John john jeffries. I was born in salt lake city, utah on august 7, 1929. Was raised by a mother who was single mother. Had five children. We had the bare essentials, barely. I got a chance to work on my mothers Brothers Farms and sisters farms as i was growing up. I had a great childhood. But was educated in salt lake. Went to the elementary, high school, and the university of utah. Graduated as a teacher. That was my desire, to be a coach and a teacher. My mother sent me to the bakery for bread but did not provide me with any money. I would try to get the men working in the bakery to give me a loaf of bread. I did that quite often and i tried to get a little work there. My father was an alcoholic and was not available. She was raising five of us on her own. Because she could not afford the liquor, she divorced so she could take care of us kids. The depression was as a young person i thought everybody was in the same boat. I did not realize they were people having three meals a day except when i went on the farms and they had food. I had a great childhood. The rest of my siblings did not have that advantage for some reason. I loved working on the farms. When did you graduate high school . John 1946. I graduated when i was 16. Worked a year and then got a fullride scholarship as a track person for the university of utah. Tell me about your track team. John i went to the coach and said, can i get a scholarship . He said, what do you run . Are you a marathon runner . Sprint . John longdistance. I said what do you need . He said a miler or a two miler. I said, i will do that. He said report and i will time you. If you go fast enough, i will give you a scholarship. What is your record . John the record was the last conference was in denver in 1951 at night. It was snowing in june. The coach came up to me and i was running quarter miles then and he said, if you run the two race, butan win this youve got to get a second or third close to get the points. I ran the two mile and got a third. I had not run that for two years, but i ran that night. On the way home from the track meet in denver to salt lake i was a hero. That was my day in the sun. [laughter] graduated in 1951. Went directly into the service. I enlisted. What was the scholarship . John full ride. I went into education. They paid all my tuition, books. That is very nice. John i would not have been able to go to school. Nobody had any money. What was your major . John fine arts and public health. Paintingng to of art, and be a coach. You graduated in 1951 from , the university of utah. Did you know anything about korea . How did you know the korean war had broke out . John i saw the conflict was going on. I was graduating and i was going to go on a mission trip for church and spend two years as a missionary. Because of the war, they said maybe that is not going to be possible. So i enlisted in the service to go help in korea. They set me for training to california. I was sort of gung ho. I was in good shape as a track person. They put me in noncom school and were going to make me a sergeant. Because i was doing so well they sent me to officer training school, because i did good there they sent me to Fort Sam Houston to medical administration. From there i was on my way to korea. You were commissioned as an officer . John second lieutenant. When . John this was about the end of 1952. Maybe in the middle. You enlisted in the army. John yes. Why . John my brother in world war ii was 10 years older. He had high Blood Pressure and could not get into the service. People scorned him because he did not go to the fight. So my friends were running to canada or getting married so they would not have to go to korea. I said no. We have a war and i will volunteer. That is very nice. Were you not afraid . John when you were 20 something you are bulletproof. Not worried about anything. You were strong and healthy. John yeah. I had never seen that much food before in the army. You go to the mess area and there is all this food. [laughter] i went from about 140 pounds to about 200. All muscle. But the service was very kind to me. They just kept training me. When they put me on the transport to get to korea. We got to pusan. That is when i realized there was a war on. They assigned me immediately. San . Hen did you arrive in pu john probably february or january. They assigned me to the 514th medical Clearing Company. Medical what . John it was a Clearing Company. We had battalion aid stations by the fighting. Clearing companies were for back of that, and hospitals were back of that. What did a medical Clearing Company do . John they assigned me to pw camp 5. I had one platoon there. I had a little hospital. About the time i had about 29 patients. I had one doctor but i was a Commanding Officer. I replaced a major, but i was a second lieutenant. I was i should have more more rank to be a Commanding Officer but i was just a , lieutenant. I was still in charge. Who were the patients . John prisoners of war. North koreans . John North Koreans. No chinese. We sent them somewhere else. But i assisted in surgery with anesthetics. You did not have any medical john no. No medical. Assisted. It was a great experience. We had what we called the monkey house, a psych unit separate from the hospital. It was sort of a when i got there we were having trouble with water. I build a fourfoot ring around our barracks. When we had the breakout in june i was able to put my men behind that barrier. So when the pws came roaring by , they went around us, because i had a wall and we had guns. We survived that. I tried to call the mp area to guard were providing service and protection. We cannot get through. They had cut the lines. We were a mile away from any helpers. What do you mean by they broke out . John they were prisoners. Tell me when and how. John at about 1 30 in the morning on the 18th of june, we heard the firing. We rolled out of our bunks. Got our weapons and ran to see what was going on. The lights were on in the guard towers between fences that held the prisoners on the others of on the other side of the fences. What was happening that was astounding was that all of a sudden hundreds ran to the fence, threw their towel