Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 27, 1993 TAG: 9307270154
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Garland Slayton, a Korean War vet and Roanoke County retiree, is annoyed when news stories or television histories leave it out: "They'll jump all the way from the Second World War to Vietnam, as if nothing was in between."
For decades, it was not even called a war - even though it took the lives of an estimated 2 million civilians and 2 million soldiers on both sides.
"Some people want to call it a conflict or a police action," Slayton says. "I don't agree with that - it was as much a war as any of the others."
The men and women who fought in Korea from 1950 to 1953 are starting to focus more public attention on the war and its effects on America and the world.
Slayton, a Army infantry vet, is in Minneapolis this week for the annual meeting of the Korean War Veterans Association.
Eugene Tayloe, a Roanoker who was a sergeant with a railroad unit in Korea, will be among hundreds of veterans who gather today at Arlington National Ceremony. They will present portraits to representatives of the countries that fought in the United Nations coalition in Korea.
Tayloe was in Washington, D.C., in April when bulldozers broke ground for a Korean War Veterans Memorial. The memorial, which will depict 19 soldiers climbing a hill toward the American flag, is expected to be finished in 1995. It is becoming a reality only after a long struggle by its backers - and long after veterans of the Vietnam War earned a national monument.
"It makes you feel good that we're finally being recognized," says Tayloe, a 21-year Army veteran who's helped raise money for the memorial.
Slayton's interest in preserving memories of the war has grown in the past few years. In 1991, he and his wife, Betty, joined a group of American vets who went back as guests of the South Korean Veterans Assocation.
"I guess the older you get the more you think about things," he says. "It really was a big part of my life. I was only there two years, but out of those two years, you did a lot of growing up."
Slayton ducked bullets and mortar fire, first in the trenches as an rifleman and, later, as a cook preparing food at the front lines.
The trench warfare ended in a stalemate, a victory for neither side. Today, North and South Korea are divided, although there has been some talk that the two nations might eventually reunite.
When the war ended, Slayton remembers, "I think most of the guys kinda felt like: We spent three years over there, and nothing was accomplished." But now, looking back, he believes the war helped stop the spread of Communism. "As time goes by, you realize there were some things done over there that were worthwhile."
The armistice ending the fighting was signed on July 27, 1953.
Peace negotiations had dragged on for two years. "Everybody was hoping something would come of it," Slayton says. "You'd get your hopes built up and then something would fall through."
When word of the impending cease-fire came, the Chinese and North Koreans "fired everything that they had," Slayton says. "It was just a continuous bombardment up until the cease-fire."
After the cease-fire began, Slayton remembers, "our orders were there would be no celebrating. There would be no firing of weapons, except for your own protection." Slayton's unit packed up all its ammo and weapons and pulled back in order to leave a neutral zone.
When word came to his railroad shop, Tayloe remembers, he called his men together and made an announcement.
"There was no big to-do," Tayloe says. "Everything was just quiet. We went around shaking hands of each other, congratulating each other. It was just a good solemn feeling among us, because we all knew it wouldn't be long before we were getting home."
by CNB