Wayne Pelkey
Bio
Wayne Pelkey served in the United States Army during the Korean War. He served at the accessory Battle of Christmas Hill in July 1953 to Pork Chop Hill. At Christmas Hill, he survived an artillery attack. This same attack killed three other soldiers and left him with a severe concussion. During the war, he served as a volunteer sniper. He, along with other members of the 45th Infantry Division contributed two months’ worth of pay for an orphanage for the Korean children. On another occasion, he had his Sergeant’s rank taken from him for helping a small Korean child with gangrene. He had forty-seven years of bitter memories of his service until he revisited Korea in September of 2000. The change that South Korea has undergone made his service worth all of the losses. He also had a modest advisory role in the creation of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
Video Clips
Wayne Pelkey Wore the Poncho He Wore on Christmas Hill
Wayne Pelkey is wearing the poncho he wore on Christmas Hill where his platoon leader and two others were killed from a mortar only twelve days before the armistice was signed. He recalls one soldier died in his arms as he held him. He explains this poncho was used as the model for the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
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Wayne Pelkey Helped Korean Children
Wayne Pelkey is amazed at the growth of the Korean economy. He claims he has only had bitter memories, especially how children were treated, until he returned to South Korea in 2000. He describes while in Korea he would throw food to children even though he was ordered not to. He recalled one occasion, an American soldier hit a Korean child and he threatened the soldier he would shoot him if he did not stop. Later, he describes how he helped start an orphanage and his sister adopted three Korean children.
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Wayne Pelkey Stripped of Sergeant for Helping Boy with Gangrene
Wayne Pelkey remembers seeing a Korean boy with gangrene and took him to get medical treatment, however, a military police officer tried to stop him because it was against procedures. He states he told the officer he would put six rounds in the MP before he even put his finger on the trigger. He reports he and was stripped of being a sergeant because of the incident, but eventually was given two stripes back but he said the real medal for saving the boy was already in his heart.
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Wayne Pelkey Is Wounded as His Friends Die but Received No Purple Heart
Wayne Pelkey laments when he and three others tried to reinforce another company but were hit with a mortar round in which the other three died but he survived with a severe concussion. He recalls he had to identify one of his friends that was decapitated by the mortar. He says his friend bled from his ears, nose, and mouth for two weeks even though there was not a hole in his poncho. He is sorrowful that his friend was not awarded a purple heart because his skin was not broken.
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