We talks about his experience as one of the few African American soldiers in his company while serving as a machine gunner in the u. S. Marines. The interview project was underwritten by south koreas ministry of patriots and veterans affairs. James my name is james sharp. When i was in korea i was marine pfg. And im very pleased to be doing this interview with you, on may 29, 2014. That is a long time after the end of the war. So you will have to forgive any memory lapses i may encounter. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much again. Would you please share your birthday and birthplace. James my birthday is may 28, 1933, and that was in new york city. I was born in York Hospital in new york city. Yesterday was your birthday. How was it . James it was wonderful. My daughter was here. One of my grandchildren was here. He came early, and we went out to play golf, which was my first time playing golf, and over three years, because of the entry to my leg. Oh. James the cancer in my leg. It was a very wonderful birthday. Thank you. Please tell me about your family background, the school you went to. In york city . City . Went to in new york james in new york city, yes. I went to a school that is now called the Fashion Institute of technology. You were in the Fashion Institute . James i tried, but i never worked at it at all. I cannot sew a button on now. [laughter] but, yes. Then i went into the marine corps when i was 19 years old. The war in korea was going on. It was a calling. I had always wanted to be in the military. I had cousins and uncles and a godfather that served in the military during world war i and world war ii. So korea was my opportunity to participate and help. And i am glad that i did. When did you graduate high school . James uh, 19 i did not graduate. I Left High School in 1950, and i went into the marines in 1951. Mmm. Did you know anything about korea at the time . James oh yes. How . James the chosen reservoir was a very, very well covered media event in those days. The country literally was on edge hoping that the marines could get their themselves, out of the reservoir, and back to the shoreline, where they would be relatively safe. That part of the war attracted a lot of young people. Attracted, not scared them off . James no. It attracted a lot of young people to come into the service. Wow. James and i was very fortunate because when i got to korea, i was assigned to the company, fox company, second battalion, seventh marines. That company was very instrumental in holding the pass open, from the chinese, in order to allow the marines to continue their march out of the encirclement. Before we go into that part of the war, i want to talk more about where did you get the basic military training . What was your specialty and so on . James paris island, south carolina, was where i attended boot camp. I later went out to camp pendleton, en route to korea, where we had our basic infantry training. I was a machine gunner, a pretty good one at that. So, when i arrived in korea, i was assigned to the machine gun platoon of fox company, second battalion, seventh marines. What battalion . Second battalion. James second battalion, seventh marine regiment. That was the company that held the pass open. The Company Commander received the medal of honor. Captain barber. Yes. James so just being a member of the company gave a high sense of pride, and you kind of got a swagger for being a member of that company. Hmm, must be. When did you leave korea . The ship. Do you remember the month and year . James i think it was february of 1952. The ship was the general wiegel. Wiegel. James it took us about 13, 14 days to arrive. We went in through inchon in landing boats. You did not stop in japan . James yes, we did. We stopped in how was that sail . Did you have seasick . James no, not at all. You are very exceptional. James i do not think so. Many people told me they want to die. James it was not that bad. Ok. James it was a long time, but it was not that rough. I never had seasickness. Let me ask you this question. In parris island, when he received the basic military training, how many africanamericans do you see, by percentage . James i have a photograph of that. I looked at it, and i am the only africanamerican in my platoon. That would have been about 120 people, and i was the only africanamerican. And when we arrived in fox company, second battalion, seventh marines, we had four or five, two of whom were killed, and three made it out. I talked with one of those yesterday. He lives in new york, on long island. That is the only other one from fox company i know of, but at the peak there was five, and two got killed. Im going to ask you more questions about this in the korean war, but i want to also ask your question about how you were treated in the boot camp, in parris island. I mean if you do not like the question, you do not have to answer, but i really want to know, and i think it is important for young generations and americans to know about those things. James when i went into the marine corps, it had just been integrated a couple of years, not very many. I think integration took place in 1948. President truman ordered that all the services integrate their ranks. And so korea was the first war that i cannot say that. The first modernday war that, where African Americans were able to participate in combat. Both as a unit and as an individual being assigned to units. That was a significant time. So that means before the korean war, the africanamerican soldiers were not allowed to participate in the combat . James not as a unit or as individuals in the marine corps. They obviously were every marine is a rifleman. Africanamericans were involved in some fights when the fights came to them. As, especially in the islands, when they landed during world war ii, the marine landings had to be supported by Service Units at the beach receiving supplies, sorting out supplies and moving supplies