- Me llamo Raimundo Eraso Castellón. Pertenecíal Batallón Colombia. -¿En el año…? - Compañía B, tercer pelotón, tercera escuadra, ayudante de FA, en la cual pertenecí a la patrulla que entró por primera vez en El Chamizo y, de ahí, a los, a las 24 horas, hicimos la, la avanzada durante, durante 48 horas,en la cual combatimos a las 12:00 de la noche en la recogida del pelotón, en la cual hirieron al señor coronel Polanía Puyo. Ahí perdimos a tres hombres, a esa hora,a medianoche, en la cual fuimos hasta la, una ciudad, un pueblo llamado Punzón,en la cual desbaratábamos la entrada del ferrocarril y al día siguiente estaba otra vez ya compuesta. Se terminó a la medianoche de las 48 horas. Después,nos dieron de baja en Bogotá. Un everfeat y unos zapatos, y una corbata, y una camisa blanca. En la cual ingresé a la ArmadaNacional y. y en la cual viajé nuevamente a Corea en el Almirante Padilla. Y en el Almirante Padilla hicimos el trabajo que teníamos que hacer.

>> Your full name. >> My name? >> Thomas Perkins. >> Thomas Perkins and your date of birth and where you were born? >> I didn't hear that. >> Your date of birth and where you were born? >> Oh, I was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales in a place called St Davids, the smallest city in Europe. >> Okay. When did you serve in Korea? >> When did I serve in Korea? 1951 to '53. >> Can you share what you brought with us? You brought something. >> I've got something? >> Mm-hmm. >> Yeah, just a photograph of me in Korea. I was 19 years of age. >> What do you remember about your buddies? What do you remember there? >> I was in the Tank Corps. I was a tank driver. >> Oh. >> Yeah, and this is ... That is actually the tank that I drove when I was Korea. >> Oh. >> That one there. >> Can you show it like this? >> Sorry? >> Can you show the picture like this? Yes. Wow. It's the real one? >> Oh, yes. >> Did you know any of the 32 that died in the war? >> Did I? >> Mm-hmm. >> Did I know any? >> Who died, yes. >> Who died? >> Yes. >> I ... We only a couple of men in Korea. >> Thirty-two. >> That one ... >> Were you part of the Welsh Regiment or the King's Regiment. >> No, no, I was Tank Regiment. >> Was the tank part of the King's or Welsh? >> I was a Tank Regiment. >> It's a separate? >> Not in Korea, no. Welsh Regiment Infantry. >> May I take a picture of that one too? >> Yeah, that's ... This is the crew of that tank. >> Oh. >> That is me. I was the tank driver with [INAUDIBLE] gunner, and that's a radio operator. >> What was ... What's your one story? >> That was during the actual war. We were on the battle of the Hook. Also ... >> What's the battle of the Hook. >> It's an area within the Commonwealth division in Korea. >> Mm-hmm. >> And we had a place called the Hook, which is the hook, and then we had other positions, which are relevant to the area, 355, 159, 210, 10, and they all had names, [INAUDIBLE], Little Gibraltar. >> Wow. Do you remember ... Have you been back to Korea? >> No, I have no wish to go back? >> Why not? >> When I went there, it was a lovely ... When I went there it was a nice, quiet country. There was no skyscrapers. It was very, very basic. >> Mm-hmm. >> The people were very basic. >> Mm-hmm. >> And there was this war going on, which wasn't very nice, and it was very cold. >> Very cold. >> Everybody talks about how cold it was. >> You could have a cup of tea and put it down, and 5 minutes it was frozen. >> I'm glad you made it back very safely. >> No, I've not been back. I've not ... I've no wish to go back there. >> Oh, no, I mean back home. >> Sorry? >> Back home. >> Back home? >> Yeah. >> When did I get back home? >> I went to Korea '51. I didn't come back home to this country because I went to other places. >> You were in the military. >> I was in a long time. I went from Korea to Malaya. That's in Malaya. >> Yeah, from very cold to warm. >> That's Malaya, further down, and I served in Malaya. These are letters I had from your ...

