Korean War Legacy Project

Henry Winter

Bio

Henry Winter was born in Freeport, Illinois on the 28 of September of 1928. While still attending High School in 1946 he joined the National Guard and served for four years. After graduation from high school in 1948, he went to work for the Kraft Foods Company and finished his enlistment in the National Guard. In 1951, he was recalled by the U.S. Army and was sent to Fort Benning, Georgia where he was trained in heavy weapons before being sent to Korea in February of 1952. During his time in Korea, Henry Winter fought on Heartbreak Ridge where he served as a Platoon Sergeant and was wounded. After being injured by shrapnel, he was treated at a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) and returned to the front lines the next day. Upon returning from his service in Korea, he met a young lady named Virginia Adrian while out with friends. In 1954, they were married and began a family, which he credits with helping him overcome the trauma (PTSD) of serving in Korea.

Video Clips

Training for Korea

Henry Winter talks about being recalled into the Army after years in the National Guard. He was trained in heavy weapons in Georgia and later trained other recruits in this specialty in California. Henry Winter shipped out for Korea in early 1952.

Tags: Basic training,Home front

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Replacement Duty

Henry Winter speaks about his arrival in Korea at Inchon. He was a replacement for injured soldiers and joined a new unit assigned to duty at Heartbreak Ridge.

Tags: Incheon,Fear,Front lines

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Heartbreak Ridge

Henry Winter describes his first time in combat. He vividly recalls the shelling and the sound of a horn blaring as the enemy charged up the hill. They repelled the charge suffering 60 casualties during the course of the battle. Henry Winter recalls another instance of shelling when one brother found another dead.

Tags: 1951 Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, 9/13-10/15/,Fear,Front lines

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Living Conditions

Henry Winter describes what it was like to live on the front line on Heartbreak Ridge. He speaks about sleeping in trenches and army rations. He recounts taking showers once a week in the rear. Henry Winter also remembers the cold and the many cases of frostbite suffered by soldiers.

Tags: 1951 Battle of Heartbreak Ridge, 9/13-10/15/,Cold winters,Food,Front lines,Living conditions

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Video Transcript

[Beginning of Recorded Material]

0:00:00

HW:    My name is Henry Winter

I:          It’s too obvious that you don’t need to spell, right? What is your birthday?

HW:    September 28, 1928.

I:          Where you born?

HW:    I was born here in Freeport, Illinois.

I:          So this is your hometown.

HW:    Yes, it is.

I:          Tell me about your family when you were growing up here with your siblings, brothers and sisters if you have any.

0:00:30

HW:    Yeah, I’ve only got, had one brother who’s passed away now.  My Dad worked for the railroad, and my Mother worked in a grocery store just to make house payments and buy your food, you know.  But jobs were plentiful then.

I:          Plentiful, yeah.  But, after the Great Depression

0:01:00

it was really, it was hard, right?

HW:    Yes.  My parents darn near lost their house, but my grandparents loaned her some money or borrowed some money for her so they wouldn’t lose the home.

I:          And you were very young, so you didn’t know much, right?

HW:    No, I was very young, yes.

I:          When did you graduate high school here?

HW:    I graduated in 1948.

0:01:30

I:          Freeport High School?

HW:    Freeport High School, yes.

I:          And, did you know anything about Asia at the time?

HW:    Just what we learned, you know, just in the History books, when I took History and, you know, a little bit.  Not a lot, but, you know.

I:          Did that History book talk about Korea?

HW:    I can’t remember Korea. I

I:          Um hm.

HW:    I remember China a lot, you know.

0:02:00

That was very important, yes.

I:          So you didn’t know much about Korea, right?

HW:    Nothing, not about Korea until after the War, after World War I, you know.

I:          And, what did you do after 1948 when you graduated from high school?

HW:    Well, I got a job working in a Kraft food store in our town which was. which

0:02:30

Paid pretty good. It was a pretty good job.  So I grabbed it.

I:          Um hm.

HW:    It was union and I got a job on the heavy gang which paid more money than just the regular workers, so, I did alright.  I was happy.

I:          Um hm.  And what happened after that?

HW:    Well, I, you know

I:          You came to the

HW:    I joined the National Guard

0:03:00

I:          When?

HW:    Four years before I went in Korea, over to Korea.  Oh, let’s see, 40, was it’46?

I:          Yeah.

