Korean War Legacy Project

Noreen Jankowski

Bio

Noreen Smith Jankowski was the wife of the late Edward J. Jankowski for close to fifty-five years. They were high school sweethearts but chose to wait to marry until after Edward returned from Korea. During his deployment, she was concerned about his safety and what was happening in Korea. She recalls sending Edward hand and feet warmers because of the extreme cold and the lack of resources for soldiers. After his discharge from the United States Army in May of 1954; they were married in August 1954. She recalls Edward did not discuss much about his service in Korea. Luckily, she learned about his experiences while he met and chatted with his friends who served in Korea. After Edward’s passing, she chose to become active again with the local auxiliary and was elected President. She is proud of her husband’s service and their five children.

Video Clips

Sending Supplies from Home

Noreen Jankowski recalls a conversation about the cold winters in Korea. She mentions sending supplies to her husband in Korea to keep him warm. She highlights how he endured some difficulties with his legs later on perhaps due to the cold exposure.

Tags: Imjingang (River),Cold winters,Front lines,Home front,Letters,Living conditions

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Yankee, Go Home

Noreen Jankowski recalls her husband sharing memories of Korean civilians telling him and other American soldiers to go home as they did not want them there. She points to pictures stating that the Koreans wanted unification or death. She remembers meeting a Korean American years later, and he expressed his thanks for the sacrifices American soldiers had made for South Korea.

Tags: Civilians,Impressions of Korea,Pride,South Koreans

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Message of Peace

Noreen Jankowski explains how the Korean War should be identified as a war because we defended the South Koreans and many lives were lost. She wishes all people could live in peace and harmony. She shares her thoughts on wars being avoided . Yet she acknowledges if the United States is needed somewhere, they would have her support.

Tags: Message to Students

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Video Transcript

[Beginning of recorded material]

I:          Uh, could you identify your name, please?

N:        Yes.  I’m Noreen Jankowski, and I’m the, a widow of Edward J. Jankowski, and he was a corporal in the U.S. Army.

I:          U.S. Army.

N:        Right.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        And he served in Korea from 19, uh, probably May of ’52 to May of 1954.

I:          For two years?

N:        Right.  Actually, he wasn’t in Korea the whole two years cause he had to, you know, go for training here in the United States.

I:          Yeah.

0:00:30

N:        And then he went to Korea.

I:          Do you know where that he received the training, basic training?

N:        Yes.  It was in Aberdeen, Maryland.

I:          Okay.

N:        There.  That’s the book there from, uh. Aberdeen Proving Ground.

I:          Where is, what’s, the Texas?

N:        It’s in Maryland.

I:          Maryland.

N:        Right.

I:          Could you show that to camera?

N:        Um hm.

I:          Just,

N:        Just, yeah.

I:          Like that.

N:        And he did that, there’s a picture of him.  It’s almost like a yearbook, you know, with, like that.

I:          Um.

N:        And then when he was in Korea, he was in the 79thEngineer Construction Battalion.

0:01:00

Female Voice: Could you hold it like this?  Okay.  Thank you. Okay.

I:          So where did you meet him for the first time?

N:        Oh.  I was only a teenager all alone.

I:          You met him at your teenage days?

N:        Um hm.

I:          Oh.

N:        16 years old,

I:          16 years old.

N:        while I was going to high school and stuff, but he didn’t go to that school.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        So, uh, I met him through some other friends.

I:          Where?

N:        In Syracuse, NY.

I:          In Syracuse?

N:        I used to

I:          So both of you, Edward and yourself

0:01:30

are

N:        From Syracuse.

I:          From Syracuse.

N:        He was from the west side

I:          Uh huh.

N:        and I was from the east side.

I:          I see.

N:        I lived right across the street from, you know where the University Hospital is

I:          Yeah.

N:        now, that’s where I lived, across the street from there.

I:          Oh.  Oh.

N:        And he lived sort of down near Sacred Heart Church, you know where Sacred Heart Church is?

I:          No.

N:        Okay.  It’s on, uh, West Genesee Street.

I:          Okay.

N:        Yeah, so, and we went together, uh.  I moved to East Syracuse,

0:02:00

and then, um, I, you know, my parents said natu, I couldn’t get married before I was 19 and I hadda work at least a year after I got out of school, and then he got drafted on his 21stbirthday.