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> My name is Asam Kanat, and I was born in [INAUDIBLE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Our unit went to Korea in 1952, and we stayed there over 13 months, and I was part of the medical team. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> And we had a hospital at the war zone, and we would treat injured soldiers, and if it was a really serious injury, we would take them back to the city. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> We were mostly in the hospital, but we would see Korean people once in a while, and we would talk to them a little bit. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> I went to Seoul and Pusan, but most of my time was taking injured soldiers to hospitals or moving them to the required place. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Has he ever been to Korea? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Afterwards? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> It's been 64 years since I was in Korea, so I don't remember much. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> His friend was able to. It was for veterans [INAUDIBLE]. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> But I was sick, and I could not go to Korea again. >> Okay.

>> I am Alvin Cameron, and I served in Korea with the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1951 and '52, and we arrived in Korea from Hong Kong where we'd been stationed before, and it was a bit of a shock because we had expected to have a leisurely disembarkation, but it was the start of the big Chinese drive down through Kapyong, and so we were suddenly told we had to be up at Kapyong the next morning. We arrived as I say and were driven to a rendezvous point and just bellied down on the ground that night. We all had a blanket with us and a greatcoat, and we just put that over us, and we woke up next morning with frost all over the greatcoat, which was a bit of a shock having just come from Hong Kong. And then the Argylls who we were taking over from came through and left, and we went up to Kapyong front and spent the next 3 days digging in and withdrawing, digging, withdraw, marching back about 7 or 8 miles each day. So it was a bit of a abrupt entry into the war, but we didn't actually have any contact at that time with the Chinese or the North Koreans. From there, we went into our reserve position and then moved to another position just north of Seoul where we did have contact to the battalion, but I ... At that time, we were a bit of a spare file in the battalion because I'd been second in command of A Company when we arrived, but when the Argylls left, they left someone who took over that position, and I had nothing special to do. So when our intelligence officer was injured in a traffic accident, I took over as intelligence officer for about 6 or 8 weeks. The battalion then moved from that position over to the Kansas Line just south of the Han River, and I then took over a platoon. We were in a defensive position there, and there were minefields all around, and I remember, on one occasion, a Korean man was coming down the road towards our position and walking along the embankment on the side, which I knew was mined, and all the jocks were shouting at him and waving, saying, "Get off onto the road," and he didn't, so he just kept on walking until he hit a mine, so I then had to go into the minefield to get him out, and our regimental aid post came up took him away in a stretcher jeep. Shortly after that, I was given a different job where I was training potential NCOs at the battle school about 15 miles behind the front line, and I did that, again, for about 8 weeks, during which the battalion had a very stiff battle when they crossed the Han and advanced up [INAUDIBLE] commando. I was then ... went back to battalion as second in command again of A Company, and in November, we had a big battle where a Chinese division attacked the battalion position, and it overran two of our companies, but my company was in reserve, and we were expected to do a counterattack, but that was canceled, so nothing really happened. And after that, I became a platoon commander again in A Company, and we pulled back to a shoulder on Hill 355, which was the big hill in center of the division's line, front line [INAUDIBLE]. And one night we were on there, I was going around my sentries at about 10 o'clock at night, and 14th Field Regiment Royal Artillery had been firing over us all day in support of the [INAUDIBLE] who were just on our right front. I suddenly realized, this latest salvo was sounding very close, and in fact, it came in and hit our position while I was walking along, and I received a wound in my chest and in my left arm, and the platoon sergeant and medical orderly who we had trained in the platoon gave me first aid, and then some volunteers carried me down the hill up the back about 1,000 yards, and I was taken off by a stretcher jeep and ended up in an American MASH, Mobile Advanced Surgical Hospital, 8055 MASH. I woke up just before I was operated on, and it was ... And I was amused later when the television series "M*A*S*H" was brought in to remember my experience, and it was exactly like it had been on the film. And I was evacuated from there. I went to [INAUDIBLE] where I spent ... That was on the 21st of November I was wounded and evacuated, and the snow and winter arrived on the 23rd because I remember a chap coming into the tent in the MASH, and he was covered in snow and stamping his feet, and I said, "Yeah, I timed that rather well," and I didn't manage to get