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>> 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.
– To the cemetery,
what would you think?
– I want to tell you something.
… what I say. I’m going
to tell you something, you know.
– Okay.
– I joined the Army in 1940.
I was 17 years old.
I trained in Tortuguero, Puerto Rico.
Then went to Fort Neal, West Virginia.
From Virginia, we went to North Africa.
And so we headed. We landed there
with 40 dead because we had a kennel.
Because we had a coronel who don’t believe
that puertoricans were their friends.
He went there and kill it… Somebody killed it.
I said everyone in North Africa, they all went to,
uhm… Germany.
Yeah, and I always tell
… about 10.000 prisoners.
… The coronel called, he used to be a commander.
So I came back to Puerto Rico and stayed here.
Then, they planned the work, the maneuver…
Porter maneuver to certificate
that it was the best way to…
That’s what they said, to Korea…
They fought everything. so, myself was
the driver of Mayor General Harris,
so we left him in here, in Puerto Rico.
1950… December, 1950. So we went
in the Marine links, about 16.000 soldiers.
so we land in Busan. So, at the next day, we …
fight in the front, so I used to be the driver
and bodyguard from Coronel Harris.
So, I had a… with Coronel Harris.
So, one day, General McArthur stopped us himself
and he told to General Harris,
“you have to go to that hill
and throw the people in there.”
I remember that.
And General Harris said,
“no, my people has to come back to me, now.
They’re going to rest.”
So, I thought, uhm… He was, you know,
disobeying an order from a Mayor, a General,
he was a Coronel. So, well he left him over there,
So, I know we have a hook for,… in spanish and english.
So, we have everything that the guys have said.
That’s to believe. Because I spente 11 moths in there
with the Coronel and a mission… heave, we go.
I never really thought…
The day the guy walked in the kitchen,
the Admiral used to chew for…
And in the showers, the showers came down from the hill.
We didn’t know it came from the hill.
He said “my girl is washing there, so…”
So, I went down… three pieces of…, you know,
because I knew everything was alright.
The ’65 is one of the best in the world
I know, because I used to be the driver
for Mayor Coronel Harris. We sailed in maneuver.
We were five rocks from…
Then we left for…
And one of the guys said “load the arms”
and one guy from my hometown, they got a .45.
And when you load the .45, it fires a shot…
General Cordero, he was a volunteer for…
And that’s the way, if you are very sick…
I really think so, because the puertorican who
sailed there,… sleeping back, about 20 degrees.
Also, in North Africa, … we slept in there,
the valley… at 32 degrees.
We had to go to the river,
That’s the way…
I used to go with General Harris,
I uses to be the driver.
– But what do you remember?
– I remember the day.
– What did you feel?
– One day, he went to… We were below that,
everything, we didn’t know that they were hiding.
And one morning we called, so they came down
when we started the kitchen, you know, boiling eggs, the breakfast.
And they called out:
“Everybody! I have a job for our company,
every one of you have to kill seven guys.”
– Oh.
– Wow.
– That’s all I have to say. My brother,
he was a policeman, he.
So, we had so many points and they gave me
the break and sent me first.
Yeah, because, I mean…
The korean, yeah. We fought along that people,
you know, together. And they did.
They had this little sack and that’s where.
– Did you volunteer to fight for Korea?
– No, because I used to be a driver
for the Army, Fort Maneuver.
– Yeah, but did you volunteer to be the driver?
– Yeah.
– Volunteer?
– Yeah.
– Why? Why.
– Because I said “fine”, a day that I went to…
No, I forgot the General, to drive to Korea.
they said four days, and they selected me
to be the driver.
They were looking for a man to follow him,
the General.
Well, I’m telling you,
the worst would be the war.
Because I had to be the devil or the saint.
For example, I’m in Puerto Rico, what happens now?
They say I can’t walk, you know why?
Because that guy up there, he sees everything.
I’m alive because my mother,
she promised for me three times.
Three times. I’m alive because of her.
Look, …
but that one is the one that kept me alive.
Don’t worry. I’m 93 years old. Suffer? Suffer.
– The south korean people. Message.
– Korean people.
The korean people were, for me, the best people in the world.
Because I was with them, fought beside them.
We went over there, they were over there.
They give everything that people,
I remember that.
The people that were over there were…
I’d like to go back over there,
because they treat puertoricans like.
A friend of mine, he went.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> My name is Krylov Ailey.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> In Korea, I was called Lee.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So I am born the 23rd of July, 1931, in [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So I went into the Army the 8th of June, 1949.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So 1950 was the first call for volunteers to go into Korea.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> He only went with the second detachment.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So this was going on through May [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] 1950?
