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>> Hi, everybody. I am here at the Veterans Affairs Department with, ta-da, my American-Samoan and Korean-War grandpas and their families, so I’m going to introduce you to them. So you met yesterday the Veterans VFW state commander, Inafo Maria.
>> Hello.
>> Aloha, right? And then the post commander, Mr. Apu.
>> Hi.
>> Okay. So here is my veteran grandpa. You can come a little closer. Your name is …
>> Suaka Shushba.
>> Yes. Grandpa Sua was in the Air Force, which is very rare, in 1950 …
>> Two.
>> 1952, so he flew to Korea carrying a …
>> Atomic bomb.
>> He carried an atomic bomb, but thank God, yeah, thank God he didn’t have to drop it, right? Yeah. If I remember correctly, General MacArthur kind of wanted to drop it, huh?
>> Wanted to drop it.
>> Yeah, but thank God that didn’t happen because Korea then would not exist today, maybe. Yes, and maybe I wouldn’t exist, so thank you for not dropping it.
>> [INAUDIBLE] protect Korea.
>> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Look how young he looks. How old are you, Grandpa?
>> I’m 87 years old.
>> Eighty-seven, he’s looking young though.
>> He’s too young.
>> Yes. Now this is my second Korean-War-veteran grandpa with his lovely girlfriend and son, handsome son, right? Grandpa, your full name?
>> [INAUDIBLE].
>> Yes. It’s a little bit long, but for short, I will call you my Grandpa … first name …
>> Beneva.
>> Beneva, Grandpa Beneva. He has an impeccable memory, and he was a combat veteran, right?
>> Yeah.
>> He served in some of the major battles of …
>> Outpost Harry.
>> Outpost Harry with the Greeks.
>> Pork Chop Hill.
>> Pork Chop Hill. Oh, by the way, everybody, do you have the … Well, he doesn’t have it, but he’s part of the Indianhead, the second ID. There’s a lot of Indianhead people watching this. So, “second to none,” right?
>> Second to none.
>> Second to none. Yes, yes. That’s it, so thank you, and what’s your name?
>> Gilbert Fiere.
>> Okay. What does it mean for you to have a father who served in the Korean War?
>> I’m very proud of my dad. He inspired me to join the service as well, and so I’m very proud of him.
>> Where did you serve?
>> First Persian Gulf War.
>> Oh, thank you for your service too. Thank you. Okay. Well, he’s not a Koren War veteran.
>> Nope.
>> As you can see, he’s not that old, but his father …
>> Yes.
>> His father was a Korean War veteran, and your father’s name is …
>> Edwin Robert Hollister.
>> Yes. Mr. Grandpa Edwin, he too also served in Desert Storm, so we have many families. Many of the members of the family served in the military and American Samoa. Per capita, right, number one, per capita, number one, and they have the spirit of serving the country, duty freedom, right, family, protecting family.
>> Yes.
>> And so your father served what year, you said?
>> 1950 …
>> 19 …
>> … until 1953, somewhere that time.
>> Yeah, yes, and he served in the Army.
>> Army, yes.
>> Yes. Do you know what division or what …
>> No. I don’t know.
>> Yes. He doesn’t know, but he did say that his father was very proud, right?
>> Yes.
>> He died 7 years ago?
>> No, back in …
>> Oh, it was ’75, 1975.
>> ’76. He passed away in 1976.
>> Oh, 1976, but he was born in 1925.
>> Yes.
>> Oh, and he was a medic. Now it’s coming back to me.
>> He was a medic, yes.
>> Yes, he was a medic. He was a medic, so we have airmen. We have a combat veteran, and we have a medic in American Samoa in the Korean War. And this is a very special story, so I’m going to save you last.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Ladies, best for last, but his father …
>> Uncle.
>> Uncle, I’m sorry. His uncle also served in the Korean War, and so did he, right?
>> Yes.
>> And your uncle inspired you to be tough, right? You said so.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah. Everybody was scared of his uncle and his family, he said, right?
>> Yes.
>> And what is your uncle’s name?
