MEMORIAL DAY PATRIOTS GIVE THANKS FOR THE COURAGE OF MEN LIKE THESE : HONORING OUR VETERANS.Byline: Dennis McCarthy Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Audie Murphy had it right after World War II, the Korean War Korean War, conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces in Korea from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953. At the end of World War II, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel into Soviet (North Korean) and U.S. (South Korean) zones of occupation. vets say. When you've been to hell and back with a group of guys, you remain close for life. Especially when life - your life - was something you thought was about to end at the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea on a freezing, overcast night in December 1950. You had already made your peace with God, and said goodbye in your mind and heart to everyone you loved - your parents, your brothers and sisters, your wife and girlfriend. Now all there was to do was wait. Wait for an enemy who outnumbered you six to one, and had you totally surrounded, to move in for the kill. Then something happens, and you are given a slim chance Noun 1. slim chance - little or no chance of success fat chance probability, chance - a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible; "the probability that an to make it home alive - to start a family, have a career, watch your children and grandchildren grow up. A chance to grow old yourself, says 1st Marine Division veteran Clyde Queen - not die young on a piece of frozen real estate in this place you call hell. What happens is something you will never, ever forget. A star shows up in the sky. ``Our only chance to make it out alive was for our planes to come in with close air support and keep the enemies' heads down heads down - [Sun] Concentrating, usually so heavily and for so long that everything outside the focus area is missed. See also hack mode and larval stage, although this mode is hardly confined to fledgling hackers. while we made our escape,'' Queen said. ``But the skies had been overcast for three straight days, and the planes couldn't help us. Meanwhile, the enemy was moving in closer and closer every night. ``We could hear them out there, tens of thousands of Red Chinese soldiers moving in on 6,000 Marines. We knew it was only a matter of hours until we'd be fighting them hand to hand. ``It was looking very, very bleak when all of a sudden one of our guys shouted out, Look, a star, a star '' Queen said. ``We all looked up at the sky, and here was this one bright star shining down on us. Pretty soon, there were hundreds, then thousands of stars. It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen. ``The clouds had parted, and we knew our planes would soon be on the way to help us, and they were. ``There wasn't a Marine there that night who didn't think that star was a sign from God that he was not forsaking us,'' Queen said, touching the pin on his lapel above his combat medals and campaigns ribbons. The pin worn by the survivors of the Chosin Reservoir - a star. They call themselves the Chosin Few, but there's not a man among them who doesn't consider himself one of the chosen few. They made it home alive from Korea after fighting in what historians called the most savage battle in modern warfare Modern warfare involves the widespread use of highly advanced technology. As a term, it is normally taken as referring to conflicts involving one or more first world powers, within the modern electronic era. , what Time magazine once described as ``a battle unparalleled in U.S. military history.'' Twenty thousand allied ground troops - 17,000 of them Marines - facing 120,000 Chinese Communist forces whose orders were to annihilate an·ni·hi·late v. an·ni·hi·lat·ed, an·ni·hi·lat·ing, an·ni·hi·lates v.tr. 1. a. To destroy completely: The naval force was annihilated during the attack. the 1st Marine Division to the last man. The battle was fought in November and December of 1950 in the mountainous terrain of North Korea in sub-zero winter conditions that sometimes reached 35 below. When it was over, there were almost 15,000 allied casualties - 2,500 men dead, 5,000 wounded in action A casualty category applicable to a hostile casualty, other than the victim of a terrorist activity, who has incurred an injury due to an external agent or cause. The term encompasses all kinds of wounds and other injuries incurred in action, whether there is a piercing of the body, as in , and the remainder suffering severe frostbite frostbite (chilblains), injury to the tissue caused by exposure to cold, usually affecting the extremities of the body, such as the hands, feet, ears, or nose. Extreme cold causes the small blood vessels in the extremities to constrict. and other injuries from the cold. Enemy casualties were estimated to be almost 44,000, with more than 28,000 killed. Chosin Reservoir still holds the record as having the most decorated soldiers in a single battle in U.S. military history, with 17 Medals of Honor awarded, along with 70 Navy Crosses and many Distinguished Services Crosses. The Chosin Few proved indeed to be chosen. They made it home to raise families and grow old in retirement together, celebrating yet another Memorial Day. Marines like Joe Strifler in Valencia, John Sadowski in Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , George Barbani in Porter Ranch, John Code in La Crescenta, Barry Jones Barry Jones may refer to the following:
They were there at the Chosin Reservoir with Clyde Queen of Cypress, who is vice president of the Orange County chapter of the Chosin Few, the only local chapter of this national organization. It will be 50 years next year since many of them looked up at the sky that night they thought they were going to die and saw a star. The bitterness of later coming home to a country that would try hard to forget there ever was a Korean War has subsided with age and wisdom, says Roy Shiraga, who was with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, attached to the 1st Marine Division. ``At the beginning, it bothered me,'' Shiraga said. ``I kept thinking, Don't these people know about the war and what we did? ``But then I began to figure out people just don't care
