David Clark
Bio
David Clark was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, in 1934. After graduating high school in 1952, he enlisted in the United States Navy. Following basic training, he was stationed in Norfolk, VA, where he was assigned to the U.S.S. McCord. Serving primarily as a quartermaster and signaler, Clark played a key role in a rescue mission involving a pilot who made an emergency water landing. The U.S.S. McCord also supported ground troops with additional firepower. Later, Clark transferred to the U.S.S. Laffey for another tour in Korea. After his military service, he attended and graduated from West Virginia University and has been married for over sixty years.
Video Clips
Ship Assignment
David Clark departed Norfolk Naval Base aboard the U.S.S. McCord, a Fletcher-Class Destroyer. He vividly recalls the ship's array of armaments and describes how he initially served in the 2nd Division, Deck Force, during his first weeks on board. Eventually, he was reassigned to the Quartermaster Corps. Clark remembers the early days being filled with drills to prepare the crew for combat.
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Travel to Korea
David Clark details his journey to Korea aboard the U.S.S. McCord, describing stops at Pearl Harbor, Midway, and finally Sasebo, Japan. He recalls the ship's early involvement in the Korean Conflict, which began unexpectedly one morning while he was preparing for watch. As the ship sailed in the East Sea, two unidentified aircraft flew overhead, signaling the start of their active engagement in the conflict.
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U.S.S McCloud and Military Duties
David Clark describes the weaponry on board the U.S.S. McCord (DD-534), including five single-edge 5-inch/38 caliber gun mounts, anti-aircraft defense weapons, hedgehogs, depth charges, and ten torpedoes. He estimates the ship's speed at around 36 knots. His primary duties involved serving as a quartermaster navigator and signalman.
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Life Aboard Ship
David Clark describes the living conditions aboard the U.S.S. McCord during his Navy service. He notes that the berthing compartments housed 30-40 men in bunks stacked three high. He provides details about their meals and the limited showering facilities on the ship. Clark recalls frequent movie screenings in the mess hall, often featuring the film "Shane," and cherishes the memory of receiving letters from home.
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Rescue Mission
David Clark recalls the U.S.S. McCord's assignment to Task Force 77, a fast carrier task force. The ship's main responsibilities included anti-submarine warfare defense and rescuing downed pilots. He vividly describes one such rescue mission that took place in the winter of 1953.
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On the Bomb Line
David Clark explains that destroyers like the U.S.S. McCord served on the bomb line, providing protection to ground forces. He notes that they spent about two weeks on the line, with at least two of their five-inch mounts manned at all times. After a brief return to Sasebo for resupply, they were quickly ordered back to the line. He also recalls that during their time in Sasebo, they often had the opportunity to enjoy the city before their next mission.
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Video Transcript
00:00
my name is David Clark spelled d-a-v-i-d
00:04
C-L-A-R-K what is your birthday seven
00:09
sixteen nineteen thirty four thirty four
00:14
you are young old are you sold today I’m
00:18
eighty to be 83 in July where we were
00:23
born Parkersburg West Virginia could you
00:26
spell it P AR k zr s b u RG lydia
00:33
Parkersburg Parkersburg West Virginia
00:35
West first tell me about your family
00:39
briefly I’ve been married to my wife for
00:44
60 plus years we have three children six
00:50
grandchildren all very talented very
00:56
well-educated what about your parents
01:00
when you were growing up and your
01:02
siblings
01:04
my father was a in the second world war
01:08
us and the Seabees he died before he was
01:14
fifty my mother had a back operation and
01:19
then a clot came later on and and she
01:22
died at age 56 my brother the only
01:26
sibling was 42 when he had his first
01:28
heart attack he died when he was 80 and
01:36
there what the school that you’ve been
01:37
through graduated for Parkersburg High
01:40
School in 1952 immediately went into the
01:46