HW:    1946 I  Joined the National Guard.

I:          So, you came to know that the Korean War broke out, right?

HW:    Oh yeah.

I:          Yeah.  And when did you join the   Military?

0:03:30

HW:    Well, I was, like I say, I was in the National Guard for four years, then the government called me in

I:          Yeah, when was it?

HW:    In 1950, I think it was ’51.  The latter part of ’51.  And they put me down in Fort Benning, GA, and they put me in Heavy Weapons school down there, and they trained me,

0:04:00

And when I got done there, they sent me out to California to Camp Cook.  That’s where the 44th Division was.  And, of course, they kept me there, and I was training then in heavy weapons which I was trained in, and I got a promotion to Sergeant there, and after training

0:04:30

time, then they called me back.  They wanted me to go to Korea.  So that’s when they took me up to San Francisco and got my overseas shots and all that stuff, and put me on a boat and

I:          When was it?

HW:    I think that was the beginning, beginning of ‘ 52, early ’52 on February

0:05:00

or something like that.  For early part.

I:          And did you go to Japan?

HW:    Went to, went, yeah, Korea, and they put me on a train, then they sent us to an American Army base there, and there they gave me a rifle and five rounds of ammunition and took me out to a rifle range to zero in the rifle.

0:05:30

And then give me all the things I needed and put me on a boat, sent me up the Yellow Sea to Korea.

I:          So, you landed in Inchon?

HW:    Yeah,

I:          But before you left for Korea, did you meet with your parents and your brothers?

HW:    I, yes.

I:          By the way, what was the name of your parents?

0:05:59

HW:    My Dad was August Winter, and my Mother’s name was Frances Wilkie Winter, and my brother’s name was James Andrew Winter. James A. Winter.

I:          Your father’s name is very interesting.  August Winter.  So the summer and winter. Wow.  He’s greedy.

0:06:30

He wants to have everything.  August Winter.  I’ll never forget.  So, you told them that you are going to Korea?

HW:    Um hm.

I:          What was the reaction from them?

HW:    They didn’t have any reaction.  They just said be careful.  That’s about all they said.

It,

I:          So, tell me about Inchon that you first saw.  You, hold on, hold on. Henry, Henry.

0:07:00

I:          You, you didn’t know anything about Korea, right?

HW:    Nothing.  I didn’t know what to expect.  They say was you scared?  Scared, I wasn’t scared.  I didn’t know what to, I didn’t know what to be scared of.

I:          Right.

HW:    I went over innocent, and

I:          And now you are the Korean War veteran.  You fought there, so I want you to think about this whole thing.  Why you were there and, what is Korea to you?

0:07:30

What is the first image to you?  What is the first image of Inchon that you saw?

HW:    Well, first of all, we, once you got to Inchon they made us climb down these rope ladders and put us on a landing craft [INAUDIBLE] I guess.  The shadow.

0:08:00

We couldn’t get us up to the land, so they put us on the landing craft, and we got down, and they took us in to shore and dropped the front and let us out.  And then they marched us down a road a ways and put us on trucks and took us to different places so we were all replacements.  We didn’t go over as a whole unit.

0:08:30

We went over as a replacement and, of course, we didn’t know where we were going or what it was, and when I found out where I was going, they took us, and we were training with a unit because we was going to replace a unit on line.

0:09:00

On Heartbreak Ridge, and there. And it was going to have to do it at night so the enemy wouldn’t see us coming and knowing that we were a new unit that they actually would know that we wouldn’t be prepared and take advantage of us.  So we had to do it all at night.

I:          So from Inchon, you went to Heartbreak Ridge?  That’s a long way away.

HW:    That’s a,

0:09:30

No, not straight.  We had to go through a repo depot to get to where they wanted us because we all wasn’t going to the same place. We were just replacements.  We didn’t go over as a unit, a whole unit together.  We went over as individuals. And some went one place, and some went to another place, wherever they, whatever the Divisions need any replacements.  That’s where they sent you.

0:10:00

And then, of course, that’s where I ended up, with the 160th Regiment.

I:          And what was your unit?

HW:    They sent me to the 160th regiment

I:          100

HW:    160TH Regiment of the 40th Division, and I was in Fox Company.

I:          What was your specialty?

HW:    Well, when I first went in, I was a machine gunner.

0:10:30

I:          Um hm.

