By Curt Heaviland, Association President

It seems as though we just finished with the September issue.  In fact it was just mailed out last week.  It was really late but well I really don't have any excuses except I just didn't get around to it.

I am writing this on 10 October and on 15 October Joyce and I will be on our way to Mesa, Arizona for the winter.  I would appreciate your prayers, as on 1 November at 0730 I will be having heart surgery.  Everyone tells me that it is a piece of cake.  I sure hope so.

Last Sunday at church we had two represen-tatives from Haiti who spoke and bore their testimonies.  It was really interesting.  From all indications, we have about 17,000 members there.  Isn't that great?

We voted last Tuesday and I sure hope that each one of you exercise your responsibility and vote as well.

It is very gratifying to know that we have members such as you in the Military.  It is my sincere hope that the national leaders realize how important your job is and make certain that you have the right equipment to do the job to which you are assigned.  I remember, as a young lad, the soldiers at Ft Lewis, Washington were training with stovepipes, as the Army didn’t have enough mortars to allow training with one.  Also, let us hope that the leaders recognize the need for the latest in equipment needs.  Again, I remember soldiers training with the latest kind of transports—Army mules.

Take care and keep the Lord close to you.
Curt

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Center for the Study of the Korean War Moves to the Graceland Campus in Independence

Reprinted with permission from Graceland Horizons magazine

The Graceland University Independence campus now is the home of one of  the largest, if not the largest, archival collections in the world that focuses on the Korean War.  The Center for the Study of the Korean War was founded by former faculty member and dean, Dr. Paul Edwards (’50).  Moved to the Independence campus Dr. Charles F. Grabske Sr. Library in June, it officially was opened on Sunday, June 25 – the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the war.
 

About 200 attended the special ceremony that featured a keynote address by Dr. David M. Carmichael (’42) who told of some of his memorable experiences during his service in Korea as Chief of Medicine aboard the 805-bed hospital ship, the U.S.S. Repose.  Dr. Sherri Kirkpatrick (’65) Graceland Vice President and Dean of Nursing welcomed the audience and comments were made by  Paul, who will continue to serve at the Center’s executive director.

See the  next article  –ksj

The program was held in Carmichael Auditorium with a ribbon-cutting following. Ms. Nelvada Dean, whose significant contributions made Graceland’s acquisition of the Center possible, performed the ribbon-cutting honors.

The Center was begun about 15 years ago when Paul decided to study and write about the Korean War and became perplexed by the realization that so few sources of  information were available.  He also was alarmed. If the information was scarce, it wouldn’t take long for it to be lost. . . and he knew the Korean War already had been all but omitted from the pages of  American History.

Since that time, Paul has collected a variety of documents, photographs, charts, books, videos and propaganda materials published during the conflict. Many items were donated;  some were purchased by Paul or with donations from those who supported his efforts.  He has  written seven books about the Korean War, been active in producing materials for schools to help teach the war and taken thousands of requests for information. When the collection outgrew his home, he moved it to a building near the Independence square. It was moved from there to the Graceland campus.

Paul was interested in seeing the collection stay intact, have space to increase it and to remain near two other important Korean War sources: the libraries of the two presidents who were in office during the war, the Truman Library in Independence and the Eisenhower Library, located about 60 miles away in Abilene, Kansas.

“Korea was a war we lost and don’t want to teach,” Edwards contends. “It was not a ‘popular’ war.”  It also was the conflict that marked a decisive change in U.S. thought and culture.  It began as a patriotic war when President Harry Truman ordered the 7th Fleet to waters off Taiwan; but had become a political war by the time President Dwight Eisenhower signed a treaty that left 8,000 American soldiers in Korea as prisoners of war.  With U.S. troops still in Korea, Edwards reminds modern students, the conflict has never ended.

“If these things are not kept and kept before the American people,” Edwards  says, “They will continue to think Vietnam came out of World War II.”

Paul was interviewed earlier this year for a History Channel production to be aired in the coming autumn about war and the media. He also has spearheaded an effort to make teaching materials available to secondary and elementary teachers.

And then, there is the virtual absence of  popular cultural products that came from Korea  – such as movies, books and music. Edwards notes that of the few movies made about Korea (approximately 100) “all but six or seven were Class B productions.”  More than 1,000 movies were made about Vietnam and the number is even higher for World War II.

“It says something,” Paul likes to point out, “when you realize the most memorable movie about the Korean War was a comedy: M.A.S.H.”   And that movie, he adds, was made as a protest to Vietnam. Paul’s work is satisfying, if at times lonely. He sees some difference occurring in the level of interest in Korea. “We are getting a lot of information together that is accurate,” he says. “We also are able to correct a lot of mistakes that have been made” in some publications and information produced about the war.  Additionally, “we are developing many worldwide connections,”  he says.

Acquisitions of materials from and about the war continue to be accepted. Generally, “paper” items are accepted. Anyone interested in donating items should contact Paul at the Independence campus.

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Dr. Carmichael’s Speech at the Opening of the Center for the Study of the Korean War

Reprinted with permission from Graceland Horizons magazine

Dr. David M. Carmichael (Graceland class of  ’42) told those who attended the opening of the Center for the Korean War that the conflict “began less than a mile from this place with a telephone call from Secretary of State Dean Acheson to President Harry Truman. The President was in his home on Delaware Street when the call came to inform him that North Korea had crossed the 38th Parallel.”