1740 not 58 is it able to what it did a
01:51
service after I was discharged from the
01:56
Navy in 1955
01:58
I worked a year and then I enrolled at
02:00
the West Virginia University Morgantown
02:03
West Virginia and I went through a four
02:06
year curriculum in three
02:11
and tell me did you know anything about
02:15
Korea when you were in high school no
02:19
they didn’t teach my great nation
02:23
now unfortunately what do they teach
02:26
about Asia at the time
02:28
do you remember most of my I really
02:38
can’t you can’t answer that question
02:40
well so so you didn’t know anything
02:42
about Korea
02:43
you don’t know the location of cramp any
02:45
luck all I all I did was during the
02:48
Second World War where my father was of
02:51
the South Pacific and he was in on five
02:54
Isle of invasions so had you imagined
02:57
that you’d be in Korea for the war no no
03:01
and what were you doing when the Korean
03:05
War broke out in 1950 afterload I’m
03:08
still in high school school and that
03:12
didn’t alert you at all at that time no
03:16
but I knew that eventually I would be
03:20
going into the military whether it be
03:22
drafted or volunteering and so after
03:27
graduating from high school in July July
03:33
13th I was taken into the United States
03:35
Navy I volunteered I turned 18 in boot
03:42
camp
03:42
when was it July 2 13 1952 and I turned
03:48
18 in boot camp and tell me about the
03:53
boot camp quite interesting we here we
03:57
were at a 4th regiment company was 425
04:01
we had fellows from all parts of the
04:06
United States Pennsylvania set down
04:10
South Georgia Tennessee New York Ohio
04:14
West Virginia very interesting company
04:19
we couldn’t March the company commander
04:22
was a college graduate and
04:25
he tried to call cases and didn’t do
04:27
well but we had a we had a black fellow
04:32
from Pennsylvania last day was Williams
04:39
and he was our guide on Bearer and he
04:43
started calling caters for the bebop and
04:47
we finally learned how to March and were
04:52
you afraid that you might be dragging to
04:55
the Korean War at the time that you were
04:57
in the boot camp well no I I was
05:04
prepared to do what I had to do so when
05:07
did you leave for Korea from where
05:11
well after I got out of boot camp we
05:15
rode a train a bus and a ferry to
05:20
Norfolk Naval Air Base for Naval Station
05:23
rather which is the largest naval
05:27
station in the world spent one night at
05:32
the station the next day they transfer
05:34
us to our ships and I was let aboard the
05:38
USS record which is a fletcher destroyer
05:45
five five-inch 30-inch mounts single
05:49
single fly Vance mouths 40 millimeter 20
05:52
millimeter guns hedgehogs
05:55
depth charges Ted torpedoes and my first
06:00
duty station I went into the second
06:02
division desk neck force and I was there
06:06
for wear pardon where all the court was
06:09
on the ship and I was there for else you
06:15
are you wearing navy or Miller I was
06:18
maybe maybe ok Navy US Navy and what’s
06:26
up with the deck for for probably six
06:28
months six weeks to two months then I
06:32
transferred to the quartermaster Corps
06:34
which is associated with the bridge say
06:38
of a navigator while there we went to
06:50
see most of the time doing drills and
06:54
getting prepared to go into combat our
06:59
captain put us in general quarters at
07:02
all hours of the day and night we were
07:06
probably one of the better trained
07:10
destroyers going into Korean Conflict we
07:16
left for Korea early January of 1953 we
07:23
from Mosul from Norfolk and we travel
07:27
down the eastern coast to the Panama
07:30
Canal went through the Panama Canal up
07:34
to San Diego spent three days in San
07:38
Diego left San Diego on a transit to
07:43
Hawaii Pearl Harbor spent three days of
07:47
pearl after Pearl we stopped off at
07:52
Midway to refuel replenish and then from
07:56
Midway directly into Sasebo Japan
08:02
what did you do in softball well of
08:05
course we just birthed and says though
08:06
that was our homeport when we were
08:08
wearing from Norfolk the first night we
08:13
were sailing to Korea about 3:30 and
08:18
3:45 in the morning I was getting ready
08:20
to go and watch and we had two
08:27
unidentified bogeys that came over you
08:31
mean though aircraft yeah and the
08:32
captain where was it is in the East to
08:35
see or West to see oh it’s in ass in
08:37
Japan so if that’s the east to see
08:39
alright so in this interview we want to
08:42
