photographs come with this information, we first choose those. bill: what about other things on the website, in terms of you've got photographs, oral history interviews, what else is on there? professor han: there are many writings about the korean war, and also we are trying to connect with the young generations, because there is a tremendous lesson out of the korean war, so we are trying to connect with the young generation using online social media. so we're using facebook, twitter, instagram, constantly introducing pictures and artifacts to younger generations. one more important thing, in american history textbook, there are only one paragraphs covering on the korean war. in this workshop that i invited the descendents of the korean war veterans, i'm trying to educate them so that our textbook can cover more about an importance of the korean war. bill: jongwoo han is the founder

and president of the korean war veterans digital memorial. thanks for joining us here on american history tv. professor han: i sincerely appreciate this opportunity. thank you very much. professor han: tell me about your family when you are growing up. your parents and siblings. mr. petrey: my parents were country folks. they were farmers. my dad was. he also spent 45 years in the clone mines. he was a coal miner as well as a farmer. i had nine brothers and sisters. professor han: nine brothers. and you are -- mr. petrey: i am number four. professor han: wow. mr. petrey: two of the oldest boys have passed on. my mom and that have passed on. they are scattered all over the

state of kentucky and ohio as well as texas. i've adopted that is my home. i really enjoy living there. it's a beautiful country, a beautiful state. i know a lot of people there. all my interests are there. i stay there. professor han: tell me about the school you went through. was it in kentucky> mr. petrey: the primary and secondary schools were in kentucky. i did get a high school diploma from kentucky. professor han: what school, the name? mr. petrey: whitley county high school. professor han: when did you graduate? mr. petrey: actually, i got my diploma in191959.

i left that school in 1948. professor han: and you joined the army? mr. petrey: joined the army and went to japan in june of 1948. professor han: wow. what was your specialty? where did you get military training? mr. petrey: fort knox, kentucky. i took my basic training there. when i went to japan i joined the first calvary division. professor han: you are the first calvary. mr. petrey: at camp mcgill in japan. that is a little west of yokohama. when the seventh into entry -- when the seventh infantry moved out of korea, i joined the

seventh infantry. they had been in korea for an extended period, i don't know how long. professor han: from 1945. . so you joined the seventh. were you infantry? mr. petrey: infantry. professor han: rifleman or heavy machine gun? mr. petrey: rifleman. i was a squad leader and part-time platoon sergeant. professor han: icy. -- i see. mr. petrey: that is the extent of it. professor han: tell me about the first calvary. this is a very well-known unit. mr. petrey: we had no mission as such. we were primarily a show off division.

we did a lot of parade practice and stuff like that. i has had five parades in downtown tokyo. in 1948 and early 1949. it was a good outfit. if you enjoy parades. we didn't have a lot of extra work as such. we did spend a lot of time on the parade field. a lot of guard duty and stuff like that. after i joined the seventh we had a lot of field training. a lot of maneuvers, a lot of life firing platoon practice and stuff like that. professor han: when did you go to korea?

mr. petrey: i made the inchon landing on the 17th of september, 1950. the marines went on one beach. we fought our way into seoul. i got winded in -- i got wounded in seoul. a head wound. head and ear, my left ear. i thought i was going to bleed to death. fortunately, they were able to pull me out. i had a blood transfusion on the hospital ship outside of seoul

inchon. they shipped me back to japan and i had additional blood infused into me. i stayed there for 35 or 40 days in that area. at the end of that part, i boarded a japanese luxury liner and went to pusan. that was in october. then we made another landing and

we thought our way over to the chosin reservoir. that was late november of 1950. we were still in summer wear. the temperature was something like 46 or 47 degrees below zero. i got wounded there. professor han:, again where? mr. petrey: in my face. a hand grenade from the chinese. someone placed me in an ammunition carrier, a tank of sorts. they had a cargo area in the back of the tank. they put me in there. i was passed out. i don't know how long i stayed

