The globe-independent. (Hagerstown, Md.) 1943-19??, 1950-12-28

ter from a soldier in Korea. DIR.
Davies read Il on Sunday, De-
cember II, at All Souls Church,
Unitarian, 10th and Harvard,
Streets, NV, Washington, ID. g.,
where he is minister.
Dear Friend
You say near the end of your let
ter that you do not expect an answer.
You are entitled to personal
answer, complete and truthful am
swer. Indeed, you are entitled to
such an answer not only from me
but from every grown person in the
United States
You say that you do not know
what you are doing in Korea-what
made it necessary in the first place
You wonder whether any good has
come of il.
The Korean people, you tell me,
both North and South, are much
worse off than if the United States
had never interviewed. Millions of
them are refugees, walking the win
ter roads alongside your armies
Uncounted multitudes have died, and
the same fate awaits a vast number
of survivors.
Your best friend was killed He
had sweetheart, the girl who had
waited for him since his senior year
in high school. They would have
been married this Christmas. You
ask me what use it was, his dying.
/ shall try to answer these ques-
tiohs. But there is something have
to say first. This letter is being
written in a warm room, not Out-of-
doors in zero weather. My feet have
not been frost-bitten. have not
lost several nights of sleep. If /
walk down the street shall see, not
homeless refugees, but the usual
crowds busy with their Christmas
shopping. You see what Pm driving
at, I'm sure. 1t is something to take
into account as you read what fol-
lows. You are there where the
fighting is; l am not.
The only thing | can say for my
self is that | share your protest y,
am putting up the same-fight against
bitterness that you are. With you,
this fight is recent and intense; with
me it has lasted long while and
am not so driven by it.
PEOPLE HERE know in a vague,
unhappy way that we are being de-
feated in Korea. Nevertheless, the
war is not quite real to them; it
does not meet them face to face.
Last week, for instance, there was
wildcat strike, tying up railroad
terminals. Under normal conditions
this strike might be defensible. In
our present situation, it was out
rageous. The fact is, however, that
the strikers just didn't understand
about Korea. 1t is the same with the
automobile manufacturers. Their
profits have been large, and that is
the way they like them. Perhaps you
would, too, if you were an automo-
bile manufacturer But when the
Government asked them to wait and
talk it over before putting up their
prices, they fatty refused to do it,
The war you are fighting has not
come close enough to brighten them
1t will, sooner or later, but at
present, Korean battles seem to be
fought chiefly in the newspapers.
These people have not seen phOs-
phOrOus thrown into an ambulance:
to them, Communist is something
exposed by the Un-American Ac.
tivities Committee, not a fanatical
soldier, snuffing out the life of your
friend.
The people here have not been
shocked as you have into grim
sense of realities. What most of the
people are concerned with, just now,
is Christmas shopping.
Those long lines of slow-moving
vehicles, retreating toward the
coast, the rear guard action, the sud-
den ambush, the bridges blown up in
front of you, the endless trek OF
refugees people here don't see
them, don't visualize them. They
have not watched the bulldozers
push the earth over the graves OF
the dead; they have not seen blood
on the snow.
YOU ARE IN KOREA because
Americans refused to face realities.
If our country had maintained its
strength at the end of the Second
World War, the entire course of
history would have been different.
But then, so would America.
Millions of the population would
have been under arms. The prosper
A.. - n.