>> Name is Titae Fieme.
>> Yes, and we honor him and his memory. Now her uncle and her brave uncle also fought. So they’re all family here. Let’s show … What’s your name? What’s your name? She’s shy, but she’s very cute and pretty. Okay, so your uncle’s name is …
>> Masanisa Soripo Fanlan.
>> Yes, and her uncle, however, passed away, died, was killed in the Korean War.
>> Action.
>> Killed in action in August …
>> August 12th, 1950.
>> Yes, so as you remember, that was less than 2 months after the Korean War broke, and this was before the [INAUDIBLE] of MacArthur, so when your uncle fought was when the North Korean army, after invading the 38th Parallel, kept pushing down and down and down and down. So your uncle was part of the first major casualties that were suffered, and it was so touching because her family still remembers her uncle’s memory, but she never saw his picture. They don’t have a picture of their uncle, so they don’t know how he looks like, so they only remember him through the heart, and so I’m really hoping that I can find them …
>> A picture.
>> Yeah, get a picture so that they can see how handsome their uncle was, and I know your other sister is not here, but there was a song about his uncle. Can you sing that a little bit one more time?
>> I don’t know. I forgot the words.
>> Yes.
>> My sister remembers.
>> Just a little bit.
>> The word of the song, it was done by my grandmother, his mom, and the word of the song goes like this in English: “Masani, where are you? Are you sleeping, or are you awake? Please come home.” That’s it.
>> And his mom was always waiting for him to come.
>> I think because he left when he was a young man, not an old man.
>> I call her my auntie, and I’m so, so honored you’re here, and I’m here to say thank you to your family and that your uncle’s service and sacrifice is not forgotten, okay?
>> Amen.
>> Forever, and there are so many people out there who are grateful to you. I represent them. I’m here to represent everybody who’s grateful, not just by myself, okay?
>> All right. Thank you very much.
>> So thank you, everybody, and I’m just so happy to be here on this beautiful island. We still have [INAUDIBLE] to do and cemeteries to visit. We’re going to go visit her uncle’s grave later. So remember727.org. Thank you. Bye.
-Estas placas fueron instaladas el, el 14 de Noviembre del 2000, del año 2007, ante una ceremonia muy hermosa con todos los destacamentos militares, la asistencia del comandante del Ejército, el Estado Mayor, la Armada Nacional, y mucho público y todos los veteranos de la guerra de Corea. Fue algo, fue muy conmovedor para la ciudadanía de Bogotá y para todos los militares y veteranos que asistimos, puesto que no se había colocado en ninguna parte de Colombia por parte del Gobierno ninguna conmemoración, ningún recuerdo a los muertos de la guerra. Estábamos buscando y yo me dediqué a buscar con ellos. Y un buen día, tuve la inspiración de venir aquí y proponerle al padre párroco que, que si me daba permiso de colocar las placas acá en este lugar tan sagrado para la, donde están los mártires de la patria. E inmediatamente me aceptó. El general Álvaro Valencia Tovar, que en paz descanse, puso todo el empeño por su experiencia militar. Fue comandante del Ejército, estuvo en la guerra de Corea, fue el comandante de la primera acción contra los chinos. Y me dijo: “Isaac, cuente con mi apoyo porque esa idea no se me había presentado a mí, no se me había ocurrido a mí. Yo lo apoyo”. Y cuando me di cuenta, pues, comunicó al Estado Mayor, convocó a todas las fuerzas militares, y fue algo esplendoroso. Que, por eso esas placas están aquí. Yo puse mi aporte espiritual y no más. Que Dios tenga sus almas en su, su, su reino. Gracias.