back until early March when I rejoined the battalion, and again, I was a little bit surplus to the establishment. I was given a job digging a defensive position along the Kansas Line again as a reserve position for the division if it was needed, and again, two Korean peasant women were cutting the brush for firewood, and of course they did it in the minefield, so both of them got blown up, and again, myself and the sergeant who was with me, we had to crawl into this minefield very carefully and eventually drag these two women out and get them evacuated. After that, I became second in command of D Company, and I just used to go up ... I used to enjoy very much driving up. We'd go up late at night, at about 4 o'clock in the morning, to do our resupply of the front line, and we'd go to a [INAUDIBLE], and then a man packed with [INAUDIBLE] always took front line, about 1,000 yards. And on the way back, the dawn would be breaking, and I remember it was such a lovely sort of feeling driving back to the camp in the dawn in Korea, and I really did enjoy that immensely. And eventually in July of '52, I moved upward on to the advanced party of the battalion which was now due to return to Hong Kong, and I left Korea in July 1952. As you can see, I had ... Although I did spend a reasonable bit of time actually in the front line with platoons, I never had any contact with the enemy when I was doing it, so I enjoyed my time in Korea basically, had a couple of frights, but that was about it. >> Have you been back to Korea? >> Yes, I've been back twice since then. >> What do you think? >> The first time I went back was privately. I went with my wife when I retired from work, and I was really surprised to see how big Seoul had got and how well developed and everything else because my memory of Korea was that everybody was wearing white. All peasants were wearing white, and there were no trees virtually on any of the hills. They;d all been either burnt off or shelled off with napalm and stuff, and all the peasants collected the brush wood underneath it for firewood. So I was really surprised when we drove up to my old platoon position in Kansas Line to see trees all over the hills and everybody dressed in what I would now call normal Western dress. It was the thing that really impressed me. The next time I went back was on an official visit when I took one of my grandsons with me. That was in November 2013. I was really quite humbled by the reception we were given and the way we were treated as such honored guests and how everywhere we went, talking to the ordinary people, as soon as they knew we were veterans returning, they all shook our hands and said, "Thank you. Thank you," and it was a very humbling experience, but I could understand why because, as stated, Seoul is only 30 miles from the border, and Koreans know what life is like on the other side of that border. I think that's about all I have to say really. Any interest to you? >> That's wonderful. I too am very grateful, and that's why I'm here. Thank you so much for your service. You're very correct. On the other side, north of the 30th parallel, they can't enjoy the freedom and prosperity that we enjoy. >> No, I mean, they live a terrible life in the north, on the whole, don't they? Ordinary people at least do, yeah. >> So hopefully in your lifetime there will be one Korea. >> One does hope so, yeah. There were two little incidents which I'd like to mention. First of all, shortly after we arrived, we were given a company of Korean porters whose job it was to carry all the resupplies and ammunition and stuff up the hills so that the soldiers just did the fighting, shall we say. And at the presentation when they were brought to us, one of our majors, Alan Smythe, was in charge, but he turned to this little sergeant who was actually going to be the person physically in charge of the porters' platoons and said to him, "Okay. They're yours now," and this little sergeant walked forward about five paces and started screaming at the porters in a foreign language which we didn't understand, and all the Koreans shot to attention. And then he shouted something else, and all the section leaders came out and formed a line in front of him, and he then went down the line slapping each one on the face left and right. Of course, Major Smythe went absolutely berserk, saying, "What on earth are you doing?" He said, "I have just told them, sir, in Japanese that, during the Second World War, I was a prisoner of the Koreans up here, having been captured in Hong Kong, and that they were beastly to me then, and now I would be beastly to them if they didn't behave and do what I said." And we all thought, "What a chap." He had been 2 years in Korea with just a jersey and trousers even through the winter, so he was, shall we say, a bit bitter about Koreans. But the [INAUDIBLE] I was saying, when we were at the Kansas Line where I rescued the two women from the minefield, one of the porters there, although they were civilians, they were subject to military law, and this chap had been absent or something like that and had been sentenced to two strokes of the cane every 2 hours, and every 2 hours, an officer or NCO would come along with a whipping cane. He would bend over, take his trousers down and get two strokes with a cane on his backside, and we all thought, "God, how uncivilized can they be?" It was really weird. That's it. >> Do you know why he was whipped? >> No, he ... I think he'd been absent without leave, and literally every 2 hours, they'd come up, give him ... with a cane on his backside. >> A Korean person? >> Yep. >> Interesting. >> Yep.