there but that is where the chinese found me. that is when they took me out of the tank. i was almost frozen. i could not ambulate with any degree of satisfaction or efficiency. professor han: when was it? mr. petrey: the second day of december 1951 -- professor han: no, 1950. mr. petrey: excuse me, 1950. we were separated, there were three of us. what reason, i have no clue. i suppose since we were wounded we could not keep up with the

march going north. we went to a korean farmhouse and spent four or five days there. professor han: with the chinese? mr. petrey: with the chinese. professor han: said they did not kill you, they kept you there. mr. petrey: they kept us there. for whatever reason, we got the same food they consumed. professor han: wow. mr. petrey: we stayed there about four or maybe five days. then we moved, at night, 4, 5 or six miles into another community. and spent two weeks or three weeks at that area. i never did get interrogated. no one cared or asked me, i don't know if they cared or not. we stayed there about two or

three weeks. then we attempted to go someplace. i am not sure where. we walked for two or three days and came back to the same house. i never could figure that one out. we were kept separate from the main body of pows until the 15th of april 1951. then we went back to camp. i stayed there until august 1953. professor han: did you know anything about korea before you went to korea? mr. petrey: only hearsay.

i had no first-hand information at all. the people who came back from korea in 1950 with the seventh division, of course, soldiers talk a lot. some grumble and complain about this and that. i really did not know a lot about korea or the korean people,. for that matter. all i heard was complaining. professor han: about what? mr. petrey: nothing in particular. the duty, primarily. no one that i talked with, of course they were privates and pfcs and stuff like that.

they really did not have a good handle on the situation. they, by nature, did not have anything good to say about anything in korea. but i had been in japan for 27 months when korea started. and i went, we moved from hachinohe to mount fuji in preparation for the move to korea. i was ready to go back to the states. my sergeant called me into his office. 1950, must have been early september, and advised me that i was going home. and handed me my orders, or attempted to.

then he took them back and tore them up. of course, i was hurt by that. i wanted to go home. then he told me that all the orders have been rescinded and we were going to korea. as far as duty was concerned they decided that i was fully recovered. professor han: but you were in a country you never knew before. and there was nothing good at the time in korea. and you were captured. what were you thinking? professor han: primarily that is the opinion of all young soldiers. when they are faced with something they have no knowledge of. have no clue what they are going to do or why they are going to do it. i'm sure that i had the same opinion. when i -- why not turn me

loose, why not send me home? such is not the case. i took my medicine. and joined my unit and went with them north. professor han: how many meals did you have on the way to camp? once a day or twice a day? mr. petrey: it is hard to say. we ate the same thing the chinese soldiers were eating. professor han: so you were lucky. mr. petrey: i was, no question about it. we had ground up tenets and we would mix water with that and

drink it -- we had ground up peanuts and mix water with that and drink it. that was the only substance we had. about so big. professor han: that is grind it. professor han: we did not get rice, very little vegetables of any kind. it was the dead of winter and they did not have fresh vegetables. we were lucky to get anything. professor han: what was your outfit, was it a summer outfit or winter? mr. petrey: summer. we were dressed in fatigues. with a pair of field trousers. no longjohns, no heavy underwear

or anything like that. and a field jacket. that does very little to hold out the bitter cold. we were nearly frozen, everyone in the division. they had shipped stuff up there but it did not get to us. we were still with our field jackets. professor han: when you were in the chosin reservoir, right? mr. petrey: no, when i was on the reservoir, we did get padded chinese uniforms. professor han: ok.

mr. petrey: they gave us a pair of padded pants and padded jackets. but note hat -- but no hat of any kind. professor han: how would you describe the coldness you experienced there. try to find the right word for it. mr. petrey: miserable at best. being a southern boy to begin with and not used to real cold weather and then i spent time in japan. it was cold in the winter time in japan. but not like in siberia. along the reservoir, that area was in siberia as far as i am concerned. it was just as cold there.

it was miserable at best. you never get used to that kind of -- i never did adapt to that lifestyle. it is just that simple. professor han: when you arrived at camp five, how was the wound in your face? did it heal? mr. petrey: pretty much. i got hit on my nose with a piece of shrapnel. it was a concussion type grenade but there were fragments from it. it had one small area on the bridge of my nose.

