Unremembered Victory is a 1968 story about 4000 hapless ordinary army GIs, mostly conscripts, on the Korean DMZ who faced a threatened invasion by a North Korean enemy 200 times their size. Not a problem, there is a Nuclear option. Just saying no to a 2nd Vietnam, if the line did not hold, now declassified op orders say we were going nuke, sea and air, complete with a dozen atomic cannons. All winter and spring the line was assaulted by crack North Korean commandos. GIs and KATUSAs (integrated troops) died. A news blackout was declared regarding all things about the line holding so, in case the line caved, going nuke that would end the world could be done without the muss and fuss of public opinion.The line did hold because the enemy backed down. South Korea, unencumbered by North Korean harassment, leaped in less than two generations from mud and sticks to a first world power. Yet still the news blackout never stops. The DMZ War cannot be found mentioned in history books, war museums, movies and other mainstream media. Perhaps this story, so full of honor, trust and success, is just too contradictory of the one story of the Boomer generation, Vietnam, so full of obscenity, betrayal and failure. As a result, thousands of DMV Vets fret that no one has a clue that there was ever a ground war in Korea 66-69 despite nearly 60 GIs KIA, 3X the total killed in Panama, Desert Storm and Grenada combined. Though the author met GIs who were later killed or wounded and were fortunately only just passing acquaintances, none close enough to cause anything like 'survivor's remorse', a root cause of PTSD suffered by so many DMZ War veterans. This is further complicated by these GIs never having been thanked or acknowledged for enabling our children to be born.Read Unremembered Victory and learn how close we came to WWIII but for this thin line of 4,000 hapless ordinary GIs who turned out quite extradentary in spooking the enemy into submission. Overall, the big take-away from Unremembered Victory is that we are a whole lot better than we are told. Since GIs were randomly selected out of the ranks by a computer in the Pentagon, swapping in any 4,000 tops yanked out of Vietnam (sans Group Ws who were ONLY send to Nam) and the result would have been exactly the same. The ordinary were enough because that is who we are. Unremembered Victory is a story about the power of believing in each other. Here is how it ends ...You had to be part angel to be out on the DMZ in the winter of '68 to do what had to be done, trying so hard to put the interest of other so far ahead of your own. Americans have to be part angel be meet the TALL ORDER that must be met for there to be America - Everyone trying to believe in each other everywhere, all the time, no exceptions. Fortunately, the DMZ War '68 taught Dan that there would always be enough who are part angel to carry those who are not.
Unremembered Victory is a 1968 story about 4000 hapless ordinary army GIs, mostly conscripts, on the Korean DMZ who faced a threatened invasion by a North Korean enemy 200 times their size. Not a problem, there is a Nuclear option. Just saying no to a 2nd Vietnam, if the line did not hold, now declassified op orders say we were going nuke, sea and air, complete with a dozen atomic cannons. All winter and spring the line was assaulted by crack North Korean commandos. GIs and KATUSAs (integrated troops) died. A news blackout was declared regarding all things about the line holding so, in case the line caved, going nuke that would end the world could be done without the muss and fuss of public opinion.The line did hold because the enemy backed down. South Korea, unencumbered by North Korean harassment, leaped in less than two generations from mud and sticks to a first world power. Yet still the news blackout never stops. The DMZ War cannot be found mentioned in history books, war museums, movies and other mainstream media. Perhaps this story, so full of honor, trust and success, is just too contradictory of the one story of the Boomer generation, Vietnam, so full of obscenity, betrayal and failure. As a result, thousands of DMV Vets fret that no one has a clue that there was ever a ground war in Korea 66-69 despite nearly 60 GIs KIA, 3X the total killed in Panama, Desert Storm and Grenada combined. Though the author met GIs who were later killed or wounded and were fortunately only just passing acquaintances, none close enough to cause anything like 'survivor's remorse', a root cause of PTSD suffered by so many DMZ War veterans. This is further complicated by these GIs never having been thanked or acknowledged for enabling our children to be born.Read Unremembered Victory and learn how close we came to WWIII but for this thin line of 4,000 hapless ordinary GIs who turned out quite extradentary in spooking the enemy into submission. Overall, the big take-away from Unremembered Victory is that we are a whole lot better than we are told. Since GIs were randomly selected out of the ranks by a computer in the Pentagon, swapping in any 4,000 tops yanked out of Vietnam (sans Group Ws who were ONLY send to Nam) and the result would have been exactly the same. The ordinary were enough because that is who we are. Unremembered Victory is a story about the power of believing in each other. Here is how it ends ...You had to be part angel to be out on the DMZ in the winter of '68 to do what had to be done, trying so hard to put the interest of other so far ahead of your own. Americans have to be part angel be meet the TALL ORDER that must be met for there to be America - Everyone trying to believe in each other everywhere, all the time, no exceptions. Fortunately, the DMZ War '68 taught Dan that there would always be enough who are part angel to carry those who are not.