[ Chatter ]

>> Your name.

>> My name is Clint Denny, Woodrow F. Clint Denny Junior. You want date of birth?

>> Okay.

>> Five May 1936.

>> And when did you volunteer?

>> I volunteered for the Army in 1954, and I was drafted in 1955.

>> Mm.

>> I was sent back to school. I left school in ’54 after 12th grade for going into the army, and our recruiter was a local person that knows everybody, so he sent me back.

>> Why did you volunteer?

>> I had a problem with teacher. That’s what we used to do. If you have a problem with the teacher or the school, you go to the Army. That’s what they used to do. That was a popular thing.

>> But you didn’t end up going to war, thank goodness, right? So can you tell us a little bit about where you were stationed?

>> Yes, I was stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. I’d been there for 2 years. They wouldn’t allow me to go overseas.

>> Why not?

>> Because of my educational background. They needed people in my field because during the Korean War, I don’t think they were ready to fight a war in Korea, so they grabbed what they had. So they had a lot of vacant positions that have to be filled. The military didn’t have the time to send anyone to school because those schools are 8 and 10 and 12 weeks. In the meantime, those companies are in limbo. So if you have a background that could suit their purpose, they hold you.

>> So what were you trained in?

>> Administration, bookkeeping, typing, shorthand, that kind of thing.

>> But you must have known some people who went to Korea in the States, right?

>> No, after … No, you see, they split us up. I don’t see you today, I don’t see you for the next 3 years. I don’t know where they went. I really don’t know.

>> Did you know he served in Korea?

>> That he served in Korea?

>> Mm-hmm.

>> I didn’t. Did you? No. That’s the wrong person. Uncle Sam held us back.

>> I didn’t serve in Korea. I served during the Korean War, but I spent all my time in Germany.

>> Oh, boy, we would have been close. I wanted to go to Germany, and I wanted to go. I was infantry, and I wanted to go. So what they did, they held me back in the States and changed my occupational specialty number to administration. I tried many times, and I never got out.

>> [INAUDIBLE]

>> I finished my obligation in there, and then I came out.

I went to the National Guard. There was no break in service, and I retired in 19 [INAUDIBLE] 35 years, that was it.

>> 1955, you went to states like Kansas. That’s a lot of …

>> Hmm?

>> That’s during a time when America was still growing, and we were experiencing a lot of, let’s just say, challenges.

>> And we still haven’t solved the Korean War crisis yet.

>> Yeah. What do you feel about that?

[ Chatter ]

>> What do you feel about that? It’s probably one of the longest wars.

>> Well, we are at war with Korea mentally.

>> Mm.

>> Yeah, we are because there’s no peace treaty. We still have Kim Korea to worry about. You know that.

>> What do you feel about the current peace process right now?

>> No. I don’t like it. I don’t like it. It’s leading to problems.