into the fence, and on command they pulled. They snapped these poles that were like telephone poles. The first offense went down in offensfence wentrst down in seconds. Others ran and threw their towels into the fence and gave a yank and those fences were down. They poured out. About 10,000 of them. 10,000 p. O. W. . John that is what they said. I only saw about a thousand coming out of the compound where we were. There were a lot of them. Ants,ked like a bunch of hundreds of them coming. Diked i had made made saved us. They were gone and a matter of a few minutes. All gone . John they said 10,000 broke out that night. We woke up in the morning. The battalion finally got through to us. They sent help us. We have wounded. I said im not going anywhere. , im trying to stay alive. They said we were in better shape than they were. It was only way later the next day they would come down to see how we were doing. We survived it but it was quite an experience. [indiscernible] john when they finally got through to them they said, are you all dead . They came across right where we were. The guys that were supposed to protect us we were medics. We all had weapons but we were not trained to fight. I was because of my training but the ones i had werel medics and you supporting the hospital which was dealing with north korean pows . John yes. We took care of battalion mps as well. Most of our work was prisoners. Anything do not cover in the compound other than medical. John nothing but medical. Tell me about north korean patients. How did they behave . John they appreciated us because we were taking care of them. What was very interesting is our psych rd. While we were having this excitement, the sergeant in charge of the psych ward which was located away from us came running in and a pair of boots in his shorts. His underwear. He says, help we are in trouble. Those prisoners are patients in the psych unit are going to get away. I said we are taking care of our problems. He ran back to what we called the monkey house. He later reported the prisoners took the fence down to get out of the psych ward. They said thank you and put the fence back up before they left. We did appendectomies. Surgeries,kinds of ,ernia surgeries, battle wounds just took care of all those prisoners, whatever was going on with them. Did you provide food . John they were there with us. John yes. The same food you ate . John yes. It was not too long after that i got assigned to the 64th Field Hospital for the Prisoner Exchange in panmunjom. 64th Field Hospital. John we took all of our pows we had left and exchanged them for the ones the south korean soldiers and americans. Whether any pows left . John i thought they all got away but there were about 3000 left. We had that exchange. Interestingly enough, when we were taking them up to panmunjom i think we called it the freedom village. We issued the prisoners all new uniforms. Fatigues and boots, new socks, haircuts, everything, so when they are going up in the trucks they would look good. On the way up there, they took all their close off threw them on the road, scratched each on the road, scratched each other. , when they got up to the Exchange Point they are saying look with those guards did to us in the prison camp. I have pictures of that, where the road is strewn with boots and clothing. That shocked me that they would do that. We treated them pretty well. You said you have a picture. Did you have a camera at the time . John yes. And you took pictures . John i took pictures of all of that and the prison break in the fences that came down. I was documenting my adventure. Wow. What did you feel when they betrayed you . John first they said to us after all of this excitement that the North Koreans have declared, what . Imperialists. imperialists or they declared us as public enemies or something. That we had misbehaved in taking care of them in the prisons. That surprised us. They were going to let us go up near the north because we were designated as criminals. If you are associated with the prisoner of war commands. So, when i got an assignment at the 64th Field Hospital to go up to the 38th parallel i was a little concerned. There was no problem. I had opportunities. I worked over. Inover the medical school the armistice phase. They had me over there in the medical school and i gave lectures. I also loaded up my ambulances and took them to the beach. The medical student, so we had a good time. We were fired on by what they said were North Koreans that were out there by themselves. They were not organized. The red cross on our ambulance seemed to be the target on occasion. You were in the medical clearing camp and also the 64th Field Hospital. How many doctors, many nurses, medical supplies . Was it enough . John we had plenty in our pw assignment. But we got to the 64th we had everything. We had lots of nurses, and lots of doctors. We flew when a lot of people to take care of the prisoners we were receiving. You mean the american john american and south korea. Were all the nurses female . John most of them. We do not have any females in our unit, because we were too close to the problems. The 64th Field Hospital sort of looked like m a s h on tv with lots of help. But then because i had been a noncom, a lieutenant i mean a sergeant and discharged me to become an officer they let me go home for christmas. You said you were a second lieutenant. John yes. Then a sergeant . John i was a sergeant before i went to become a lieutenant. Before i went to officers training. But because i had the prior service, they counted that as two services. Then i was eligible to go home. When did you go home . John probably christmas eve. 1953 . John yeah, late december. What was the most difficult or painful moment during the service in korea . John well, i this was when there was the armistice. I came upon a drunk g. I. , an american sergeant. He was shooting at the Korean Children that were running back and forth in the village. I confronted him. I did not have a gun. He was going to shoot me. An american serviceman . John a sergeant. He was going to shoot me. Why would he try to kill john he was drunk and having fun shooting at the children. I was