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Freedom Is For Those Willing to Defend It: Stories of Men in War

by Helene Ensign Maw

236 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #02-0105; ISBN 1-55369-292-6; US$25.50, C$29.50, EUR21.00, £15.00

Patriotism is a character trait of great people, and within these uncommon combat stories, veterans express convictions that acclaim our legacy of liberty, which if forgotten, would necessitate repurchasing. The intended audiences are service men and women, veterans, and citizens currently flying flags in our nation who are rekindling their patriotism.

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About the Book Twelve true stories of men in war during the Vietnam, Korean and World War II wars. Each story of twenty to thirty pages comprises detailed experiences with maps and photographs. "They removed the handcuffs, stretched my arms out spread eagle against the wall and pinned a target on my chest. Leg irons clamped on both legs and a blindfold over my eyes. . .At the same time I could hear the rifle butts hit the flagstone path and I knew what that meant. It was ready, aim, fire and that's it, and in those seconds my life flashed before me." After three and a half years in Japanese prisons in China, this veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam was on the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo 18 April 1942, and tells of his capture and imprisonment in the story Freedom is for Those Willing to Defend It. I Dreamed of Steel Chargers with Skies to Roam, but Mostly I Dreamed of Just Going Home is a story of five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton. An F-105 American pilot depicts more than torture in the infamous Knobby Room at Hoa Lo Prison and isolation without mail from his wife and five children, he discloses how he survived with three others in a 12 x 12 concrete cell for five years and their longing to see America once more. "We faced east which was toward home and where an American flag was flying and with a hand placed over our heart pledged allegiance to the flag." Bursting the noise ban, they loudly sang The Star Spangled Banner while another cell in greater volume burst into God Bless America and another, even louder, America the Beautiful, and another and another throughout the cells of the prison camp until silenced by Vietnamese guards with tear gas and bayonets. A twist of unexpected humor surfaces in No Place to Hide, when a bombardier lieutenant is forced to jump out of bed while still in his shorts and salute General Twining; when his Purple Heart goes unclaimed because he was wounded on his anatomy in a place he never wanted to explain. "I decided to hand crank the stuck bomb bay doors shut. I took off my flak jacket, parachute, and Mae West life jacket, and headed for the open bomb bay. The quarters were too tight to work with those strapped to my body. I instructed the flight sergeant to hand me a new oxygen bottle every thirty seconds, since I didn't want to run out of oxygen, pass out, and fall out the bomb bay without a parachute. I got out on the six-inch catwalk, leaned over the open bomb bay and looked down at the ground 28,000 feet below. . ." In the invasion of Guam, a Marine from the 3rd Marine Division tells of the fight on the beach and scaling the Chonito Cliffs in The Sounds and Smells of War I Know So Very Well. "The next morning descending from Fonte Canyon by an easier route than the cliffs we had scaled, we witnessed an astounding spectacle. Looking down from a ridge trail into the desolate ruins of Agaña, once a metropolis of 12,000, the Japanese soldiers were holding a full-dress ceremony on a bomb-pocked avenue of the capital city, or what was left of it. Flashing Samurai swords gleamed in the sun as they paraded wearing full combat regalia. We ordered an artillery concentration, but it was too late to catch the prideful retreating Imperial enemy." Trusting to My Instinct is about a young recruit from ranch country thrown into battle and learned from experience why the training manual was incomplete. "Reaching battalion headquarters with the POW, I placed him in the major's charge, and rushed back up the mountain to rejoin my platoon. In my absence Lieutenant Davis had gone ahead alone to sneak behind the machine gun position. We estimated there was a machine gunner in a command post and about forty German riflemen in foxholes, dug in and camouflaged. We listened to the steady rhythm of the ra-ta-ta-tat of the machine gun bursts. Then it quit. On a hunch that the enemy gun had