re: Who has family members who fought in the Korean War?

Maternal grandfather and a couple of uncles.



All of them told me that everytime they were headed toward the shooting the Koreans were going in the opposite direction to re-group in Poosan....

And here we are about to hand the peninsula over to the chinese

I have heard this song on a cassette tape but I don't know where you could hear a recording now.

Digital Tradition Mirror

Dinkie Die - USMC, Korea

[GIF Score]
(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Dinkie Die- USMC, Korea

Way up in Korea midst rocks, ice and snow
The poor Chinese commie is feeling so low,
As our Corsairs roar by overhead
He knows that his buddies will all soon be dead
Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die, Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die,
He knows that his buddies will all soon be dead.

Ming Pao went up to cold Koto Ri
His prize Chinese army in action to see,
He said that no battle his soldiers could loose
But all that he found were their hats and their shoes.
Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die, Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die,
But all that he found were their hats and their shoes.

Now uncle Joe Stalin your stooges have found
It just doesn't pay to invade foreign ground,
When you disturb the serene Asian calm
You've brought on the rockets, the bombs and napalm.
Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die, Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die,
You've brought on the rockets, the bombs and napalm.

So here's to Poyang Yang and to old Hagaru
To Umwagh and Key Song and Ouijang Bo
To all Gyrene pilots and Carriers at sea
And the Death Rattler Squadron old three twenty three.
Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die, Dinkie die, Dinkie Dinkie die,
And the Death Rattler Squadron old three twenty three.





from "Tell it to the Marines", Oscar Brand

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!

LINK

My grandfather did my step grandfather did 82nd airborne

My step grandfather then did three tours in Nam

Grandfather spent three years living in rice paddies while the front lines kept changing. The Korean War is the reason he has never trusted the government.

My dad

My grandfather was a doctor on the front line and has a bronze star with valor

My maternal grandfather did. That's how he met my grandmother (she is .kr). However, he is a no doubt piece of shite we don't see or speak to. I've seen him maybe once in my life (that I remember) and that was when my grandmother died.

My uncle was a POW for one year. He was captured by the Chinese shortly after they crossed the Yalu.

The stories he told me were horrifying.

He and two others escaped and made it back to the front line. They were recaptured right before they could attempt to cross. One of the guys that escaped was bayoneted to death as an example. I asked why him, my uncle's response was the man volunteered because he thought it was a caning. That is what they had done previously and since he was in the best condition he volunteered. Instead of a cane, 3 NK soldiers fixed bayonets are killed him.

During the winter, they stripped one guy naked and let him freeze to death in front of them.

Ironic part is he said he never suffered bad treatment when the Chinese were around. It was only with the NK. He said the Chinese took the pows away from the NK. He figures something was up because they lived on cracked corn, rice, and essentially saved rain water for 11 months. He said he weighed About 100 at one point, nothing but skin and bones. Then when the Chinese took them and started feeding them all the food they wanted. They got medical care. They were putting weight on them before the prisoners exchange.

One early morning, The NK then took them from the Chinese. He said it sounded like arguing between the NK and Chinese soldiers. At gun point they marched about 5 miles in the dark. The NK never told them about the exchange though. They were lined up as those they were going to be shot and buried in a ditch. In reality they were take to the DMZ. Then they were turned around and they saw the Americans there. After 2 months in the hospital he was flown home.

Hearing my grandmother tell the story of his return still makes me tear up to this day. They had thought he was dead. The only info they had was that his unit was overrun and he was MIA. The month he was with the Chinese was the first time he was able to get mail out.

My grandmother and the rest of her family were in the field working. Their brother (known for bad jokes) jumped out of a truck
Screaming "he is alive". She said her dad almost beat him with a hoe because he thought he was lying. When he read the letter, my great grandfather broke down to his knees crying. Just picturing this makes me tear up.

It took my uncle about 40 years to tell his story. When I was in undergrad, i did a research paper. I asked if he wouldn't tell he about the Korean War. Surprisingly, he said yes because he didn't want his story to be left untold. He told his son and me the whole story from enlisting, troop ship, Inchon Landing, machine gun melting, capture, death march, torture, escape, re-capture, release and then his return home.


He ran a local VA office in South Louisiana for 35 years after his return. The tough SOB then beat cancer in the 1980s. He never complained and remained one of the most genuinely nice men I have ever known. He was never bitter. Even after 50 years, he never spoke ill of anyone. He asked God to get him through it and God did. So the rest of his life was about helping others.

My uncle died about 13 years ago. I still have the recordings of the story he told us that day. I have been thinking about writing a book about his story. Seeing this post and responding to it may be a sign I need to writing it.

Yes, please write that book.