Turkey Istanbul (3)

[FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My name is Mehmed Aziz Achman [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My first time was 1950. I went to Korea for the first time. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I participated both of those wars. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We were [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We had a furious war in that area. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We lost 600 people trying to get out of that crossfire. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [INAUDIBLE] Korean War, we entered the second war [INAUDIBLE] I think. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And in the first war, the Chinese soldiers who ambushed them, we fought them and won them in the second war. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I'm going to talk about how I saw Korea when I went there. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Majority of the towns or cities, it has the population at the front naming this is the city's name, but it was all dirt and nothing else. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> My first time when I saw the Korea was demolished, and everything was in ruins, but when I went back to Korea in 2012, I saw a whole new Korea that was really well and strong in every way. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the last time that I went ... The last interview talked about the medallions the Korean War veterans received. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I'd like to talk about that as well. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In Second World War ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The 25th unit in the Second World War, the American unit, received this medallion. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And this medal for the first time was given to Turkish soldiers as well ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> ... as a high achievement as a soldier for the Turkish soldiers. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> When I went to Korea for the first time, they told us the Korean alphabet has 480 letters, and the Korean alphabet was made of vines basically, but when I was Korea, everyone knew how to write and read, and that surprised me. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the Korean climate is similar to Turkish climate, and I really do enjoy my stay in Korea. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> After the Korean War, the Korean citizens also withdrew with us. Thousands of people went back with us. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> He's talking about about Korean War when all the citizens have to withdraw backwards, and he remembers women trying to carry some rice balls on their head and some kids on their bags, and he also remembers kids that were lost trying to find their parents or the old people who could not go back stranded on the ground dying basically. No one could help them because everyone was in chaos, and he remembers all these. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And these people were trying to get away from the Chinese soldiers, and they had nothing to carry, so they basically tied two huge sticks in order to carry their few belongings and run away from that area. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And he's talking about how little kids, even in the winter, they only had a T-shirt on them, and they would talk to us, saying hello and chap chap, which means they wanted to food, and he remembers all these, and he remembers all the poverty and the destruction. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And every time I remember this, it's hard ... It's getting hard to talk for me. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> We would give all our food and clothing to kids that were without because we couldn't ... [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> In Suwon, the war was really strong, and we met a family in Suwon. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> There were three [INAUDIBLE]. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They would wash our clothes, and we would give them all the food we have, the canned foods we have. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> An elder woman and a male. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> The man who was there, he lost his arm in the war and his wife, and they had three kids as well. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the grandmother, one of her ... The middle finger was really bloated, and it was full of blood, and it was about to explode basically. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And she was in great pain. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And he gave her his medicine and a bandage for her. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And that bandage needed ... The bloating slowed, and it eventually healed slowly. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And they became really close with this family, and after that war, the family asked them to take us with you guys, but we were soldiers, and we couldn't take them. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And the day we had to leave Korea, the entire family came to us, and they were crying. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I become really old, and every time I tell these stories, my heart breaks, and I feel really soft, and I can't stop myself from crying. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And it's been actually 67 years since all these, and I'm losing some of the memories, but still there are so many things that should be told, but it's really hard to even talk about them. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And when we reached Busan Port, I counted 36 US military ships. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And US ... He's saying US military send all those ships because they didn't believe Korea could win this war, and they were getting ready to ... Evacuation planning was getting ready for the US soldiers. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> They sent [INAUDIBLE] war, so that they could withdraw their own soldiers and send us to the front line. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And after our war in Korean War, our achievement, US soldiers realized that this could be won, and that's how ... That's when they realized that this good war, and they started fighting properly. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And I used to write diary every day before I became a soldier, and even though I went there, I kept on writing every day. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> First, I'd like to talk about the diaries and all the things that we wrote. One of our general's son took all these records and made us writing. They turned into writing, and he also wants to talk about that only three people know, his general and his lieutenant. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> [INAUDIBLE] different district. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Basically, he used to be a messenger in the first war, and his general told him to go to a different district and tell them to join them because they need to get out of the crossfire that they were receiving, and they were planning for the next stage to get out together, but when he went to the other district, the leading commander of that area said, "You didn't see us here." He tried to ignore the order, and he said, "But this was order of the general," but he still ignored the command, and he had to go back to his general to report this, but the next day they had to fight out of that crossfire to get out, but that district didn't help them, and basically they had to get out without the help of the second district, which was really difficult for them. They lost a lot of people and ammo and vehicles as well in that. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And when he was talking, the son of the general was writing all this stuff, recording all the diaries and everything that soldiers wrote. He told him to tell him all these stories that were not told before because they were hidden. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And my son was with me as well. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And that son of the general is going to tell all these stories and record the videos as well, but it was 6 years ago to record. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And apparently he remembered his diary and everything that he faced, he wrote every single thing in those diaries. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And he turned all those into a book basically. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> Wow. Wow. >> This is his diary. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> And he's giving this to you. [FOREIGN LANGUAGE] >> I talk too much. >> No, thank you.