jammed, Bill and I rushed forward firing our Tommy guns from the hip, spraying every bush and tree while dodging bullets from the German riflemen. The command post comprised a four-foot high log hut in the brush, and behind the log hut was Lieutenant Davis. After circling around to get behind the machine gun to take it out, he met enemy fire and lay dead." A successful assault coincides with an attack of diarrhea in an empathetic vignette midst the valiant story If You Cut My Arm Of, Let Me Die, I'm a Baseball Player. A citizen of Czechoslovakia abandons the opportunity to join the New York Giants' ball club to become a paratrooper in the U.S. Army and becomes a survivor of the invasions of Holland, Belgium and Germany. "Medic!" I yelled, but he died in my arms before a medic got there. I laid him down and started mowing with that .30 caliber machine gun, shooting so fast that the barrel got hot and glowed red in the night. Then the German tanks turned around and headed back toward my foxhole again. Just then out of the corner of my eye fifteen feet away from me a German jumped up and pointed a one-man bazooka at me. I moved the .30 caliber around and got him before he could fire the bazooka, then ducked down just as another tank crossed by my foxhole." The Epic Rescue of My Gal Sal; and The Great Escape is the survival of an airman in three aircraft tragedies. The crew of My Gal Sal, land their out-of-fuel 10-ton B-17 on the Greenland Ice Cap and are rescued by a pilot landing a 12-ton PBY on a small ice water melt lake and a veteran of the Arctic on skis. The ice melt lake disappears shortly after the rescue. The airmen is in a second emergency landing, and again a third time, when he is the lone survivor of his aircraft and bails out over enemy territory and is imprisoned for three years. He is part of the planning of a great escape of 250 prisoners, but eventually saved from annihilation by the Russians by Hitler. The Chinese Trap at Chosin Reservoir, takes place at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea and as General Matthew Ridgeway explained the tragedy, "We were, in short, in a state of shameful unreadiness." "The ten Chinese divisions that had orders to annihilate the Marines at Yudam-ni attacked them all the way to the sea as the Marines withdrew. Following within the shadow of the Marines for protection were nearly a hundred thousand North Korean women, children, and old men carrying their wounded. During the two-week battle on the west side of the reservoir the 15,000 men of the U.S. Marines, British and South Koreans suffered 12,000 casualties. The 3,000 men of Task Force Faith of the 31st and 32nd battalions/Seventh Army Division on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir fared worse with more than 2,600 dead and only 385 survivors." In contrast to the men at the Chosin Reservoir, the men in the story of 9 Band-Aids and 9 Purple Hearts, had water to drink without carrying canteens, fresh eggs any time and freshly made donuts. "When the dust had cleared we returned to count the cost of the all-night attack - of the 4,000 Chinese that had attacked us, 350 of the enemy had lost their lives and 2,500 had surrendered. When counting our casualties, we discovered that not one of our men had been killed. Our 240 men who had fought off 3,500 to 4,000 Chinese dusted off their fatigues and used Band-Aides to cover their scrapes, and with grateful hearts for their lives, they buried the enemy dead before moving out.". Letters from Vietnam is a daily record during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam abstracted from letters from a sergeant to his wife. "7 Feb 68. Well, this morning was one of those mornings when you wake up and ten minutes later the VCs are shooting at you. We got carbine fire and RPGs. We moved out with the tanks about ten o'clock and started sweeping through the area where the VC were. About two o'clock we ran into them. "I got the news about the baby when I got back. I am so happy I could cry! I love you so much... I don't know what day he was born. They didn't say, they just said it was a boy and weighted 7 pounds and something...all I can say is, I love you..." Vietnam war negotiations ensued to end the war and exchange prisoners. The Last Plane Out is a story of negotiating with generals of South Vietnam, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong and how you actually shut down a war. Included are experiences that occurred at Phu Quoc Island, the POW camp where the majority of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were incarcerated.

