Hawai'i honors Korean War veterans
By Allison Schaefers
Advertiser Staff Writer
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
Ernest Elizondo, 71, a Korean War veteran whose birthday fell on the 50th anniversary of the armistice that ended that war, said yesterday that he finally got his fondest birthday wish — a hero's welcome home.
A ceremony yesterday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl marked the 50th anniversary of the armistice that ended the Korean War. Veterans from the various services lay wreaths as part of the event.
"This is the first welcome home that we've had in 50 years," said Elizondo, who came from Brownsville, Texas, to attend the National Korean War Armistice Day Commemoration Ceremony. "I've never been treated like this before. It's a dream come true. This is one of my happiest birthdays ever."
Elizondo was one of about 600 people who gathered yesterday morning at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl to honor warriors, both living and fallen.
The ceremony included a presentation of wreaths, a 21-gun salute and a missing man formation flyover by helicopters of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) Aviation Brigade. Also, America's newest 37-cent postage stamp — the Korean War Veterans Memorial stamp — was unveiled.
"It was a very moving ceremony," said Elizondo, who was still in his teens when North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. The war ended three years later with the armistice on his birthday, July 27.
"That was quite a birthday," Elizondo said of the day that leaders signed a cease-fire agreement in Panmunjom, a village in South Korea's Demilitarized Zone, and silenced the guns in a war that left up to 5 million people dead, injured or missing.
Troops from Hawai'i were the first deployed during the Korean War, that's why "Hawai'i's sons bore the highest losses," said Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, state adjutant general.
"I speak on behalf of the 17,000 Korean War veterans who live here in Hawai'i and for those 456 whose voices have been silenced by the weapons of war," said retired Brig. Gen. Irwin K. Cockett Jr., United States Army. "It was a killing field ... and on our lips and in our minds rests the question, 'Was it all worth it?' "
The Korean War ended without a peace treaty, with more than 36,000 Americans killed and 103,000 wounded. Recently, tensions have spiked again because of North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
But despite suffering the agony of war fought in blistering heat and fierce cold, over unfamiliar terrain and with the ever-present stench of death, most Korean War veterans would say "it was worth it," Cockett said.
Marc Dixon, senior communication specialist for the postal service, Goichi Tamaye, a Korean War veteran from Hawai'i, and retired Brig. Gen. Irwin Cockett Jr. unveil a stamp honoring veterans of the war.
Tensions between North and South Korea still run high but thanks to those who fought the Korean War, South Korea today stands as "a cornerstone of economic, social and religious freedom," said retired Army Gen. Fred C. Weyand, a Korean War veteran, who gave the keynote address.
"Now here in this hallowed ground, in this final resting place of America's heroes, let us give thanks for their selfless service and sacrifices," Weyand said. "And may God bless America. It's one nation under God, and with all its faults, it's still mankind's greatest hope for peace and freedom."
Korean War veterans and the South Koreans they helped defend will always remember the sacrifices of America's war heroes, said the Honorable Heung Sik Choi, consul general, Republic of Korea.
"I stand here with a sense of deep humility for the fallen soldiers who are buried here in this cemetery," Choi said. "Some people call the Korean War the Forgotten War, but we will never forget the soldiers from Hawai'i who came to my country to defend it."
Ed Fernandez, a disabled Korean War veteran from Texas who has had more than 76 surgeries, said that after living through the horror of war, he doesn't know how anyone could ever forget the price so many paid to preserve freedom.
Waves of emotion come over Fernandez's face as he recalled the death of a young soldier who was eagerly awaiting the birth of a baby.
"He showed me a picture of his pregnant wife. She was due in December, I think," Fernandez said. "He died about then."
Ramona Aguirre of Pearl City recalls how difficult the war was on her family when her brother, Louis Baldovi of Kane'ohe, was sent to fight.
"We were always worrying about my brother and waiting for his letters," Aguirre said. "We didn't know if he would make it back."
War was hard on all of the families, said Lehua McColgan of Kaimuki, whose husband, Arthur Ku'ulei McColgan, is buried at Punchbowl. Arthur McColgan survived the Korean War, but the 18-months he spent overseas still bring back bad memories for her.
"There still isn't closure for me," Lehua McColgan said. "They weren't seen as heroes. Today might have been a closure for many (veterans), but I still can't feel that yet. My husband didn't feel that."
