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>> Okay. I’m Alan Everett. I’m not Australian. I came from England originally. I served in the First Essex Regiment, and in those days, in 1952, all the British men at the age of 18 conscripted, and so I was conscripted, and I elected to stay in the army for 3 years rather than just 2 years National Service because that was half pay, and I served in Germany, then Korea and then Hong Kong, so that was my 3 years which was spent mainly overseas. I was very fortunate in my training because I was trained to be a signalman, so I went to the School of Infantry in England, and in that School of Infantry, all the officers and NCOs all combined in their exercises, so it was quite an all-embracing training, so I then went to Germany, and then my battalion got moved to Korea, and we arrived just after the ceasefire, so I’m not a peacemaker. I’m a peacekeeper. So we were stationed on the southern bank of the Indian River for 12 months, and that was incredibly cold and incredibly hot, and we didn’t get to see much of the people because we were in a defensive position, and so most of the stories we heard were from the previous people who had been through the war itself, so that was quite a challenge, and I found since I left the army and I was trained in Hong Kong, as a national servicemen, you’re allowed to get some retraining to get back into civilian life. I wanted to go to agriculture college, and I had to study chemistry to meet my qualifications, so I went to the Royal Agriculture College at Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and I did my course there. Farmed in England, met my wife Nicole who you’ve met, and we had been together for 8 days, and then I came out to Australia, so that was quite [INAUDIBLE], and when I arrived in Australia, I got myself a job. It was great. A year later, I rang up and proposed to Nicole, and she came out with her mother, and we got married over here, so quite a different story to what you expected, I guess. So my servicing career, I did so much there because I was working in the signals office, and being part of the brigade and the companies that reformed our defense positions, so I was in contact with people all the time, so when the opportunity here came available for to be a secretary for the Korea Veterans, I offered to take that job on, so I’ve been National Secretary for 8 years, but I haven’t been involved in the war side of the whole thing. The impact of the Korean War hit me when I had been here some time because the Australian soldiers that came back from Korea were not recognized as having been part of a war, and they were actually refused entry, particularly in New South Wales, to go into the returning servicemen’s clubs. They said they weren’t eligible to be members, and that took some time to overcome which is very sad, but that’s the sort of reception the Australian soldiers got when they came back to Australia. We didn’t have that in England. We just went back, and we just got on with our jobs, and it was no problem. Here in Australia, in Maldon, every year, we have a church service run by a Korean church in Maldon, and we have one of our biggest attendances of the year. We have about 90 people turn up, and about a good half of them will be veterans, [INAUDIBLE] one, and one day I was standing next to a father with his little Korean boy, and the little boy talked to his father and said, “Why are all these people here?” His father thought for a bit, and he said, “Well, without these people, I wouldn’t be here. Your family wouldn’t be here, and you wouldn’t be here.” I think that says it all. It’s such a moving experience to me. I found that quite fascinating, and the Korean community here are so helpful and want to look after the veterans as we get less and less, so it’s a beautiful encounter, that was. Now, we’ve given you the background to the memorial in Queensland, in Cascade Gardens. To me, that is the most beautiful memorial that anyone could make for any country. It’s a tribute to the people of Korea as well as the veterans from all nations who served, and when you see it, there’s a whole history that goes with it, but it’s well worth it, set aside in a beautiful park, and it depicts everything that is Australian and Korean. It’s just so well … And then, there’s another little memorial in Alexandra Heads, which a small association got formed in Queensland and the Sunshine Coast, and they made it specific for their veterans, so they’ve got this wall, and when one of their members dies, they put a brass plaque on the wall with his name and his service record on it, and I think that’s another one of the best memorials I’ve ever seen, so that’s my story.