going to take the gun away from him until he poked it in my said he was going to kill me. I ran back and got a gun and went looking for him. Several of the south koreans helped me look for him. They wanted him to get shot but i could not find him. He was smart enough to get out of there. That was one of my horrible moments. Luckily i could not find any wounded kids. He was a lousy shot being drunk. Was it happening often . John no, just one occurrence, out of the blue. The Korean People, when i was in pusan going to my assignment, a korean boy came up and said you need me. I said why. Because i can help you in korea. I said ok. Let me see your orders. He said i will meet you there. Chong sing yong stayed with me and my hospital the whole time i was there. He was an interpreter. He finally brought his family up. The picture i painted is his house. How old was he . John he looked about 20. I did not know he was married. I did not know he had a little boy. He had a little scoji is that small for korean . No, that is japanese. John well anyway i called him that. One thing i did, his wife chong sing yong. His wife had an impacted tooth and was having a terrible time. I went to that house and pulled that tooth for her. I was taking care of chong. He approached you and said you needed me. So you took him there . John i dont how we got there. I went on the train with the troops. He showed up and found me and stayed with me. Because i did not smoke every week they gave me a carton of cigarettes. Every week they give me a carton of cigarettes. I gave them to chong sing yong. He could get all the food and groceries and whatever else he needed. What kind of work did he do . John he worked with us, with the patients. He was like a nurse . John no. He was just my assistant. He helped me with the patients, with the troops, with the prisoners. He was there every day. You paid him . yes, he just took the cigarettes i could round up. He could trade those for everything. I was amazed to learn how smart they are. We had fire here, and then underneath the house and then , so they had heating, warm floors, smart people. Then we had the kimchee containers. I did not put them on there because they were in a good smelling. When did you depart . Did he go to panmunjom . John no, he could not go. I did not know why. We kept correspondence. Ofhink he raised a family six or eight up in seoul. When i went to soul, i tried to seoul i tried to find him, but i could not find him. Who drew the picture . John me. It was out in the village area. It was a picture of a compound. This is a compound one and two. This is our hospital. This is our barracks for the hospital. This is the psych ward, the monkey house. What was the monkey house for . John the psychiatric patients. Mental problems. They were a little off. We had them separated from these patients. These are the compounds that held these. This is where the prisoners ran and put their towels in this fence. Down came that fence. Another bunch of koreans threw their towels under the fence and they were gone. My experiences in korea were very positive. Why . John i loved the people and got along well. I never had any problems. I took care of a lot of gis that had problems. What kind . John social problems. Going to the wrong places at night. We took care of the injuries. We did pick up about 29 Wounded Soldiers after the break. I had good people. My medics were not trained for the firing and shooting. My sergeant that i depended on a lot, i looked for him. He was under my bed during all the excitement. My doctor was hiding as well. Most of us are out trying to keep ourselves alive. How much were you paid at the time . John not very much you were. You were an officer. 100 . John 170. Not very much. What did you do with the money . John my wife was pregnant. She got all the money. But because i had the service i could go to school after i got out. What was the impact of your service on your future after you returned . John there was a g. I. Bill of rights. When i got back, my uncle wanted me to help him with his business. I started helping him but then i was successful. He said teach my son to take over. I looked at my wife. I said maybe im going to be a schoolteacher after all. But i sort of liked medics. I applied at the university of berkeley to go to Hospital Administration school. They said we cant take you until you have one Year Experience at a civilian hospital. So i called up salt lake, the biggest hospital in the state of utah. I said, can i come and train for one year . They said yes. They paid me 50 a month. I had a wife and a child but is but i spent one year. Then the best school in the United States for Hospital Administration was university of minnesota. And they only took 12 students a year. They took me. You didnt go to uc berkeley . John i was going to berkeley. But then i saw minnesota was the best school. The guy running minnesota set on said, i am not putting you go to work late. You work for me in minnesota. You used the g. I. Bill to get into the university of minnesota . John they paid my way. How much did they pay . John they paid for my schooling but i had a job. My wife taught school. She was Teaching School and that is how we got by. That one year in minneapolis, minnesota. When i got assigned to a hospital in kansas they started me at 175 a month, with a masters degree in hospital education. 