>> My name is Alfred Ignacio. I was born in February, 21st, 1934. I joined the military in November 1951. We left for basic training in Hawaii Schofield on November 29th. We arrived in Hawaii on December 8th. Survived basic training for 16 weeks, infantry basic training. After basic training, they have list of people for different assignment. Some assigned to US, some for Korea during the war. My name fall under the Korea assignment. We were supposed to go straight from Hawaii to Korea, and we kind of declined and asked if we can go home first and see our family before we go to war, so they let us. They give us, I think, like 8 delaying … 8 days delaying route to stay with our family and wife. Then we boarded a ship that was going to Japan, and from Japan, they ship us to Korea. We came in the late afternoon the Korean Peninsula. We cannot disembark because it was too daylight, and so we wait until nighttime when it’s dark, and then we disembark, and while we disembark replacing them. Also we met on the way that were going out to replace us. We are the replacement for them. From there, they took us to in the train, and we went to classes in Yeongdeungpo. Some other men before we get to assigned to our unit, I was a … Then later I was assigned to the 45th Infantry Division. They were pulled off the line resting when I arrived to this unit, and I met them there. From there, we wait for maybe a week or two before we move up to the front line with this new unit that I was assigned to, and from there, we have assignment on this section of main line of resistance. They call it MLR. Our mission actually is mostly defensive instead of offensive. We do offensive, but not as much as defensive. We have to secure combat outposts, and that’s where most of the fighting are because this is very important section of the line that everybody wants to take, the enemy and us, so if they are the one occupying, we try to take it from them, and if we overrun them, they lose. We took it, but then they’ll try to take it back again, so that’s how we fight. A lot of the people at this outpost were American people who take the wounded and dead, but the enemy, they just left the dead, so the place is very nasty. It’s dirty, stink, dead people all over the place, especially in the summer. It’s … You can’t hardly stand the smell. It’s terrible. In the winter, it’s not too bad because they don’t decompose like the summer. That’s how we … Like I said, mostly we do defensive, not offensive. We don’t go out and attack them or like that. We just try to maintain what we have and guard it and not for them to take it back, and that’s how the mostly the people that do that. Then we have to move to get some more, and that’s when we would be offensive. I stayed there. I have to make 36 points to go home. If you up on the front line, you get four points a month. If you move back to a blocking position, which is a little bit behind the line, you get three points a month, and then a little bit further back, maybe relaxation area, you get two points, and if you go back to the gate, the Army Reserve area, you get one point a month, so the more you stay out on the line, faster you can get the points to go home. It took me about almost a year to make that 36 points because sometimes we go back, rest, come back on again until the time comes that I make my points. Then I go home.
>> Tell me about the Inchon Landing, the Second Inchon Landing.
>> It’s not really a landing. It’s … That’s where we disembark from the pack. I think that’s where the ship comes in to disembark people. I don’t know about that first Inchon Landing. Okay. I think there’s a story about that. I didn’t even know about that.
>> But how about your experience from Inchon?
>> The tour when we went to Korea, the agent make arrangement for the Korean veterans to visit Korea. That’s when the tour people told us that this is the Inchon Landing, and I didn’t know what took place on that first time, and … Because I was in maybe third group. The first one, I think it’s the Inchon Landing where they to have to fight their way in, or I don’t know. When we came near, we were not being …
>> And you said you lied to your mother about …
>> Yeah. Well, when I joined the military, I was 17 years old, and they won’t take me because you still have to be 18, and I really want to go. I was supposed to go to high school. I just graduate from the eighth grade in San Francisco, and I’m supposed to go to GW to high school, but instead of going to the high school, we all went to the recruiting office, and we sign in to join the military. Actually, I was going to go join the Air Force, but they said it’s full already. They don’t take anymore, so the Army is open, so we don’t have any choice. We took the Army, and we have to take the test. Eventually, I passed it. They took me in, and I got lot of problems in my physical, and I get rejected for being in the military. I got a big red mark on my paper that said rejected, and I said, “Oh, my god. I want to go,” so somebody told me that there’s a way to fix my rejection. My tooth hurt bad, so I have to have it fixed, high blood pressure. That’s the one that they find on my physical, high blood pressure, and I have to … I went to the dentist and have it pulled out, the bad one, I think two or three. I have to pay for that, and then they said you drink … Maybe have a glass of vinegar for your high blood pressure, so I did. I drank the vinegar, and then I asked the doctor to take my blood pressure, and he says there’s nothing wrong. It’s all normal, so I took my paper to the recruiting office, and I turn it in. My tooth, I fix, and my blood pressure is normal, so they took me. That’s how I joined the military. My mother have to sign a paper. I lied to her. I said, “You have to sign this because I raised my hand already, and if you don’t sign it, I go to jail,” so she signed the paper. That’s how I get in the military, and I got the basic training. Oh, how a mess that I made.
