They Died for our Country: Most were 18, 19 and 20 By Aubrey Sarvis

Tall, sharp guidons leading lean troops in starched parade dress on U. S. military installations, preparing to honor their fallen; and in mid-size cities and hundreds of small towns across America winsome majorettes and marching bands, some a bit ragtag in need of new uniforms, eager to strut their stuff.  And near big cities, up and down both coasts, loud punk and rock and roll in huge roaring stadiums, vaping and doping; crowded beaches with umbrellas and coolers; major league baseball, hot dogs and cold beer; and, for those who like it less frenetic, softball, golf, and tennis.

Along the Chesapeake Bay near the Naval Academy a handful of patriotic young and middle-aged weekend sailors will gather again to remember. Hopefully, this Memorial Day many will pause to remember.

They were killed in stinking trenches along the Western Front in France and Belgium.  They battled dysentery and other crippling diseases for weeks before the end finally came — whizzing machine gun fire, poison and mustard gas, and, for some, bloody hand-to hand combat. Remember the 116,516 killed in action (KIA) in WW1.

At Pear Harbor 2,403 U. S. sailors and soldiers and marines were surprised and killed; and 1,177 sailors went down with the USS Arizona, most engulfed by fires and water when the battleship was ripped asunder by magazines and munitions.

After months fighting in the Battle of Bataan, American POWs were yanked out of notorious POW Camps in the Philippines and forcibly transferred to the Bataan Death March during which 650 American POWs perished from lack of food, malaria, deliberate cruelty, and wanton killings. Remember our POWS.

Thousands of GIs were killed and wounded In North Africa, Sicily, Anzio, Normandy. Poland, Germany, and Great Britian. Remember.

Young GIs fought and died in rice paddies and on long narrow frozen hilltops and mountain ranges along the 38^th parallel in Korea. MASH ((Medical Army Surgical Hospital) Unit 825, the 47^th Surgical Field Hospital) saved my Uncle Jim “Pee Wee” Gainey Clark when he was badly wounded in combat. Many did not survive in Unit 825.  A decade later in another Southeast Asia country, another generation of young GIs fought and died in rice paddies near Da Nang, Pleiku, Hue, and along the Ho Chi Minh supply trail.

Do not forget the 58,220 who came home in caskets draped with brand-new American flags. Perhaps you saw a wood shipping casket being unloaded from a train freight car and carefully placed on a sturdy baggage cart and then slowly, respectfully rolled along the train platform to where the stunned family was waiting, baggage porters a few feet back standing at attention, red caps removed. During the sixties and early seventies baggage handlers bore witness to scores of military home comings.

And in no time, or so it seemed, our country turned the page and old men and a few women in Washington in high places were once again sending young men to fight and die in faraway places.  Suddenly 250,000 U. S. wartime troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Improvised explosives devices (IEDs).  Roadside bombings and deadly Humvees. The maimed and disfigured and missing body parts. And 6,522 KIA.

Most of the killed in action we remember today were young, 18, 19, and 20. A few 17. Notwithstanding their courage and medals, I’m pretty sure of two things I can tell you about them.

They were all afraid, and they did not want to die.

In my family, Clarks and Geralds and Sarvises served in the Army, Navy, and Air Force during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam. Three of my uncles served in Korea. My favorite uncle, A. L. Clark, fought in Korea in late 1950 and 1951.  A farm boy and unassuming marksman, he wasn’t wounded by enemy fire, but he carried the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, and his buddies killed on those hills with him, until the week he died in South Carolina.

Clark and his buddies fought in the 1^st Battalion, 32^nd Infantry Regiment, 7^th Infantry Division. Initially, A. L. and his company didn’t comprehend what was happening nor the magnitude of what their unit was up against. The surprised 32^nd was trapped with two other battalions of the 7^th. Over 200,000 Chinese soldiers had stormed down from Manchuria to stop General Douglas McArthur and the UN forces. McArthur had badly underestimated the Chinese strength level at Yalu as well as the enemy’s determination to fight. Few of the soldiers my uncle fought with in the 32^nd Infantry came out of Chosin alive. Uncle A.L. had arrived near the Chosin Reservoir with three scattered companies.  He was 1 of 181 soldiers who left the basin alive.  Many soldiers were lost or missing; some of the half-alive had to be left behind in the minus 30 degrees hills.

This week I remember soldiers and Marines in the “Forgotten War” at Chosin who did not get out alive.  Over 70 years have passed and still some Chosin family members remember, and search for their loved ones.

Two recent posts below from the online Korean War Project tell you why:

Announcement:  Funeral for my father Master Sergeant James Lee Quong missing Chosin Reservoir for 72 years set by Department of the Army at Arlington Cemetery, June 2, 2022, 10AM, Section 60.  He will be honored by caisson transportation with full military honors.  Bag pipes requested.

Subject: Hansel M. Ragner.Looking for my dad. He was deployed with the 32^nd Inf, 7^th Div.  We believed he served from 1950 to 1951 at the Chosin Reservoir and was stranded with the last of his men behind enemy lines.

Today I remember Hansel Ragner.

And let us remember today the Gold Star families who lost a son or daughter or brother or sister serving our country. With gratitude we honor the entire family and their loved one.

From Gettysburg to Petersburg, from Bataan to Beirut, from Seoul to Saigon, from Pleiku to Fallujah, and Kandahar too, let us remember.  Let us remember all who fought and died so we might be free.

Aubrey Sarvis

Army Veteran, 32^nd Infantry, 7^th Division, 1961-1962.