use East Sea of conocí of Japan okay
08:46
okay East anyhow to identified bogeys
08:50
came over and the captain put us to
08:52
general corners and after they flew away
08:54
he releases but that was our that was
08:58
our entrance said to the Korean conflict
09:00
well what was it a Soviet Union right
09:04
well we don’t know we don’t know they
09:07
were identified bogeys they they would
09:10
not identify themselves he did them
09:13
attacked you pardon today or techno oh
09:15
don’t don’t no no we proceeded them to
09:20
join up with task force 77 which is the
09:24
fast carrier task force and our job at
09:30
that time was to be part of the screen
09:33
for anti-sub warfare defense also they
09:39
would use us as play guards what is that
09:44
it’s they would we would be positioned
09:46
to the after part or the of the carrier
09:52
and if a plane went up and failed to go
09:57
all the way and went into the ocean it
09:59
was our job to to pick up the pilot
10:02
oh I sang rescue mission and we had we
10:06
had one time when we actually did rescue
10:09
a pilot tell me about the detail how
10:11
does it I mean okay Judah’s will listen
10:14
to you so what what what the ship did it
10:18
pulled us as close as it could to the
10:21
area we we lost our small boat and a
10:25
swimmer and a small boat and the swimmer
10:28
approached the pilot and he had broken a
10:31
collarbone so the he was in the water
10:35
and he could not get himself into the
10:38
longboat
10:39
so the swimmer had to help him up and so
10:42
and you saw that part oh yes sorry oh
10:46
yes Elia what were you thinking guys I
10:49
was thinking thank God we’re here yeah
10:52
us pilot us pilot yes off you remember
10:56
his name
10:56
no I don’t ya know I don’t so how did
10:59
you treat the
11:00
well he was he was brought aboard ship
11:02
and was given warm clothes at a war
11:08
drink and then he was transferred back
11:13
to the carrier mm-hmm
11:17
when was it pardon when was it due to my
11:20
source at 53 I know about one month and
11:26
there was I will say probably either
11:29
February or March and one pilot or two
11:34
hundred one point island and so must be
11:40
very cold I’ve never been as cold as I
11:45
was when I was in Korea so what was like
11:47
the pilot in the sea and in the water
11:51
hypothermia
11:52
yeah like thankfully we responded
11:57
extremely fast and he was saved that’s
12:02
all so tell me about the ship and your
12:05
MOS within the ship tell me exactly what
12:08
was the name of it and how big and what
12:11
was the weapon and it was the name was
12:14
the USS McCord USS McCord MC MCC Ord
12:20
mm-hmm DD 534 DD v 534 mm-hmm
12:26
length was 376 feet the width was 39
12:32
feet 6 inches 39 39 it had five single
12:41
edge 5:38 mounts that was the main
12:46
armament 5 single inch 5 single inch 538
12:51
because when I talk about the next ship
12:54
it had three bounds twin twin 538 but
13:00
also it had 40 millimeter 20 millimeter
13:03
weapons for machine guns yeah anti-air
13:09
defense
13:13
was equipped with hedgehogs that were
13:15
fired from the fo’c’sle area and depth
13:18
charge which we had depth charge racks
13:20
on both sides of the ship and we also
13:24
have had 10 torpedoes which we never had
13:27
used but that was the arming of the ship
13:33
maximum speed probably 36 36 knots and
13:40
we put that to good use a couple times
13:43
what would you mrs I was a quartermaster
13:48
what is that quarter bastard navigator
13:51
signalmen navigator navigator and
13:54
signalmen educate me what is single none
14:00
signal mental signalmen so you learn how
14:07
to signal oh yeah flashy flashy lights
14:10
flags and semaphore yeah show us example
14:15
well this would be a I’m sorry hold on
14:20
hold on let me let me zoom out so that
14:25
is a b c d yeah like that yeah aha you
14:34
guys did you do some kind of a joke or
14:37
humor signaling between two two
14:40
different ships do you know what I’m
14:43
saying
14:44
yeah I don’t know what you’re saying but
14:45
no we we generally get to our business
14:49
except in the western sea which is the
14:56
yellow seed what do you call that yellow
14:59
see the what in the West okay were you
15:02
there yeah yeah so you’re all around the
15:05
Pentagon yeah we operated with the
15:08
Canadian frigate the Crusader and they
15:12
had a signal on their who was a cockney
15:17
Englishman and he he was hilarious and
15:23
he became one of our favorites and we
15:26
would
15:26
place one another and talk about that
15:29