>> Fifty-two.
>> 1952 until June ’52 where you were in Luxembourg and in Belgium.
>> Oui, mm-hmm.
>> Okay.
>> Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And then they went to Belgium.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So they finished their instructions there.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Meersburg.
>> To Meersburg.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So in March in ’52, they went by airplane from the airport, Meersburg.
>> Meersburg.
>> Meersburg, where?
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And then first to the Azoren Islands.
>> And then Newfoundland.
>> Then Newfoundland.
>> Springfield.
>> Springfield, yeah.
>> Oklahoma.
>> Oklahoma.
>> San Francisco.
>> San Francisco.
>> Hawaii.
>> Hawaii.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] yeah.
>> And then Tokyo.
>> And then Tokyo.
>> And then from Tokyo, I was [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Then they went from Tokyo by boat to the south of Japan, Sasebo.
>> Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Okay.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So they went to Korea, and then for 2 months, they were trained.
>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. Yeah. Yeah.
>> In training, and then … [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And then the first time they went to the front.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So then they went …
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Then they went second time to the front in September of ’52, 1952.
>> Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And they went to the first post, not far away, about 1 kilometer away from the Chinese.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And then they had two periods there …
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> … during the whole period that they were there.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> You could not bring your head high because all the time it was shooted.
>> Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And then they went back, and they went again to the front.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> They were the day when there was rain period.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And they were 3 weeks in the front, and they were totally wet from the morning to the evening.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So that’s the period, rain period, for the rice fields.
>> Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Excuse me, please.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So they went back from the front.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> When they went back, the activities was mainly to make patrol, patrol.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And he remembers he was a special rotation.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> He received another name. It was [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].
>> Aven, Josh.
>> Josh Aven.
>> Josh Aven. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE].
>> So he … They changed the name because his father was officer in the army of the Czar.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And at this time, they were still persecuted.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> They have a name to protect him, and then he would come into where they would test prisoner. He would have been in danger with his name.
>> Yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> He received a citation, may be different from [INAUDIBLE] patrol is what we did, which we did.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So that was, he had the graduation because he was very contentious with a big conscious, and very high … He was very cold-blooded, how you call it. He was very … He not was so emotional. He kept his cold blood.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So he was … He received this, all the contention, because of the patrols, and he says that he was very conscious and did his job very well.
>> I have a question, so I know … I learned that your father … So you’re ethnically Russian?
>> Russian, yeah, yeah, Russian.
>> Ethnically?
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So his father was Russian, but his father married here in Luxembourg, during the Luxembourg warfare.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> When the revolution finished in Russia, some people freed from Russia.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Then the white Russians, they had no more financial means.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So they start to … They found work in Luxembourg in the north of the country in Wiltz. There were still industry for to make leather at this time.
>> So my question is, because in the Korean War, Russia was on the other side of the war, right?
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> North Korea was supported by Russia.
>> How did that feel? How did it affect you if any way?
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So this … He says the Navy received protection, but he said he never faced Russians to fight them.
>> True.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So they changed the name.
>> Aven, George. Aven George.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Aven, George.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> His real name is Krylov, yes.
>> Yeah.
>> To protect himself, he changed it to protect himself.
>> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So he wants to say something more.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So when he was in enrolled with his army in 8th March, the 8th of March, ’49, the 8th of March, ’49, Tuten Werner was his first chief in this part of army.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> And then in the 23rd of January, 1950, they went back to Luxembourg, and then the following stations …
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So from Japan.
>> Tokyo, Okinawa, Bangkok, Karachi, Beirut, Nice, Luxembourg.
>> Nice is the south of France and then Luxembourg.
>> Wow.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So they were not … no isolation, so they had a lot of … In the ears, it was very hard, tough.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So he went back to the army to the stay there at his end, and his last grade was …
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So since 1986, he’s in pension.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> If you want to ask something …
>> You also visited Korea many times, right?
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Four times, I visited.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So the firs time he was there …
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> The first time he was there was 1976, and there he could see still a lot of poverty. He could see what the people suffered.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> That’s the second time he was there in 2010, 2013 and then 2016.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So what you could see …
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So you could see what they really succeeded to do a lot of very hard work. It’s very hardworking people.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Also too good, also too can confirm this.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> I think that’s all.
>> I hope that you’re very proud, also very proud.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> Thank you.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> I am very proud.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> He likes South Korea. He’s very stoked when he goes to Korea. It’s no … How you call this in English. There’s no …
>> Traffic jam.
