Paul Phillips ranks Dec. 10, 1950, as probably the worst day of his life. Former POW confident
in military’s abilityBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comThat is when he was taken prisoner by Chinese communists and held for 51/2 months in a prisoner-of-war camp on the North Korean side of the Yalu River.
That was until Sept. 11, when he watched the tragic events at the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon with the rest of the world.
"I was very, very sad," said Phillips, 71. "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. ... I knew that sooner or later something like that might happen, but I couldn't believe that they took one of our airplanes and rammed it into one of our buildings."
Phillips, who retired in the islands in 1969, was honored by fellow Marines at the annual POW-MIA recognition day ceremony at Kaneohe Bay.
Following yesterday's ceremony, Phillips said he is confident that today's Marines are ready for the new war against terrorism. He added: "I'm very proud of Bush. I think he is the right man for the job although I may have not been all that sure during the election."
Several young Marines who attended the special ceremony echoed Phillips' sentiments.
"We know that terrorism exists in the world today," said Cpl. Jessica Wall, 20, "and we are prepared for it. It's our job in the military to hold these people accountable."
Pfc. Timothy Johnson, who enlisted after graduating from high school last year, added: "This whole thing seems like a dream. It is unbelievable.
"But the people who did this have to be held accountable for their actions."
Johnson, 18, said he chose the Marine Corps because "I wanted to make something of myself. I know the next four years are important in my development. I know the Marine Corps would put me on the right track."
During the ceremony, Korean War veteran Bob Talmadge, spokesman of the Aloha chapter of the Chosin Few, recalled that events of Korean War Chosin Reservoir campaign where, over a two-week period in the winter of 1950, an American Marine division of 15,000 men battled its way out an entrapment of 12 Chinese communist divisions consisting of 150,000 soldiers.
It was during that campaign in the Sudong area that Phillips, just 20 and a truck driver from Alabama, was taken prisoner after being wounded twice by communist rifle fire. Wounded, he was forced to march with his hands tied behind his back for more than 60 miles in the next 10 days in the cold Siberian winter to a POW camp. In March 1951, 18 Marines and one Army soldier were placed on a truck and taken south; on May 24 they found themselves in the midst of an American artillery barrage.
Phillips and his 18 colleagues left when their Chinese guards fled for cover. Two days later, an Army tank unit rescued the 19 men, believed to be the largest group of POWs to escape North Korean or Chinese captivity and the only group to escape after being held captive for such a long period of time.
Talmadge said the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory hopes to repatriate 14 sets of remains uncovered at the Chosin Reservoir and another four sets in western North Korea, believed to be those of Army soldiers, from Korea next week.