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About the Author Helene Ensign Maw's patriotism coupled with a writing talent and a penchant for accuracy has come together in her first book Freedom is for Those Willing to Defend It -- Stories of Men in War. After retiring from the business and legal world, she began writing in order to capture and publish the sacrifices that men in war have made for our country, their respect for the flag and their faith in dire times. Dedicated to those who underprize liberty, she has recorded historical experiences so that others may remember and honor the sacrifices made for them and keep vivid in their hearts that liberty has its price. Abandoning a court reporting career ,which she was pursuing in Jackson, Wyoming, she chose to stay home after marrying a widower with five young and teenage children, and experience mothering. A Communication major, she attended the University of Utah. The specialty of verbatim court reporting required two-year schooling at Denver's Mile High Court Reporting school. Helene and her husband presently reside in the mountain community of Kamas, Utah (near the Olympic venue of Park City), in a log home that she and her husband designed and built adjacent to a mountain stream.

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Sample Excerpts

"I was dragged into a small room and placed on a table. Around this table were winch-like devices on all sides. Leather straps were placed around my ankles and wrists and a collar was placed about my chin and the rear part of my head. My legs and arms were all hooked up, the winch turned and finally I was pulled and stretched until I was above the table. The winch at my head was pulled so tight I felt like my head was about to come off. The collar around my chin and head made it difficult to breathe and cut off the circulation. I was released just prior to blacking out. I was taken out of the harness and pushed into a chair, and as my blood returned to my head and eyes, I could see and hear again. The interpreter told me that I was foolish to take any more punishment because my buddies had already talked and they knew the whole story. 'Tell it to me and I'll see if it's right,' I said. The four big guys worked me over again, while the Japanese officers laughed. Finally, the interpreter said, "It is useless to continue, we will execute you right now."

A member of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo imprisoned in China by the Japanese gives an account of World War II's first bombing raid on the Imperial City 18 April 1942, his capture and imprisonment in the story Freedom is for Those Willing to Defend it.

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"By the first week in February 1945, the men of the 82nd Airborne had slogged their way through the snowy mountains and infamous Siegfried Line and all the embattlements of metal dragons teeth, mines, and concrete pillboxes and crossed over the German border. We got up near the Ruhr River (Germany) and winter blizzards worsened. Snow got deeper. To stay warm we took sleeping bags off our buddies who had been killed, cut the bottoms out, wrapped them around us, and zipped them up. That way we could still walk. One morning I woke up and I was frozen and couldn't move the lower half of my body. We couldn't dig foxholes; the snow was up to our thighs and the ground frozen solid beneath. All we could do was hollow out a hole in the snow, spread tree branches over the top, and squat down inside. At that time half of my squad was replacements - half of the guys had been casualties! "Our objective on 9 February was to seize and control the main bridge over the Ruhr River so our tanks could cross later and attack Köln (Cologne), Germany. By 0200 the next morning I took my seven-man patrol and we moved stealthily under cover of darkness to cross the bridge and locate German strongholds. When we came to the edge of the tree line there was an open flat area about 300 yards long. In a muted voice I said to my squad, 'Single file until we get on the other side of the bridge.' We were across the bridge when I heard one of my men fire his M1. More than a little annoyed, I didn't know what he saw to shoot at. But in the next moment the enemy exploded in front of us. Our M1s, machine guns and my Tommy gun were no match for their 20mm mortars.

"Everybody get across the bridge! I'll bring up the rear." My squad dashed over the bridge while I covered the rear with my Tommy gun. I was the last to cross. Hurriedly, I unhooked my web belt and gear and let it drop, along with the Tommy gun. I ran - zigzagging across the bridge, remembering my high school track record of a quarter mile in 49.525 seconds, while the enemy 88mms zeroed in on me." One vignette from the story of a Czechoslovakian citizen who postponed the opportunity to play with the New York Giants ball club in order to serve in the U.S. Army Paratroopers. A World War II story entitled "If you cut my arm off, let me die, I'm a baseball player."

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During the early fighting of the Korean War at the Chosin Reservoir located approximately fifty miles from the Yalu River that borders Korea and Manchura, the 1st Marine Division was unaware that Chinese Chairman Mao had prepared a trap to be sprung at the reservoir. The Chinese Trap at Chosin Reservoir is about half million Chinese peasant soldiers with wood bullets and wood grenades against 15,000 Marines in one of the bloodiest battles in the annals of war. "The Marines ahead of me on the trail packed snow in slippery lumpy humps. Stumbling, and losing balance, I went down silently cursing. Others slipped and fell uttering groans, spilling mortar shells in the snow, yet, thankfully, no audible words were uttered. Never having tents, we lay on the snow with feet in each other's armpits to protect them from freezing in the minus 24 zero Fahrenheit night. Admirably, Colonel Ray Davis walked the ranks of his men making certain they didn't freeze in their own sweat when they rested. He talked, cuffed his men, and made them repeat commands, always checking against the cold malaise that stiffens and stupefies. Two Marines went insane that night. At two in the morning, we heard Chinese talking and caught a whiff of garlic on the wind. They attacked from every direction blowing bugles and police whistles, fighting from behind every rock and tree. A few Chinese without rifles even fought with rocks and tree limbs.

"While remaining on high ridges engaging the enemy, the main Marine column was able to retreat on the road with a battalion on each flank. The long column of walking-wounded formed the lead rifle company with non-combat staff cooks, bakers, and truck drivers turned into riflemen holding off attackers from the rear. The column came into Hagaru-ri with windshields shot out and wounded men stacked like cordwood in trucks. Those lashed across truck hoods and fenders hadn't survived the jostling of rutted, icy roads and raw cold.