that had pretty well-heeled by that time. professor han: amazing, isn't it ? if people had something like that scar they would go to the emergency room and get every kind of medicine. but your face healed without anything. mr. petrey: really. professor han: amazing. mr. petrey: it really is. my first wound i thought was going to do me in. i got shot through the ear, had a bullet go through my ear. it shot the aim out of my helmet and i had shrapnel here and all in this area. inside the ear, i got two or three small fragments. i got all of it out except one small piece. two years later, it worked its

way out. it was like a kitchen match head if you know what i'm talking about. as far as i know, that is the only thing that remained at the time. i had three or four pieces of shrapnel in my head. they managed to cut those out. survival, i guess, was the next thing. professor han: how was pyoktong? mr. petrey: miserable at best. professor han: tell me the details. talk to young kids and what you went through there, details. mr. petrey: we did not have enough firewood to keep us warm.

the korean homes has -- have a flue that goes under the floors and keep the house warm if you have enough wood. the winter of 1950-1951 they did not stockpile the wood. the homes that were commandeered from the korean people. they took what they needed. they had no wood to keep the place up with. we slept 10, 12, 15 people per room. that is cozy. you get close.

of course, lice was bad. professor han: yeah. mr. petrey: everyone was lousy. we picked lice off each other as best we could. you cannot get rid of those things. those that were able would go into the fields or forest and gather firewood. we were able to gather enough wood to heat the floors in the homes. i think that was the saving promise there. things did get better. the reservoir was frozen.

we had to walk across the ice into the hillside. after the chinese were able to get boats in there, that came later, early in the year, march, april, may or something like that. they were able to haul in boat loads of wood. but we gathered most of our firewood from the forest and the hills. food was a premium at that time. we were using millet, cracked corn. i'm not sure if it was maize or a real fine grain.

professor han: did they actually give you grain? you cooked it? mr. petrey: yes. professor han: how? did you have appliances ? mr. petrey: yes, we had large vats about so thick. we would boil the water and add grain or whatever we had. it's very little substance in cracked corn. diarrhea was bad. professor han: how many times a day? twice. mr. petrey: constantly. professor han: no, no, i mean food. meals. were you able to eat twice a day? mr. petrey: yes.

the amount was limited. they did not have stuff. we could not cook it if they did not have it. it was strictly rationed. we would get maybe a cup or cup and a half of cracked corn or millet or whatever we had. our systems just were not adapted to that type of food. diarrhea was rampant. we spent a lot of time. but then, in late 1951, before the winter set in, we did get an increase in our rations.

we got pork -- professor han: really? are you sure? mr. petrey: i am positive. professor han: meat, they gave you meat? mr. petrey: yeah. of course, we had to pick the hair out of it. it was not thoroughly cleaned. it was not appetizing at all but if you are hungry you will eat. but we did start getting a little pork. i think they began to issue rice at that time. we did not get rice for the first several months of the year. and we ate a lot of peanuts. ground up peanuts. the rations did improve.

not dramatically, but it did improve. dysentery had slowed down. it was not as rampant as originally. we were getting used to that type of food. i do not recall ever getting beef but we did get pork, a lot of pork. they would bring in whole hogs that were frozen. they had been clean outside. most of the hair had been removed and all of the innards were removed. professor han: how do you cook? mr. petrey: we had pots we cooked it in. professor han: boiled? mr. petrey: boiled, yeah. we did get a few potatoes.

we did get some turnips. that was about the extent of it. professor han: very good. mr. petrey: we thought it was excellent. after having cracked corn and millet. some of us survived. how, i really cannot put a lot of emphasis on that. fortunately, i am here. professor han: what was the most difficult thing in the camp? what really bothered you really you craved for? mr. petrey: heat in the winter. of coarse, food. that was a constant thing. we simply did not have enough to

fill our desires or needs really. and we hadn't -- no fishing gear. we could not catch fish. we had no hooks or lines or anything like that. a little ingenuity on the part of some of our troops, they were able to make musical instruments. one guy made a guitar and had no guitar strings but he used wire from whatever. and it didn't sound like a guitar but it was something to make noise. to make what they called music. things did improve. in late 1951 or early 1952 we