>> Mm.

>> It will lead to a lot of problems. I think as a nation, we’re asking for too much from the enemy, and when we do ask, there’s nobody to monitor anything. I can tell you, yes, I want to see it, but that don’t mean they’re doing it. Look what happened to Iran. They’ve been breaking these treaties all the time.

>> How about bringing back the remains?

>> Oh, well, I know that started already. They brought in about 56 bodies here this week, and we’re not even sure that they’re all our people. We’re not even sure about that, but they brought in some of them. That’s a long time, man. That’s a long time, man.

>> Eight thousand.

>> Well, I wouldn’t even bother with that. It’s a waste of time. You lost your life. You lost your life. It’s so long.

>> But I’ve met some families, and they’re still waiting.

>> Yeah, I know. I know. They’re still waiting for proof. Are they getting the right proof?

>> Not even about proof, maybe just hope.

>> Maybe some come back. You thinking they’ll get the right hope? Or you think they’re just getting stuff to make them feel good? That’s too long, man, too long.

>> It’s a long time to live with the anxiety.

>> It is. It is. It is too long.

>> But they don’t have closure, you know?

>> And as a matter of fact, they still have bodies from a year or two or five, 25, that they haven’t identified, and this is 2017, so, man, it’s a waste of time. It’s a waste of time.

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My name is Yusef Gonidan. I am a retired sergeant major, and I work at the Turkish War Veteran's Association as the deputy president, and I went to Korean War voluntarily. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I was ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When I went to Korean War, I was at the age of 19 years old, and when I went to Korea, cease-fire decision was taken, and ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We changed to the US division, 25th division of the US, 25th division of the ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We take their place. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I stayed at the front line for 6 months. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> As I did a sergeant major reconnaissance, I served at the reconnaissance unit. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Six months later, US division took our place, and we withdrew. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Fourteen months later, we returned to Turkey. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I know that Turkish troops fought during the Korean War, as if they fought in their country, as if they are defensing their country. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In the beginning, I said that I went to Korean War voluntarily. If you ask me why I went voluntarily, freedom of a country was taken his hand ... Or one country was losing his freedom, so I wanted to protect the freedom of the one independence country, independent country. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Twenty-one thousand ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Twenty-one thousand Turkish soldiers participate in Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Six more Turkish military served in Korea after the cease-fire. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Korean government wanted to keep the US, British and Turkish troops in their country after the cease-fire. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Even though 21,000 Turkish soldiers served or fought in Korean War, later, we continued to send in our troops to Korea. Altogether, 57,000 Turkish soldiers served in Korean War. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I visited Korea number three times after the war. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I like the Korean people very much. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They like us too. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Whenever they see us, they show their respect. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Whenever I see these [FOREIGN LANGUAGE], I was on the edge of crying. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I feel that Korea is my second country. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It's why I named ... My son's name means war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] means war. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Thank you very much for listening. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]