I:          Twenty-first birthday?

N:        Um hm. March

FEMALE VOICE:      Aw, on birthday?

I:          March?

N:        Um hm of, uh, birthday’s March 26th, 1931.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        So he was, on his 21stbirthday he got drafted, and then he went into the service, and I

0:02:30

stayed home, you know, went to work, uh, you know.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        He didn’t want, we didn’t want to get married before he went in the service anyhow

I:          That’s right.

N:        because he didn’t want to leave me a widow possibly at that time

I:          uh huh.

N:        you know.  So

I:          So when did you marry?

N:        Then we got married in August of 1954.

I:          Right after he came back from

N:        Right.

I:          the Korean War?

N:        Um hm.  Um hm.

I:          So, uh, how was it when you saw him for the first time after the War?

N:        Uh, it was like, you know,

I:          Could you describe that?

N:        Well, you know, he was different in a way, um.

0:03:00

We didn’t really talk too much about Korea that much.  He really, I found out more stuff when he would meet up with any of his friends that he was in the service with.  He talked more then and

I:          So he’d talk about the friends.

N:        No, he talked

I:          the soldiers.

N:        with the friends,

I:          Yeah.

N:        the soldiers about, you know.

I:          Oh, okay.  Yeah.

N:        And I know one, um, every year they have what they call the Watch Fire up here, up by the State Fair grounds.  Have you ever been there?

0:03:30

I:          Uh huh.  Um hm.  Yeah, yeah.

N:        Okay.  So one of the gentlemen that started that was from Vietnam.

FEMALE VOICE: Um hm.

N:        And he had talked, in fact, I think the very first time he, my husband lit the fire,

I:          Uh huh

N:        the first fire

I:          Uh huh.

N:        there.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        And he talked to him and everything, and my husband, this fella told me that my husband said have you ever been cold,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        and the gentleman said yes.  He said, he says I mean real cold,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        you know.  So

I:          Uh huh.

N:        So, there, how cold it was there, and

0:04:00

like this, I get letters from, looking for donations for everything,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        and one of them was, um, they want equipment for the soldiers now

FEMALE VOICE: Um hm.

N:        which I’m all for that, you know.  But, I look at some of the soldiers today, and I wonder how they can even walk because they’re loaded down with all this equipment.

FEMALE VOICE: Yeah.

N:        My husband didn’t have anything.  They didn’t have uniforms or equipment

0:04:30

and all that stuff. In fact, I sent him hand warmers and feet warmers in a package so that, they were run by batteries.  So you could put these hand warmers or the feet things to keep his feet and stuff

I:          Um.

N:        warm.

I:          Um.

N:        And I think he got, he had problems with his legs afterwards and, um, it might have been from the frost or whatever,

I:          Yeah.  Yeah.

N:        But he never stayed, like when he got out of the service, in San Francisco they wanted him to stay and go

0:05:00

to the hospital there and all that stuff, and he didn’t wanna.  He wanted to come home.  So then he never, you know, got any kind of benefits from, you know, so. Now some of that’s got stuff written on the back,

I:          Yes.

N:        you know.

I:          Yes.  By looking at these pictures, Ed must been in the, uh, Engineering and Construction Battalion, right?

N:        Right.

I:          Did he have any specialty in that?

N:        Well, that’s what they did.  I have a fold

I:          No, I mean before he joined the Army.

0:05:30

N:        He was an electrician

I:          Oh, he was electrician.

N:        Right.

I:          Okay.

N:        And he liked machines, and he did all that stuff anyhow,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        So I think that’s why he really wanted to go into, you know, and that’s what they did, repaired machines and

FEMALE VOICE: Um hm

N:        stuff like that, and I have pictures here of, they worked in Korea out of an old, um, like tractor trailers, and their machine shop was in the tractor trailer

I:          Uh huh, yeah.

N:        and there’s pictures of him repairing well this, kind of like a caterpillar

I:          Um hm.

N:        or, so I was just looking for all where that it.

0:06:00

I:          So he was engineers, and he was reconstructing those devastated, uh, buildings

N:        Right.

I:          and bridges

N:        Not so much building.  More or less the, the tanks,

FEMALE VOICE: Um hm.

N:        Um, all that, you know, that kind of stuff, uh. The stuff they did

FEMALE VOICE:  Much.