175. Not much better. John not much. But because i did pretty good he gave me a raise to 275. You doubled my salary. When i was finishing that i had job offers from six different hospitals. Where do you want to go . I did Childrens Hospital management as my career in salt lake city, st. Petersburg, florida, columbus, ohio, buffalo, new york. That is the lucky john story. Enlist in the army and working in the clearing Field Hospital and that i used to to this successful life . John correct, yes. You do . John no question. The leadership training and the military is a discipline. It teaches you things. How to make decisions. How to survive. And i survived. But i never had to look for a job. That is the important message. When i went from one job in salt lake to st. Petersburg, they did not what me to leave salt lake. St. Petersburg said we will double whatever they offer you. So all of a sudden i was making money. Have you been back to korea . John two years ago. 2012, in may. The before andt after pictures. John i did not recognize korea. I did not see any of these houses chong sing yong lived in. She took me to the museum or the yep, we have examples of that era. But the people were very courteous. I had several people on the street walk up and say thank you. They just assumed i was military or exmilitary. We did not have any signs on us or anything. I was impressed with the cleanliness of the streets. Looked scrubbed, nice people. They spoiled us rotten. They give us a fancy place to stay and all the food you could eat for a week. We traveled right up to where i was stationed. Panmunjom . John panmunjom. I recognized some of the territory. It was a wonderful experience. What is the legacy of the korean war and korean war veterans . John well, i think i have been trained for leadership but i think to be able to exercise it under stressful conditions, i think it makes a different kind of person out of you. I give credit to the military and my experiences. And then to have the Korean People come back and say we would like to say thank you just knocked me out. It was a wonderful history of helping people. You rarely have somebody coming back and saying thank you very much. That is the way came across to me. I was glad to have the opportunity to get back there. That was not the korea i was in 60 years ago. But my grandsons have all taken the korean martial arts. All three of them are black belts. One in new york and two in salt lake. All got to the highest level in martial arts. I have just been very fortunate my whole life. But i think the experiences along the way, i got a lot of breaks. A lot of circumstances that furthered my i had good health. I ran three marathons. I took fifth in a marathon. Im going to be 85 in a few days. You still look very young. You took care of north korean patients. If you were given a chance to talk with North Koreans, what would you say to them . John i would say i got along very well with them. They were not adversarial at all but the medical side of it, my unit. I never had a hard time from them. I think they just appreciated the care and the keeping being provided for them. I did not see anger. I saw every once in a while one of them would try to get out. They had guard towers. By the time they got over that first fence they were told to get out of there. They just sacrificed themselves a couple of times. Right in front of us. We were all telling them go back, go back. They killed in themselves . John no. The towers. They were getting away. Because they wouldnt listen. John they would not go back. They had enough of being a prisoner, i guess. Do you know what is going on in north korea right now . John what i read in the papers. A sad, sad story. I think they have poor leadership. I think the contrast between south korea and north korea is a lesson for the world. Any message to the young generation about the lessons of the war . John well, i can tell you a story. One of my doctor friends i kept acquainted with, the korean, had boy at 18 years old and sponsor him to salt lake. His name was sam wi. I put him to work in the hospital in the evening in the financial. He was 18. Had no english. Limited. He went to school at night at the university. I paid for that. I paid for his medical, food, everything, sponsored him and trained him. I ran into him when i got back to the salt lake area. I ran into him at the country club. I said sam wi, what are you doing . I was surprised. We did not have too many noncaucasian types at the Alpine Country club. Sam said i am a new member of your club. But he said im also a millionaire. I said, sam plenty. Id, yes, iou owe you plenty. . Said, what has happened he said, i got a young woman to come from korea. We married. I got an apartment and i developed a little store at the bottom of the apartment. Sold asian foods. I trained my children there to work. One of them is in princeton, one is in yale, one is in harvard. All three of my children are in top schools. Straight a students. That is what you did for me. I owe you. He had two korean friends with him. Could not speaking wish. Henot speak english could not speak english, did not have an education, but he went to work. Good story. But i had several people i worked in china since then for a couple of years helping them with their Childrens Hospitals. I should have sponsored a few more people because they are eager for opportunity. But sam wi is my favorite story. When did you begin to sponsor him . John probably 1957. Then i ran into him about 1984. He had time to get married and have some kids. We have to give him about 30 years. Thank you so much for your interview and your willingness to talk to me. I will let you know about this interview. That oral history interview is provided by the korean war legacy foundation. For more information about their archives on hundreds of interviews with war veterans, video clips and photos, visit their website at koreanwarlegacy. Org. This is American History tv. This is the setting the 70th anniversary of the start of the korean war. Announcer this is American History tv on cspan3, were each weekend we feature 48 hours of programs exploring our nations past. Announcer learn more about the Manhattan Project here on American History tv. We only had three. Alamogordotest at and then we had used on hiroshima and fat man on nagasaki. And plutoniumum bombs. I think we had one more. I dont know what the plan was. Sorted byt it was senator russell of alabama. He wrote in along telegram and said, is those bombs. If you run out, use conventional bombs. About the japanese until there was nothing left. He was very angry and grandpa did not want to do that and responded he did not like having to use those weapons and did not like the idea of destroying japan. He was taking the steps he thought he had to take. Taken a back a bit that the second bomb was used and he the third one that. Want some colonel making the decision to use all of those. It was a serious and weapon and he wanted thought to go into that. I dont