 Dr. Carmichael, Graceland trustee emeritus, served during the conflict and shared some of his wartime experiences with the audience on June 25.  Originally commissioned as a reserve officer in the Navy in December 1942, Dr. Carmichael served at the Naval Hospital in Long Beach, California.  At the outset of the Korean conflict, he was ordered to the Naval hospital in Yokosuka, Japan.

 Later, he was ordered to Korea to become Chief of Medicine of the 805-bed hospital ship, the U.S.S. Repose – one of three such ships that supported the Marine Corps and other components of the United Nations forces. Dr. Carmichael’s duties included clinical visits to the huge POW compound on the island of Koje-do where the miserable condition of North Korean and Chinese prisoners was in stark evidence. He also consulted aboard a Danish hospital ship.

Dr. Carmichael told the audience of seeing, among the prisoners of war, diseases that had been eradicated in the U.S. and which he described as “a textbook of internal medicine personified.”  He also told about the enormous loss of life during the three-year conflict and commented on the changes effected in medical care of wounded, changes that, in turn, impacted care in civilian life.

 Following his Korean service, Dr. Carmichael became Chief of Cardiology at the U.S. Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, and later held a similar position at the Navy’s largest medical center in San Diego. When he returned to civilian life, Dr. Carmichael continued as a reserve officer, ultimately was promoted to Rear Admiral and serving as Inspector General of the Naval Medical Corps Reserve.

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Counsel to New—and Old—Citizens of the U.S.

I was given an article that was presented to a group of new citizens by a judge as they were being sworn in.  I do not know who the judge was so I cannot give him credit but at this time of year it seemed appropriate to print it. -CH

America continues to be the best place on earth to live.  A former vice president once said, "America is a country in which there is nothing wrong that Americans themselves cannot correct."  It is this spirit of optimism that has made America a success.  But it is and has been our system of government that has made America great.  No nation was ever founded with such a burning desire to have a country that would guarantee all citizens those basic rights to insure human dignity, freedom, life, liberty, prosperity, and the pursuit of happiness.

At the heart of our government is the Constitution, the product of great and eternal wisdom, expressing freedoms and rights obtained and preserved by the blood and sacrifice of our forefathers.  It was signed September 17, 1787.

For more that 200 years our Constitution has been the symbol of man’s capacity to govern himself.  It has fostered government of, by, and for the people.  From its wisdom flowed the concept of liberty, justice, and human dignity.  We owe it our freedom, past, present and future.  For all these many years it has been our symbol of liberty, fairness and dignity to the world … a challenge for others to emulate.

Our Constitution is a living document.  It is as relevant today as it was on September 17, 1787.  It endows us with a system of government and a charter of liberty that combine the wisdom of the ages with the urgency of the modern day.  The Constitution is still that certain guarantee of our basic rights.   It is still the promise of protection from government, by government.

But liberty is a blessing that must be constantly nurtured.  In this rapidly changing world every American must understand the government by which we live.  Every American must do his or her best to make it work even better in this highly complex, demanding and sometimes troubling society of today.

Since citizenship and our Constitution are inseparable, both must walk in unison, for neither can survive alone.  The United States is a land of one people gathered from many countries.  As citizens, we are sworn to a single loyalty.  For being a good American does not depend on whether one is foreign born or native born. But whether he or she lives the ideals and carries out the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.   This means leaving behind the political conflicts of strife, the undemocratic philosophies and practices that may have existed in those countries from which you came, and replacing them with an unqualified allegiance to America.

From now on your sacred and solemn duty is to uphold and defend this country and this Constitution from which spring your rights, your blessings, your freedoms, your liberties and even your safety and security.  Under our system of government you are entrusted with this heritage.  You must appreciate its importance.  You must cherish it.  You must defend it, as did those who made it possible for you.

Freedom, while a heritage, must be fought for and won each and every day.   Remember, nothing in life is perfect.  We must not yield to disappoint-ment or disillusionment when we are confronted with human failings, with indifference or with error.  Any institution must be administered by men and women, and men and women are fallible.

But despite such fallibility and because of our great heritage, our Constitution and people, America is and will continue to be the greatest and most just nation on the earth.  As citizens, our responsibility is to work to improve our society whenever and wherever we can.  Here are some ways that you can help:

• Exercise your right to vote.
• Participate in government.
• Learn all you can about the candidates and the issues so that you vote intelligently.
• Participate in the affairs of your city, your state, and your nation.
• Support your schools, your community charities and your service organizations.
• Be patriotic.  If we are going to enjoy the fruits of liberty, we must follow the examples of men and women who won that freedom and that liberty for us.
• Be law abiding and by your example encourage others to be law abiding.
• Support your courts and your law enforcement authorities
• Respect the rights and privileges of others.
• Be willing to work and work hard.  Not for the ability to acquire worldly possessions but more importantly to gain knowledge and education.  Be moral and have personal integrity. Teach your children what you have learned, and live a life which is a model for them to follow.
• Be proud of your citizenship.  Love your country and be thankful that you are a United States citizen.

In closing, I want to wish you all the best things in life.  This is an exciting day for you.  I want you to treasure it.  I want you to enjoy it.  And may God bless each and every one of you.

This may have been given to a group of newly sworn in citizens, but the thoughts and admonitions given are appropriate for each one of us -- young or old.  We are proud and anxious to serve citizens of our country and demonstrate it by our actions.  Keep up the good work. -CH

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