Veterans recall ‘forgotten war’
By Jeremy Craig
Staff Writer
Unlike most other wars, the Korean War never had a clear-cut end with a victory parade.
Fifty years after hostilities ceased, local veterans of that war can still remember it with clarity.
Take John Cullars McCrimmon, of Lincolnton, Ga. For him, the last few hours of the war remain as vivid today as they were then.
On July 27, 1953, in a bunker on Hill 1040 on the Korean Peninsula, then-Master Sgt. McCrimmon sat with other members of K Company of the 5th Regimental Combat Team, waiting for the cease-fire to go into effect at 10 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., the quiet was broken by Chinese artillery fire, he said. Ten minutes later, a heavy artillery shell hit a support beam, caving in the bunker’s roof.
“There was a large orange color,” Mr. McCrimmon said. “I remember a large explosion – I remember it as well today as I did then – and I was momentarily knocked unconscious.” Sgt. 1st Class Harold McCrimmon’s assistant R. Cross, platoon sergeant, was hurled deep into the bunker, half of his flak jacket blown off, Mr. McCrimmon said.
A medic buddy told him Sgt. 1st Class Cross had serious wounds to his lower jaw, his left collarbone and much of his neck.
“The left chest was ripped open, and the jugular veins were fully exposed,” Mr. McCrimmon said.
Later that night, Sgt. 1st Class Cross died, becoming the last American killed in the Korean War.
The reality of the war’s end didn’t hit Mr. McCrimmon until Chinese search beams shone from a nearby hill, he said. Another local member of the 5th Regimental Combat Team, Adam Cho, said the war’s end didn’t hit home with him immediately, either.
“I was in Japan at that time,” Mr. Cho said. “We thought it was going to drag on and on.”
But the war’s end didn’t come as a surprise to Clyde Hooks, of Belvedere, now the secretary and treasurer of a local chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association.
“It was just dragging on and on. and I thought it would end before it did.” Mr. Hooks said.
“They had been talking North Korea has recently gained attention again, reminding the world that the war that ended 50 years ago is technically unfinished.
World leaders are trying to find some way to deal with the likelihood that North Korea has atomic weapons. U.S. and South Korean troops still face off against North Koreans across the tense Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South. Mr. McCrimmon, Mr. Hooks and Mr. Cho said North Korea can’t be trusted.
“No, we absolutely can’t trust them,” Mr. McCrimmon said. “They’ve probably got one or two (nuclear weapons) and are holding them for sort of a blackmail, trying to get the best deal.
“They know we’ve tied up all our troops, but I believe what we’ve done in Iraq has caused them to think.”
“The North Koreans are hard-headed, and they’re playing games,” Mr. Cho said. “They’ve got nothing to lose. People in North Korea are starving to death now, and their military is spending money on weapons.”
All three said they hoped the Korean War would be better remembered by the American public than it has been.
“It’s the forgotten war, and I’m really disgusted about it.” Mr. Cho said. “But what can I do? I was just a lonely enlisted man. But I’ve seen some great people come out of it.”
Mr. Hooks said he and several other members of the chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association based in Burnettown were to attend ceremonies today in Washington for the anniversary of the war’s end.
“I think it was an important war because it was our first fight against communism, although we didn’t win. We fought to a draw,” he said.
Mr. Hooks also said that his organization is working to establish a memorial in Augusta to local veterans of the war and that a meeting with city officials is tentatively scheduled for August.
Article content taken from scan of the July 23, 2003 edition of The Augusta Chronicle (page 1A). Archived at this site on July 9, 2022.