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Mandy -
There was no train from Hamhung to Hungnam at the
time (Dec 23, 1950). Those refugees who left a day or two earlier were
allowed to walk to the harbor and got out on Japanese and ROKN transports.
On Dec 23, the roads to Hungnam from Hamhung were cut off (land-mined I believe)
and refugees were turned away. I heard about my mother and sister several
years later from a friend who was in my neighborhood on a mission.
I was with an ROKA guerrilla unit (Hamhung Hakdo
Yiyoung Dae) at the time. My unit left our camp in Hamhung on Dec 23 and
walked several miles to a remote area where ROKA trucks were
waiting. My unit made it to the harbor and was assigned to guard a
group of Communist prisoners. We boarded an ROKN LST along with an
ROKA unit and a large number of Hungnam residents. The ship I was on
made a headline in America: its props got tangled up with ropes and got
stuck.
Most of the Hungnam residents had fled to nearby
villages by that time and only a small % (20,000?) were evacuated. As far
as I recall, my ship was the last to evacuate and there were no refugees left
unloaded. It is true that many (how many ???) of the folks collected
at the harbor fled. About half of my unit decided to 'stay behind and
fight.' The fog of war - people switched sides at the drop of a
hat.
The Hungnam refugees were unloaded at Jisepo
(Koje-do), where scores of US army tents were put up along the beach (now a
resort area).
ysk
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, December 19, 2002 8:20
PM
Subject: Re: Hungnam Evacuation
YSK, what happened to your mother and sister after they were
unable to board the train from Hamhung? Did they try to walk to Hungnam?
Did they ever leave North Korea? Do you think UN forces succeeded
in clearing Hungnam of civilians before it blew? The Navy vice admiral
in charge of the evacuation, among others who were there, speculates that at
least as many refugees were left behind at Hungnam as the 98,000 taken out by
ship. Do you think some of these were killed in the detonation of the
entire harbor? I have yet to find any accounts that speculate about
it.
Several accounts say walking to Hungnam from Hamhung was a risky
journey for the thousands who tried, as the route passed through minefields as
well as UN checkpoints manned by nervous soldiers on the alert for North
Korean and Chinese infiltrators. What do you know of that? And how
often do you think it happened that communists (soldiers or guerillas)
infiltrated crowds of refugees?
As some of you may know from my prior
postings, I am researching a book on the Hungnam evacuation, so I will share a
little of what I have learned in response to JK's questions. The account
below concerns refugees already in the Hungnam vicinity when the evacuation
got underway. Another saga all together can be told about the frozen,
mostly silent hordes who patiently followed U.N. forces down the gun-pocked,
wind-swept, and hazardous "MSR" -- the "main supply route" and only road to
the coast -- following the hellacious battles around the Chosin Reservoir.
No doubt many of those refugees were lost along the way, but I have yet
to track down any survivors of that "march." (In fact, I'd be most
grateful if anyone has leads in that direction.)
Down at the coast,
beyond X Corp's tally of 98,000 Korean evacuees total from the ports of Wonsan
and Hungnam, it's hard to get accurate refugee numbers from December 1950.
We do know that those in charge of the evacuation based their plans in
part on X Corps' experiences evacuating refugees farther south just days
earlier, from Wonsan, where a few thousand were expected but many times that
number thronged the port.
In Wonsan, thousands were left on the
beach. So, at Hungnam, planners allowed ahead of time for the likelihood
of fleeing civilians; bumping their estimates up from Wonsan, they expected as
many as 25,000. Of course, nearly 10 times that number eventually showed
up, completely overwhelming available facilities, if not supplies. The
98,000 taken out therefore represent only a partial triumph, but a brave one
at that, given the evacuation's many hazards. (As indicated above, I
have been unable so far to find out what happened to the 100,000 or so left
behind.)
As for the thousands who shared the plight of YSK's family
members, desperately trying to leave the inland city of Hamhung as Chinese
forces closed in, they abandoned city offices and civil government posts in
the chaos of the nearing battle front. Many gathered in churches,
fearing (correctly) an imminent end to their religious freedom. On
December 16 (I think), there was a desperate push to board a final train to
Hungnam, provided with short notice by the U.S. Army's Third Division. X
Corps Commander Ned Almond authorized the train in response to the pleas of
increasingly desperate Koreans -- as YSK said, those most likely to face
persecution by the communists: known anti-communists, Christians, government
officials, and U.S. staff and sympathizers. Almond expected the train to
ferry "4,000 or 5,000" civilians the short distance to Hungnam over frozen,
mountainous, embattled, and nearly impassable terrain.
Hamhung's
citizens received the news piecemeal, by word of mouth, with just a few hours
notice. Word spread nevertheless, and far beyond Almond's 5,000 people.
By the designated hour of midnight, some 50,000 thronged the station.
With babies strapped on backs, children and the elderly in hand, with
all the belongings they could carry, they were desperate to board this last
train to freedom.
Perhaps only one fifth their number made it out by
rail, some of them atop the train cars. The train pulled out in the dawn
hours of December 17. Others tried to walk, but half or more were turned
back by soldiers of the U.S. Army's 3rd Division manning the shrinking Hungnam
perimeter.
For those who want to know more about the refugee situation,
an article entitled "Christmas Cargo" by Dr. Bong Hak Hyun is among the more
comprehensive insiders' accounts of the evacuation. Like the very
interesting war memoir at kimsoft.com (by YSK, if I'm not mistaken), this
article is one of the rare evacuation accounts written in English by a Korean
participant. It's available on-line at the Korea Society website, www.koreasociety.org. [From the
home page, click on "Teaching More About Korea," then "Table of Contents,"
then chapter XXX. The article, and another by Vice Admiral James Doyle,
follow several pages of lesson plans. The whole thing is in "pdf" format,
readable with Adobe.]
I'll be grateful for feedback on my comments
here. Wishing you all a joyful and warm season, with high hopes for the
new year.
--Mandy Katz
Young Kim wrote:
001401c2a7d1$c6e64b60$fa01a8c0@kimsoft.com" type="cite">
The residents of Hungnam were forced out.
ROKA troops went door to door ordering them out to the dock for
loading. Their houses were blown up.
In contrast, residents of Hamhung fled on their
own will. In fact, many of them, including my mother and sister,
were turned back by the US military. The Hamhung regugees
were mostly people not in good standing with the Communists.
ysk
-----
Original Message -----
Sent:
Thursday, December 19, 2002 6:00 PM
Subject:
Re: Hungnam Evacuation
In a message dated
12/19/2002 10:50:19 AM Pacific Standard Time, ysk@kimsoft.com writes:
I spent Xmas of 1950 on an ROKN LST, an evacuation ship from
Hungnam.
I have a question concerning the
evacuation.
I am wondering whether the US military or S.Korean
gov.
encouraged N.Koreans to flee to the South at the time the US
troops were
retreating from the North. How many N.Koreans fled by
ships
at Hungnam? How do you explain the motivation of the N.Koreans
fleeing? Were they mostly Christians, anti-communists or people who
collaborated with the US/S.K. military rule in the North?
What
percentage of the village people fled?
jk
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