Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

San Diego's place in world history

Spanish Civil War vets, Contras and drugs, Sandinistas, Korean War vets, the Chosin Few

Korean war veterans and their spouses at Camp Pendleton, December 2000. The crowd thundered its approval with applause, whistles, and the Devil Dog growl.
Korean war veterans and their spouses at Camp Pendleton, December 2000. The crowd thundered its approval with applause, whistles, and the Devil Dog growl.

Never Say Retreat

"Almond ordered the Marines north behind Faith to the Chosin Reservoir. Winter had now arrived, and things were getting weirder and weirder — irrational. It was on November 15 that General Oliver P. Smith wrote the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Cates. He told General Cates he did not believe a 15,000-man Marine division should be strung out over a hundred miles of mountain road in hostile territory in winter....”

By Bill Salisbury, Jan. 25, 2001 | Read full article

For those who went to Spain via the Communist Party, motives were carefully scrutinized to insure that potential recruits were “politically sound.”

For Whom the Bell Tolled

On his second day at the Ebro River, he was sent out to repair some lines. He was strafed by enemy aircraft. “I jumped into a barranco, a ditch, when stray bullet hits me in the arm. When the bombing stopped, I sought refuge in a nearby cave, where I stayed for three or four days. It was dark and eerie and it stank and there was no food — just me and a lot of dead bodies.

By Sue Garson, July 17, 1980 | Read full article

Sponsored
Sponsored
Interior of Faberge workshop. Fabergé found two enormously talented men, deeply schooled in Russian folk traditions, who were able to adapt and pervert those indigenous traditions to the taste of its ga-ga aristocracy.

Government work

Fabergé crafted the first example of this new genre for Tsar Alexander III as a traditional Easter gift for his wife Marie Feodorovna. It was a small gold egg that opened up to reveal an even smaller gold hen inside, sitting on its nest, and (oh boy!) it could be opened and closed as often as its owner wished in a perfect mindless parody of artistic “meaning" — its disguise and revelation.

By Dave Hickey, Oct. 19, 1989 | Read full article

Plumlee worked as a plumber for the Erling Rohde Plumbing Company in La Jolla. Owner Mike Clancy made a deal with Plumlee when he hired him in 1985: “’As long as you finish the job you’re on, you can come and go.’"

I Ran Drugs for Uncle Sam

Small airstrips like Santa Elena were sprinkled throughout Costa Rica and Honduras. When the contra war was in full swing, these strips were needed to provide refueling stops and drop-off points for guns. “The drug people controlled the areas where the rebel army needed bases,” Plumlee explains. “The gun suppliers — first the CIA and later the private people who turned the war into a business — had to strike deals with the drug people.”

By Neal Matthews, April 5, 1990 | Read full article

MacRenato with Alex Drehsler, former San Diego Union reporter, in Nicaragua, 1979

Riffraff Revolution

MacRenato found some of his best efforts rejected. “I was there to fight a revolution and use my military knowledge, but I also had a Peace Corps mentality. I even tried to get the Peace Corps to come back, but the comandantes were not interested. The Sandinistas wanted the Cubans. I also brought an offer of $9 million, and all they had to do was ask for it. They wouldn’t have anything to do with that either.

By K.L. Billingsley, Sept. 4, 1991 | Read full article

“When I came back, I didn’t talk about it much. I don’t recall people being that interested. That’s it. They just weren’t interested."

The Forgotten War

Not every veteran I approached agreed to be interviewed. “I’m just not going to talk about that,” said one man gruffly, turning away. Numerous telephone messages were not returned; I accepted this as a statement to be respected. Without exception every person I interviewed was surprised that someone was actually asking about the “forgotten” Korean War and their participation in it. Almost none had been questioned previously on the subject.

By David Burge, June 20, 1996 | Read full article

MacArthur's honor guard, Tokyo. "We wore tailored uniforms and blue silk scarves we tucked into our collars, and we had special things in the legs of our pants to keep the creases straight."

Long Gray Line

"From July 1950 through March 1951, I participated in just about all the major offenses. When I first got to Korea, I was scared of my own shadow. At night, in the trenches, if I heard a noise, I'd literally wet my pants. I realized I was killing myself. Killing myself with fear. We'd had no training. I had to train myself to keep my head down at the right time.

By Abe Opincar, May 25, 2000 | Read full article

Little Boy/Hiroshima (left); Fat Man/Nagasaki (right). "They had given a lot of thought to making a demonstration drop — having the Japanese come in under a white flag and witness it. And they felt that there was too much of an opportunity for it to be a dud."

Flight Log

All there was to do until the atomic raids started was study targets. We came to know the four targets (Hiroshima. Niigata, Kokura. and Nagasaki) so well that we could close our eyes and see any one of them. We memorized the routes we were to follow, from landfall on the coast of Japan to the target and back out to sea again. We knew the cities, bays, rivers, and mountains that lay on those routes.