>> My name is Jon Muller. I served in the Royal Australian Navy. I was a young sailor at the time and served on the HMAS Sydney. We [INAUDIBLE] up there. We had Christmas 1951 in Japan, well, in Korea, but we were back at Kure Harbor, and I remember that quite well because my father's friend, Sergeant Jet Kessels, he was back in Korea in Kure [INAUDIBLE], and I went there on Christmas afternoon and caught up with him and some of his friends and then had to go back on my ship, and this Aboriginal captain, Rhett Saunders, he said, "I'll drive you back." I said, "Oh, no, I'll get a taxi." "No, no, I'll drive you back," he said, and Captain Rhett Saunders drove me back to the ship. When I got there, he got out and opened the door and [INAUDIBLE]. He said, "Oh, I'm the officer coming on board. [INAUDIBLE] officer today, but the only bloke who came on board was this young sailor." But that was it. It was Christmas. We had to sail, and we had to have ... [INAUDIBLE] one morning. They said volunteers required to sweep the [INAUDIBLE] to get the planes on, and the Queenslanders and West Australians all jumped out of their hammocks, and away they went. Second morning, a few of them did but not all of them. Then on the third morning, [INAUDIBLE], flight deck, so they were forced to go up and sweep the ... [INAUDIBLE], but that was good. We had lots of ships around us, and we lost a couple of planes and a couple of [INAUDIBLE] unfortunately, but, yeah, that's about it from there, I think. >> Where do you take pride in the sailors? >> Sorry? >> Your comrades, the sailors, Australian Navy, you must be proud of your contributions in the Korean War. >> Yeah, well, I agree, much proud. >> Mm-hmm. >> And I still think about all of the things I did, and I'm also very proud of what the Korean government have done since. I remember going back there, 40th anniversary of [INAUDIBLE] with Jim Hughes and Greg McTheran, and I went back last year subject benefit of [INAUDIBLE] did the whole thing, and just the difference is still ... Twenty years, look at the difference. It's like I'd never been there, and you've done a great job. She contributed a lot of money to the museum there, and all the countries are represented there [INAUDIBLE] around areas of the museum, very, very impressive and thankful for that. >> Well, thank you for your contribution. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.

[habla en coreano]
– Poema, un poema dedicado a las mamás de quienes tienen…
– Hijos.
– …hijos que participaron en la guerra.
– En la guerra.
– Sí.
– Sí. Ya.
– Anita me pidió que recitara esta poesía, yo se la regalé a ella y le voy a regalar también el libro que escribió mi mamá cuando yo estaba, eh, de poesías, ella escribió. Pero la primera poesía que está en este libro es la que dedicó a todas las madres que tenían los, los hijos en la guerra y esta se la dedico a mi querida nieta Anita con, de Corea de su abuelo boricua Josué.
– Gracias.
– Dice mi mamá de la siguiente manera, una plegaria que ella compuso en forma de poesía pidiéndole al Señor que preservara mi vida y que no permitiera que yo, con mi arma de reglamento, matara a ningún semejante y decía ella de la siguiente manera: “Señor, ¿qué te daré si me traes a mi hijo, Señor? Que se han llevado a la guerra maldita, aquel infierno. Señor, ¿qué te daré? Si nada tengo, pero tú eres bueno, Señor, y guardarás su vida. Señor, ¿qué te daré? Yo nada tengo que te pueda ofrecer por su pronto regreso. Señor, ¿qué te daré? Si mi alma está triste, muy triste, y nada soy y nada puedo. Por las noches, Señor, sin querer me desvelo, por el día, Señor, al infinito vuela mi pensamiento para pedirte, Señor, que cuides a mi hijo, que está lejos, muy lejos. Señor, yo le enseñé a mi hijo las sublimes palabras de tu santo evangelio, donde el amor nos une en vínculo perfecto, haciendo una familia de este gran universo, que los… Señor, eran sus hermanos buenos, la raza amarilla, los blancos y los negros, sin distinción ninguna, teníamos un padre bueno y ese padre, señor, eras tú, amante y sempiterno, que tú eras padre amoroso, sublime y tan tierno que, por salvar al mundo, enviaste de su gloria a Jesús, el, el Dios, el, el unigénito. Señor, se han llevado a mi hijo, a mi hijo, Señor, que es amante y muy bueno, para enseñarle, Señor, a matar a sus buenos hermanos de este gran universo. Señor, mira mi angustia y oye mi ruego, permite que mi hijo, Señor, que es tan bueno, no use su espada para matar a su hermano, el cual tú has hecho. Señor, permite que allí tú estés en medio de ellos, protégele sus vidas, pues, son tus hijos, cuida de ellos, en ti yo espero, únelos con tu amor inmenso y del campo de batalla, Señor, que salgan ellos para proclamar el amor de tu santo evangelio. Señor, yo te imploro que cuides a mi hijo y también te pido, Señor, que cuides de aquellos que dicen que son malos, pero yo no lo creo, ellos tienen sus madres, que llevan en sus pechos el amor de sus hijos y el corazón deshecho. Yo sé, Señor, que tú los amas como amas a los nuestros, son tus hijos, Señor, unos y otros, tú eres nuestro padre y padre de ellos. Señor, haz un milagro, yo nada te ofrezco, pues, nada tengo, pero, Señor, haz un milagro, trae la paz al universo, en cambio, las madres de este mundo te ofrecemos lavar, no ya tus pies, sino todo tu cuerpo con lágrimas cristalinas que salen a raudales de nuestros vellos. Dios les bendiga.