HW:    And after a period of time, they promoted me to Platoon Sargent, which I was in charge of all of it, the mortars and the machine guns.

I:          So, tell me about

The Battle there in Heartbreak Ridge.  That’s one of the most toughest battle line during the Korean War, right?

HW:    It was a tough one.

0:11:00

I:          Yeah.  Please tell me the details because this interview, students will listen from you.

HW:    It was, the way it started out, of course it was at nighttime, and the enemy shelled us all that afternoon, and the night before they cut the barbed wire in front of us,

0:11:30

And that night they lined up in front of us, and they blew a horn and shot up a flare before they came up the hill which I thought that was surprising for the m to let us know that they were coming.  But they were shelling us so bad, and we couldn’t hardly stick our heads up and they made it up the hill, and some of them got

0:12:00

behind us and some, they got all around us, but we, we got them back down the hill.  It was quite a battle.

I:          Were you scared?

HW:    Yes, I was scared.  I was nervous.  I don’t know about scared, yeah, I guess I was.  Yeah.  You know, they’d come running at you and you wasn’t sure who they were, if they was your men or them.

0:12:30

So you had to be very, very careful or get shot at.  It was kind of, it was tough.  It was the first time I was ever in a straight battle like that and,

I:          Were there many casualties on your side?

HW:    Quite a few.  They had, they had the bodies laying over there.  We lost 60 men, but that wasn’t all that one night.  But we was praying for light so we could see what was going on because at night, you know,

0:13:01

That’s the only time they attacked, and of course, day, when it comes, daylight, they were out of there because we got superiority over them and I could see that they lined, they laid the bodies over.  They had them down in a pile there.  It wasn’t a very pretty site.

I:          Any other major episodes, battle episode that you experienced?

0:13:30

HW:    That was the main one.  But we were getting shelled off and on all the time.  They were shelling us all the time.  We just, you never knew when you could get up and walk out of there or run around or anything.  You always gotta be on the safety side because they were already shooting and you never knew, just like, I got a picture in here

0:14:00

There was a pair of twins from Quad City, Illinois.  Mec, Mish, Mick, whatever.  They were conscientious objectors, so they, what they did is they drafted them anyhow, but they, being that they were conscientious objectors, they put them in the Medics because they couldn’t they wouldn’t

0:14:30

fire or they wouldn’t kill.  So consequently, they sent them over to Korea, and one of them was  Medic of our company, Fox Company, and his twin brother was in George Company.  That’s actually an Asian Company.  So like I said, they They shelled us all the time, and this one time, not more than maybe from me to my wife over there, 20’,

 

0:15:00

I:          Really?

HW:    They dropped a round in, and they got the medic in Fox Company, our company, knocked him down there, and he’s laying there and, of course, we didn’t have any medics, and that’s the only one we had to our company.  So what they did is the company commander called George Company, that was his twin brother, and he come running over and he said who’s got hit?  And they said there he is.  He ran over

0:15:30

And he rolled him over and he says oh my God, that’s my brother.

I:          Oh,

HW:    And he was dead.

I:          Do you remember his name?

HW:    I’ve got it here.  My wife has got it.  It’s a twins, We’ve kept it hidden, we put it in the news, and somebody cut it out for us.  [INAUDIBLE]

0:16:00

I:          Wow.

HW:    And when I got back, I tried to call his brother to talk to him and tell him, you know, that I was glad to see him, and I could never find him.  I don’t know where he went, his brother, you know, because a lot of people moved when they came back.  They didn’t come back to the same area.  Live in different areas.

0:16:30

I:          Reese, Irwin and Edwin Reese.

HW:    Beg your pardon?

I:          The two medic, the twins.  One is Irwin, and the other is Edwin.

HW:    Yeah, that’s it.

I:          Who was the one who died?  Edwin?  Yeah, Edwin died.

HW:    I think it was Edwin, yes.  That sounds familiar.

0:17:00

I:          Wow.  It must be very hard for everybody to witness that.

HW:    Well, things like that, you know?  That goes on all the time.

I:          All the time.

HW:    Somebody will get hit or get shot or something like that, and it’s, it’s something that you really never get used to.  But, you know,

I:          It happens so often so that you become like accustomed to it.