that that’s the only time that you can
15:31
see there was probably involved but
15:35
anyhow on the eastern side where one
15:42
flaw was they used the destroyers as
15:46
decoys okay we went into one salon
15:50
harbor on a Sunday afternoon so your
15:55
your ship was destroyed right yeah yeah
15:59
went in on a Sunday afternoon nice and
16:03
sunny water was nice and calm guys were
16:07
fun sunning themselves on the fantail
16:10
and about one o’clock was the first time
16:14
we came under fire from where it was and
16:19
it bombs on Harbor so there was really
16:23
close yeah
16:24
thirty yards off the fantail started
16:27
fantail shell landed and it needless to
16:31
say the guys on fan tail scattered like
16:34
like wild sheep what the General
16:37
Quarters with a flag speed and we got
16:39
out of there but as we were leaving you
16:42
could hear this 16 inch shell from the
16:44
battle wagon so that was that was an
16:49
interesting time so they want to fire
16:52
the location of those artillery right
16:54
and then you fire back they’ve they
16:57
fired we did the fire thanks battleship
16:59
fired yeah yeah yeah
17:02
so the decoy mm-hmm risking mm-hmm tell
17:07
me about the life in within the ship
17:09
where you slip what did you eat how
17:12
often did you have a shower any
17:15
entertainment please tell all those
17:17
detail to our school T of course the
17:19
birthing apartment he was three bucks
17:26
high with lockers underneath
17:31
generally 30 to 40 bend in a compartment
17:35
30 to 40 30 to 40 men in a compartment
17:39
oh my god
17:41
lot well you have to you have to realize
17:45
that you had almost 200 men on that ship
17:47
and so yet yeah it has some place to put
17:52
them
17:53
as far as food goes we were blessed on
17:57
the mccord we had three cooks who came
18:01
from the same town and they tried to
18:05
outdo themselves one was a baker the
18:08
other two were regular cooks and they
18:11
just outstanding meals outstanding bills
18:15
could HS could not complain such as it’s
18:22
a regular isn’t it aa regular menu good
18:28
your head that’s 60 years ago they did a
18:37
lot of a lot of vegetables meats ham
18:45
steak pork chops for breakfast you had
18:52
jelly eggs and baked beans toast bacon
19:01
young boy they did well compared to the
19:05
Army in proline no doubt if I call no
19:09
not areas like no doubt about it no
19:12
doubt about it you’re smart to volunteer
19:14
for NATO right and as far as showers go
19:17
we could get showers any times that we
19:22
wanted and unless we were going into
19:26
combat and they had ghosts when you went
19:29
into combat you turned off the fresh
19:34
water to your showers and he was the
19:36
salt water because the fresh water that
19:39
was used for the boilers mm-hmm
19:43
but I am so how is it like to have a
19:49
shower with the salty water lousy hard
19:53
to get soap off everything it just yes
19:57
not a good feel was smelling the
20:01
compartment because you know 30 to 40 a
20:04
young man okay sweating during the
20:06
summer not not necessarily yeah I mean
20:11
yesterday if it was you got used to it a
20:14
dead body in so any entertainment is you
20:18
have a movie inside of the ship we had
20:21
movies periodically in the vessel any
20:24
movie that you still remember Shane
20:27
Shane yeah how we we had Shane for a
20:34
long time and you can go around the ship
20:37
and you’d hear people say change and
20:42
were you able to receive the letter from
20:45
your guests amulet yes and we receive
20:48
those by Highline from another ship no
20:54
that’s amazing isn’t it yeah in the
20:57
middle of sea during the war and you’re
21:00
receiving letters from your family will
21:03
you marry that to come you know did you
21:05
have a girlfriend oh yeah how many only
21:09
had one at that time how only one the
21:14
when we left task force 77 we went to
21:21
Task Force 95 what do you mean task
21:24
force that’s a carrier-based Task Force
21:28
okay and that the carrier and the
21:31
western sea was a British carrier and
21:36
again we served as screening vessels for
21:41
that that ship we did get a active
21:47
contact submarine contactors and we
21:52
wanted to be released to go check it out
21:53
because like I say
21:56
the McCord was well well-trained as far
22:01
as anti said warfare but the British had
22:06
admiral would not release us he sent a
22:09
DDR and a British frigate to check it
22:12
out and they dropped depth charges but
22:15
they didn’t fight anything
22:20
we still had it on the on the screen and