>> Hello, everybody, from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. So you thought that I would go after July 27th. Not really. I’m here in this beautiful island to honor Virgin Islanders who went to fight in Korea. So we just laid a wreath here, and this is the Franklin D Roosevelt Veterans Memorial Park, and while it does not have a Korean War memorial yet, it has a veterans memorial honoring veterans from all five branches. We, of course, laid the wreath here, and I am going to take you to some of my Virgin Islander grandpas, so come on over. Of course, that is the Virgin Islands’ flag, and behind me is the government building. So just to give you a history background, Virgin Islands became part of the U.S. territories in 1917 because, of course, America wanted to ensure that the Caribbean was not going to be under German influence. And it’s a little bit … If you really think, it’s amazing that shortly after Virgin Islanders fought in the Korean War for a country, their newly adopted country, for a country that they didn’t know, Korea. And so here we … Look at this. The Lieutenant Governor was here. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor Potter, who was a veteran himself. Congresswoman …
>> West. West.
>> Representative was here. She came to represent. But … And we just ended the ceremony, so they’re eating lunch, and they’re watching a video about the Korean War. But … Grandpa, can you say hello to the people? To say … These are my grandpas, Virgin Islander grandpas. My grandpa, Larry. Oh, Grandpa Aubrey, perfect!
[ Chatter ]
Well, he says, “Ya,” but …
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> So Grandpa Aubrey is probably one of the most knowledgeable Korean War veterans that I’ve met and had the honor to meet, and he’s a Virgin Islander. However, he fought with the Borinqueneers. Of course, you all know by then …
>> I assisted them.
>> Yes. You assisted them, but he also has a Congressional Gold Medal because, of course, the Borinqueneers were at war …
>> [INAUDIBLE].
>> Exactly. And could you just as a Virgin Islanders …
>> Yeah.
>> To have participated in this effort to defend freedom, not just for Korea, but halted to communism, spread of communism around the world. What does it mean? What does it mean to you after almost 70 years for me to come here and thank you and just seeing your colleagues?
>> Well, it’s built a different level. What we did, maybe how the people of color in the military to be better treated because they saw that we had discipline. We could follow orders. We were well trained. I was the first person of color accepted to the Southeastern Signal School in Fort Gordon, Georgia, in 1952, and it was very intense course. It was the longest in the [INAUDIBLE] course at the time because 34 weeks long. I was perfectly trained in every type of communication of that time to operate, to repair and restore, and that’s what I did in Korea to help you people.
>> I’m not surprised because he is extremely intelligent, and I’m really serious.
>> I’m just blessed.
>> No. Well, you are.
>> The father has blessed me so much.
>> You are blessed with intelligence, and so thank you for making it … coming here, not just today, but to share with me the stories so that I could pass it on and share with other people, and so that your legacy is not forgotten.
>> Yeah. I always try to remember those who were with me and [INAUDIBLE] that didn’t come home and those who came home and were disregarded and never helped and just fell by the sidelines, many of my friends and [INAUDIBLE]. Nobody helped them. I suppose that’s the cold Korean War. I was blessed. I never killed anyone. I was trained. I helped my fellow men as much as I could, and I loved the military. I loved it. I was drafted, and then I re-enlisted for 3 years.
>> That’s amazing.
>> And it made my life great.
>> That’s amazing.
>> I will never say anything about the military.
>> Mm. Well …
>> Some people have different ideas. Some people have probably a difficult time, but I did, but I survived it. I have a grandson who is in the Marines right now.
>> Wow.
>> And I told him …
>> Semper Fi.
>> … if he’s going to be successful, “You must listen, learn and improvise,” and at times he must become a chameleon.
>> Mm, that’s very good advice, everybody. But just want to stop here and say that he mentioned those who didn’t come home like he did, and that is 78. Okay?
>> But those who came home were never treated well, many, many.
>> We just learned today … I learned today that 700 and almost 90 went from Virgin Islands.
>> Yup.
>> 1950, the population here was 26,700. That’s like …
>> Now remember this was from the three Virgin Islands, not only St. Thomas.
>> Oh, yes. Three islands: St. Thomas …
>> St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John.
>> And so I’ll be in St. Croix tomorrow.
>> I think the most that actually never came home are from St. Croix.
