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| Heartbreak Ridge in Korea. |
(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator
George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere
in Time.” The column below, which was titled “A time to cry” was originally published
in the April 24, 1997 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)
During the 25 or so years that I have been trying to write
this article, I have always tried to steer away from getting involved in
politics. But, now the time has come when I think that I must stand up for what
I believe and say my piece about a certain event that has just appeared on the
horizon in our national politics.
Recently, our fine president, who served with honor on the
battlefields of Vietnam, has decided to donate a considerable sum of money, somewhere
around $30 million, to the North Korean Army. This large sum of money is
supposed to be used to help buy food and clothing for people that our heroic
president feels sorry for. Perhaps, this may be the proper way adapted for him
to take, to feed and clothe an army that was directly responsible for the
deaths of thousands upon thousands of American young men who will never have
the opportunity to see their families and loved ones ever again. Many will
forever sleep in a harsh land that we, as Americans, have nothing in common.
I don’t wish for much in this world, but I would like to
come face to face with our fearless and heroic leader and ask him a few questions,
and bring before him a few of the families that I know lost loves ones on the
frozen hills around the 38th Parallel. I also wish that it was
possible for him to have to experience some of the hardships of the 30 below
zero weather while trying to survive in a frozen foxhole. I know he would have
enjoyed spending Christmas Eve night of 1950 on a frozen hillside, in 31 degree
below zero temperatures while waiting for those thousands of North Korean
soldiers to attack. He would have enjoyed lying there in the frozen snow and
listening to the sounds the thousands of small tin bugles being blown by the
enemy prior to the charge up the hill of death. And, his Christmas evening meal
of C Rations, and the frozen beans would have been just delightful while trying
to eat and wait for the attack that would come only minutes away.
T’was the night before Christmas
And across the dark hills,
The mortars were silent
The battle had stilled.
I know he would have enjoyed looking across the vast bottom
that Christmas morning and seeing the many thousands of dead and wounded, lying
so thick until it was impossible to walk down the slopes without stepping on a
dead or dying enemy soldier. He would also have enjoyed hearing the cries of
the dying as they lay in the bloody snow banks along the bottom of the hill,
waiting for help from their comrades in arms that never came. He would have
thought it a very pleasant sight as the dawn broke across the vast bottom and
witnessed the Turk soldiers walking among the corpses of the enemy and checking
the mouths of the dead, looking for any gold teeth that they might find. Yes,
Mr. President, you should have ben there. I know you would have enjoyed every
minute.
The full moon gave luster
With a warm steady glow
On the dead and the dying
In the valley below.
Your patriotism and your willingness to defend your country
would have stood out like a sore thumb as a head count was conducted within
your assigned platoon. You would not have been alarmed when the names of your
best friends were added to the list of the dead who died that fateful Christmas
Day thousands of miles from home and loved ones. Those that fell that day did
not try to denounce their citizenship. They gave their all for the country they
loved. But, they would have preferred to live and return home to families and
those they loved.
Then a roar in the darkness
With a rattle and a boom,
Machine guns and mortars firing,
Was this to be our day of doom?
Had you been there, Mr. President, you would have remembered
the screaming from the thousands of North Koreans as they charged up the
snow-covered hill leaving death and destruction every step of the way. The moon
had minutes before disappeared behind a heavy cloud and darkness had covered
the hillside.
Like the waves of the ocean
By the thousands they came,
Like the gates of hell had opened,
Like the roaring of a thousand trains.
Many fell so close to our foxholes that one could see the expressions
of death on their faces that were lighted up by the flashes of the muzzles of
our weapons. Those of the enemy that crawled into the positions of our forces
were killed with bayonets in hand-to-hand combat there in the frozen foxholes.
But, they were not the only ones to die. Many friends and buddies died.
As wheat before the reaper
Wave on wave piled the dead.
Blood flowed like a river,
Til the ground was nearly red.
I believe, Mr. President, that had you been there, you would
be giving second thoughts about sending those millions of dollars over there to
help the North Koreans get on their feet to perhaps fight us again. I would not
want the youth of our country to witness another Heartbreak Ridge or another 38th
Parallel or another Frozen Chosen.
With the dawn came the end of battle
As our buddies lay around.
T’was a Christmas to be remembered
As we placed them in the frozen ground.
The decision will be made by you, Mr. President, but I
believe that the many thousands of those in need within this country we call
ours, should be helped first. There are those who yet remember the horrors of a
war that our president and many of our citizens have forgotten.
And, to add to that decision, it should be a law hat anyone
who tries to sing our national anthem and disgraces it by adding bop and funk
rock should be burned at the stake. Some versions that I have heard lately is a
disgrace to the memory of those gallant men and women who gave their lives in
the defense of our beloved country.
(Singleton, the author
of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79
on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident
of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia
Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo
County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine
paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time
among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the
administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec.
14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in
May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did
you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote
a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life
magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971
edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in
Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are
available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County
Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week
for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work
and memory alive.)
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