Accordion War: Korea 1951 - Life and Death in a Marine Rifle Company
This is a gripping work and a must reading. The present-day overview/perspective ties the decades together and makes sense of the cost of war as well as the whys of warfare. --Korean War Project NewsletterWhen a Marine comes under fire, there is no more valuable member than the Navy corpsman attached to it. Knowing that the Doc is around to quickly treat the wounded is a source of comfort and morale. However, Marine infantrymen are not quick to bestow the sobriquet Doc on every corpsman. It s a nickname that is earned under fire and when bestowed it is a sign of acceptance and an announcement to all that their corpsman is a good one.Charles Doc Hughes, the author of Accordion War: Korea 1951, Life and Death in a Marine Rifle Company, was serving as a hospital corpsman at Mare Island, Calif. at about the same time the first Marine Division was ending its epic march to the sea from the Chosin Reservoir in Korea. Hughes, who enlisted in the Navy at 17, regretted having been too young for combat in World War II. Determined not to miss the action in Korea, he volunteered for duty in the Fleet Marine Force. In short order he found himself with a Marine rifle company and his taste for combat was quickly satisfied.His baptism of fire came shortly after joining How Company, 3rd Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment. As a corpsman he was assigned to 1st Platoon. Later he sat on a rim of a high hill and watched enemy troops move across a rice paddy below his unit. When others of his platoon began firing at the enemy, Hughes fired his one and only shot of the war. He missed, but his attempt to take a human life bothered him and after that he left the shooting to others and concentrated on tending to the wounded.Marines who have seen combat and who have witnessed the often heroic efforts of corpsmen treating and protecting the wounded seemingly without regard for their own safety, will be interested to read that Hughes had a mantra he repeated to himself as he moved through fire: Oh God, Please don t let me die. He writes. Purely selfish nothing heroic in that. I was terrified.Hughes, who is professor emeritus of English at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Ark., is a gifted writer. While the thread woven through the pages of his book is connected to his time with a Marine rifle company, he also spins a separate yarn of his life after military service and his philosophy on war in general. What is apparent is how much value Hughes has placed on his time with the Marines. His letters home, written in 1951, make clear that he considered himself a Marine. Years later, the connection he felt to the Marines would lead him to contact many of his former platoon mates, and to write this book.This book is hard to put down. The writing is terrific, and Hughes tells his story with sprinkles of history, poetry, philosophy and his take on what it all meant. The experiences he writes about took place more than 50 years ago in a war that has for the most part been relegated to the back burner of history.Korea was a harsh war. Many who fought there, however, came back to lead long and fruitful lives, because Hughes and other corpsmen like him were on the battlefield with them. Well done, Doc.GySgt John Boring, USMC (Ret) --Leatherneck: Magazine of the Marines, September 2007There is nobody more important when a Marine comes under fire than their Doc. Navy corpsmen live, work, fight, and die with their Marines, and build a relationship with their Devil Dogs that is as deep as that between the Marines themselves.Author Charles Hughes was a corpsman in Korea with How Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines. Too young for WW2, Hughes joined the Navy and volunteered to join to Fleet Marines in order to see some action. His wish was granted, and this exceptionally well-written book is his memoir of his time in Korea.Professor emeritus of English at Henderson State University, Arkadelphia, Ark., Hughes is a gifted writer who spent considerable time and effort recalling his experiences and thoughts from some 56 years ago. In comparison to those macho stories of many veterans, Hughes recalls his private mantra when in battle Oh God; please don't let me die. In between his stories of combat with his Marines of H Company, Hughes has skillfully added his philosophy on war and killing and his life after his military service.This is one of the rare books that begs to be read in one reading. Hughes s stories of combat and life in Koreaare lively; the reader can smell both the gunpowder and the kimchi. Korea may be a war unknown to the current generation, but books like Accordion War: Korea 1951 will give the reader an appreciation of what young men like Charles Hughes and his Marines endured. Well done, Doc. --Military Writers Society of America