Letter from korea

Media

Part of The Philippine Educator

Title: Letter from korea
Language: English
Year: 1953
Rights
Fulltext: 22 June 1953 \$~in M Y dear Colonel B~lao: rr11 1 Since the 14th hit &>rea, I 1 , A!l • . bave been planning to make a J1il):! report to you but when we were b!l)! in ate· reserve urea, I had nothing worthJ: l'lll! while to report about and when we moved llilalitr to the frontlines more than a month ago, ui ilir " •. we were not allowed to announce our prethE at· sence on the line." A couple of days ago, Jttiiilly' we teceived our clearance, so I hasten to llught put you up-to-date on the 14th. !r!ltill. While in the reserve area where we stayed three weeks, we received a com·mendation for our ordnance boys, one for I ~the appearance of our CP, and one for Ia I!!~ the excellence of our training. The Com11 8!1, I m~diag General, X Corps, personally a':&;~ walked our patrol course and came out of !11,.'~'~ 0 it full of praise for the conduct and ef~u~ · ·ficiency ·of the boys. · irtllruf ~ When we finally reli,ved an American Ko!tl; battalion on the line, we completed relief ~' Q operations in twelve hours without a sinin j06l gle incident. The whole operation was Ko!t!~ _ so smooth, both the X Corps and 45th b. Uu division commanders who were present, !bat W. spoke highly of the speed and efficiency ~ up:r of the relief. I sent my people up the 1!. er<n line a couple of days before relief so co""'-ordination was perfect. Two days after hitting the line, we received a company size probe and the boys beat back the Reds in the usual Avenger manner. Less than two days later, elements of our Able Company, captured a POW with arms. A week later, the same unit turned in another prisoner. Prisoners in this business count a lot beeause they are the most fruitful source o~ information. It requires real training _and . self-control to capture a live prisonC)r. For the month we captured the two . . Colonel Nicanor Jimenez CO, 14tk. BCT "Avengers" prisoners, the entire 45th Inf Division turned in only four prisoners and twlil of these were ours. We received a commendation for this feat from the commanding general, 45th Inf Div, a copy of which we are enclosing with this letter. One of our boys, Pfc (now Cpl) Aquilino Agustin of Sta Maria, Laguna, received the first Silver Star to be awarded to a Fil.ipino in Korea. We enclose a copy of his citation for your information. This hoy confirmed once again the superior benefits of rigid training and the native fighting ability of the . Filipino. Agustin was never an outstanding soldier. He was just an ordinary soldier doing things the A vengP-r way. All he had was the opportunity to prove his capabilities and he produced. 1 have no doubt any Avenger wou\d have responded in the same manner under similar conditions. By the way, the Silver Star award was one of the fastest approved in Korea. Less than"twenty-four hours after the award was initiated by the diYision commander, it was approved by General Clark and the award made at the hospital 5 '>£ 6 ' ( PHILIPPINE ARMED FORCES JOURNAL HEADQUARTERS 45TH INFANTRY DIVISION Office of t he Commanding General APO 86~ SUBJECT: Letter of Appr eciation TO: ,, Colonel Ni canor Jimenez Con~anding Officer 14th ECT, FEFTOK 31 May 1953 • In l ess than fourteen uc.ys after being committed to the line, your :;jjin.ted• "Avengars" ;1ave captured t wo prisoners of war. A record achieve~ ment such as th~s promrts mP. to send you my heartiest congratulations. The very evident enthusiasm of yot:r har d- hitting combat team, coupled •·ritfl the vi tal psychological warf <1r e campaign bei ns conducted, have prcfduced superior result s . By permitting safe conduct to enemy personnel wbo approach f riendly lines i n groups of one or t wo with probable intentions t o st:r rendcr, you have displ ayed a full understanding of the problems facin& · L'nited Nations troops cneaged with the cnei::,;·. C TQo often t he inexperienced infantry soldier opens fire on potential prisoner s of wc.r thereby di scouragine t heir surrender and depriving ovr uni~s of val uable intel l i Gence i nformation. The conduct of the men of you~ command in the two recent instances illustrates their cambat sea~oned ness, a l ertness, and good judgment. .. Agai~ I congratulate you and the men of your combat team for yo~~ spl endi d contribt:~ion t~ the mission of the 45th Infantry Divis~on. You have accompl i shed, in the traditional "Thunderbird" manner, a job well done. y Brigadier Gerlf ~d States Army :r~~~~ Letter of commendetion sent to the "Avengers" by Brigec{ier St'J1er111 P. D. ~illlifiir··~~f .tli•~-= 45th ''Thunderbird" lnfenhy DMslon. U. S. lvflfl/ In rortc ra:i/4 LETTER FROM KOREA 7 -~. by the division . commander. It was very proud moment for all of us. a \more important: better men. I know it is good to get medals but I prefer to develop men rather than heroes. Some commanders impress heroism so much, boys get the idea th!t if they make ,good on the line they can do anything outs!~e. Hero worship has destroyed the discipline of many boys because they get heady with pride. That situation is tragic. We'll get the heroes if\ we can; I'll take a gentleman any time. · The very next day after the award, the 14th and the Philippines received a signal honor when' anJ American-built s·:eel bridge connecting an artillery bathl~on with the MSR was named after Pfc Ambrosi0 Corpuz of Camiling, Tarlac, our first KIA from a mortar shell. while in his fighting bunker. All division brass attended the impressive dedication cerffinony. In the reserve area, 01.1 the MLR, forward of the MLR, the Avengers have earned a t eputation for courage and effi~cy that is hard to beat. I am positive that our thc:ough training in Mari'quina and Korea, contributed largely to this solid accomplishment. Effect of training is also reflected in the. discipline of• the boys. We did not have a single serious case of discipline since we hit' Korea. Most of the disciplinary ills which plagued previous PEFTOK units are absent in the 14th. This we attribute to healthful companionships enhanced by a strong sense of unit pride, fortified by constant training and a ~ron•g and abiding faith in God. Boys behaved not because of fear but because they were ashamed to put their unit and companions down. Secretary Castelo, ten Vargas, Capt Pargas, Col Sayson, and some other officers vi&ited our positions recently. At · our most forward platoon, Secretary Castelo and party were given a briefing by the platoon leader, Lt Garrucho. The most impressed visitors there were the division, commander, Gen Vargas, and Capt Pargas who of course understood the beauty of the whole thing. The fighting bunkers, gun positions and Jiving quarters of the boys on the line drew high praise from the brass. As to our battalion CP, we have long since earned the reputation of having the best battalion CP on the eastern sector. ·All we had to do was bring Mariquina to Korea including the hexagon which we dismantled and prefabricated, then rebuilt in Korea and ·you )(now what to expect. From the very beginning, I had one ob. jective for the 14th BCT. I insisted that all men Qf this battalio\l retttn to the Philippines better soldiers, and what is In Korea, I estimate that only 10% of our time is spent in combat, the rest in reserve areas. As the Filipino soldier especially when he is well trained, has very few peers in combat, performance Ol'll the line is normally excellent for Filipino troops. It is when they get ihfeoted with the boredom of reserve area routine and exposed to the temptations of rest camps that the true test for men come to the fore. It is easy for weak men to degenerate while in training areas. It takes real teamwork, a stout heart, a proper frame of mind~ and correct disciplinary training to make the boys toe the line. I believe we have succeeded in inculcating this idea to our men. God willing, we'll take this •idea back home. If we have recited here the accomplishments of the 14th BCT, it is less to blow our horn as to reaffirm to you what we have always said: That no liMA unit has ever been identified with failure. We felt then even as we do now that the 14th had to make good if only to deserve the well-wishes and confidence of people like you and our comrades-in-arms of the liMA. Please pass on to the members of your command what few observations I have made here. In someway or other, they may gain some lessons from this letter. The officers and men of the 14th BCT wish to convey to you and all'~the men of liMA our sincerest fraternal well wishes. Sincerely, s/Nicanor T Jimenez t/NICANOR T JIMENEZ Cohnel, Inf (GSC) Commanding .,