After
speaking with Sergeant Frederick B. Hudon, war veteran of the Korean War, on
the telephone I understand already that Mr. Hudon still has an active life after
his experience in the Korean War.
He told me to schedule our interview later in the evening because he was
playing golf during the day. With
this in mind I already can assume he was very physically capable of fighting
because the Marines are one of the hardest services to be enlisted in. In addition to having served in the
Marines his small biography says he also served in the Army. Taking all these things into
consideration I feel the interview will run smoothly and with his help I hope
to learn more about the Korean War.
I understand the Vietnam War was strongly boycotted, but I am not sure
if the Korean War was as well. Mr.
Hudon can let me learn these important details as I learn about an important
period in history through someone else’s eyes.
At 6:12 p.m. on a rainy Tuesday
in May (May 22, 2001) my interview began with Mr. Hudon. I met with him at the Canton Public
Library to remove any discomforts we both had. Gathering my confidence and firmly shaking the man’s
hand I assumed that this man had a story to tell and was not afraid to talk.
Q: In which branch of service did you serve?
Sergeant Hudon: U.S. Army and the United States Marines
Q: Was there a reason why you chose either of these two
services?
Sergeant Hudon: I joined the Marines while I was in High School with a friend of mine in 1948-1950 and I was discharged 10 days prior to all inactive marines being called to service in Korea.
…
Q: What was your job?
Sergeant Hudon: Well, my jobs were many. When I first went in as a recruit I was trained as a riflemen and as a platoon leader. Then, overseas I was an assistant platoon leader in combat. And then I accepted a transfer from being online in the service to the eighth army honor guard where I served as a sergeant in the military police.
Q: What were you responsible for?
Sergeant Hudon: I drove the Commander of the eighth army during the repatriation of our prisoners, both the Korean prisoners back to Korea and the American prisoners back to the United States. This occurred after the war and in addition I took part in the end of the war, the signing of the peace treaties at Panmun Jon, that was part of our responsibility as military police. Panmun Jon was where the peace treaties were settled with the Chinese and the North Koreans.
Q: What places did you go?
Sergeant Hudon: When I was a riflemen I served in the Chorwan Valley, which is north of the 38th parallel and we were fighting opposite the Chinese soldiers. After that I was down in Seoul, Korea; that is where the eighth army headquarters was, after I was released from where the action was.
Q: What significant dates come to mind about your
service career?
Sergeant Hudon: Besides the day I got out [laughing…]. Well Christmas 1953, I was in the military police in Seoul and had the honor of escorting Mrs. Sigmund Rhee, the wife of the President of Korea, to a Christmas party. I drove Vice President Nixon when he came to visit the troops in Korea. I drove Cardinal Spelman, a cardinal at the time.
…
Q: What were you doing at the time during all the
fighting?
Sergeant Hudon: We were in place, in bunkers and trenches and being invaded by Chinese, individual Chinese soldiers. They weren’t organized, but they just…there were so many of them that they were just given a mission…go forward. We had rules, they didn’t.
Q: Who were you with at that time?
Sergeant Hudon: I was in the 40th Division, I don’t remember the regiment or the battalion, all I can remember was when I first got there they realized I had been two years in the marine reserve. They said okay you are our next assistant platoon leader, who happened to have the worst job in the platoon because he was always out front.
Q: So you were on the front lines?
Sergeant Hudon: Yes and the reason I got the job was because before I got there the fellow that was the assistant platoon leader got killed. I didn’t realize that at the time. Fortunately, I was only there a month and a half, and then the whole division moved back into what is called a blocking position five miles behind the lines. From there I went down to eighth army headquarters to serve in the eighth army honor guard.
Q: Do you remember the particular setting where
you were fighting?
Sergeant Hudon: It’s called the Charwan Valley and we were on the mountaintop of course looking out across the valley which was about a mile wide, flat, full of disabled first Calvary tanks and armored vehicles from the previous skirmish. The land highly filled with mines so that there were only certain places you could walk. You could see the mountains on the other side of us, the Chinese were across from us, and in the day time we would spot the openings in the mountain were the Chinese were and at nighttime…we were on 100 percent alert…and at nighttime our tanks would fire into those holes and blow up whatever was there. In the day time we would see them digging out again.