"The ten Chinese divisions that had orders to annihilate the Marines at Yudam-ni attacked them all the way to the sea as the Marines withdrew. Following within the shadow of the Marines for protection were nearly a hundred thousand North Korean women, children, and old men carrying their wounded. "During the two-week battle on the west side of the reservoir the 15,000 men of the U.S. Marines, British, and South Koreans suffered 12,000 casualties. The 3,000 men of Task Force Faith of the 31st and 32nd battalions/Seventh Army Division on the east side of the Chosin Reservoir fared worse with more than 2,600 dead and only 385 survivors."

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Five and a half years in Hoa Lo prison, nicknamed the Hanoi Hilton by Americans interned there, an F-105 American pilot depicts more than torture in the infamous Knobby Room in the story I Dreamed of Steel Chargers with Skies to Roam, but Mostly I Dreamed of Just Going Home. "In the crucible of the Knobby Room I gave name, rank, serial number, and date of birth, but the cunning Pig Eye and The Cat were bent on torture and violently applied the Rope Trick and I lay mutilated on the floor deliriously hallucinating, once dreaming I was swimming in a pool filled with orangeade. At the end of a week I was carried out of the Knobby Room and thrown into the unsplendid isolation of a 5 _ x 7-foot dark, oppressively hot cell at "Little Vegas." The iron door was banged shut, bolted and locked behind me. From a boarded-up window, nailed to the frame from the outside, a crack of light appeared where I could see a few green leaves on top of a tree and discover if it was day or night. During the first month, while peeking through this crack, two Americans and a guard moved across the walkway. One American wore prison shorts that were threadbare in the seat. It seemed like I had been there forever - maybe a month by then - yet my shorts still looked new. I contemplated how long it would take to sit in shorts before the seat was worn out, and soon slumped to the floor in despair. Later I learned Americans had been there three and four years before I arrived. My hands twisted and dysfunctional from torture, I called out in prayer and remembered a verse from Friedrich Nietzche, 'He who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how.' I had a lot to live for - a wife and five young children and I resolved to live.

"We considered escaping. Others had, but no one had been successful. There was a bounty on each American of $1500, an incentive that made Vietnamese watchful of any man that stood a foot taller, besides we wore striped prison pajamas, and the Hanoi Hilton was in the center of downtown Hanoi, a city of three million people. Jungle lay beyond the city and we were all well aware of it. One morning draped over a fence in the courtyard, a poisonous snake that had been captured and killed in one of the cells the night before, captivated our attention as we watched it completely devoured by insects in three hours - totally, including skin and backbone - nothing remained of it. About this time the guard forgot to lock our cell one night. The thought of that unlocked door plagued us, and we discussed escape as the night wore

* Table of Contents World War II

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Freedom is for Those Willing to Defend it
Doolittle Raider Imprisoned in China
Colonel Chase J. Nielsen

Chapter 2 Adrift
Lost at Sea
Sergeant Bauduy R. Grier

Chapter 3 Sounds and Smells of War I Know so Very Well
Invasion of Guam and Bougainville
Sergeant Grant C. Parkinson

Chapter 4 No Place to Hide
51 Combat Missions as Bombardier
Lieutenant Louis M. Baxter

Chapter 5 Trusting to my Instinct
Invasion of Southern France and Battle of the Bulge
Sergeant J. Darwin Baxter

Chapter 6 If You Cut my Arm off, Let me Die, I'm a Baseball Player
The Invasions of Holland, Belgium and Germany
Sergeant Louis A. Slama

Chapter 7 The Epic Rescue of My Gal Sal; and Great Escape
Forced landing on Greenland's Ice Cap;
POW in Germany
Captain Leo O. Frazier

Korean War

Chapter 8 Chinese Trap at Chosin Reservoir
One of the Bloodiest Battles in the Annals of War
Sergeant Charles V. "Skip" Anderson

Chapter 9 9 Band-Aides and 9 Purple Hearts
Mormon Battalion in Korea
General Frank Dalley

Vietnam War

Chapter 10 Letters from Vietnam
A Combat Diary from Letters to his Wife
Sergeant Roger C. Allen

Chapter 11 Mostly I Dreamed of Just Going Home
Five and a Half Years in the "Hanoi Hilton"
Colonel Jay C. Hess

Chapter 12 The Last Plane Out Shutting Down War
Colonel Paul H. Johnson

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Catalogue Information

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