N:        construction, you know, all those big machines and all that stuff.  Like I’m saying, they didn’t have all updated equipment.

I:          Right.

N:        So all the equipment they had, they were reusing, you know,

0:06:30

repairing them and repairing them with whatever they had to repair them with.

I:          Um hm, um hm.

N:        You know.  So that’s why, uh, that.

I:          Uh, could you talk about this?  It, uh, has Ed ever talk about his experience in, uh, engineering works in Korea with the pictures like this?

N:        Right.  That’s what, yeah

I:          that he used to?

N:        The, yes.  Yeah.  When we went, some of the stuff he would send me, a lot of things don’t have anything written on the back

I:          Um hm.

N:        cause he’d send me a letter.

0:07:00

and then he would tell me this, uh, these pictures contain blah, blah, blah, you know, about the, whatever they were doing and stuff like that.  So those letters, you know, between whatever we were doing in the house, they got lost or gone.  So

I:          How, how often did you get the letter from Ed, from Korea?

N:        Well, it would take a couple weeks. Well, I would get a bunch at one time and the same thing, he would, when I would send him letters.  We wrote to each other [abrupt end] so he caught us both up on things.

0:07:30

I:          Hm.  So the two pictures that I gave you, there seems to be, um, sort of, the picture is about the reconstruction

N:        of the Han River Bridge.

I:          of the Han River, right?

N:        Right.

I:          Could you show that to the camera?

N:        Right.  But there’s more.  This is, wait, no.  this

I:          Just hold it for a moment still.

N:        No, this one, this is Freedom, Freedom Gate Bridge. This is a different bridge.

I:          Okay.

N:        So this one here,

0:08:00

this is the band that was playing, and there should be dedication with General Taylor,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        And

I:          Which one is the picture with General Taylor?

N:        Here’s General Taylor here, but there’s also the one with, so this is another bridge.

I:          Um hm.

N:        It says the, the bridge out outfit is digging out or

0:08:30

doing something with a root.

I:          Um.

N:        Uh

I:          So maybe weekly were you able to get some, something from him, from Korea through mail?

N:        Oh,

I:          Once a week?

N:        letters from him?

I:          Yeah.

N:        Yeah, I’d get letters.

I:          Once a week?  That often?

N:        Oh, a couple weeks went by

I:          Every couple weeks.

N:        when I would get them, maybe I’d get four or five letters at a time,

I:          Um.

N:        you know, that were written each day

I:          Um hm.

N:        and then they would mail them however they mailed them.

I:          Together, in bulk.

N:        Right.  And then I’d

0:09:00

get them in a bulk, and he’d get mine in a bulk, too, himself.

I:          Any, any sort of, uh, lines or the, the sentences that you still remember vividly or

N:        Yeah, the special few. [LAUGHS]

I:          Yeah. [LAUGHS]

N:        I miss you.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        You know, that kind of stuff.

I:          Do you still keep that letters?

N:        No, that’s what I said.  That was over

I:          Ah, it’s all gone?

N:        Um hm.

I:          Oh, I’m so sorry.

N:        Right.  We had them up in the attic, but we, we did some renovating up in the attic and, uh, uh, putting,

0:09:30

he took this wall out so he had to put reinforcements, so I don’t know what happened to those but pictures.

I:          Uh.

N:        Now see here’s part of the dedication there.

I:          Um hm.

N:        And you, you know, those are more or less almost looking alike.  So if I wasn’t sure which ones

I:          Could you read this?

N:        It says General Taylor talking to the,

0:10:00

oh let’s see, talking to the press, maybe they had the press there

I:          Okay.

N:        of the Korean, yeah, National, oh wait, maybe it’s the President of the Korean National Assembly.

I:          Oh.

N:        Oh wait, I wanna see.  General Taylor talking to the, it looks like P-R-E-S of the Korean National Assembly.

0:10:30

I:          Oh, then must be.

N:        Was there a President of the National

I:          Yes.

N:        Yeah.

I:          And we need to find it out, who was.

N:        Yeah.  And then this is just before the, they crossed, just before they crossed at the bridge.  See this is where they were going I guess.  I don’t know whether they had the dedication before they crossed, General Taylor just after, uh, he got out of his car.

0:11:00

That’s Colonel led over, let’s see.  Our group commander.

I:          And this is

N:        saluting.

I:          Oh.