22:23
so our captain asked the Admiral why he
22:27
would not release us to go check out
22:31
this contact and reply we got back as we
22:34
were between the contact and the carrier
22:37
so we didn’t go but at that that was one
22:43
thing I remember about task force 95 we
22:51
also spent two weeks on Formosa patrol
22:55
and that was probably some of the
22:58
roughest waters that we had ever been
23:00
into an extremely cold and a
23:03
fletcher-class sub destroyer its datoria
23:07
s– for val spray where’s that bough
23:10
spray the would use val goes down the
23:14
spray comes up okay
23:16
and the spray would come all the way up
23:21
to the bridge and went for mice and
23:23
matter of fact we were standing four on
23:25
four off for time watch and my fell
23:29
weather gear would freeze some of these
23:31
down and four hours after being in the
23:37
berthing compartment there were still
23:38
some ice so you could have Bob what is
23:41
it
23:44
hypothermia yeah and and so that you’re
23:47
frozen falsified by Ken oh yeah
23:50
even the Navy oh yeah look put yourself
23:54
in my shoes you’re going 25 knots into a
23:59
50-knot wind to launch planes the
24:03
temperature is a minus 30 degrees what
24:06
do you think would you Liz Wow
24:09
Wow I mean yo that’s where I see I was
24:13
there were as cold as I was in Korea but
24:16
I mean I was 18 years of age and you
24:21
know at that age nothing scares you yo
24:25
yeah that’s going to happen – so how
24:27
long was regular mission once you left
24:29
me behind nine months four nights in the
24:32
all month since we left Norfolk – we got
24:36
back no no no I’m sorry you go back and
24:39
forth between Sasebo and other no one’s
24:42
really once you left to start it how
24:45
long is it regular mission around the
24:47
Korean Peninsula it’s silly about dock
24:49
you a month or so month or so month or
24:52
so because we would reef replenish and
24:55
refuel rearm until now one of the jobs
25:02
that the Destroyers had was serving on
25:06
the what they called the bomb line and
25:10
what is the weighted what is the bomb
25:13
line this is where you are supplying
25:18
protection for the ground forces in
25:21
other words you are firing ah okay and
25:23
we were on the bomb line for a little
25:28
more than two weeks and generally what
25:32
you had you totally had two other your
25:35
five-inch mounts band at all times and
25:37
when you went to General Quarters of
25:39
course all five of them but we had been
25:43
released at 8 o’clock in the morning to
25:46
go back to Sasebo at 1 o’clock we
25:49
received a radio message rearm replenish
25:52
refuel go back on the bottom line we
25:55
were there for another two plus weeks so
25:59
once you go back to Sasebo you just area
26:02
for replenish and come back again no we
26:05
didn’t go back to Sasebo
26:06
we replenish to rearm at sea okay we
26:11
never got back to Sasebo at that time
26:13
once you get back to Sasebo how long do
26:17
you stay there and then have another
26:19
mission probably if y’all fly
26:22
days or something like that – you can
26:25
you you go around the city and told oh
26:28
yeah oh yeah did you have a good time
26:30
there yeah I was impressed with how
26:36
courteous in Japanese were very
26:40
courteous people there they were very
26:43
very courteous did like the drivers the
26:47
crazy drivers in between but they
26:51
invaded Korea and any other reason you
26:55
got and they were really atrocious that
26:58
you’re right bad I love that but regular
27:02
people are good yeah let’s see what else
27:13
but we were back with the task force 77
27:17
for the second time we had a Thai ship
27:23
which was a small small vessel and it
27:28
could not keep up with the task force so
27:31
they would start out at the head of the
27:36
formation and you would see them drift
27:39
back until they left the formation then
27:44
they would turn around and back that way
27:47
and when we finished launching our
27:52
aircraft or whatever we would turn
27:54
around we would catch up with them and
27:56
they would be back in line and us and
27:58
the same thing would happen but they
28:01
were they were part of the fleet did you
28:05
have a chance to land in any part of the
28:08
Queen penetration the only not not to
28:14
land we picked up a a squadron of
28:17
Turkish guerrillas commandos and brought
28:23
them aboard ship and and delivered them
28:24
back to their base that was done by the
28:30
longboat but no as far as landing in
28:34