HW:    Yeah, just by taking, right there one guy said up there,

0:17:30

he says eight fingers,he says eight fingers, two thumbs.  You all got to go when the wagon comes.  So I mean, the wagon came for him, you know?

I:          What do you think?  Your fight and your sacrifice, do you think it’s been wasted?

HW:    No, I’m proud of Korea.

I:          Why:

HW:    South Korea.  Well, we accomplished, you know, their, you know they, they did so much

0:18:00

They accomplished so fast.  It grew, you know?  It’s diplomatic.  It’s, it’s great, you know.  I’m proud of them, really.  I’m glad I went for that reason, I mean.

I:          See, that’s the point that we need to teach our young generation, that your sacrifice and the death, the hero,

0:18:30

Or, you know, the death of Edwin, never been wasted because Korea came out beautifully here.

HW:    Oh yeah.  In fact, I have a granddaughter who went to college, was it Indiana?  And when she was in college she had two Korean students over there, came over for schooling, and she got to be so friendly with them, when they went back, she went back

0:19:00

to South Korea to finish her education, and when she was, after she was over there, she’s teaching English now.  She’s been teaching English over there in Korea.

I:          What’s her name?

HW:    Andrea Winter.

I:          And, that’s your granddaughter?

HW:    Yeah, and she likes it.

I:          And she’s still in Korea?

HW:    She’s still in Korea, and

0:19:30

she’s teaching English.

I:          Boy.  We going to bring 30 History teachers in July back to Korea from here, and I hope that she can, I wonder if she wants to join us for dinner some night.  So, I’ll give you my business card, okay?

HW:    And you can let her know.  I think she will love to see the History teachers from the United States.

HW:    Very possible.

I:          Yep.

0:20:00

HW:    I don’t know how tough her schedule or anything is, but it’s always a possibility.

I:          Yeah.  She will have time for dinner. [LAUGHTER]

HW:    I would think so.

I:          Yeah.

HW:    Make time.

I:          So, any other episode that you want to share with me when you were in Heartbreak Ridge?  You can talk.  Oh, how you got wounded.

0:20:31

HW:    Well, ran out of ammunition one time.

I:          When was it?  You remember the day, right?

HW:    I can’t remember the date.  But the enemy, the enemy was starting up, coming up, and I was fighting them.  I ran out of ammunition and the Katusa who was with me

0:21:00

Wasn’t there to give me some ammo, so I got up and was running to get a couple boxes of ammunition when a round hit right in front of me, and shrapnel hit me in three different places and knocked me down, and I was deaf for, I couldn’t hear for another day or two.  But they patched me up and I came and they brought me back

0:21:30

up on line.  I got two promotions while I was in Korea.  I went from Sergeant to, Sergeant First Class to Master Sergeant which is the highest you can get, and they’re hard to get.  The Master’s always hard to get.

I:          Um hm.

HW:    And I got that in Korea.  And

I:          Were you treated in the MASH unit or in the hospital?  What happened?

HW:    Yeah.

I:          Where?

HW:    MASH.

0:22:00

Mash.  They were putting me on a helicopter, and they took me to a MASH unit, took me in down there, and patched me up and everything, and next day they, took me back up. See, there was a shortage of men, and a lot of our equipment was still World War II equipment.

I:          Were you able to manage that right after that treatment in the MASH

0:22:30

and then go back, right, go back to?

HW:    It was all depends how bad you are, you know?  They, I had some stitches here on my legs and my arm, you know, and they could see that I, you know, and they needed, they needed help.

I:          Tell me about the conditions where you lived?

HW:    Where I lived?

I:          Yeah, where live, what you eat and so on.

HW:    Where now?

0:23:00

I:          No, no.  In, during the Heartbreak Ridge.  Where did you sleep?  What did you eat?

HW:    Well, we slept in the trenches.

I:          You slept in the trench?

HW:    Well, yeah.  We didn’t have nothing up there, you know.  We had a sleeping bag and a blanket.

I:          Did you have a sleeping bag?

HW:    Yes, I had a sleep, Army issued sleeping bag.

I:          But still.  That should be, oh my goodness.  That’s very cold area.

0:23:30

HW:    Yes, it is.  But we were, you’re out of the wind.  It ain’t bad if you’re out of the wind.

I:          Because you are in the trench.

HW:    Yeah.  Because the wind, you’re out of the wind.

I:          Uh huh.

HW:    And, let’s see.  What did we eat?  We eat rations.

