calherewecome

Here we are starting a new year. Time for me to start posting again. I hadn’t been posting much last year. Time to get back on it.

I just finished reading the book “Devotion” by Adam Makos. This book was the basis for a new film by the same name. I haven’t seen the film, so I can’t comment on it. I tend to read a lot more books than watch movies (especially one in theaters. If I was thinking of seeing a movie, I try to read a book before I get out to see the film.

The book is about the Korean War and the relationship between two US Navy Flyers named Lt Tom Hudner from New England and Ens. Jesse Brown from Lux, Mississippi. These two pilots were members of Fighter Squadron 32. The squadron consisted of Corsair fighter aircraft assigned to USS Leyte aircraft carrier.

The book is about the relationship between Lt Hudson and Ens Brown. It is equally about the Korean War and the ground war in N Korea that was fought by the US Marines that was supported by the Navy fighter aircraft.

Tom Hudson was a 26 year old pilot from Fall River, MA. Jesse Brown was a 24 year old African-America pilot from Lux, Mississippi. He was the first African-American to serve as a carrier pilot in the US Navy.

Ens Brown died in action and Lt Hudner attempted to rescue him but was unable to extricate him from Brown’s aircraft. Lt Hudner received the Medal of Honor for his actions.

I learned much about the Korean War. Here is a quote from the afterword in the book:

In July 1953, the Korean War concluded after claiming five million lives— nearly thirty-seven thousand of them American. Of the communist prisoners captured by U.N. Forces, 30 percent of the North Vietnamese elected to remain in the south, and 70 percent of Chinese prisoners chose not to return to communist China.

Today, the Korean War is often called ”the Forgotten War.” But the men who fought there know it by a different name: “The Forgotten Victory”. Today, thanks to the United States and United Nations forces, some fifty million South Koreans live in freedom.

Afterword, p 403