You will find along the walkway the granite stone commemorating the 8240 Army Unit at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum across from Freedom Memorial Park downtown.
The stone is among many that remind museum visitors about our military history.
“If we don’t honor veterans while they are living,” retired Capt. Monika Stoy would say on May 23 to honor soldiers of the unit, “their stories will be gone.”
Retired Maj. Joseph Johnson listened to Stoy’s words with pride. So did retired 1st Sgt. Jerry Cunningham and retired Sgt. 1st Class Don Christiansen.
Johnson, you see, is an American soldier who was part of the 8240 Army Unit that was based in South Korea and trained North Korean partisans in 1951 during the Korean War, as did Cunningham and Christiansen.
“He served in the Airborne and Special Forces in Korea as a lieutenant,” Stoy told active-duty and retired soldiers — Korean and American — at a ceremony that drew some 60 people in front of the granite stone.
Among the Korean partisans assigned to the Wolfpack that Johnson trained was Commander Kyung Jin Choi, who was Stoy’s father.
A part of the legacy
The conflict between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953 is often referred to as “The Forgotten War,” and Stoy takes issue with the mantra.
“It’s not a forgotten war,” she said for all of us to hear, “and we will not forget.”
Lt. Gen. Son Sik, commander of ROK Special Warfare Command, would reiterate Stoy’s sentiments.
“We are continuing the 8240 legacy,” he said. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to those lost in Korea. Korean War veterans are true heroes. We will remember.”
Johnson would remember, too.
“It was not a large force,” Johnson, 93, would say later about the North Korean partisans. “I was 23 years old, and we helped the United Nations train and work with these people.”
For Johnson, the May 23 ceremony brought back memories of his days as a Special Forces soldier.
“I thought it was very good,” Johnson said. “It recognized a lot of people active in the movement.”
This ceremony will be an annual event each Oct. 20, according to retired Lt. Col. Timothy Stoy, who reminds us it is the anniversary of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat team’s first combat jump in Korea on Oct. 20, 1950.
Epilogue
I’m not an authority on the history of the Korean War other than to know it began June 25, 1950, with the invasion of South Korea by some 75,000 soldiers with the North Korean People’s Army.
And that U.S. President Harry S. Truman was watching from the White House.
“Korea is a small country, thousands of miles away, but what is happening there is important to every American,” he said three weeks later. “The fact that communist forces have invaded Korea is a warning that there may be similar acts of aggression in other parts of the world.”
Beyond that, I know my father served as a U.S. soldier in the Korean War, and I remember his return home to Southern Pines Airport.
And I know that retired Maj. Joseph Johnson as a young soldier with the 8240 Army Unit trained North Korean partisans in guerrilla warfare and that he was one of first graduates of Special Forces training that began in 1952.
And that on May 23 at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum, the 8240 Army Unit and Joseph Johnson, Jerry Cunningham and Don Christiansen were not forgotten.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