N:        Okay.

I:          Okay.

N:        That’s their commander saluting General Taylor.

I:          Saluting General Taylor.

N:        Um hm.

I:          But you don’t know what is about, right?

N:        Yeah, the riv, the

I:          River?  Han River?

N:        They’re dedicating the bridge?  See, that’s the same river.

I:          The bridge, what bridge?  The Han River?

N:        The Han, right.

0:11:30

I:          Oh, okay.  So it’s a re-dedication of Han Bridge.

N:        Right.  That’s all here.

I:          Reconstructed.  And we will put this all pictures into the data base

N:        Right.

I:          of digital memorial.

N:        See, this is also General Taylor coming back after he crossed the bridge.

I:          Um hm.

N:        That’s, um, Sergeant Phelps, our, our Sergeant, driving.

I:          Um.

N:        So.  Those are all the things, those might not be that interesting.

I:          Um.

N:        But it’s,

0:12:00

all have to do with the dedication of, uh, bridge going over the Han River.

I:          Ah.  That’s the biggest bridge in, in, in, Han River. [KOREAN PHRASE]

N:        Right.  There’s something else.  There was another one that was, it started with a C h o , Chong or something

I:          Um hm.  Um.

N:        I’m not sure, but, let’s see what else.

I:          So could you please tell us again when he was born and when he

0:12:30

N:        Okay.  He was born on March 26, 1931.

I:          ’31.

N:        In Syracuse, New York.

I:          New York.

N:        And then he was drafted on his 21stbirthday, and he, before that he worked at Carrier Air Conditioning Company.

I:          Oh.

N:        Yeah.

I:          Was there Carrier at the time?

N:        Um hm, yeah.

I:          Ah.

N:        1951.  Before that, there was one, and it was over on Gatta Street

I:          Uh huh.

N:        Like almost like a warehouse-type of thing, and then he went to work, I don’t know whether he

0:13:00

went in the service before that, but when he come back, then he worked on Thompson Road

I:          Uh huh.

N:        and then he was an electrician and

I:          He continued to work in the Carrier?

N:        Yes, um hm

I:          Okay.

N:        when he come back and work for Carrier, uh.  He was electrician there.  He also became, uh, the Treasurer of, uh, they had, um, unions trying to get into Carrier

I:          Yeah.

N:        Okay.  So then he became a Treasurer of, of, uh, local 527 Sheet Metal Workers.

I:          Um.

N:        But, yeah.

I:          When, when did he pass away?

0:13:30

N:        Two, uh, April 2, 2009.

I:          2009?

N:        Um hm.

I:          How old was he, 1971?

N:        78.

I:          78?

N:        Um hm.  Right.

I:          Oh.  Did he have, has he ever mentioned anything about Korean War, anything?

N:        He didn’t, he wasn’t one of these that complained about

I:          Um.

N:        serving his country

I:          Um hm.

N:        or being there, you know.  The only thing he said that they never actually called it a victory,

0:14:00

I:          Um hm.

N:        and he talked about, he used to like to watch the, uh, series on television called MASH

I:          Yeah.

N:        because it reminded him of his outfit,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        you know.  And then he came, he said one time they’d sent somebody from the United States, like a, a, like an officer that was like, uh, what do you wanna call him, you know, to the books and stuff?  He wanted them to come, all the off, the, the soldiers to come every morning

0:14:30

all dressed up, you know.  They didn’t have nothing to dress up in, you know.  And they thought it was, you know, like a joke.  I mean, what does he want us to do, you know?  They wanted him to, them to have red scarves on them and, you know, be, look like dressed up soldiers, and he said that they just didn’t have the, the stuff to do that, you know.  And if you look at how they’re dressed most of the time, once they’re over there, they’re like in fatigues or, you know, just

I:          Um hm.

N:        Like that.  So

0:15:00

I;          When he left for Korea to serve in the Korean War, what was the kind of public opinion about the Korean War?  What was your own thinking about Ed going to Korean War?

N:        Just worried about him,

I:          Uh huh.

N:        of course, you know.

I:          Um hm.

N:        What was gonna happen, and the thing that, um, he was telling me all the time that all they kept hearing is like Yankee go home. We don’t want you here, like that kind of stuff.

I:          From, from Korean people?

0:15:30

N:        Um hm.  Um hm.

