John H. Saxton
Bio
John Saxton was born in 1929 in Kearneysville, West Virginia. His father fought in WWI and suffered lifelong effects as a result of being gassed in the War. Two of John’s brothers served in WWII. Two of John’s other brothers served in Korea. As it was difficult to find work in his town, John enlisted in the army in 1949. John did basic training at Fort Dix and was sent to Fort Hood to train for armored artillery battalion. He was assigned to the Third Infantry Division and participated in many battles in Korea, including the Pusan Perimeter and Chosin Lakes.
Video Clips
Carry Over Racism from WWII
John Saxton recounts how a commander of the X Corps held African American troops in Korea in low regard based on his belief that African American soldiers had performed poorly during a WWII campaign in Italy.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UzxY7b59B8&start=950&end=1035
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https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/john-h-saxton#clip-1
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Traveling to Combat
John Saxton describes what it was like to be on a ship full of young men from the U.S. South who had not been on an ocean voyage before. The last part of the clip mentions how the army treated Puerto Rican soldiers as "black" soldiers.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UzxY7b59B8&start=350&end=440
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https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/john-h-saxton#clip-2
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PTSD
John Saxton describes how the Korean War is still in his dreams.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UzxY7b59B8&start=1660&end=1733
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https://koreanwarlegacy.org/interviews/john-h-saxton#clip-3
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