>> How about now?
>> After that, no problem. I was happy. I enjoyed being in the military.
>> And you must be proud of your service.
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
>> I’m glad for what I did …
>> And I’m …
>> … and what I earned.
>> And I’m very grateful for what you did.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you so much.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you.
>> Okay.
– 2004, ¿no?
– Un poco…
– Más alto.
– Sí.
-Doménico Adorno.
– Sí, cuando, cuando, ¿participaron en la guerra?
– Nací en el pueblo de Trujillo Alto. A los 21 años fui reclutado por el ejército. Me enviaron a su país, Corea. No tengo buenos recuerdos. LO que tengo es un sentimiento porque muchos han ido ahora y dicen que Corea está muy pero muy alertada, muy avanzada, pero todavía en mi vida no capto, todavía yo tengo a Corea de 66 años atrás. Yo estuve en Chon todo el tiempo. Estuve en una oficina del tercer batallón. La oficina pertenecía al 65 de infantería. Estaba localizada en una universidad que había sido destruida por los americanos para sacar al enemigo, a los coreanos… metidos. Tuvieron que bombardear ese edificio. En ese edificio había partes que se podían usar, y ahí estaba yo en una oficina. Yo estuve 13 meses, un año y un mes. Mi trabajo allí era que me enviaban el informe, informe todas las mañanas de los muertos, de los desaparecidos, de los heridos durante la noche del cuerpo del 65 de infantería. Había mucho conocido mío. Todos eran puertorriqueños. Para mí era un dolor, aunque no los conociera físicamente, pero eran mis compatriotas. Eso es un dolor que llevo, ¿entiendes? Porque todavía conozco descendientes, descendientes de esos muchachos que perdieron la vida allí. Cada vez que los veo me traslado a Corea. Esa es la parte primordial del viaje a Corea. Bien, tengo otros recuerdos mucho más tristes del pueblo coreano.
– ¿Visitó a Corea el año pasado?
– No.
– ¿No?
– No, voy a visitarla.
– ¿Vas, vas visitar el mes de septiembre?
– Sí.
– Ah, ¡ok! Sí.
– Pues aquel tiempo ustedes no habían nacido.
– Sí, sí, sí.
– Fue un tiempo triste para Corea. La guerra destruyó la manufactura, destruyó la agricultura, y Corea vive… de la agricultura, de la pesca, bueno. Recuerdo, por la tarde cuando yo salía de la oficina, se había todo empolvado porque los edificios son hechos de un material, no recuerdo ahora, que es como tiza. Salía afuera. Había un, una reja para no entrar al edificio donde estaba la oficina. Nosotros pegábamos allí… y eso… triste ver cómo las mamás…
[HABLAN EN COREANO].
– Sí, sí, sí.
– Lloraban pidiendo comida, y muchas veces hacían cosas indebidas, cosas indebidas con sus hijos. Yo tengo mis hijas ahora, mi nieta, y eso me lleva, ver un pueblo destruido físicamente…
– Sí.
– Y moralmente.
– Sí, pero ahora es muy…
– Eso es distinto, pero yo no lo he visto.
– Sí. Gracias.
