December 4, 2010

The Korean War Veteran An independent Internet publication dedicated to the sacrifice and indomitable spirit of

those who served in the Korean War.

Veteran Harry Spicer from Australia tipped us to this article that was published in SEOUL, a magazine covering cultural features of the country we fought for. It is edited by Robert Koehler, who prepared this review and commentary on the book, Korean War in Color, A Correspondent's Retrospective on a Forgotten War, by John Rich.

For those who know Seoul today, they will find hints of the city as it was during the early months of the Korean War. Koehler is correct in assessing how colour photographs make prints from 60 years ago more contemporary with their message. Images showing the plight of the people will resonate with all of us.

Harry Spicer himself has long been burdened with the "forgotten" aspects of the Korean War. Harry, though long in Australia, served in Korea with the 1st Middlesex Regiment, one of the first two UK battalions to fight in Korea (August, 1950). The Middlesex "Die Hards" fought along the Nakdong in the Pusan Perimeter, broke out, went up past Pyongyang into North Korea, then made the bitter trek back under pursuit by Chinese forces. Months later, in April, 1951, while on orders to debark for Hong Kong and clear out of Korea, they were held back and fought in the Battle of Kapyong.

The Middlesex seldom gets a mention in alleged histories of the Kapyong battle, though one of their junior officers, a young national serviceman named Barry Austin-Reed, was awarded the Military Cross for an attack made by his company at Kapyong. Austin Reed stayed in service only two years and was promoted to major. He took over his family business, the global Austin Reed clothing business and retired as chairman of the board. He was awarded high decoration of Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Korean War in Colour

John Rich’s Colour Photographs Rescue the Korean War from Forgotten History

Written by Robert Koehler / Photographed by John Rich

A young member of South Korea’s fighting force heralds spring while donning battlefield camouflage. Many soldiers were pleased to see the hillside azaleas blooming, proof that the bitter winter was finally over.

“When you see [a history] in colour, you do a double take. Colour makes it contemporary.”

—NYU photography professor Fred Ritchin, a scholar of conflict images, from "One Man's Korean War," Smithsonian magazine, November 2008

For the fact that we can appreciate today renowned war correspondent John Rich’s colour photographs of the Korean War, we have a tin-lined Japanese tea chest to thank. “I bought colour film, and the professionals were not shooting colour film,” explains Rich. “The copiers at home could not handle it, so they shot in black and white. I got in early with colour film, and I just shot it for my own [interest]. I’d send them to Kodak, and they’d send back the little yellow envelope with the transparencies, and I’d take a look at them or throw them on the table or something like that. Eventually I had a lot of them, and I put them in a Japanese tea chest... Well, we took it with us wherever we went for the next I can’t remember how many years, and one day opened it up, and the pictures were perfect. They had not deteriorated at all, even 50 years later.”

After a spate of US bombings, railway tracks leading to Seoul Station lie in a state of ruin.

As if it weren’t bad enough that the Korean War is, for many in the West, a “forgotten war” wedged between the larger conflicts of World War II and Vietnam, its legacy has

been conveyed largely in the medium of black and white photography, putting up yet another psychological barrier between the conflict and modern day audiences.

In Rich’s book “Korean War in Color: A Correspondent's Retrospective on a Forgotten War,” published by Seoul Selection to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War, the renowned war correspondent breaks down this barrier with a jaw-dropping collection of colour photographs of the Korean War, perhaps the finest collection of colour images of the conflict anywhere. In vivid hues of blue, green and red, Rich’s photographs take the war out of the history books, allowing readers to better connect with a conflict that, while forgotten, continues to impact the lives of Koreans to this day.

A Forgotten War...in Colour

On the morning of June 25, 1950, North Korean troops poured over the 38th parallel into South Korea, marking the start of the Korean War. For three long years, the war raged up and down the Korean Peninsula. By the time an armistice was signed and the guns fell silent, nearly 800,000 South Korean and UN troops and over 2.5 million Korean civilians (both North and South) had been killed or wounded. Among the UN dead were over 36,000 Americans; the number of US fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan pales in comparison.

Royal Tank Regiment members pose before taking action against the Chinese surging south in January 1951. The goggles were proof against the heavy dust from their tanks; the silk scarf worn by the man at rear was a common affection of British armored and cavalry officers.

President Syngman Rhee accepting a bouquet of flowers from a young South Korean child after a military debriefing in 1951. General James Alward Van Fleet stands to his right.

