[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8009]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    HILL 303, KOREA--AUGUST 17, 1950

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Poe) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, when the world is in trouble, when 
peoples throughout history are in need of help because of oppression, 
and they need freedom and liberty, those nations always call 911.
  And who answers on the other end of that call? Throughout the history 
of this great Nation, America answers. We always answer the call when 
somebody is in trouble and they need help. And such an occurrence 
occurred in 1950.
  In 1950, World War II was over with. The United States had downsized 
its military. Basically, we were unprepared for another war. But war 
picks its own opportunities.
  What occurred in 1950 was that in the Korean Peninsula, North Korea, 
with the aid of the Chinese, invaded our ally South Korea. They went 
into the heartland of South Korea and, of course, South Korea called 
911.
  America answered. They called it a U.N. operation, but history shows 
that U.N. operations basically are American operations, where Americans 
go and fight those battles.
  Our country also called it a conflict. Our own President, at that 
time, referred to it as a police action, but it was neither of those. 
It was a war. It was a war where Americans went and fought.
  I want to tell you about one such action that occurred in the Korean 
War, Mr. Speaker. You may or may not have ever heard of Hill 303 in 
South Korea. The Americans, under the control and operation of the 2nd 
Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division, had the 
high ground on Hill 303. Approaching them were a superior number of 
North Korean communists coming to take that hill. The Americans were 
pushed off that hill, except for a small group of Americans who refused 
to leave.
  Company G, a mortar company, and Company H stayed on the hill. 
Approaching troops--at first the Americans thought that these 
approaching troops were South Koreans coming to help them. But it 
turned out, of course, they were North Koreans. But they held their 
ground anyway, and they were overrun by the North Koreans.
  And here's what happened after the Americans retook the hill. As they 
retook the hill, they found out that those members of Mortar Company G 
and Company H, those that had been captured, had their hands tied 
behind their backs, that they were put in a gully there in South Korea, 
unknown to anybody, and they were machine-gunned down. Forty of the 45 
were murdered. The other five were able to survive, and some escaped.
  This weekend, this Nation honored our war dead for all wars. And I 
want to thank a school in my district, Creekwood Middle School in 
Kingwood, Texas, for honoring and remembering those 40 Americans that 
were murdered on Hill 303 in 1950 when the Americans held that ground 
and were overrun by the North Koreans.
  Creekwood Middle School has a history of honoring American history, 
especially in our wars. They did a history project not too many years 
ago on World War I. But with this project that they had on Saturday of 
last weekend, they honored these men, as they should have, that were 
murdered on Hill 303. They have a memorial there at Creekwood Middle 
School for them, probably the only memorial in the United States that 
honors those men at Hill 303 in Korea. There is one in South Korea, 
however.
  One of the people that was present then and also present Monday on 
Memorial Day at the Houston National Cemetery was Donald Foisie. Donald 
Foisie, of Atascocita, Texas, is 80 years old. He got the Purple Heart 
that day because he was able to survive that onslaught of the North 
Koreans.
  At this time, Mr. Speaker, I want to mention the names of the 40 
members of the Army that were captured and murdered that day by the 
North Korean communists.

       Pvt Leroy Abott; Pvt Leo W. Jacques; Pfc Leroy Bone; Pfc 
     Richard Janhnke; Pvt Arthur W. Borst; Pfc Raymond J. 
     Karaiseky; Sgt. Ray A. Briley; Pvt Herbert R. McKenzie; Pfc 
     Benjamin Bristow; Pvt Milton J. Mlaskac.
       Pvt Billie J. Causey; Pvt Houston Monfort; Pvt John W. 
     Collins; Pvt Melvin W. Morden; Pvt Johnny K. Dooley; 2Lt 
     Cecil Newman, Jr.; Pvt Cecil C. Edwards; Pvt Robert J. 
     O'Brien; Pfc Harlon Feltner; Pfc Brook T. Powell.
       Pvt Richard T. Finnigan; Pvt Bruce A. Reams; Pvt Kenneth G. 
     Fletke; Cpl Ernest Regney, Jr.; Pvt Arthur S. Garcia; Pfc 
     Walter Schuman; Pvt Charles Hastings; Pvt George Semosky, 
     Jr.; Pfc Antonio Hernandez; Pfc John W. Simmons.
       Pvt Joseph M. Herndon; Cpl Glen L. Tangman; Pvt John J. 
     Hilgerson, Jr.; Pfc Tony Tavares; Pvt Billy R. Hogan; Pvt 
     William D. Trammel; Pvt Glenn E. Huffman; Cpl William M. 
     Williams; Sgt Robert A. Humes; Cpl Siegfried S. Zimniuch.

  Thirty-seven thousand Americans died in Korea. When the war was over, 
it just ended. There was no peace treaty. It just stopped. It's a 
cease-fire. We still have Americans at the 38th Parallel guarding that 
border.
  When those troops came home 60 years ago, they were ignored. Unlike 
Vietnam--those veterans were abused. Those troops that came home from 
Korea were just basically ignored. America was more interested in 
Marilyn Monroe marrying the great baseball player, Joe DiMaggio, and 
this new rock star, Elvis Presley, than it was in honoring our Korean 
veterans and our war dead.
  It's important that America always honor those that served and did 
not return, and those that served and returned, those that served and 
returned with the wounds of war. For, Mr. Speaker, the worst casualty 
of war is to be forgotten.
  And that's just the way it is.

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