I:          All the time?

HW:    Most all the time.

I:          No hot meal.

HW:    Very rarely unless you could go to the, go down to the rigger for a

0:24:00

Skosh, what they call Skosh R and R

I:          Um hm.

HW:    And that’s just go down there for a day

I:          Skosh R and R.  Compared to the trench, right?

HW:    Yes.

I:          Right.

HW:    We hot meals, [INAUDIBLE]

I:          What about shower?  How did you clean yourselves?

HW:    Once every couple weeks they would haul

0:24:30

You into a shower point to the rear someplace, and you go in there and, they give you new fatigues or clean ones, and you could get a clean shower.

I:          What is the rotation interval?  How long were you in trench and then go back to the rear?

HW:    Oh, I don’t know, a month?

I:          Month?

0:25:00

HW:    They take you back for a rest for, you know.

I:          For how long?

HW:    Skosh R and R.

I:          R and R.  For how long?

HW:    Just one day are Skosh R and R.

I:          Just one day?

HW:    Um hm.

I:          And then go right back to the trench?

HW:    Yeah.

I:          Oh boy. When you were in trench, did you, were you able to brush your teeth?

HW:    Well we had water.

0:25:30

I:          So you did?

HW:    Canteen with water.  Yeah. We get water, you know, to drink and brush your teeth and wipe your face off.

I:          That’s it, right?

HW:    Yeah, but you couldn’t take a shower.

I:          You must be very smelly at the time.

HW:    Especially in the wintertime, you know.  It was so cold up there that it was terrible.

I:          Terrible.

HW:    Yeah.  It

I:          Do you still remember that you sleeping in that trench?

HW:    Oh sure.

I:          In the winter?

HW:    Yes.

0:26:00

I:          So you are winter, and you got the winter there, so, double jeopardy, huh?

HW:    We had a few people froze their feet, you know.
I:          But you survived because you’re Winter.

HW:    Yeah, that helped.  I was used to it here, too, you know.  It gets cold here, too.  But not that cold.  We had a Lieutenant replacement come up, and he was, they sent him over, and he wasn’t over a week and he froze his feet, and they had to ship him back.

0:26:33

I:          So it depends on individual, yeah.  What is the most difficult thing for you to be there?

If I ask you one thing to pinpoint, what is the most, what was the most difficult thing for you?

HW:    Well, at different times and different things but,

0:27:00

surviving that winter was terrible.  It was awful.

I:          Tell me about it.

HW:    Well, because, you know, it’s, you just couldn’t get up and run around, and it’s hard to, you know, do anything, and once in a while somebody would get some charcoal, and we’d get some charcoal and then we can warm something, food up occasionally.  That happened once in a while, but we didn’t have charcoal all the time, you know.

0:27:30

I mean, now and then we’d get, somebody would get some charcoal and boy, that was, that was, that was a luxury.

I:          Were you married at the time?

HW:    No, I was single.

I:          Single, and did you know your wife at the time?

HW:    No I didn’t.

I:          So, whom did you write letter back?

HW:    I wrote, I wrote, I didn’t write a lot, but I would write occasionally to my parents, you know.  I sent them

0:28:00

When I went on R and R to Japan, I sent them a telegram that I was safe, healthy.

I:          That’s it.

HW:    That’s about it.  And when I wrote, I wrote a letter to my brother after the Battle on Heartbreak.  I wrote him a letter and says don’t tell Mom and Dad, but I don’t think I’ll make it back alive.

I:          Oh.
HW:    I was so scared that, you know,

0:28:30

I figured they could come up the hill and get behind this and run around us, it wasn’t very safe.  So I thought I’d let him know.  I guess that one letter was, I guess I kind of felt sorry for myself, too.

I:          Do you still keep that letter?

HW:    No.  I don’t know what they did with the letter.

0:29:00

HW:    That telegram that I sent my Mom.  But I don’t know, my brother died, and I don’t know what they did with his stuff.  I asked his children if they still had that letter I sent him.

I:          Could you go between, beside him?  What is your name?.  What is your name?

V:        Virginia.

I:          Virginia?

V:        Winter.

I:          Winter.  Sit right beside him,

0:29:30

and then just hold that right there, and I think you, and I want you to show these things to the camera, okay?

V:        Sure.

0:30:00

I:          Henry, I’m going to videotape together with your wife.