>> Mm, I’ll be going tomorrow.
>> Again, they used them as cannon fodder. You know what that phrase means?
>> Mm-mm. What does that mean?
>> Cannon fodder is when a leader in the military just wants … He needs someone to die to protect more people.
>> Oh.
>> And they do that quite often. That’s what they did with the 65th Infantry. That’s what McArthur did with the 65th Infantry. He use it as a blocking unit and without just sacrificing them to save maybe the [INAUDIBLE] at the time because of the Korean. These are things that people never talk about.
>> And I do want to just say that, that is why war is something …
>> Senseless.
>> … senseless, and we need to continue to defend people. Ooh, it’s raining, so I’m going to go. I want you to shelter, okay? Thank you so much.
>> You do that. I don’t want you to melt.
>> It’s kind of weird because it’s hot, and it’s raining, and it’s very hot, and it’s raining. But I do want to end with … There’s some Caribbean food back there, and I’m hungry, so I’ll be eating that soon. However … Hey. Where are your two other handsome cousins?
>> Over there. Brothers.
>> Yes. Okay.
>> They get some food also.
>> Okay. Come, come. Okay. Name, please.
>> My name is Bubba Benjamin.
[ Chatter ]
>> Ooh, Benjamins. And?
>> Hello. I’m Marcene Benjamin.
>> Okay. Where’s the other Benjamin?
>> One more Benjamin missing.
>> Why are you guys here? Can you just start with that? So we’re going to come a little closer because it’s so loud back there.
>> We came to support our grandfather.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> Well, we’ll go over there only because we don’t to block the food. Okay. You came to support your grandpa. Who’s your grandfather?
>> My grandfather is [INAUDIBLE].
>> Okay. Can you honor him by explaining to them why he was here?
>> Well, he fought in Korean War.
>> He fought in the Korean War.
>> He wasn’t even around then. You know what I’m saying?
>> We wasn’t even a thought or anything.
>> He fought for us, and we wasn’t even in existence yet because my mom and dad go back home. He was all the way across the world fighting for America.
>> I know. That’s kind of cool. Do you know … So I called him my grandpa. You heard, right? So technically we’re cousins. Right? Yeah. So I have my new … Ooh. Did you guys do this, red, white and blue?
>> No.
>> Well, I did it.
>> They’re very patriotic. Red, white and blue. Yeah.
>> It wasn’t planned but …
>> My Benjamin cousins. Yes. So thank you for your grandfather’s service, and I hope that you carry for the rest of your life that pride that he served and helped somebody like me to come in existence, not only you, but me, right, and all the Korean people, and we’re very grateful for your grandfather’s service. So I would be remiss if we didn’t show you Mr. Benjamin, so I’m going to take you to him. He doesn’t know I’m coming. Okay. It’s really cool that he has his entire family rolled with him to honor him. Grandpa? Can you just come and wave? Come this way. Sorry to disturb you while you’re eating, but I wanted everybody to see your handsome face because your grandsons just talked about your service in the war and how proud they are.
>> [INAUDIBLE].
>> Mm.
>> [INAUDIBLE].
>> Mm. But I am so glad that you made it back, that you are here, and you have this beautiful family that you raised, who love you and who respect you and are so proud of you as I am grateful to you, so thank you.
[ Chatter ]
And last but not least, look at this. “Proudly we served Virgin Islander Veterans of the Korean War.” Isn’t that awesome? So I just would like to say … I’m going to go this way. I would like to show everybody, ta-da. And give a shout-out to our commander from the American Legion [INAUDIBLE] 90, fearless leader. She called the Lieutenant Governor her younger brother. I said, “Oh, my god. I thought you’re his younger sister.” She looks really good. I’m going to later ask her for her secret, how to keep young.
>> Stay happy.