Korea
28:35
did not do so what else the second ship
28:43
let me finish up we came back to to
28:48
Norfolk late late in August of 53 and in
28:53
September I transferred to the USS
28:56
laughs II which is DD 724 it’s a summer
29:02
type destroyer
29:04
again 376 feet long 40 feet wide at the
29:09
bitch’s had three do 5-inch mounts
29:14
5-inch thirteen bounce again 40s and 20s
29:18
and normal hedgehogs and depth charges
29:21
Tokyo’s speed was approximately the same
29:24
as width of a chord but during the fall
29:30
we again trained like we had on the
29:33
record because we were going back to
29:35
Korea and so a lot of sea time modesty
29:41
time but before I left the record I had
29:48
passed my third class exam for petty
29:52
officer and excuse me why do you did you
29:59
have to come back to no forgettin go
30:02
back to Korea why
30:03
well I transferred to the laughing they
30:07
were – home I transferred from the USS
30:10
McCord to the USS laughing and they were
30:12
going back to Korea okay
30:15
ah this time though the laughing did the
30:23
same thing
30:24
what is dispelled that lucky LAF fe y
30:29
the levee did the same thing that the
30:33
McCord did with one exception we did not
30:36
have any hostile fire did not have to
30:38
fire mm-hmm but we did this we did the
30:42
task force 77 the task force tiny fly
30:45
that Formosa patrol
30:46
all the things that we had done you know
30:50
with a record but did not have to go
30:53
into combat which was very thankful
30:56
thank very thankful what was your rank I
31:01
finished up as a second class
31:05
quartermaster climber master pardon sir
31:10
quartermaster quartermaster Corps soul
31:12
navigator signalmen I had we had a chief
31:17
and I was second-in-command of the
31:20
bridge under the chief I also was
31:23
responsible for the maintenance of all
31:27
of the ship’s navigational maps and
31:32
literature which took some time but
31:41
enjoyed it it’s always just celery at
31:44
the time I can’t tell you I know I don’t
31:46
I don’t know thousands all good no close
31:51
$200 yeah
31:54
something over 100 you need the money
31:56
inside the ship no board sir did you
31:59
need money
32:00
the argue they had a ship store you know
32:02
you could buy buy what chocolate bars
32:07
and cigarettes or whatever of course
32:09
that you have to buy cigarette they
32:11
didn’t provide hungry of course at that
32:13
time I smoked which I don’t know and I
32:17
would encourage all students not to
32:19
smoke stay on a straight straight yeah
32:23
and when did you actually came back to
32:29
chemical coming to Italy we came back to
32:32
the States
32:35
late August of 1954 ah it might in by
32:44
two cruises world cruises I visited 19
32:51
different countries and I never saw
32:54
anything that would come close to what
32:56
we have here
32:58
ah after we came back in 54 we then
33:03
participated and a lot of what they call
33:06
land flex exercises where we would go
33:10
out with different task force playing
33:14
playing aircraft carriers we’d also
33:17
invaded North Carolina a couple times
33:20
all trading just trading trading
33:24
training so we talked before we you just
33:28
sit before you sit in that chair we
33:31
talked about that school doesn’t teach
33:33
about this Korean War and what do you do
33:36
here to promote that I mean to let
33:39
teachers and students and school know
33:41
about the Korean War why why we don’t
33:43
teach about this good question we have
33:47
what is known as a tell America program
33:49
and we at this time have three schools
33:53
that we will be visiting before the end
33:56
of May and hopefully we’ll have several
34:00
more but we have a video presentation
34:03
that shows yo L was before the voice
34:07
Hornet started what caused the war some
34:12
of the episodes during the war and what
34:15
the result of the war has been and the
34:18
result of the war has proven many times
34:22
over that what we did was the correct
34:25
thing to do I mean all you have to do is
34:28
to look at a video presentation of
34:32
nighttime South Korea versus North Korea
34:36
I mean it’s you’re amazing it has
34:39
amazing difference amazing difference
34:42
and of all of the conflicts that we have
34:47
been in the one country that has thanked
34:54
us the most has been Korea and I
35:00
participated in the Memorial Day Parade
35:05
in Washington and you could tell
35:10
who the South Koreans were they were the
35:12
most vocal about matter of fact when we
35:15