>> Yes.
>> No, no, no.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> It is very clean, and it’s a discipline he can experience there.
[FOREIGN LANGUAGE]
>> So and also he can see in Korea the people know what Luxembourg is, and the children learn in the school to know all the different nations who participated to help liberate Korea.
>> Well, again …
>> Thank you.
>> No, thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you. That was …
– Mi nombre es Carlos Josué González Mercado. Todo el mundo, las amistades y mi familia me dicen Josué porque mi papá se llamaba Carlos. Y antes de yo ir a Corea, trabajaba con la autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, y estaba a cargo del pueblo de Río Grande. En aquella época los pueblitos eran pequeños. Río Grande tenía 400 abogados y yo estaba solito a cargo de ese pueblo, pero empezó la guerra de Corea y, a pesar de que ya yo tenía 23 años, fui llamado obligadamente a servir en el ejército de los Estados Unidos. Recibimos entrenamiento en el campamento de Tortuguero en Vega Baja. Y a los 3 meses de recibir el entrenamiento zarpamos para Corea en un barco que se llamaba Sargent… Viajamos de aquí a Panamá. Cruzamos el Canal de Panamá. Llegamos a California. De California seguimos a Hawái. De Hawái llegamos a Japón. De Japón definitivamente llegamos a Corea un mes después. Salimos de aquí viernes santo de 1951. En Corea me asignaron al 65 de infantería como uno de los primeros refuerzos que fueron al 65. Había otros tres regimientos americanos, dos regimientos más americanos. Era el 7 y el 15, pero el único regimiento que era de puertorriqueños solamente era 65. Era un regimiento segregado de solamente puertorriqueños. Bien, naturalmente, nos unificó más como pueblo, como amigos, como compañeros, porque al fallecer uno nos dolía a todos. Y fue un año completo en que estuvo en la guerra de Corea. Si ustedes me permiten dar un testimonio de la grandeza del Señor. Mi mamá, cuando yo fui a Corea, hizo una plegaria pidiéndole al señor que no permitiera que yo con mi arma de reglamento matara a ningún semejante mío, una petición que para cualquiera es imposible porque a nosotros nos adiestraron para matar, para matar gente, y pedirle a Dios que un hombre que lo mandan a matar gente no mate a nadie eso es una escala muy alta. Ella también le pidió que preservara mi vida. Y durante ese año que yo estuve en Corea, al yo llegar, perdóname, al yo llegar a Corea, el comandante de la compañía donde yo estaba, vio mi récord y decía que yo era lineman, procurador de líneas, que tiraba líneas, conectaba teléfonos, y hacía instalaciones, y hacía bregar con los switchmodes. Y dijo al sargento: “Este es el hombre que necesitamos para conectar los teléfonos de la compañía de regimiento”. Y mi trabajo en Corea, donde un año, por un año fue conectar teléfonos y operar swichtmodes. Por lo tanto, mi mamá no puede testificar si yo maté a nadie, pero yo sí puedo testificar eso porque debido a ese trabajo que tenía, de mi rifle no salió ni un solo tiro, o sea que no pude haber matado a nadie. Y hay que darle gracias a Dios. Por esa oración de mi mamá que le pidió a Dios eso, y Dios oye a los corazones contritos y humillados que se doblegan ante… Por eso yo donde quiera que voy, y me preguntan, doy mi testimonio de la grandeza de Dios que me permitió regresar con vida sin tener que matar a nadie y servir en el ejército sin tener que cometer ese roll.
– Sí.
– Dios me los bendiga.
– Sí, sí. Gracias, gracias… Su Abuelo es un pastor, ¿no?
– Mi papá.
– Papá. Yo también.
– Este es mi papá, mi mamá, 9 hermanos.
– Oh, my God! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9?
– We were 10, but one died very old.
– Where are you?
– I am the 3rd one. That’s the oldest, 2nd and the 3rd. This is 4th, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
– Wow, bueno, el señor da a su familia muchos, muchos…
– Todos, toda la familia sirve al señor, toda la familia. Mi papá y mi mamá nos enseñaron a amar a Cristo por…
– Gracias.
– Esta fotografía fue tomada cuando mi papá y mi mamá cumplieron 60 años de casados.
– Wow, 60 años. Gracias muchísimo.
– Dios la bendiga.
[HABLAN EN COREANO].
Thank you.
[HABLAN EN COREANO].
– …
[HABLAN EN COREANO].
– Which battle did you fight?
– … una pelea, ¿verdad? Estaba encargado solamente de…
– No, no.