up to the front lines. Oftentimes the japanese would attack those supply units, and they had to fight, but they were not assigned fighting. They had to know how, and they did. So, on occasion, they would get shot at, and we had a dory miller, who was a sailor, get a navy cross for his activities on december 7, when the japanese bombed pearl harbor. Dory miller was a hero, an africanamerican navy person. So here, integrate means that africanamerican soldiers integrated into a unit, official unit. Legally they are representing American Military units. James exactly. Exactly. Have you been singled out and being treated badly or . James no. Boot, marines are a different breed of person. People. And the logistics of boot camp are such that the area from which you enlist, they get a certain number of recruits together from that area, give them a shipping date, and they all meet, and they all go down to parris island. Typically they stay together. So, what im saying is, when i was in boot camp, although it was in south carolina, my colleagues were all new yorkers. For the most part. Ah. James different areas of new york, but all from new york city. So theres a different understanding of human beings from new york than there was in the deep south. That is what nyc represents in american politics, even now. James thats right. The last melting pot we have in this country. Please tell me about the scene first thought when you landed in inchon. How was korea . How was landscape . How was city . How was people . James there were no high buildings. We did not see people. We landed by landing craft, wading up to the beach in water up to our hips. When we got to the beach, we were trucked out and away. I think we went up to kimpo initially by truck. From there, to one of those mountains. One of those. [laughter] how was people . What did you feel about the Korean People when you saw them . James i did not see very many Korean People. The Korean People that we saw were what we called kfcs, the Korean Service corps. That was the extent of it. I was able to, i was chosen to be a part of the honor guard that met and protected president eisenhower when he came over. So i did get to see vietnamese people, but no interaction. We were about business. In late 1952. It was before elections, and he was elected in 1952. Oh, right, right, right. So you took truck to kimpo, and you saw those. Was it completely devastated . James not completely, but certainly nothing like now. There was not any high buildings at all. People were, i suppose, not living in, you know, had you imagined that you would be in a country you never knew before . You knew that because, you knew korea because of that one battle, but before that you did not know, right . James no. What were you thinking at the time . James getting home alive was the prevailing thought. You had to help your buddies. You watch your buddys back and hope that they watch your back and you hope you get home. Did you regret . James no, no, no. I think of the recent wars that the United States has involved itself in, i think the korean war was the one that produced the best results, for a number of reasons. The invasion from the north was initially defended by the people of, the Korean People of the south. And so, americans went in, and others, the United Nations went in, to help the Korean People of the south help themselves. And they did. Then after the war was over, the economic buildup of korea was just astounding. Tell me about your typical day of your mission . What was the situation . Did you move from kimpo to one of those mountains and moving all around all the time . Or did you station at one camp . And tell me about your typical day. James we were on line typically for 35, 40 days at a time. The trench line. We had started the trench line warfare. So it was building trench lines and fighting from trench lines and going out on night patrols. And occupying hills in front of the trench lines as outposts, so that you would have a means of hearing and identifying and seeing Chinese Movement headed toward our trench line. That was where you would spend 35, 40 days. At one time we spent 83 days on line, which was an exceptional amount of time to be on line. While youre on line, you are defending the trench line, you are also out on patrol every night in front of you. So you cross your own barbed wire, cross your own minefields, and go out into the open areas, in front of your line, in order to protect it. So we had outposts, some as much as a half mile in front of the line, that had to be they were listening posts, there were outposts. And then there was what we call the mlr, the main line of resistance. Mhmm. What was it on those 83 days you were up . James the 83 days it was summertime, late 1952. Summer or autumn or winter . Was it hot . James yes, it was warm, it was in the autumn. A piece of it was winter, though. Let me think of it. No, it was warm. It was into the autumn. And so it was not really hot. James it was hot at the beginning because it was across the summer. We got off the line just before thanksgiving. We did have thanksgiving in the rear after having been on the line for 83 days. They took us off for thanksgiving, and we went back up on december 24. Were there any severe battles, engagement with the chinese at the time that you stayed at the front for 83 days . James yes. Tell me about the typical day. Just describe the scene. James the typical day because we were static, in a trench line, we would receive lots of artillery fire or mortar fire during the day and sometimes during the night as well, mortar fire. Could not come out of the trench line without drawing sniper fire. That is scary. James well, it is war. You do what you do. Describe the day so that we all know how you lived that day. James you would be up most of the night on watch to be certain to be aware of any movement in front of your position. And you would be awake and aware of any patrols of