I:          Ah.

N:        Right.  And, uh, then, like I said, there’s, there’s pictures of parades here

I:          Um hm.

N:        that they wanted unification or death.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        So they wanted either, I guess, they wanted South Korea and North Korea, I guess, to be unified

I:          Um hm.

N:        otherwise they’d fight to the end I guess or something.

I:          Um, um.

N:        So, um, Eisenhower, at that time, was the General over there before he became President here and, uh, like I said, that part I don’t, cause

0:16:00

I was young myself that I don’t remember

I:          Must be MacArthur.

N:        Right, MacArthur.

I:          Yeah.  MacArthur. Yes.

N:        Right.  And that, uh, you know, that the war wasn’t really what they called over, you know.

I:          Um hm.  Um hm.

N:        So, and then I know when they had, um, the 50 year, they had a 50-year reunion down city here and, at one of the theaters

I:          Um hm.

N:        and the Korean veterans were there and everything, and I think, um, Hilary Clinton was there,

I:          Yes.

N:        and all that and was talking.

I:          And I was there, too.

N:        Right.  You were there, too.  So

0:16:30

I know I was across the street at one time waiting, and there was a shoe store there and, uh, a young Korean, you know, he was American, but he was talking about how grateful they were for the Americans

I:          Yes.

N:        that they came to help them.

I:          Um hm.

N:        And I says yeah.  Well I says but my husband was there.  Everybody was telling him to go home.  They didn’t want them there,

I:          Um hm.

N:        you know

I:          Um hm.

N:        So, which I felt bad about, you know.

I:          Um.

N:        But, um, but that’s, he said that’s all they would hear about was, you know, Yankee go home or

0:17:00

and then I would show him, like there’s pictures like, of the little Korean children.  I have pictures of them,

I:          Um hm.

N:        and this probably isn’t all that impar, important like where they were riding on one of these little carts, see, and I think this is, goes to one of the other.

I:          Yeah.  Could you

N:        Yeah, that’s Skoshi and him.

I:          Yeah.  You keep talking about him, the Skoshi.  That doesn’t sound like a Korean name

0:17:30

but must be, uh. Your husband’s

N:        Well, they might have all named them this. I don’t know why because

I:          Yeah.

N:        Now there’s one little boy

I:          So could you

N:        they got a picture with him.  They called him, it said Crosseye

I:          Um.

N:        which, you know, he had

I:          Crosseyed. [LAUGHS]

N:        Right, a little boy

I:          Yeah.

N:        you know those little boy’s eyes were crossed, I don’t know.

I:          Uh huh.

N:        And then, uh, see these

I:          Did he ever mention about Skoshi?  What did

N:        Yeah,

I:          What is it?  Yeah.

N:        That’s how he spelled it.  He was a

I:          Did he talk about him, the Korean boy?

N:        Yeah, all the time, right.

0:18:00

I:          Wow.

N:        And, um,

I:          What did he say about him?

N:        Well, he was their houseboy.

I:          Houseboy,

N:        Yeah, and see they made this, they had somebody make the uniform for him

I:          Wow.

N:        cause they didn’t have clothes and everything like that.

I:          Um hm.

N:        And, uh, he, like, worked for them, and they gave him money.  He took it home to his family, but he stayed more or less with them,

I:          Um hm.

N:        you know, stayed with them.  And I guess each unit might have had a little boy cause there are some, you know, where they took him under their wing and took care

0:18:30

of him and stuff, and I know at one time, I don’t know whether he’d seen movies, but he was into like the cowboys and Indians,

I:          Um hm.

N:        So I sent him guns, you know, like the cowboy guns and stuff like that, and then there was a picture of him which you can’t see him, but he’s up in the window, and they said Skoshi’s shooting at us with the guns, you know, that you sent him.

I:          Um.

N:        So, like that.

I:          I found this letter.

N:        Yeah, that’s from Skoshi.

I:          I think these from you.

N:        Yeah.  That’s to

I:          It’s from you,

0:19:00

Eddie, dear Eddie.

N:        No.

I:          Is this from the Skoshi?

N:        Yeah.  To Eddie.

I:          Oh, oh, and it’s, uh, dated 1954, and it’s June 4th.

N:        Yeah.

I:          Could you be able to read?

N:        Well, I tried.

I:          Where did he, where did this Skoshi write this letter from?