began to adopt, you might say -- to adapt, you might say, to the conditions. we knew what we had to endure to survive. we did the best we could do. professor han: what made you get through it? what was it? hope god whatever. mr. petrey: my faith in god. professor han: were you christian at the time? mr. petrey: not as such, no. i did attend church services regularly. professor han: when.? mr. petrey: before i got into korea. i did go to chapel back in japan and i did attend a lot of church when i was a child growing up. i had the basic knowledge of the

supreme being. and it did sound good to me at the time. i had a lot of faith. i had a lot of faith in the supreme being. we had norman hale, our chaplain and richard bassett. they delivered a good service as well as they knew how. the good thing about it, they still embrace to this day what

they taught back in those days. of course, i am now an ordained deacon of the church. and i go regularly, every time the door is open, i go. my wife, she is an inspiration to me. i think she is a big influence i know she was a big influence on me. i did get saved, i did get baptized. and, as i said, i am an ordained deacon of a church. and i enjoy that. professor han: did you pray at the time in the camp? mr. petrey: absolutely. professor han: what did you pray? can you share? mr. petrey: yes. for the ability to withstand the rough winter and the rough life we were living at that time.

we always pray for more food. we always prayed for heat. we always prayed that the lord would come to our rescue. and provide us or give us the ability to provide for ourselves substance. and i think that was a big thing. i really do believe that. and i try to live by that today. professor han: were you able to write a letter to your family in the camp? mr. petrey: yes. i think i had four or five letters that might -- that my mom did get from me. professor han: from you?

mr. petrey: yes. professor han: so you were allowed to write. did they give you paper and pencil? mr. petrey: yes. we would get paper in large sheets like this. we would fold it and dampen the seam and tear it straight and make sheet size. i think if memory serves me correctly, my mom kept the three or four letters that she got from me. and i read those many times after i came home. yes. she got them. i got three or four letters from home. my sister wrote to meet every

three or four days and mailed it to whatever address they gave us. we did not get all the mail that was sent to us, i know that for sure. because my family members a lot of them wrote letters to meet but i did not get that many. i got a few. professor han: do you still keep the letters? mr. petrey: they are at my mom and dad's house. professor han: when did your parents and your family know that you were at the camp? mr. petrey: as you may know, we were carried as mia for a long time. they had no confirmation of my status until about august or september of 1951. and there was an exchange of

information between the chinese and our government. they did have a large number of pows. i do not know exactly when this information was passed or when either side honored what the other side said. as far as the status of the troops. i do not know. but i believe that my mom and dad got word that we were no longer mia, that we were -- professor han: pow. mr. petrey: pow. but they did not know where. they knew it was in north korea

or manchuria or someplace. and they, mom did not really believe that information until she got a letter from me. which was in late 1951. i do not recall the exact date that she got it. it was confirmed, she knew for a fact that i was not dead. professor han: what did your parents say to you when you return home? mr. petrey: thank god. pardon me.

it is very hard. professor han: looking back all those years, how do you put all those things, the ordeal, suffering, unbelievable coldness into a perspective? how do you do that? mr. petrey: i try my best not to think about it. professor han: not to think about it? mr. petrey: not to think about it. but there are times. i used to do a lot of hunting. i would go out to the field and freeze my backside off. during some of those times i would say man i've endured this stuff in korea in 1951, 9052, and 1953. and it got to a point where i

quit hunting because i did not want to be reminded of -- and it did remind me. when you get out there. you are freezing, it is raining and you are cold and miserable and hungry. and it's my own fault because i did not dress properly ended not take something to eat with me. but i told myself i do not need this. i simply do not need this. and i quit hunting. i don't hunt anymore. but today i eat when i am hungry. and i get warm when i'm cold. and i get cold when i'm hot, i get cooled off. i'm living now like i want to. i go where i want, when i want,

do what i want to do. and money is not a problem. and i still love the army. and i would go back today if i could. and i am 83 years old. and i would still go back. but i know i cannot. i have had 100% disability. for 25 years. i would give that up if i could go back into the military. professor han: this ordeal, your experience in the camp -- mr. petrey: it makes me a better person. professor han: how? mr. petrey: puts me closer to god. i do not know how i could get much closer than i am now. i am an early riser.