our own. If you were not on the patrol yourself, you would be aware of other patrols out there. But being in machine guns as i was, the rifle squad that was assigned to have a patrol would choose their machine gun personnel to go along with them. When you are on patrol, machine gunners going with them . James yes. Yes. Was it heavy to move around . James do what you do. It is what we do. It was heavy. So . James we would carry it and have maybe one or two ammunition carriers. And that would last all of the dark hours. You would go out at dusk, and the sun went down just at dusk. You would start out into a defined patrol route, where you are going. And sometimes you run into chinese that are doing the same thing, patrolling. And you might have a firefight. Then you have to begin calling on your battle buddies to send out illumination, light, or mortars, or whatever the situation called for, to get back, in order to get back to the line. How close were you with the chinese . Worstcase . James worstcase, one of the hills they came, this was an outpost hill. We got into they attacked. The chinese attacked our outpost. We were able to hold them for a while, but somewhere there is a breach. And they got into our first set of trenches, we had two sets of trenches. One near the base of the hill and another a little higher on the hill. And the chinese got into the trench line that was near the base of the hill. So we had pretty close, i dont know, 50 yards or so. Some people had hand to hand combat because they had climbed up the hill and into our trench line, and some people were into real hand to hand. I did not get into that. Were you the only africanamerican in that 83 days . James in that 83 days, there was three of us. A young man from chicago and another fellow from new jersey. Both of them were killed. On that line, as a matter fact. On that 83day line, two of them were killed. How many were total in that 83 days in the trench . James total marines . Yes. James we probably had nearly 300 or so. Because you had a rifle company, you had special weapons. Like, in those days we had recoilless rifles that would be attached to you. So with all the attachments, the company was probably 300 men. How good a machine gunner where you . James i was the best. Meaning . James i was the best. There was a time one night when we had a patrol out, and the route that they were taking was to cross over a dike in the rice paddy, so they had to go up and over, and we had done that many times. And the way you cross the dike is you send a few people over, and then another few go. Well, the chinese had been watching us do that for awhile. And so, this particular night, they had a machine gun of their own set up on top of the dike. And when we had split the squad so that half was across the dike and the other half was waiting to get across, they turned loose a barrage of fire and ambushed the squad. Happily, those that were hit were not, they were just wounded, they were not killed. The proximity, the closeness of the chinese machine gun and our own marines, it was too close to send mortar fire or artillery fire. You did not know if you would hit your own people, and our people were pinned down. They couldnt raise their heads without being shot at. And at the time, this was relatively early in the war, we were still carrying radios that had wire. Not wireless. James not wireless. You had a big wire pack on your back, and you carried it to wherever you went on patrol. Well, i was not out with them, but i was on the radio. And i could hear what was going on. And when the squad leader ruled out any artillery or mortar fire because of the proximity, i got on the phone and said that i had a map for my machine gun targets that were calibrated on my machine gun. I was a. 50 caliber machine gun. The exact spot where the chinese machine gun was was on my target map, and i could shoot it. The squad leader said shoot. Not the captain on the line. I wanted to talk to the people out there, and i did talk to the people out there. He said shoot, and i did. And i was able to help them by wiping out that machinegun nest. I have a friend who now lives in houston who was on that patrol, and right nearby the machine gun, he tells me this story. He saw one of my tracers. A tracer is a bullet that lights up. He saw that tracer hit one of the chinese because all of the bullets do not light up, just some. I think every fifth lights up, the rest are dark, and you cannot see them. Where did you sleep . James we slept on rails. We have these long iron poles that were used for a lot of things. To hold up sandbags in the trenches, to put over your bunker for a roof. We used them for beds. So we slept on iron in the bunkers. We had two kinds of bunkers, a sleeping bunker and a fighting bunker. Ok. James a fighting bunker had apertures so you could see out and shoot. The sleeping bunkers were closed all around except for an entrance. Sometimes you had two entrances so you would have a way to get out, if one is blocked, you would have two of them. So we slept. In 1953 the winter of 1953, we finally got boots that were insulated. Finally. In fact they were so good your feet would sweat, a lot, during the day. You would relieve each other to go back, not too far behind the line, and have a hot meal. Who cooked for you . James cooks. Fine cooks. And who brought it to you . Ksc . James the same marines. We have containers that allow for food to be carried. They can cook it wherever and set up the kitchen stoves. Its very efficient, very efficient. What was on the menu for the hot meal . James it could be scrambled eggs and bacon, sausage, Something Like that for breakfast. You did not get a typical hot evening meal up on line. And we had c rations. Were you scared . James always. Yeah, always. Always . James yeah, but you are ready for it. You do not let fear take off over your body. Fear in a war makes you remember what you are taught and do the things you are taught