Bill Sykes' Newsletter from America.
(Special Edition - Mid February 2003)
An ex-Brit gives his views-(without fear
or favor)---of the American Scene
Another fly in the ointment?
Washington, (Wednesday 12th of February). It
was reported that CIA Director George Tenant, whilst testifying
at a Senate Committee, apparently confirmed that North
Korea has an untested ballistic missile, (Taepo Dong 2),
which has the capability of hitting the west coast of
America as well as Alaska and Hawaii.
 The
advent of North Korea resuming nuclear production in addition
to the testing of advanced long range missiles, brought
initial threats from Washington at the beginning of February,
which turned to lukewarm efforts by the United States
at political negotiation when they realized that North
Korea had one million military personnel under arms.
In comparison, we the United States have kept a force
of thirty-seven thousand, (give or take a couple of thousand),
at the Panmunjon military demarcation line on the 39th
parallel.
In a recent American TV program the American Force Commander
General Charles Campbell was reluctant to admit that his
small force, which has been located on the demarcation
line between North and South Korea since the armistice
was signed in 1953, was any deterrent to a force of one
million North Korean troops. When asked the question;
“What are we doing there”, he said that it
was American policy based upon national and common interests
to give South Korea freedom of choice. (Very diplomatic
answer--the old communist red herring answer).
 He
didn’t mention the large demonstrations, which have
been taking place in Seoul, protesting the presence of
American troops in South Korea with the burning of American
flags and assaults upon American military personnel. The
North Koreans resent the Bush doctrine connecting them
as part of the infamous “Axis of Evil”. South
Korean citizens were asked by a reporter in Seoul who
they were more afraid of, Kim Il Sung, (the dictatorial
head of North Korea), or President Bush, and hedging their
bets gave the answer, “We are more afraid of the
Americans than North Koreans.
Prediction: The unification of Korea is on the cards in
the very near future.
Whilst we are on the subject of Nuclear weapons---I see
that Iran has uncovered deposits of Uranium, which can
be mined to support their nuclear power production for
civilian purposes!
Relevant background data:
1948: The Republic of Korea, (South Korea), and
The Peoples Republic of Korea, (North Korea), were formed.
 1950:
North Korea invaded South Korea in June of 1950, which
started the Korean war. (1950/1953).
Fearing that the attack by Communist North Korea against
South Korea could lead to Communist gains elsewhere in
Asia, President Harry Truman sent American troops to fight
in the war. Although formally a United Nations undertaking,
the Korean operation was lead by US army troops. Allied
troops landed at Inchon and stopped the North Korean advance.
The UN forces pushed into North Korea towards the Yalu
river that borders China. In late November and December
of 1950 China responded, sending hundreds of thousands
of Chinese troops to fight alongside the North Korean
soldiers.
 1953:
An armistice was signed at Panmunjon on the 39th parallel,
after 27,000 allied troops had died in combat.
The United States has stationed troops in South Korea
ever since.
1961: A coup by military officers of the South Korean
army led by General Park Chung Hee took control of South
Korea.
1979: General Park Chung Hee was assassinated.
Personal story concerning Korea.
In 1942 I began serving a seven and five year
tour of duty as a British regular soldier, and finished
my seven years of active duty on the 31st of October 1949,
just before the Korean War began, I was recalled to the
Colors in the Spring of 1950 and ordered to report for
a physical examination in Swindon, Wiltshire. The Doctor
who examined me said, “ I can see that you broke
the big toe on your left foot sometime during your active
duty and it still causes you problems, and I would suggest
that you really don’t want to go to Korea, do you”.
 My
reply was, “Yes, I did break the toe in question,
(and being the good soldier that I was), I’m not
sure whether I want to go to Korea or not”. Obviously
I was still young and foolish and didn’t fully realize
that Doctor X was giving me an out. Dr. X repeated his
observation, “You really don’t want to go
to Korea do you”, and I finally got his point and
said, “You’re the Doctor” which gave
him the opportunity to downgrade my physical classification
from A1 to C3, which got me out of the Korean war. Thank
you Doctor X.
By the way if you are interested as to how I broke the
big toe on my left foot, the story goes something like
this.
During the summer of 1949 when I was serving in Germany
with the British Army of the Rhine, (BAOR), I traveled
by train to a stadium in Hamburg to watch a heavyweight
boxing match between Max Schmelling, (The German boxer
who defeated Joe Louis in their first encounter, and was
slaughtered by Joe Louis in their return fight), and Walter
Neusel (The Blonde Bombshell). At the start of the train
journey my foot got caught in the door of the moving train,
as it pulled out of Hamburg station, and I suffered the
injury that was going to get me out of the Korean war.
Incidentally Max Schmelling was a paratrooper with the
German Army and parachuted into Crete during World War
two, hence my desire to see him fight.
Considering this was an ”exhibition” fight,
I must say what a great performance they both put up which
made me forget for a couple of hours the pain in my foot.
Obviously you really didn’t want to know all about
this, but I had to relate why I didn’t serve in
Korea.
We welcome feedback about any of the contents
of these newsletters. Please send all correspondence to
bill_sykes@huddersfield1.co.uk
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