HW:    Oh, whatever.

V:        This is

I:          Hold on.  I will ask you to do those.  Virginia, why don’t you introduce yourself?  Your  name, and the relationship and when you married to him

V:        Virginia M. Adrian Winter.

I:          Um hm.

V:        And I was in nurse’s training at the time, and

0:30:30

we were praying for all the guys over in Korea, and we didn’t know it at the time that I was praying for my husband to be.  And

I:          So, did he tell you about his war experience?
V:        I’m the only one he ever told.  He never could talk about it.

I:          Why you didn’t talk, Henry?

HW:    Well, it bothers me so much to talk about it.

I:          Hm,

HW:    You know?

0:31:00

I got PTS,

I:          PTSD?

HW:    Yeah.  And I had, when I got back after a while, they sent me to a, what’d they call him, a psychiatrist, and I had to go over and see him every so often, and when I talked to him and he wanted me to tell him this and that, and that night I’d have nightmares.

0:31:30

I:          Um hm.

HW:    I mean, I didn’t, I don’t like to bring it up.  I just like to, you know, when I go, I can’t stand to go to the 4th of July celebration because when you’re firing firecrackers and stuff in the air

I:          Un hm

HW:    It bothers me so bad I, it just feels like I’m getting shelled again.

I:          So how did you meet her?

HW:    Well, I was home, and a friend of mine says just go out and have a beer

0:32:00

and I says well, the middle of the week, and he says yeah.  I says well, okay, I guess I will, and

we went out, and it was middle of the week and there wasn’t many people around actually.  But she was out with a couple of her friends.  And that’s how we met.

I:          So, beer was the

HW:    It was automatic.  It was just like.

V:        He was celebrating his homecoming and I was just out with,

0:32:30

for a night away from the nurses for a while.  And we danced that night.  He came over and introduced himself and asked me to dance.

HW:    It was auto, It was an automatic deal.  I mean, [INAUDIBLE] oh, I wonder if I like her or if I don’t, and I was just, it was automatic.  I just.

I:          So, when did you marry?

HW:    I fell in love then.

V:        That night, we went down to Made Right here in Freeport, and we talked a lot.

I:          And then when did you marry?

V:        He asked me for a date, and then we got married in 1954.

0:33:00

I:          ’54.

HW:    Yeah.

V:        When I graduated nurses training.

I:          And when did he begin to talk about his experiences with Korean War?

HW:    Well, I

V:        He put a hole through our bedroom wall one night and he was having a nightmare

I:          Uh huh.

V:        and he put his fist right through the wall.

I:          Um hm.

V:        And that was actually on our honeymoon

0:33:30

during our honeymoon phase, yeah, and so then he told me what was going on, and so he started to talk about it.  But I was the only one he ever told.

I:          How did you feel when he was fisting around and

V:        I was scared.  I thought dear Lord.  Who did I marry, you know?

I:          Yeah, right.  You didn’t tell her, Henry.

HW:    I didn’t know I was that bad off, you know.  But,

you know

0:34:00

I:          Maybe because you have now a person who you can rely on, trust, right?

HW:    That’s true.  I went to work, and I kept busy, you know.  As long as you’re keeping busy, it helps a lot.

V:        And then we had children.

HW:    You don’t keep thinking about the war or don’t keep thinking about this or that or this, you know.  So, but I had a lot of good times during the war.  I can’t ever say I didn’t, you know.  I enjoyed the Korean soldiers, the Katusas.  I enjoyed them

0:34:30

They were nice people, nice kids, you know.  They’re just like us.

V:        This is a picture of one.

I:          So, let’s talk about the picture, okay?

V:        Ridge, 38th parallel, and he’s with the machine gunner, and he’s teaching this Katusa

I:          So when Henry began to talk about his sufferings in Korea, what did you feel, and how did you actually deal with that?

0:35:00

V:        Well, when he got to talking about it, I realized why he was having the problem that he had, his nightmares and everything.  And we were both so busy, though, that I was working as an RN, and he was working for his brother James in the construction company, and then we had a baby right away in nine months and then we had three more, and

0:35:30

I think all the activity and working and everything kept him so busy that it helped him in that sense.  It helped him.

I:          Did it?  Did it help?

HW:    Yeah.

I:          Um.