>> Stay happy. I think so too. And I’m staying grateful and happy. Yeah. I’m just so grateful to be here. That Alpine Security, [INAUDIBLE] Charles giving shout-out over there. I’m just so proud that you have organized and brought all of us here together on this day so that we could remember the Forgotten War and to honor the veterans who are sometimes too often not honored and thanked enough. So again, it was to my surprise I learned that there were a few more veterans in Virgin Islands. Not only 78 died. And that’s … Not to compare numbers, that’s more than Nevada and Delaware. So people back in the states, we sometimes forget the sacrifices made by the people in the U.S. territories. And so again, I am grateful to you. I’m grateful to Alpine Securities. I’m grateful to the American Legion Post and to the government of U.S. Virgin Islands for taking care of the grandpas. I am hoping that there will be a memorial, monument, dedicated at the veterans park to honor their service. So, Shumaro, this has been now an extension of my fantasy 70-plus, 70, 90-day journey across America because it’s my 92nd day, but the journey continued because the Korean War veterans must be remembered forever. So remember727.org. See you tomorrow. Bye.
[ININTELIGIBLE]
– My name is Javier Angel Morales. I am the past president of the 65th Infantry Veterans Association. I served for about 5 years. Our organization [inaudible]. And they were the ones who organized this whole association in 1936. At one time we had numbers of about 500 members. Now they only have about 150. They had to open up the association to allow veterans from other conflicts or wars to become members, because we want to continue the legacy that the 65th infantry gave to Puerto Rico. As to the Borinqueneers, there was a voluntary army, first [—] in 1917. They were all voluntary. They didn’t have to be drafted. The draft came in World War II. After World War II then came Korea. During the Korean War there were a lot of draftees. I could relate to some of the stories given to me by the different veterans, who were in smaller towns, but when they heard that there was a truck coming picking up those that would like to join the service, they jumped on the truck and were taken to [—-]. Some of them… one person told me that it was the fourth time he was trying to get in the truck, but they turned him down because his age was not the legal age to be drafted. [inaudible]. The regiment was composed of veterans that were from World War I and II. They had been volunteers and they were ready to retire, but they were asked to stay so they could train the new recruits, so most of them did that. That’s why I think the regiment was so…
– Experienced?
– So experienced during the first years of the war, that they were labeled [—-].
– How many served and how many suffered [—-]?
– The count that I have from Puerto Rico was about 63,000. Out of those 63,000, there were 2,700 that were wounded in action. There were about 740 that were killed in action, and out of those 740, there were 122 that were missing. Currently I think there’s about 110 or 112 that are still missing in action. And as they find their bodies or they’re able to identify them, they are added to the Wall of Remembrance in San Juan.
– So, if there’s… I know the 65th earned the congressional gold medal.
– Yes.
– Of course I’m partial, I know they deserved it, but not everybody knows. So, why?
– Okay. The regiment was very successful. They had a maneuver in Vieques called Portrex. They went against the best unit from the United States [——], and they were able to repel that invasion. So that stayed in the mind of Colonel Harris, and when Colonel Harris was in Korea, they asked him that they needed an infantry unit to be able to go to Korea because they were running short. So he said, “Well, I had a regiment I’d like to bring here.” and he mentioned the 65th infantry regiment. But they were… the high brass was very reluctant, because one of the things they said is, “But they never fought during World War I.” Only one battalion fought, which was the 3rd battalion. There were two casualties. And during World War II, they were mainly to secure… or security, of the different bases, of the different places in the Caribbean and in Europe. During the Korean War they were an infantry regiment, and they were well prepared because, like I mentioned before, a lot of them were veterans from World War II. They had experience, they had training necessary to be in battle. And so, that training went on to the new recruits that came in. When they got to Korea, they were instrumental in helping the 1st [—] division exit from the surrounding by the Chinese. Although the Chinese were pushing us back into the sea, the 65th regiment was the last unit to disembark, or to get on the boats, because they were the last ones that were safeguarding the back of all the other soldiers.
– Two last very simple questions. One is, you’re not even a Korean War veteran, why do you care about them so much? Okay? So that’s one. Two, tell the Korean people why they shouldn’t forget.