to do, because they are effective. They work. But you have to be fearful. It does not stop you from doing your job. It should not stop you from doing your job. You might even do it better. Did you know why you were there and fighting for what . James yes, oh, yes. It was very wellpublicized in the newspapers here as to why the war started, with the invasion. Did you have a chance to write letters back to your family . James yes, yes. Yeah, and they wrote. My mother used to send me little boxes of tea. I was a tea drinker. I did not like coffee. She would send me teabags. Were you drinking that tea . James the army would have booze rations. We had beer rations. Not on line but when you came back off the line, you would get two cans a day or something. Did you send money back home . James perhaps no, we got paid in scrip. We did not get american dollars, so they cannot spend it back here. I really dont know. Most of the veterans, they sent it. And parents put it into the bank. James allotments. That is probably what i did. I do not really remember. You did not gamble or go shopping . [laughter] james no, i did not gamble and shopping was not heard of. Like in vietnam, shopping was in every corner almost. But there was no shopping in those mountains. When did you leave korea . James that was in 1953. It was after the winter, during the spring or summer. What was the most difficult thing that you remember out of your service in the korean war, or painful, what was it . James the most painful thing was having to go down to the tent and identify that young man that i told you was killed because of bullets in his ankle, his ankle, and he died of shock. I went down to the tent to identify him. After they brought him in, they have a big tent with all of the killed. There were a number killed that day. That night, rather. That was probably the most painful. He was such a nice young man, and i think it was his first patrol too. Yes, i think it was. Oh. James yeah. You mentioned about, what good did actually come out of the korean war and your service there . Simultaneous achievement of Economic Development and democratization in korea. James yes. Im very happy to see the Economic Development. Yes, you mentioned about it. Looking back on those 60 years of your service and the korean war, what is korea to you now . How do you see it . How do put all of these things into perspective . You never knew about korea. You are dragged into it. You fought there. You saw lots of things that you do not want to remember. And you did not think korea would be like this now, and now you see it, all of those things. How do you put it into perspective . James well, i am so happy we were afforded an opportunity to go back and see it. See inchon, see seoul, it was it was truly a lifelifting experience. Most of the bad memories, if not all, have been replaced in me, now, with the goodness. There are things that happen during wars that you carry with you for a while because youre wondering, the whole time in the back of your mind, is this worth it . And then to be fortunate enough to see that, yes, it was worth it, that is, that is a rare experience, a rare opportunity. And im just so happy that i was able to do that. I never expected to be able to go back and see the country built up so well. Was it last year . James last year, last september the 11th. When i want back, it was a not a war scene, it was a scene of well executed urban development. Transportation development, avionics. I mean it was just a delight. No traces of the war, physical traces. There are probably a lot of emotional traces of the war left on people. But the physical traces were so wonderful. It was a good trip. Listen to sonny and then you will have a lot of better things. James yeah. Were there any discrimination you felt during your service in korea . James no, certain that we were not among the people as much as maybe some other wars were. We were on mountain to mountain. There is no time and room for these things. James no, no. The people that we saw that were korean were ksc, the Korean Service corps. And once in a while we would see soldiers, marines, the Korean Marines were with us. I do not remember on which mountain. They tied into us. By the way, where were you . Do remember the name of the camp . Was it pork chop hill . James i do not know. That was the army. Pun dac i remember. Which was not too far from panmunjom. Not too far. Then went to kimpo early. Zipped through inchon. And i went back down to seoul for eisenhowers visit to korea. You are the honor guard . James honor guard, for him, which was a good thing because i got a brandnew pair of boots. [laughter] they were not insulated boots, but at least they were boots, and they came up to here. The boots the marine corps wore, they came up to here and then you had leggings. Are you familiar with leggings . Oh, yes. James that is what we had. And you got the clean uniform . [laughter] james a brandnew uniform, it was wonderful. How was ike . James i never got to really see him at all. We were just in a truck behind wherever the convoy was going. Let me ask this question, how did your service during the korean war, affect your life after you returned from korea . James i stayed in the marine corps for 20 years, so when i came back, i was assigned to camp lejeune, and then to lakehurst, new jersey. The scars of the war were shared with a lot of people who knew or who were there, or who were we were all in the same profession. Those were the people that i was around. In vietnam, i was assigned to flint as a recruiter for the reserves, and i met this congressman rigell, and that was in 1966. And he and i stayed in contact with one another. So, as i was going over for my third tour in vietnam, he called and offered me a job if i got out. I was retirable, so i did accept the job and went back. I was his principal aide in the city of flint for 12 years. Hi. I am fortunate enough to be this mans wife for 