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My name is Feri Titolata. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I went to Korea in 1953. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I was injured there in June '53. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I went back to Korea, and what I now think about the situation is ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Feri was amazed at the six-lane traffic, of course the modern version of what he had seen in 1953. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There used to be only one bridge. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And now there are 29 bridges. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The hills were green. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> It used to be brown and bleak. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Feri remembers the nicer thing about his period there. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Seventy years of memories, it's hard to recall everything. >> What do you think is important about your comrades, the Dutch? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We made a contribution ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... for the future, for the present-day. They made then the contribution for now. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I hope that everything will continue to go very well for Korea. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> What did you do in the war? >> Oh, fight! >> As a soldier? >> I was wounded. >> Soldier? >> Yes. >> Soldier. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I would prefer not to talk about that period. >> Okay. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I came from Indonesia to fulfill my service, and soon after I got here, I was sent to Korea as a volunteer, and this is my uniform. >> How old were you? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Twenty-two years. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Twenty-one! >> Twenty-one. >> Because his mother must sign. He was not 21. >> Oh, so he was underage, and his mother had to sign to go into service. >> And after the war, and stayed in the Army, and he retired in that uniform. >> Oh, wow! Why did you volunteer? >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> You saw adventure. >> But ... >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> But the adventure became part of your life, your career. >> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Yeah, [FOREIGN LANGUAGE]. >> Yes, stayed in service. >> Well, thank you for your service. >> You're welcome.

>> We’re here to honor your uncle, and we will pray and have a moment of silence in honor of his memory. [INAUDIBLE], and can you say out really loud the name of your uncle again?

>> Mantansa Solipo Faranai.

>> This uncle died in the Korean War on August 12th, 1950, right when the Korean War started. This is her great uncle, so the relatives are here to honor them, and he’s actually one of the four American Samoans who were killed in action, one of the four, and I believe about 100, we know, are registered as enlisted from this island, so as you can see, there’s some construction going on …

>> [INAUDIBLE].

>> … that you can show because they’re …

>> Relocating.

>> Yeah.

>> Because the grave was relocated from there because they’re building a house, but you live nearby here?

>> No.

>> No?

>> Oh, but why is this grave here?

>> Well, because is this his family.

>> Oh.

>> His mother’s side is from Pago Pago.

>> Yeah, so he’s buried here not at a cemetery somewhere else because his mother is from his area.

>> This is his mother’s land.

>> And it’s a beautiful area. Look at the mountains. Yes. It is just so beautiful. What is this area called?

>> Pago Pago.

>> Oh, is this area Pago Pago.

>> Pago Pago.

>> Yeah.

>> So this is the Pago Pago village. It is a beautiful … All of you were born on this island.

>> Yes.

>> Right? Yeah, and so all of your are here to honor her, Rosie, from the Veterans Affairs office from the local … From the American Samoan Government and the [INAUDIBLE] the VFW chief [INAUDIBLE] commander, and David is with the Historical Society and films, and thank you to David. We’re all here to honor and be proud of your uncle, everyone continues to remember him because the purpose of my visit here is to let him know and let you guys know and let your entire family and all of American Samoa to know that their sacrifices have not been made in vain, and we remember, so thank you so much.