Question for Quotation 31: How did Brady compare fighting in the winter to fighting in the summer? How might bitter cold winters affect both sides? Research to find out how winter fighting affected all aspects of the Korean War such as uniforms, equipment, and availability of resources.

1st Narrator: In the United States, the public seemed less and less interested in the war. Leonard Korgie found out that when he went home on leave. No one seemed to understand what he had been through:
 

Quotation 32: "I couldn't get over how luxurious and clean everything was. Living was so easy. Korea had been such a struggle. A great number of people came over to meet me and to talk. I wanted to wallow in all this happiness, but somehow I just couldn't. I began to notice I had a hard time talking to people. I put a shield between myself and my friends. I felt anxious about everything but didn't know why. My family and friends were concerned about Korea, but more important, they were confused about it. They couldn't understand the losing, the winning, the losing, the winning. What were these tremendous casualties all about? What kind of a police action was it that had dead and wounded reported in small-town weekly newspapers? That had local boys dead or home with missing arms and legs? ?hat kind of Army have we got over there? You guys can't do anything against North Koreans.' I kept my mouth shut. They would have to learn about limited conventional warfare themselves. They would have to get the drift without my help. How could I explain it? I didn't understand it myself.

What really surprised me was how many of my relatives and friends couldn't believe Korea was a "real" war, that I had actually been in combat. When I got home in 1951, one of my friends remarked, 'Lennie, what'd you get the Purple Heart for, get spiked stealing second?' That hurt. I was introduced to a Marine who had been at the Chosin Reservoir [bitter fighting near the Chinese border]. We didn't say much to each other. Didn't need to, we both understood."

(Source: Donald Knox and Alfred Coppel. The Korean War: Uncertain Victory, Vol.II. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanivich, 1988: Vol. II: 171-72)

Question for Quotation 32: Why did Korgie feel isolated from friends and relatives at home? Why do you think there was confusion on the homefront about the Korean War? Research what was happening in the U.S. during the Korean War and public response to the war.

2nd Narrator: By the summer of 1952, many Americans were supporting Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was running for President of the United States. Eisenhower was a hero of World War II and was running on a platform to end the Korean War. His son, John, was bound for Korea. John Eisenhower remembered his father's goodbye:









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