>> December 1952 is when I found out I was going to Korea, so New Year’s Day, I pulled out of Canada to go to Korea [INAUDIBLE]. So we’ll skip all that stuff. We’ve been over that. Anyways, when I was there, my job was sample. [INAUDIBLE] for their CHA. My job was to fix the line from the TAC headquarters to the OP, observation post, 6-5 and 7-5 OP. We used to have to go through this road that they had. It was a camouflaged road. Most people call it that. I call it Whizbang Alley because every time a shell landed there, all you hear is the whizzing of shrapnel flying all over the place, and the Chinese had a different tactic. Most artilleries, like have been in two wars, most artilleries have a nice pattern when they drop their shells and when their guns fire over. The Chinese didn’t. They’re always [INAUDIBLE] all over the place, so after a while, you get used to their idea. You know there’s going to be four rounds coming in somewhere. You don’t know where but somewhere, and this one time, they fooled us. They only had three, so we waited for the longest time to see when the fourth one is going to come in, so being in the artillery, you know that they always had four [INAUDIBLE]. So that’s fine and dandy. So we found out the next day they only had three, and the day after we found we had four [INAUDIBLE]. Two days before the attack of 187, we were going through this camouflaged road, what I called Whizbang Alley, and four rounds come in at exactly a perfect pattern. Don’t get me wrong. The Chinese are deadly on their computer. They have mortars that are really good, but anyway, they’re deadly, and we couldn’t figure this out because other than that, they’re all over the place. In fact, they give the false information or false feeling that they couldn’t hit the boards out of a barn door if they’re standing on it. That’s the way we felt like, but we know better after, so the day of the attack, we moved into one place. Oh, pardon me. The lines were out on the [INAUDIBLE] thing there, and our job is to fix these telephone lines and [INAUDIBLE]. I was fixing [INAUDIBLE] on the line. That’s when we found out some of the flairs were going up at night, and you took a pink sky, everything, pink sky, so we watched that, and one of the guys from the infantry told us, “We want you in this trench over here,” so we went over to that trench there. So we went in that trench area artillery [INAUDIBLE]. When I joined the artillery, I was supposed to be behind the lines, not in front of the lines. I ended up on the front lines. I don’t know how, but anyway, just like anything else I do in my life, it’s always backwards, but anyway, we were on the front lines. Now all I can tell you is what I seen and what I did, and most of the time I forgot, and I can’t remember what it is myself, and I really couldn’t care less. That’s the way I feel about it. There was an attack. The first shock is when I first seen my first enemy. It’s kind of a shock. Even though I was trained for it, it’s still there, but I caught myself into that time, fine and dandy. That was the first shock. After firing, I took that kind of … It looked like a wall of Chinese coming at you after the first shock of this trench and put that wall out [INAUDIBLE] they would wall back up again because they come in hordes. The next shock I had, I kind of had good therapy [INAUDIBLE] and they asked me different things what you might see over there, and one thing I brought out, I says, “With all the noise going on, the machine guns going and firing bombs and all other kind of stuff going on, the loudest noise you ever have is the click of a rifle when it’s empty.” So now, they’ve got a brand-new soldier. Anyway, that was the first time I got the first sign of fear go right through my body, but once again, you’re trained. I went down. There’s enough ammunition on this [INAUDIBLE]. I reloaded, fired. Okay, second time that happened, I knew what to do. I was okay, but that was the first two shocks I had, scared me was the first enemy I’ve ever seen, the first time I run out of ammo and stuff like that. What happened after that, I couldn’t tell you. All I know after a while, we run out of ammo, and I was on top of the trench until somebody had me by the leg and said, “Get back in the trench again,” so I got back in the trench again. Lucky thing I did because our machine gun behind us opened fire and cleaned house for us. So I got back in the trench, fine and dandy. So 2 days later, we had another line crew come up and relieve us to go for a shower. So anyway, shouldn’t do that. Anyway, we went for a shower, and that’s the time when I come across … I didn’t I had it. I didn’t feel it. I had bruises on my arm and bruises on my leg. I don’t know where it come from, how it got there, didn’t have a clue. So after the shower, we come back, and we’re told we were not going back on the front line. We were going back to the regiment [INAUDIBLE]. So I got back there, and I went on [INAUDIBLE] and told them about my bruises. They asked if I was drunk or what I was drinking to get these bruises, and I says, “I never had a drop of liquor in my mouth for 2 weeks or 3 weeks.” Nobody gets that many bruises and he’s sober, so I tried to explain that we were in the middle of a battle, so what happened there, I couldn’t tell you, so that’s about all, nothing much. You’ve probably heard that story 1,000 times, so there’s nothing much to it. That’s all I can tell you.