– When I was in the service, I was serving in Germany, and one of my fellow compatriots mentioned the 65th infantry. I never knew anything about the 65th. I wasn’t interested because I just wanted to serve my two years and leave. When I retired at 60, there was another instance, where I was in Connecticut and I overheard somebody say, “The 65th? They didn’t do anything right.” And that kind of stayed on my mind. I said, “I have to find out about that.” So, when I retired at 60, I said, “I need to go to Puerto Rico, because I want to see Puerto Rico.” [——–], and I did that. But before that, I told my wife and she started crying, and I said, “What’s the problem?” She says, “Well, you’re going to get old on me, and you’re going to die.” And I said… that scared me, and I said, “No, no, no. I have to do something.” So I came to Puerto Rico. Six months I went around the island. This time my brother was calling me. He says, “Look, I need you to help me.” And I said, “Help you what?” He said, “I need you to help me find veterans that were wounded, because I want to start an organization in Puerto Rico called The Purple Heart Organization, to be able to recruit and have a chapter, a register in the national Purple Heart Hall of Honor.” And I said, “Well, I’ll see what I can do.” Meantime, the president of the 65th infantry association was after me telling me the same thing, “Look, I need your help. You’re the youngest, and I need to make sure people don’t forget this organization.”
– So, to the Korean people, why should they not forget the Borinqueneers?
– To the Korean people, first of all I want to thank them very much, because I had the opportunity to go to Korea, and the 65th infantry was very instrumental in safeguarding the country. They were very instrumental in making sure that democracy was installed in Korea. They were very happy to be able to defend your country. A lot of them gave their rights [?], they shed the blood, and they shed the tears. But they did it for a purpose. They wanted you to be happy, your generations in the future to be happy, to be able to live in democracy. And so, the sacrifice that was made by the 65th infantry regiment was not done in vain, your country has progressed quite a bit, your people are very nice, and we really appreciate the way you think about us, the Puerto Ricans and the 65th infantry regiment.
– My name is Carlos Pena Lozano. Okay. I went to Korea in 1951. I landed in Incheon through Yokohama on a small boat. We have sweet water at [—-] and saltwater. And we were to Incheon. The port of Incheon was in flames. I was a kid. 17 years old. I guess most of the kids in this island joined the army on those days because [—-], and it was showed to the world. So we went to the [—-], up on the mountains. I got wounded there. I shot two times. I [—-] the [—] river, and we got frozen. [—-] the Chinese. And you know, they started firing at us and everybody ran. But after that, a few months later, I was shot in [—-]. They said I was dead because I dropped in a creek, a frozen creek. The next day, a Korean peasant saw me and I was almost dead. They took me on a helicopter to Gimpo, to our base. I found out later that the Puerto Ricans operated me, and from there on, I was sent to Japan for recovery and to the States. Later on I ended up on Panama, and I got discharged.
– I heard that you went back to Korea last year.
– Oh, yes. Yes. I would like to thank the people of Korea, the government, all the people there that treated us like, you know… I don’t know if we deserve that kind of treatment. Even my wife cried the day all those Korean officials came to greet us, and I was never treated better in my life anywhere like in South Korea. People are marvelous. I guess [—-].
– Well, you should’ve been treated like that, because we, the Korean people, are here because you fought there, you know? I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t fight there.
– I’d also like to thank [—-], real Korean people that, you know… [—–]. We never had that recognition we had, you know.
– Well, you should be proud.
– Oh, yes, I was proud that I went to South Korea and I met nice people.
– Thank you so much.
– I guess everybody in the 65th infantry regiment have all the Koreans in our hearts. Yes.
– Thank you. That’s so sweet.
– The first thing that comes to mind.
– The people. The people.
– And what kind of people are they?
– Fantastic. They are nice people. Nice, nice. I guess that every time that I travel and go anywhere, people would do… [——] in South Korea. I’m talking for all the Puerto Ricans that have gone there, and I guess everybody that’d been there, so it’s your people. Really good.