Roy resident John Cole says Korean War will never be forgotten by him
Korean War veteran John Cole poses for a portrait on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, outside his home in Roy. Cole served in the Marines.
Korean War veteran John Cole poses for a portrait on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, outside his home in Roy. Cole served in the Marines.
Korean War veteran John Cole poses for a portrait on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, outside his home in Roy. Cole served in the Marines.
Korean War veteran John Cole poses for a portrait on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, outside his home in Roy. Cole served in the Marines.
Korean War veteran John Cole poses for a portrait on Wednesday, May 13, 2020, outside his home in Roy. Cole served in the Marines.
ROY — In the United States, the 1950s Korean conflict is relatively forgotten. But for 93-year-old Marine John Cole, it’s a memory that won’t ever escape him.
Historically overshadowed largely due to its place in the U.S. war chronology — sandwiched between World War II and Vietnam — the Korean conflict is often called the “Forgotten War” or the “Unknown War.”
“It never did get as much publicity as some of our other wars,” Cole said. “So, it’s the ‘Forgotten War.’ To everybody but the guys who were there. It was a hell of a war.”
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, more than 36,500 American soldiers died during the Korean War and more than 103,000 were wounded. Nearly 8,000 were declared missing in action and 4,700 were taken as prisoners of war. Of the U.S.’s 12 most significant conflicts in terms of total dead, the Korean War had the fifth most deaths, with only the Civil War, the two world wars and Vietnam ahead of it.
Cole says he’s “extremely lucky” not to be among those who died.
The Roy resident fought in Battle of the Chosin Reservoir and was injured three times during his stint in Korea in 1950 with the 3rd Battalion 5th Marines.
According to a historical narrative from the Department of Defense website, Chosin was the decisive battle of the war. The brutal 17-day fight took place in freezing weather with 30,000 United Nations troops surrounded and outnumbered by 60,000 Chinese troops. Despite the odds, U.N. forces broke out of the encirclement and managed to inflict major losses on the Chinese.
“The enemy was everywhere, all the time, and there were two of them,” Cole said. “If it wasn’t the Chinese, it was the cold.”
According to information from the Utah Department of Veterans and Military Affairs, cold weather accounted for 16% of nonbattle injuries during the war. More than 5,000 troops were evacuated due to cold injury during the winter of 1950-51. The Utah VMA says in many cases, service members couldn’t get medical care because of the precarious battlefield conditions.
Cole still suffers from the frostbite he endured during his time on the Korean ground in the winter of 1950. He said this week’s dip in temperatures was particularly bad for him.
“When the weather changes a little bit, I start burning in all the places I had frostbite,” Cole said. “When I was over there (in Korea), they had one of those once-every-100-year type of cold winters.”
At Chosin, Cole said his squadron of 16 men was ambushed at some point during the battle. During a close-quarters, hand-to-hand combat situation, Cole says he killed three enemy troops with his combat knife and was shot in the arm. He received a Purple Heart for his wounds.
“I thought I was going to die from shock,” Cole said. “I couldn’t move or talk, but managed to yell, ‘Hey, doc,’ for one of the medics.”
Cole was eventually medically evacuated and ultimately landed in a military hospital in Hawaii. When returning to the American mainland, Cole says he left the island in the midst of a typhoon.
“I thought, ‘After all this, now I’m going to die by drowning in the Pacific,'” he said.
Cole still has nightmares about his time in Korea. When they wake him, he gets on his exercise bike and starts “riding that damn thing.” He says while he can’t think of many good things to say about war, his time in Korea at least made him tough. At 93, he still drives and exercises regularly. He lives in a small home in Roy with his wife of 74 years, Donna.
Since 2013, Cole has worked to supply all Utah combat veterans of the Korean War with the Republic of South Korea’s “Ambassador For Peace Medal.” The medals are made from harvested barbed wire taken from Korea’s 38th parallel north, the circle of latitude that formed the border between North Korea and South Korea prior to the Korean War. The medals were given to the American Korean War Veterans Association by the South Korean government as a token of appreciation to U.S. service members who fought there some 70 years ago.
Utah has just under 9,000 living Korean War veterans, according to the VA.
“I was there, so I know what these guys went through,” Cole said. “I remember it all too well.”