By Gordon Smith, July 31, 1980 | Read full article

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Korean war veterans and their spouses at Camp Pendleton, December 2000. The crowd thundered its approval with applause, whistles, and the Devil Dog growl.
Korean war veterans and their spouses at Camp Pendleton, December 2000. The crowd thundered its approval with applause, whistles, and the Devil Dog growl.

Never Say Retreat

"Almond ordered the Marines north behind Faith to the Chosin Reservoir. Winter had now arrived, and things were getting weirder and weirder — irrational. It was on November 15 that General Oliver P. Smith wrote the commandant of the Marine Corps, General Cates. He told General Cates he did not believe a 15,000-man Marine division should be strung out over a hundred miles of mountain road in hostile territory in winter....”

By Bill Salisbury, Jan. 25, 2001 | Read full article

For those who went to Spain via the Communist Party, motives were carefully scrutinized to insure that potential recruits were “politically sound.”

For Whom the Bell Tolled

On his second day at the Ebro River, he was sent out to repair some lines. He was strafed by enemy aircraft. “I jumped into a barranco, a ditch, when stray bullet hits me in the arm. When the bombing stopped, I sought refuge in a nearby cave, where I stayed for three or four days. It was dark and eerie and it stank and there was no food — just me and a lot of dead bodies.

By Sue Garson, July 17, 1980 | Read full article

Sponsored
Sponsored
Interior of Faberge workshop. Fabergé found two enormously talented men, deeply schooled in Russian folk traditions, who were able to adapt and pervert those indigenous traditions to the taste of its ga-ga aristocracy.

Government work

Fabergé crafted the first example of this new genre for Tsar Alexander III as a traditional Easter gift for his wife Marie Feodorovna. It was a small gold egg that opened up to reveal an even smaller gold hen inside, sitting on its nest, and (oh boy!) it could be opened and closed as often as its owner wished in a perfect mindless parody of artistic “meaning" — its disguise and revelation.

By Dave Hickey, Oct. 19, 1989 | Read full article

Plumlee worked as a plumber for the Erling Rohde Plumbing Company in La Jolla. Owner Mike Clancy made a deal with Plumlee when he hired him in 1985: “’As long as you finish the job you’re on, you can come and go.’"

I Ran Drugs for Uncle Sam

Small airstrips like Santa Elena were sprinkled throughout Costa Rica and Honduras. When the contra war was in full swing, these strips were needed to provide refueling stops and drop-off points for guns. “The drug people controlled the areas where the rebel army needed bases,” Plumlee explains. “The gun suppliers — first the CIA and later the private people who turned the war into a business — had to strike deals with the drug people.”

By Neal Matthews, April 5, 1990 | Read full article

MacRenato with Alex Drehsler, former San Diego Union reporter, in Nicaragua, 1979

Riffraff Revolution

MacRenato found some of his best efforts rejected. “I was there to fight a revolution and use my military knowledge, but I also had a Peace Corps mentality. I even tried to get the Peace Corps to come back, but the comandantes were not interested. The Sandinistas wanted the Cubans. I also brought an offer of $9 million, and all they had to do was ask for it. They wouldn’t have anything to do with that either.

By K.L. Billingsley, Sept. 4, 1991 | Read full article

“When I came back, I didn’t talk about it much. I don’t recall people being that interested. That’s it. They just weren’t interested."

The Forgotten War

Not every veteran I approached agreed to be interviewed. “I’m just not going to talk about that,” said one man gruffly, turning away. Numerous telephone messages were not returned; I accepted this as a statement to be respected. Without exception every person I interviewed was surprised that someone was actually asking about the “forgotten” Korean War and their participation in it. Almost none had been questioned previously on the subject.

By David Burge, June 20, 1996 | Read full article

MacArthur's honor guard, Tokyo. "We wore tailored uniforms and blue silk scarves we tucked into our collars, and we had special things in the legs of our pants to keep the creases straight."

Long Gray Line

"From July 1950 through March 1951, I participated in just about all the major offenses. When I first got to Korea, I was scared of my own shadow. At night, in the trenches, if I heard a noise, I'd literally wet my pants. I realized I was killing myself. Killing myself with fear. We'd had no training. I had to train myself to keep my head down at the right time.

By Abe Opincar, May 25, 2000 | Read full article

Little Boy/Hiroshima (left); Fat Man/Nagasaki (right). "They had given a lot of thought to making a demonstration drop — having the Japanese come in under a white flag and witness it. And they felt that there was too much of an opportunity for it to be a dud."

Flight Log

All there was to do until the atomic raids started was study targets. We came to know the four targets (Hiroshima. Niigata, Kokura. and Nagasaki) so well that we could close our eyes and see any one of them. We memorized the routes we were to follow, from landfall on the coast of Japan to the target and back out to sea again. We knew the cities, bays, rivers, and mountains that lay on those routes.

By Gordon Smith, July 31, 1980 | Read full article

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Next Article

Didja know I did the first American feature on Jimi Hendrix?

Richard Meltzer goes through the Germs, Blue Oyster Cult, Ray Charles, Elvis, Lavender Hill Mob
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.