"Don't Care" is a 1994 (see 1994 in music) single by American death metal band Obituary. unless they're personally involved and I'd better get on with my life and not waste time being bitter.'' Even now, almost 50 years later, it remains the forgotten war, says Don Lyon of Thousand Oaks, who was a Navy medic medic: see alfalfa. attached to the Marines at Chosin. ``We had a reunion in Portland a couple of years ago, and people would stop us on the street and ask what all the ribbons we were wearing were for,'' Lyon said. ``When we said Korea, we got a lot of blank looks. People just didn't know about it.'' It's not like the estimated 5,000 Marines still alive who fought at Chosin are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a slap on the back almost 50 years later, or pity for the fingers and toes Fingers and Toes See also anatomy; body, human; hands. adactyly a birth defect in which one or more fingers or toes are missing. dactyl a digit; a finger or toe. See also measurement. many of them lost to frostbite in the freezing weather fighting a war we want to forget about. But it would be nice for them to at least be remembered this Memorial Day. After all, they did go to hell and back for this country. On his way down to San Diego San Diego (săn dēā`gō), city (1990 pop. 1,110,549), seat of San Diego co., S Calif., on San Diego Bay; inc. 1850. San Diego includes the unincorporated communities of La Jolla and Spring Valley. Coronado is across the bay. next year for the Chosin Few's 50th anniversary reunion, Joe Strifler will pass a spot on the highway near Camp Pendleton Marine Base that goes a long way in explaining what Memorial Day means for the men and women who have fought in this country's wars. Respect. For each other. The spot on the highway is where Strifler, who had just returned from Korea in 1951, stood trying to hitch a ride into Oceanside to catch a bus to Glendale to see his wife. ``I was standing there hitchhiking Hitchhiking (also known as lifting, thumbing, hitching, autostop or thumbing up a ride) is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people (usually strangers) for a ride in their automobile to travel a distance that may either be a short or long distance. without any luck when a green car with a flag on it goes by me, then stops,'' said the Valencia man. ``It backed up, then the door opened up, and I realized it was a general's car,'' Strifler said. The general looked up from the back seat at the young sergeant hitchhiking, and asked, ``Don't I know you, son?'' The young sergeant said, ``Yes, sir, we met a few times on the front lines of Korea.'' The general smiled and told the young sergeant to get in. Respect. It doesn't know from rank or forgotten wars. HONORING OUR VETERANS Memorial Day activities are planned throughout the Valley. Sunday The Memorial Day Weekend Fair at Valley College at Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Burbank Boulevard in Van Nuys will end Sunday. The free event featuring carnival rides, games, vendors, food booths and live entertainment will run from noon to midnight. The Topanga Days Country Fair at the Topanga Community House, 1440 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Monday. The event featuring music, arts and crafts arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. , children's games, food and storytelling costs $6. The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary's Memorial Day benefit and family picnic will be held from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center at 480 Riverside Blvd. in Burbank. The event features fly ball and obstacle course demonstrations by the leaping wonders of the West Valley Dog Sports, animals available for adoption, games, jugglers and a veggie barbecue. For ticket information, call (818) 377-9777. The Festival of Flowers will be held at noon at Brand Park between San Fernando Mission and Brand boulevards in Mission Hills. The festival will include art exhibits, dance and musical performances, crafts and food booths. Monday The Canoga Park and West Hills Memorial Day Parade will start at 11 a.m. at Owensmouth Avenue in Canoga Park. The awards and flag presentation will take place at 1:30 p.m. at Canoga Park High School Canoga Park High School is a public school located in Canoga Park in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, USA, within the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is located right across the street from the Topanga Plaza shopping center. , 6850 Topanga Canyon Blvd. The North Hollywood Post 307 American Legion American Legion, national association of male and female war veterans, founded (1919) in Paris. Membership is open to veterans of World Wars I and II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. will hold its annual Memorial Day ceremony at 10 a.m. at Valhalla Memorial Park at Victory and Cahuenga boulevards in North Hollywood. The city of Burbank and the Burbank Veterans Commemoration Committee will hold Memorial Day ceremonies at 11 a.m. at the McCambridge Park war memorial, San Fernando Boulevard and Amherst Drive. This year's ceremony will commemorate World War I. The city of Glendale and the Citizenship and Patriotism Committee of the Glendale Chamber of Commerce will hold Memorial Day ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial at City Hall, 633 E. Broadway. U.S. Rep. James Rogan will deliver remarks at the ceremony. The Montrose-Verdugo Chamber of Commerce, along with the Montrose Park Association, will hold Memorial Day ceremonies at 8 a.m. at the Vietnam War Vietnam War, conflict in Southeast Asia, primarily fought in South Vietnam between government forces aided by the United States and guerrilla forces aided by North Vietnam. memorial at Honolulu and Ocean View avenues in La Crescenta. After the service, breakfast will be served at VFW See Video for Windows. Post No. 1614 at 2837 Honolulu Ave. Donations for the breakfast are $2.50. The West Los Angeles
A Memorial Day program will be held at 11 a.m. at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park, Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive. The program will feature a patriotic musical tribute highlighted by a presentation by the Blue Pacific Swing Band. CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box PHOTO (1 -- color) Korean War veterans ≈The last U.S. Korean War veteran on active duty was Lt.Col Don Byers, US Army, who retired in 1992
Hans Gutknecht/Daily News (2 -- color) no caption (Cub Scout with flag at cemetery) Evan Yee/Daily News BOX: HONORING OUR VETERANS (See text) |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion