8/30 호놀룰루, 하와이 (8)

>> My name is Earl Kalani Simerson. I went to Korea in 1950, July 1950. I followed after the 5th Regimental Combat Team had left before me. I was at that time at the [Indistinct] general’s office in 4th Chapter.

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>> You’re a local native Hawaiian. As a local native Hawaiian, what did you know about Korea and the Korean War before you went, and how did you feel about it after?

>> Before the Korean War, I didn’t know nothing about Korea, but after I went there, I left Korea. In Hawaii, well, we always had kimchi, so when I was in Korea, there was a lot of kimchi, so that was my meal, kimchi and rice. Still today, I still got kimchi and rice.

>> You had kimchi before you went to Korea?

>> Yeah.

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>> Wow.

>> [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] kimchi.

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>> Tell me about your experience in the war. Your experience in the war and after.

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>> In the beginning, I saw a lot of casualties, and as a young boy, I never seen this in my life, and so I couldn’t eat for 11 days. I was so upset. And after that, I started to eat, understand I got to eat. Otherwise, I’d die. But I learned a lot about the Koreans. They were very nice people. Everywhere we went, they were taking care of every soldier, and otherwise, that’s about all [INAUDIBLE].

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>> You can talk about anything you want.

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>> Whenever you’re ready.

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>> Well, one of the things that we were there, we didn’t have supplies, so I never changed clothes for 3 months. That’s how bad. There was no supplies, no clothing.

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My clothes was just like leather. Most of us, every time we went to take a shower, everything was frozen, and so we couldn’t take showers but … And we used to burn houses to keep warm because you had no facilities, and so as we advanced, we’d stand under a house with a cigarette lighter, keep warm. That was it, but we had no winter clothing. By the time April came, 52 of the supplies came. It was too late, but that was because of the war started, and then America wasn’t in any war at that time so unprepared for it, the Korean War.

>> You know Hawaii didn’t become a state officially until 1959?

>> Yeah.

>> And you were sent to Korea in 1950. I don’t understand.

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>> Yeah, well, we were a territory of the United States.

>> I know, so did you volunteer, or were you drafted?

>> I volunteered in the Army.

>> Why would you want to volunteer for? Technically it wasn’t even your country.

>> Well, I volunteered in 1948. There was no jobs. Well, most of us all … After you got out of high school … Because of the second war, my parents went broke. We lost everything due to the Second World War so couldn’t go to college, so after I graduated from high school, joined the Army. Most of us all did. We joined the Army to get income, I guess, because at that time, there weren’t many jobs around.

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But that was one of the reasons why. Yeah.

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>> That makes me sad because you risked your life.

>> What’s that?

>> That makes me sad because you had to risk your life.

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It makes me sad because you had to risk your life for it.

>> Yes. When I think of it, oh, my god, I was lucky, but thank God.

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All my friends got wounded or were killed in action.

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So I’m thankful for what I have today.

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>> Thank you.