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THIS IS AN INFORMATION INSERT BY EDITOR OF THE KOREAN WAR

VETERAN. The unidentified child in the photograph is the famous traditional Korean

Dance master Mi Young Kim, who now heads the Korean Dance Studies Society of

Canada. Mi Young had trained from a very early age under the rigorous instruction of

her father, Yunhap Kim, who was considered Korea's finest traditional dance

performer and choreographer and a living national treasure. Years after she

immigrated to Canada she founded the Dance Studies Society in Toronto in 1979. Her

Mi Young Kim Dance Company is famous in Canada. One year ago she held a special

November 11 Remembrance Day performance in Toronto that was dedicated to

Korean War Veterans. The famous Buddhist monks from the Bong Won Temple in

Seoul performed with her at the Korean Community Centre. Here is a photo of Mi

Young Kim today:

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Then a seasoned 32-year-old reporter with the International News Service and veteran of the US Marine Corps (with whom he had served as a Japanese translator in the Pacific War), Rich was dispatched to Korea almost immediately after its outbreak, armed with some color Kodachrome film and a camera he had gotten as compensation for a translation assignment he had done at the factory of a then little-known lens company called Nikon.

He stayed in Korea for the full three years of the conflict. Not only did this make him the longest serving of the US newsmen in Korea, but it also allowed him to document every phase of the war, from the UN retreat to the Busan Perimeter to the interminable peace negotiations at Panmunjeom.

A badly damaged Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. The Korean War greatly affected Suwon, as the city changed hands four times. Many soldiers passing up or down the Main Supply Route that ran through Suwon photographed the wrecked gate, so emblematic of the ruined nation.

As you flip through the photographs, it’s the vibrancy that first strikes you. The slides might be over six decades old, but the photographs—sharp and vivid—seem as if they were taken yesterday, a fact made all the more remarkable by the fact that Rich was not a professional photographer. Skies are a cobalt blue, Korean mountainsides verdant green and cannon fire a dramatic orange. Every face, every landscape jumps off the page. For the contemporary viewer, the war becomes real, tangible. Rich’s own reminiscences, recounted here and there throughout the book, bring the war alive still further.

The Korean War turned some 3.2 million Koreans into refugees in their own land. A South Korean family on the move. Note that this family has no adult male; most fathers and uncles were pressed into service by one side or the other, worsening the plight of the refugees.

South Korean children stand before City Hall in early 1951, shortly after UN forces recaptured Seoul. The military-style school uniforms are a relic of Japanese colonization. The cityscape here is relatively undamaged, but districts like Yonsei University were razed.

Soldiers and Civilians

Given Rich’s profession as a war correspondent, it is perhaps unsurprising that many of his photos focus on things military. Military history buffs will appreciate the photographs of Korean War-era tanks, aircraft and warships, brought to you in vivid colour. Historical personages like Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Gen. Matthew Ridgway, President Rhee Syngman and Gen. Paik Sun-yup all make appearances.

Rich’s photographic interests go beyond the military, however. Ever the keen observer, he and his lens document a nation at war. His photographs are as candid as they are vivid. In one image, a mother and her son smile broadly as they pull past a wagon with a full bag of rice. In another, an elderly Korean gentleman—Confucian top hat and all—poses for a photograph on a city street.

Although Korea is a mountainous country with few paved roads at the time, tanks nonetheless played a major role in the war. American soldiers sit atop one of a M46 Patton, and Korean children view it. The brightly coloured fabric is possibly for air recognition panels.

The Korean War turned about 100,000 Korean children into orphans in a war-ravaged land with few resources to care for them. Here are pictures schoolchildren in Daegu. The city stayed in South Korean hands throughout the remaining years of the war.

Marketplaces teem with energy, much as they do today. Villagers stare and laugh as topless American GIs cool off at the village well. A South Korean soldier celebrates the spring by planting a pink flower blossom in his green battle helmet.

Photo Exhibit

South Korean troops eventually became the backbone of the UN force. Close to 600,000 South Koreans fought in the war. Of these, 137,899 were killed and 450,742 wounded. South Korean soldiers pause for a group photograph. Place unknown.

SEOUL wishes to thank Elizabeth Shim for her extensive help, including research and an interview with John Rich.

About the Book

Korean War in Color A Correspondent's Retrospective on a Forgotten War By John Rich 170 color photos. 248 pages. Seoul Selection. 60,000 won

Robert Koehler is editor-in-chief of SEOUL, Seoul Selection's monthly travel and culture magazine. He has lived in Korea since 1997.

From Editor of the Korean War Veteran

Many Veterans who have read the above article will be interested in the possibility of obtaining a copy of the book in North America. It is available, with shipping possible in time for Christmas. It is listed at www.Amazon.com. The hardcover price is $85.00. In our view it is well worth it for this wonderful collection of 170 outstanding photographs, all in colour, and all excellent. We usually do not promote books offered for sale but know we will receive many questions if we do not address its availability.