N:        I don’t know whether he was already, let’s see, or whether he was with another unit.  Let me see if I can

I:          Yeah, could you read that?

N:        Okay.  It says here Dear Eddie, How are you?  I am fine,

0:19:30

and I hope you, well, you know, you’re fine, too.  And did you see, uh, there was a, a, a soldier named something Karen.  I can’t remember what his first name was, but his last name was Karen. Karen.  We got a letter from him, I guess, five days ago, but I didn’t hear, I guess, from you. I hope you write me,

0:20:00

and I think you get out this place at the, he said I think you get out this place right soon

I:          Um.

N:        right time.

I:          Um.

N:        only he spells it, you know, different, right time because now they going to, let’s see, I don’t know.  It looks like an R A, big R, little A and then a big A.

I:          Um hm.

N:        They have PT every morning, and they change first

0:20:30

Sergeant and Company Command.  They are bad ones, and they have big, uh, I don’t know if it’s ac, or big, looks like Inecti, I don’t know.  This can’t be in, in action, too, in Saturday morning.  Okay.  they have something that, going on on Saturday morning, and today

0:21:00

is Friday. Tomorrow we will have a big inspection, that’s what it is.

I:          Um.

N:        They have big inspection, too, on Saturday mornings, and today is Friday.  Tomorrow we will have a big inspection.  Last Saturday morning something about call, says my room was best room in building. I hope we pass tomorrow and, let’s see, and

0:21:30

you leave, and you be wasn’t home.   I hope you hear about, and I’m going to send three pictures, two parent pictures and one is myself, and I, I will send you more.  Combat, combat pictures.  Pretty soon, and I’m going to class now.  So apparently

0:22:00

they were sending him, so it had to be coming from Korea, though.

I:          Yeah, isn’t that awesome that his ex, uh, old houseboy writing in English

N:        Um hm.

I:          and let Eddie know whereabouts of his life, right?

N:        Right, yeah.

I:          Yeah, that’s amazing.

N:        And I will write you again, and I hope you write, too, and it says your something pal Skoshi.

I:          Hm.

N:        Please print when you write me.  So he wanted him to print when he write,wrote him, okay?

0:22:30

I:          When did you hear about this Korean War Veterans Digital Memorial project for the first time?  How did you hear about it?  Did, did you hear from me?

N:        No, oh, about this one here you mean?

I:          Yeah.  I mean, I mean

N:        Yeah.

I:          the, the project that I’m doing.

N:        Yes.

I:          collecting all this pictures and doing interview with, uh, you or

N:        Right.

I:          another, uh, survivors.

N:        Right.  Cause I was, uh,

I:          Korean War veterans.

N:        I’m the President of the Auxiliary.

I:          Oh, Auxiliary means the wives, spouses,

N:        Right.

I:          meeting, right?

0:23:00

N:        Right.

I:          Okay.

N:        Right.  And my husband was a member, and then after, cause he was sick and wasn’t going to the meetings and stuff, and I didn’t really go that much at that time cause he had a lot of issues and home taking care of him and stuff, and then, uh, when he passed away I decided to, you know, get involved again

I:          Uh huh.

N:        and now I get involved.  They elected me the President.

I:          So how long have you served as President of, uh, spouses

N:        This is my second year.

I:          meeting?  Second year?

N:        Um hm.

I:          Okay.

0:23:30

N:        And I think you can only serve

I:          For two years?

N:        Two years anyhow, right.

I:          Okay.

N:        Right, so.

I:          Has Ed been ever back to Korea?

N:        No.  We were, we wanted to go.  I think there’s a picture of a couple of his friends, and I think they went back, um. These are guys that he was in the service with, uh, now, and, uh, there’s probably pictures of them when they were younger

I:          Show that to the camera please.

N:        but I’m not sure which ones and, uh,

0:24:00

they were going

I:          These are the friends of Ed’s who been back to Korea, right?

N:        Yes.

I:          Yes.

N:        I think they went back, or at least they, we got notifications and he talked to somebody that they were gonna go to Korea so he thought he’d like to go, too.

I:          Um.

N:        But he wasn’t well enough. [Abrupt start]  There are two ways to check.

I:          Um.

N:        um, which, see right now I’m, now see, this is a house that was made out of scraps.

I:          Um.

N:        That’s, see, a Korean house made from scraps.