49 years. Right . It goes so fast. We got married shortly after his first tour in vietnam. Did he talk to about his service in the korean war . Not very much at all. A little bit. I knew about the trenches and about the cold. Friends who had died. But i remember vividly, when he had left the corps, and we lived in detroit at the time. He had already been mayor, and we were going about our regular lives, and he got a phone call. He hung up the phone and he says, we have to make a trip to new orleans. And i said what . He said this guy was in korea with me. Theyre having a reunion, and i have to go to it. I turned to him and said jim, it has been so long ago, you do not know these people. You do not know any of them. They are different and you are different. He says, we are going. And i just thought, what a waste, what a waste. We walked in the hotel, and we do not even take five steps. And there are eight people running toward him. Just calling his name and hugging him. So i said, i did not know what i was talking about. I just did not understand. [laughter] i did not know. Youre sure you did not know . I did not know. They just bonded. They reunited. We met with them annually, regularly. Some of them have died. One of his closest buddies that was in that reunion, we made a point to visit him three times as he was dying. He lived in las vegas at the time. We would make a trip to las vegas, just go to his home. And go to the hospital, and spend a nice weekend with him. It was a nice going away, and we hear from his wife every year now. And she has come to visit us. The bonding that occurred in korea has been a lifetime for him. James i talked to my squad leaders wife. My squad leader in korea. He died maybe 20 years ago. I talked to his wife yesterday. I spoke with a friend up in idaho who was a rifleman at that time, also yesterday. They all call me, ma because they say i used to take care of them. I would be the one to take care of them. So they all call me, ma, still today. Even the wives. When i call the house and the wife answers the phone, she will say, hello, ma sharp. [laughter] we do not meet until years after korea. I think you had been back at least 10 years before we met each other. And you went back to korea with him last year . Yes. So the things you heard from him about korea 60 years ago and the one you saw, what did you see . Unbelievable. Korea was wonderful. The people were great, are great. It has not been 12 months yet since we did that trip. I like to walk, and i would leave the hotel and walk for exercise. I got smiles and greetings. We cannot communicate with each other, but you could feel the warmth and the caring. The beauty of the country is unbelievable. That oral history interview was provided to cspan by the korean war legacy foundation. You can visit their website at koreanwarlegacy. Org. This is American History tv, exploring our nations past every weekend on cspan3. This is the 70th anniversary of the start of the korean war on june 25th, 1950. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and Public Policy events. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs programming on television, online, or listen on our free radio at. Created by americas Cable Television companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, and all of our programs are archived on our website. You can watch lectures in sollege classrooms, tour of historical sites, and see our schedule of Upcoming Program at cspan. Org history. On june 20 5,o 1950, north Korean Forces crossed the 38th parallel and invaded south korea, triggering three years of combat. Four u. S. Feature government films that tell the story of the korean war. Here is a preview. North koreas plan for a unified korea was made known to the world on june 25, 1950. It was by military invasion. Of north koreas peoples army slammed into the republic of korea. Within three days, they had seized the capital city of seoul. Suddenly become a hot cold war crisis. In our capital, reaction was dramatic and swift. President truman immediately offered our military assistance to help stem and repel north Korean Military aggression. Another voice, that of the u. N. North koreasned actions and called on you and members to assist the republic of north korea. Named tod states was head and coordinate the u. N. Military command. Responded toions the request for military assistance. The 90 days following north koreas invasion were graham. Grim. Desperate fight for time to build u. N. Ground forces to match the scale of the expanding more. War. As u. N. Military units poured into the republic of korea by air and sea, enemy ground targets were pounded by our air force. Heroic holding gave General Macarthur and his u. N. Command the time needed to prepare its own initiative. The uns initiative turned out to be the bold invasion of inchon, 150 miles behind north koreas lines. Surprise and daring paid off. When elements of the First Cavalry Division raced 100 miles to link up with advancing seventh infantry forces, north koreas plan for unifying korea became a nightmare. Eruptedorrupted war 70 years ago between north and south korea. Cspans washington journal is live. We will look back on the division of the country at the 38th parallel, the cold war, and the conflict that led to the death of more than 36,000 americans. ,ur guest is Charles Hanley , koreaof ghost lanes 19501953. That is live in just a moment on cspan3. First, a brief look at the events that led to war in this u. S. Information agency report. It has been called the forgotten war. It has been 70 years since the start of the conflict in korea, the conflict we are still dealing with today. A conversation with Charles Hanley on the korean war. Hanley, out with the book, the korean conflict, but first, some background on the events that led to the war. [video clip] ii at the 38th parallel. In north korea, the soviet union wasted
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