>> What do you wish for the Korean people and the current future of Korea?
>> I’m going to tell you something that I tell everybody, and a lot of other Korean veterans agree the same. They always classify us as heroes.
>> I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Can we be quiet a little bit? Sorry.
>> They always classify us for being heroes, going halfway across the world and doing war. Our heroes, what I see that are heroes is the ROK Army. They fought all 3 years in that battle. They come home and rebuild the country from dirt up, and there you go. That’s my hero.
>> Well, you’re my hero.
>> Sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t do this.
>> Thank you so much.
>> I’m sorry.
>> I’m sorry.
>> I’m sorry. I don’t know why, but I should never do this.
>> I would think that they are tears of joy and pride because what you have sacrificed for … Look at us.
>> Yeah, well …
>> Now look at us. Look at me. Look at my friend. Look at Koreans all over the world. We’re enjoying freedom today. You should be proud.
>> Well, after 65 years, you think it should be nothing near, but every so often it hits me. I don’t know why and no reason for it to me, but that’s it. So sorry.
>> Grandpa, done?
>> Yep.
>> I love you. Thank you.
>> Yep, yep.
>> My name is Edmund Hollister. My dad, Edwin Robert Hollister. He was born here in American Samoa, and his birthday is September 18th, 1925. He passed away December 8th, 1976. He was a sergeant. He was in Korea at that time. That’s where [INAUDIBLE].
>> Some might say your father is a hero.
>> I guess.
>> Do you know if he fought combat?
>> He was a medic.
>> A medic?
>> Yes. He always go with people when they go to field, whatever time, they said to go please with those people in infantry.
>> Oh, he was a medic?
>> He was a medic, yes.
>> Wow.
>> That was his job.
>> When did he join the Army?
>> I don’t know, but if you … So my dad received the money from the VA. He was in the military. He went a long time ago back in American Samoa. The VA, the local VA, he [INAUDIBLE] guy. He was doing everything. That’s where he got the money from them. I didn’t know what time. Somewhere around 1954, ’53 … somewhere around ’52 or ’53, somewhere around that time. But he was born in 1925, yes.
>> 1925? So he was a medic during the war. What did he do when he came back?
>> He came back … he was in charge of … He was a teacher in American Samoa. In those days that’s … When he finished teacher, he would be in charge of the women working in the back camp, the Kennedy Company back in those days.
>> What do you … Did he ever mention anything about the war?
>> He didn’t say anything about those things.
>> Why?
>> I don’t know. We were really young at that time. We were really young.
>> What does it mean for you to have a father who was a Korean War veteran? You’re a veteran.
>> You see, I didn’t … In those days, we were young. We didn’t ask those kind of questions. We didn’t even think about joining the military. And finally, when I … I have a bachelor’s. I graduated in 1967, and then I have bought a store. That’s what I had. My dad provided all that stuff, and I take care of those stuff.
>> You came here today to honor him.
>> Yes because I heard on the news yesterday from from Madeon. When I heard that, I thought, “Oh, let me go talk to this lady up there and explain that my dad was in the war at that time.”
>> So it means you’re proud of his service.
>> Oh, yes. When I think about my dad was in it … I’m going to be in the military too. He didn’t retire, but he got out, and finally, when I retired … My daughter, she’s in the Marines right now.
>> Wow, three generations!
>> Yes. My brother, too, had three kids go in the military too. One passed away at war.
>> Why?
>> He passed away when he was in Thailand. That’s where he passed away there. They bring the Hawaiians when Hawaii did the … With his funeral, they sent him to American Samoa. They buried him next to my dad. They have his name up there, Korea, and my brother’s son.
>> Wow. Can you spell your father’s name again?
>> Edwin Robert Hollister.
>> With double L or one L?
>> Two L, yes.
>> Okay. We honor him, okay? Thank you so much. Thank you.
>> But you know, when you get out on commission, then you’re blessed, definitely blessed [INAUDIBLE] DD214, from his paper …