I:          Yeah.

N:        They were, and stuff like that.

I:          So looking at this picture

0:24:30

uh, 60 years ago. Now we have a full, you know, high rises and

N:        Right, okay.

I:          you cannot, you cannot really identify the current Seoul city with this picture.

N:        Right.  I, I wish we could have been able to go back.

I:          Yeah.  I wish. And Seoul, the Capital city, is 10thbiggest, one of the 10 biggest metropolitan city in the world. It’s bigger than Manhattan.

N:        There’s something about Seoul here, too,

I:          Yes.

N:        there’s pictures there somewhere.

0:25:00

I:          So we would love to digitize this pictures

N:        Um hm.

I:          and so that the future generations know what happened during the Korean War and how American soldiers contribute to the reconstruction of the Korea.

N:        Right, right.

I:          I wanna ask you some, uh, sensitive question, but you heard that the Korean War was Forgotten War

N:        They called it the Forgotten War.

I:          And you learned, yeah, and they didn’t even call it as a war but conflict.

N:        Right.

I:          Would you

0:25:30

please make a comment about those and what, what do you think about those?
N:        Well, I think  it was a war. I mean, we went there to help defend the South Korea against the North Koreans and so, and we lost lives and things like that, lives of our, you know, soldiers and stuff, and Marines and Navy and everything.  So I feel it was a war.

I:          What would be the message to the future generations or those people who doesn’t know anything about Korean War?

0:26:00

N:        About Korean War?  I would just say I wish not just the Korean War but I just wish all of us could live in peace and harmony, and right now we sort of got another thing bubbling in the other eastern areas, you know, that

I:          War with Afghanistan and Iraq?

N:        Right, right.

I:          Um hm.

N:        And just like right now in the paper, they talked about one of the Al Qaeda that got, uh, killed, I think by a missile, and they’re worried about retaliation and

0:26:30

I:          Um.

N:        possibly, uh, all the way up through November something we should be on, uh, you know, on the lookout or guarding ourselves or something like that.

I:          Um hm.

N:        So I don’t feel any war is a good war, you know.

I:          Um hm.

N:        And

I:          But you wanna avoid it.

N:        Right.

I:          Um.

N:        Right.

I:          Um.

N:        But the thing is if we’re needed somewhere, then naturally they would have my support, you know. I can’t go.

[Abrupt beginning]

I:          sharing this wonderful memories

0:27:00

of your husband

N:        Right.

I:          Edward Jankowski.

N:        This here is one of his

I:          Yeah.

N:        Yeah.

I:          Yes.

N:        That was at training, and I think that might have been, I don’t know whether that was from [INAUDIBLE] but I don’t know whether that was in Korea or when he was in Aberdeen, you know,

I:          Yeah.

N:        of how many

I:          So what do you think about the facts that future generations will be able to see all those pictures

N:        Right. That would be great.

I:          of your husband’s memory through the Korean War Veterans Digital Memorial that we are trying to build?

0:27:30

What do you think about that?

N:        That’s gonna be great.

I:          How many children do you have?

N:        Well, I have five children, uh.  I have an older boy, the oldest son.  His name is Ronald.

I:          Um hm.

N:        He has a daughter that’s graduated from college and a son.  Well the daughter’s name is Rachel.  The son’s name is Phillip, and he’s in his second year of college.

I:          Oldest son’s

N:        That’s my older son,

I:          children.

N:        Ronald.

I:          And?

N:        Then I have this daughter here

I:          Um hm.

N:        She’s my oldest daughter.  She’s 52,

0:28:00

 

and she’s got a daughter 30 years old and a son 24 years old,

I:          Wow.

N:        uh, which is Alexis and Timothy, and then I have another son, Mark.  He’s 45. He’s got a little boy, he’s married, got a little boy three years old, Cole.  Then I got a daughter 60, no 40, 44.  She’s got two daughters that are twins.  They graduated from high school, and they’re

0:28:30

attending St. Elizabeth’s School of Nursing, and then she’s got a little boy eight years old, and then my youngest daughter, Maxine, she lives in Tennessee but she’s working in Virginia.  She’s married, and we’re waiting.

I:          Um.

N:        So, you know, she’s 40, uh.  I’m telling her hurry up before she gets too old or I’m not here anymore.

 

[End of Recorded Material]