HW:
I think keeping busy and working, that keeps you

I:          Andrea tried to use microphone whenever you guys talk to each other.  But, it’s okay.  And then, so, Andrea, do you know about

0:36:00

Modern Korea, how Korea doing now?

V:        Oh yes.  We get pictures from our granddaughter over there, and it’s beautiful.

I:          Tell me.  Tell me about it.  What does your granddaughter talk about Korea?

V:        Well, they’re so wonderful to her. She takes the bus, and she teaches all the children English now, and the parents give her, they have a special day, and they

0:36:30

give her gifts, so many that she can hardly walk back to the bus to take them back to her apartment.  I mean, they give her Chanel and everything.

I:          What does she talking about Korea as a whole?

V:        She loves, loves South Korea, and she has friends.  One of them got married, and they go on vacations.  They do go down to the sea occasionally

0:37:00

when school’s out, and she has wonderful vacations with her friends.  She has a bike, and she bikes, and she does not own a car, though.

I:          Is she in Seoul?

V:        She’s in Seoul, Korea.

I:          And what did she talk about Seoul?  Is it big, modern or anything?

V:        Oh yes.  It’s modern and wonderful, and the food, she loves the food, and they go to restaurants and they have these flowers everywhere and

0:37:30

Everybody treats you with such respect, and Henry, whenever we’ve had ministers here, we’ve gone to churches for lunches, and they’ve had some South Korean ministers.  They bow to him, and her girlfriend in Korea sent us two ducks that

0:38:00

look at each other

I:          Yeah.

V:        And that was to give homage to Henry for his service, and that was from her best friend’s parents.

I:          So, give it to Henry, please.  Henry, now your granddaughter Andrea is in Seoul, and she’s the beneficiary of your fight, right?

HW:    Yes.

I:          Because you fought for the freedom, and she’s enjoying there.

HW:    Oh yes.  She, she

0:38:30

She thinks the world of South Korea, you know.  Yes, and they treat her, they treat her, I said one, when you travel around down there, what do they say or think when they see you.  Well, nothing much, always, they know you’re a foreigner, an American, and she says well, yes.  I said that don’t surprise them?  She says no.  What surprises them is when I talk to them in Korean.  She says you know,

0:39:00

She knows Korean fluently.

I:          Really?

HW:    Oh yeah.  Yeah. She even writes it.

I:          Really?

HW:    Oh yeah.  She’s been over there

I:          Does she have a family there?

HW:    No.  She’s been there how long, about four years?

V:        At least, yeah.

HW:    At least four years.

V:        But when she teaches the children English, she cannot speak anything.

I:          Right, she shouldn’t.

V:        Or she will be fired.

I:          Exactly.  We don’t want her to speak in Korean.

HW:    If you’re in the room, yeah.

V:        She cannot speak Korean.

0:39:30

I:          Um.

HW:    She can’t speak Korean.  She’s got to speak English.

I:          This is wonderful to see your younger generation is there in Korea, and that exemplifies what happened to Korea and what is the legacy of your service.  Wow, this is great.  This is great.  If she speaks Korean well, and my foundation wants to work with her in some movie project, you know.  So

0:40:00

Please connect, connect her with me, okay?
HW:    Sure.

V:        We can do it.  She’s on Facebook.

I:          Yes, please do that.  And

V:        I could even call her

I:          I’ll send you the picture, and you send that picture to her, okay?

V:        Okay.

I:          All these pictures that I’ve been taking.  So, Henry

HW:    Yes?

I:          You don’t regret, right?

HW:    No, I don’t regret.

I:          Yeah.  And what do you think?  Why do you think it happened to you, that the country that you never knew before,

0:40:30

you went there and fought.  Now that country, your granddaughter is very pleased with.  What do you think of the whole thing?

HW:    Well, I’m sure a lot, a lot has changed, you know.  I never, coming from a small town, in, you know, and I never made it in college or made it which my daughter did, and, but when I was young

0:41:00

Most people didn’t go to college, only the ones that come from a wealthy family or they’re a doctor or a lawyer, and they had they’re son become a doctor or a lawyer or something like that.  But, you know, I come from working parents, and, of course, that’s, you know, that was my job, get done and get to work and do something, but how it happened in Korea, how things have changed

0:41:30

And my daughter, my granddaughter over there, I, the world of change, you know.  It’s really hard to believe all, you know.

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