an American-educated, American-supported native and President of South Korea named Syngman Rhee had similar thoughts and beliefs. He believed that if only the Americans would remove their ridiculous restraints on him and get out of his way, he could conquer North Korea in no time. As a young man, Rhee had taken a stand against the Japanese back in 1919, had become a political prisoner, and had barely missed being executed. He had been forced to take refuge in the US where he received a Harvard degree and a Ph.D. from Princeton. Now a man in his 70's, he thought that he still possessed the fortitude to reunite the North and the South and destroy the North Korean's communist government.
Stalin began to reconsider granting Kim's numerous requests to invade South Korea when he heard about the speech given by US Secretary of State Dean Acheson on January 12, 1950 at the National Press Club in Washington. Acheson's speech seemed to send a signal that America's Asian defense perimeter did not include Korea and Stalin got the distinct feeling that the Americans might stay out of any conflict in Korea. Acheson had been trying to explain the American policy in Asia after China had fallen to the Communists. Instead he sent an extremely dangerous message to the Communist world: America would not get involved if South Korea's enemies threatened them. Again on May 2, 1950, America sent a similar message to the Communists. In an interview with "US News and World Report", Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Tom Connally of Texas, stated that the Republic of Korea would be abandoned in case of enemy aggression and the security of the nation was not essential to America's defensive Asian strategy.
After these two comments from the Americans and numerous confirmations from Kim and China's Mao that America would not get involved with any conflict in Korea, Stalin finally gave his permission for Kim to invade South Korea but with the understanding that he must follow specific guidelines. Under no circumstances, Stalin stated, would he have his fingerprints on this invasion nor would he come to Kim's rescue should he get into trouble. Stalin also required Kim to seek Mao's advice and cooperation and even his troops for backup if necessary. Kim agreed to follow Stalin's guidelines. They named the invasion "In Min Gun".
Kim met with Mao, a more seasoned and wiser leader, who agreed to assist Kim in his ambitious venture. Mao thought that Kim would have appreciated the opportunity to learn from Mao's experience and success but instead, Mao found Kim to be arrogant. His audacity, what the Chinese saw as his brashness, surprised the Chinese leader. Who did Kim think he was? Unfortunately, Mao had just seen the first glimpse of Kim's contemptuous attitude and Mao would soon realize that Kim had his own agenda. He had his own plans for this invasion, no matter what Mao advised him to do. Now that Stalin had given Kim the green light to invade South Korea, Kim was determined to do it his way, as long as Stalin wasn't watching.
Chapter Three
Pharis
Pharis Lynell Greene was born on May 17, 1932 in Bostic, NC, the first-born child to Harlan and Maebelle, now twenty-five and nineteen years old. He also enjoyed the status of the first-born grandchild on both sides of the family and needless to say, he was showered with love and attention giving him a strong sense of confidence and independence. He loved being the only child until almost three years later when his baby sister Margaret joined the family. Then two years later, his brother Bill came along.
Without much entertainment on the farm, the three of them had to find ways to amuse themselves. They had to invent their own fun-filled activities. While their creativity was to be commended, it often resulted in their getting into some kind of trouble with our parents on a daily basis. Both parents wanted to make sure that they raised their children right, so most days they got a "switching" when they misbehaved. Pharis said that if Mama missed a day switching him, he asked her if he had done something to make her mad at him. He asked her if she didn't love him anymore.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Sacrifices for Patriotism by HELEN GREENE LEIGH Copyright © 2012 by Helen Greene Leigh. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Dedication....................vPrologue....................xi
Chapter 1: Before the Korean War....................1
Chapter 2: How the Korean War Started....................5
Chapter 3: Pharis....................11
Chapter 4: Unprepared for War....................23
Chapter 5: The Invasion....................28
Chapter 6: MacArthur and Truman....................31
Chapter 7: America Responds....................36
Chapter 8: New Commanders....................44
Chapter 9: Operation Delay Continues....................50
Chapter 10: POW's Captured....................58
Chapter 11: The Pusan Perimeter....................66
Chapter 12: Fellow POW's....................72
Chapter 13: MacArthur's Own Agenda....................81
Chapter 14: The Tiger's Death March....................87
Chapter 15: Life in the Prison Camps....................106
Chapter 16: News about Pharis....................120
Chapter 17: China Intervenes and MacArthur is Fired....................128
Chapter 18: Permanent Prison Camp....................135
Chapter 19: Cease-fire Negotiations....................147
Chapter 20: Letters from Pharis....................153
Chapter 21: Eisenhower....................158
Chapter 22: Stalin's Death Changes the War....................163
Chapter 23: Rhee Interferes with Armistice....................168
Chapter 24: Going Home....................175
Chapter 25: In Search of a Normal Life....................192
Conclusion....................207
Postscript....................210