stopped a couple times and afraid’s he
35:17
actually came out and shook our hands so
35:20
that that goes to say a whole lot as to
35:26
you know why we don’t teach about that
35:29
good question I don’t know you know
35:32
unfortunately history has a way of
35:34
repeating itself if it’s not well known
35:37
and with the current conditions that now
35:43
exist between North Korea South Korea
35:45
and the United States we might be right
35:47
back in there heaven forbid that the oh
35:51
hell that’s what we are doing this this
35:54
interviews now analyzed by teachers and
35:57
they are taking the good Clips out of
36:00
each interview we put that together as a
36:04
criminal memory bank so that teachers
36:06
and students can access to it they learn
36:09
from you and they are learning why it’s
36:12
being known as forgotten and they are
36:14
learning that we need to learn from this
36:17
war you’re right
36:18
honorable service as I was telling you
36:23
there are two museums there at Newmarket
36:25
when I was a private museum and one is
36:28
the Hall of Valor the private museum has
36:32
display cases of every conflict that the
36:36
United States has been involved in with
36:39
one exception no Korean no cream
36:42
I don’t like that I don’t like that and
36:46
I didn’t like it and I let my thoughts
36:50
be known before I left to be there the
36:54
lady said well the guy would his uniform
36:56
back and I said there are more things
37:00
than uniforms to tell people about the
37:03
Korean Conflict it’s a Korean War Europe
37:08
it’s a Korean War in the beginning you
37:10
will called close calls without like
37:12
earlier on and President Truman didn’t
37:17
want to expand it as a real total war
37:20
because he was afraid
37:22
of Chinese intervention but that
37:24
happened and it’s a war two million
37:28
Korean people died 37,000 American
37:31
soldiers died and still missing eight
37:33
thousand of them that’s right it’s a war
37:36
yep but came with we probably will
37:39
Korean our 11th largest economy and
37:41
democracy have you been back to Korea no
37:44
but I’m going job you’re going I will
37:47
eventually go I haven’t selected when we
37:50
need to tell about this yeah yeah that’s
37:53
why your tell America point we’re going
37:55
to have a big conference inviting
37:58
hundred teachers from all of the states
38:00
in July levels to 14th I will be there
38:03
you coming I’m coming on the 12th are
38:06
you going to invite teachers around this
38:08
area we do that when we we do our tell
38:11
America program we present the package
38:13
that you have so it’s a free yeah yeah
38:16
free hotel for three nights all the
38:20
meals and everything will be provided so
38:23
please invite teachers as many as
38:25
possible
38:26
historian social studies teachers okay
38:28
so that they can learn from you right so
38:31
that they can teach even ten years
38:34
twenty years and hundred years after
38:37
okay you’re doing a fantastic job and I
38:40
appreciate it that’s what we are doing
38:42
okay any other message that you want to
38:45
leave to this interview about the legacy
38:49
of the Korean War and your service
38:52
are you proud right extremely proud of
38:56
what what what we accomplished what we
38:58
did 17 18 19 20 years of age you know
39:05
you really don’t take a whole lot about
39:09
it you’re just you’re just doing your
39:12
job and oh but looking back on and now I
39:19
could take a great deal of satisfaction
39:22
that I had I played a part of it like I
39:26
say the time that we were on the Bob
39:29
line was doing the time that the Chinese
39:34
were trying to gay
39:36
more ground prior to signing the a
39:39
treaty and that’s what pork chop hill
39:43
and some of those other horrendous
39:46
battles took place so I think you and I
39:55
can do a lot about the legacy of the
39:58
Korean War veterans and the Korean War
40:00
through educational system that’s the
40:03
most important part because in ten years
40:06
there will be no Korean War veterans and
40:07
we need to tell teachers students as
40:11
many as possible about this and we are
40:14
making digital textbook so that’s the
40:18
goal that I want to accomplish would you
40:20
would you help Evan Lee this means so
40:27
nice to meet you David and to run from
40:30
you about your service and we’ll do work
40:34
together to keep this legacy in our
40:37
educational system and history textbook
40:39
great thank you so much again for your
40:42
fight for the cran nation thank you sir
40:44
my pleasure sir