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Caldwell receives Ambassador of Peace Award from KoreaBy Rose Hooper |
Wayne Caldwell of Cope Creek displays the Ambassador of Peace Award, along with special medals and gifts he received from the Republic of Korea. The awards were delivered in person by his son, Jack, who is now stationed in Korea. |
Wayne Caldwell of Cope Creek received the most unexpected, emotional present this Christmas.
During this time of "peace on Earth," Caldwell received the Ambassador of Peace Award from the Republic of Korea. Presenting him the award was his son, Jack, who stood in for his father at the awards ceremony in Korea. The story actually begins back in 1952 when Wayne, a young U.S. Army draftee, served in the 45th Infantry Division as an ambulance driver for the 120th medical battalion in Korea. His duties were to drive up to the front line and pick up the wounded and dead. "Some folks call it the Korean Conflict, but I'll just tell you, it was a war, not a conflict," said Wayne, who was in the midst of the fighting for 14 months. Now Wayne's son, Jack, is serving in Korea as a communications specialist for the U.S. Air Force. "I never dreamed I'd end up in the same place where my dad fought during the war," said Jack during a telephone interview last week. |
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It was Jack who found out about the Korean government honoring U.S. veterans who'd fought side-by-side with them during the war. He also found out that since his father was one of these veterans, Jack could accept the award for him. The ceremony was held Sept. 20 in the grand ballroom of the Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel in Seoul, arranged by the Korean public affairs officers and Korean War veterans.
"It was a highly coordinated effort and on a grander scale than I ever imagined," said Jack. Along with the Ambassador of Peace medal, Jack accepted a plaque for his dad for "everlasting gratitude of the Republic of Korea for the service you and your countrymen have performed in restoring and preserving our freedom and democracy. We cherish in our hearts the memory of your boundless sacrifices in helping us re-establish our Free Nation." The plaque was presented by Tae-wan Chang, president of the Korean Veterans Association. In addition, the government presented Jack a Maebyong caledon porcelain vase for his mother, which he hand-carried home on the airplane. "I was humbled by the whole ceremony," Jack said, "and so filled with pride at the same time. I couldn't wait to rush home and show Mom and Dad." That chance came Christmas when Jack arrived stateside on temporary leave. "I was so surprised," Wayne said upon receiving his gifts. "I'd always felt that the Korean veterans were the forgotten veterans." Standing in for his father and bringing home the medals changed their lives forever, Jack said. "When I was growing up, Dad never talked much about the war. I had no idea the sacrifices he made. But being over there in Korea and hearing it first-hand from those Korean veterans, I learned a new respect for my dad. "Dad and I can look each other in the eye now and not even have to say anything. There's just something that's passed between us; something's bonded us together," the son said. Part of that bonding began as Jack's military boots traced the same steps his dad's military boots took some 46 years ago, climbing Bunker Hill and Pork Chop Hill along the 38-degree parallel. "Even today, it's a chilling experience entering the DMZ," Jack admitted. "A lot of people, non-military, ask me today, 'Why are we even in Korea?' I'm sure, back in the 1950s, folks were asking dad that same question," Jack said. Wayne remembers vividly the night he arrived in Korea. "It was like the Fourth of July. It was boom! boom! boom! Bombs going off everywhere. I couldn't tell the direction of the shells around me - whether they were coming or going," he said. His most frightening experience happened one night when his division got completely cut off. "Now that was scary," Wayne said, recalling the memory from his Cope Creek living room. "We kept hearing the enemy moving in closer on us, and all I could think about was ending up a prisoner of war." The war aged him quickly, Wayne said. "I was never the same afterwards." One thing he learned from the war was just how small the world is. "There I was, way over there in Korea, and most of the men in the 45th Division were Cherokee Indians. Now they were Oklahoma Cherokee whose families had been removed from here during the Trail of Tears. Man, they were good fighters, too." Now this man who helped the Koreans fight for peace lives a peaceful life as a minister. "I was so proud to deliver that Ambassador of Peace medal to my dad," said Jack, who, like his dad, was born on Father's Day. |
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