i get up sometimes 3:00 in the morning. and i retire to my back patio. i turned the lights out. drink my coffee. i have a cup of coffee with me. and i talked to the lord. every day. professor han: are you still thankful? mr. petrey: yes. yes. and i think him every day. i never eat a meal without thanking. regardless of where i am, what restaurant i am in. the wife and i always say a table grace. and people have commented on that. professor han: what is your message to the people who are in

trouble, like you? somebody who is really sick. somebody who is really in need of help. somebody going through unbelievable suffering in ordeals and difficulties. what is your message to them? mr. petrey: lay your burdens at the feet of jesus. pray. it's good therapy. you could -- people say i do not know how to pray. you do not have to know how to pray. talk to the lord in language you understand. professor han: right. mr. petrey: and i say laid on him. lay your burdens at the feet of jesus. pray hard. never forget. that is good therapy. professor han: have you been

back to korea? mr. petrey: no. i got back to japan in 1991. and the wife said to me would you consider going to korea? and i said no. i would not consider going back to korea. i have since changed my mind. i carry the chip on my shoulder. for a long time, against the north koreans. and then, a new part of me was saying this -- that i had in my mind a thought that korea was and is korea.

the same breed of people who have gone through so much turmoil with the japanese that they became hardened and brutal like the japanese were. and i do know that some of the north korean soldiers were brutal. they did many atrocities that i know about. and i will never forgive those guys for that. i've been in therapy for 16 years. therapy. professor han: ptsd therapy? ok. mr. petrey: mr. petrey: -- mr. petrey: yes.

i finally found it in my heart that all people are not the same. they are not all brutal. they are not all sadistic. and it did take me a long time. because i had bad i mean, i really had a chip on my shoulder. and i could think of nothing good to say about korea. north or south. but, i started reading different articles that i had seen published of the progress that the south is making. and i read also and listen to the news. how backwards the north still is . and i kind of believe that.

i do not know how -- it is tough for me to understand an individual -- that lunch in the north -- could be as unconcerned about their nation, about the petition -- vehicle the nation that are starving to death, how i president or whomsoever could disregard the condition of their country and spend all their money on war material rather than feed the population. i finally came to the conclusion

that some of those people in charge of the nation are only in it for what they can get, as long as they are surviving, have everything they could possibly want, and they are depriving the population of the meager subsistence -- it's not the people. it is the people in charge. i still did not want to go back to korea. i could see from everything that i, read, the south are doing

everything they can do for the people. i can see that. i can believe that. they have a road system that is second to none. they have a transportation system that is second to none. i'm sure that they still have a lot of the older folks that are going to stay with what served them best, the things they want to do. where isas in the north, they are still starving. they have a bunch of idiots out there who want only for themselves. that has changed my total outlook -- they are all not the same. correct you forgive?

-- >> do you forgive? >> i have. there is in things that you cannot forgive. but when i see soldiers with his --cut off, stuck in his mouth and lips sewn together with wire , you can forgive that. that is brutal. that is statistic. and i've seen that. in one side of my mouth i can say, some soldiers will do anything if it would relieve him of the stress that he is

enduring at that time. i know that our soldiers did some brutal things. i know that. i did not see it. i know in my heart that they did. yes, i have forgiven a lot of things. forget? no. i will never forget. and i have forgiven the chinese. they did something that i am not pleased with at all, and i suffered from them, and by their and i suffered. -- by their hand i suffered. what they did was not called for. i survived.

i prayed a lot then. i've been thinking a lot about returning to korea. i cannot compare the north with the south. in my wildest dream i cannot do that, because i can see and i can re-and i can hear and nothing good is coming out of the north. on the other hand, what i read cn hear about the south, i am impressed. what i i do believe that one day i will go back to korea. >> you're watching american history tv, all we can, every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation, like us