John Edwards

BY JEFF MOORE STAFF WRITER

A Smithfield veteran who served in the Korean War is featured on a website that is documenting history through videos of those who fought there in the 1950s.

John T. “Sonny” Edwards shared his experiences with the Korean War Legacy Foundation that included serving at the demilitarized zone on the border between North and South Korea.

He was born Aug. 1, 1934 in Newport News, but after the death of his biological father when he was six weeks old, his mother couldn’t provide for him and Edwards was adopted by a Smithfield family. His adopted father ran a farm where he grew peanuts and Edward attended Smithfield High School, graduating in 1952.

After getting his diploma, he enlisted to join the Army National Guard Reserves at age 19, then continued work at his family’s peanut farm in Smithfield.

“I had joined the National Guard, I think when I was about 19 because someone said if you, in reserve probably they wouldn’t draft you if you were farming and going through this training,” he said in a video on the website. “But I was too old when I joined so then I got a notice I think, October ‘56 to go for a physical, for draft.”

Edwards said he passed the physical with flying colors and then got his notice to report for duty.

The KWLF site said Edwards was called for active-duty in 1956 and attended basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Following completion at Fort Jackson, he continued training as a Combat Engineer at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, then served in Korea near the DMZ from 1956 to 1958.

In his interview he describes his training, experiencing military service in South Korea, people of South Korea, and reflections on telling the story of the Korean War.

“It was a real shock in Korea because the roads really hadn’t been paved,” Edwards told the KWLF interviewer. “There were poor people I could see trying to make a living…I was kind of interested in the farming aspect of it, how they planted the rice. They used oxen to turn the soil… I watched them harvest rice. It was quite a cultural shock.”

Edwards was assigned to the 8th Army, 3rd Engineer Battalion, 24th Infantry Division and 1st Cavalry, 8th Engineering Battalion, according to the foundation page. It shows he served at Musan-ni and DMZ in Korea, with his specialty being a combat engineer. Edwards was awarded a medal for being an outstanding training combat engineer.

According to the website, he recalls always being on alert to respond if a siren went off at the DMZ.

In his interview with the foundation, he discusses his personal admiration for military service and the distinctive brotherhood that comes with being a member of the armed forces. He also describes his sentiment toward serving the United States and his strong feelings toward the symbol of the American Flag.

Edwards shared memories of his service in Korea during 1957.

He recalls seeing meat hanging in the market, honey buckets, and the smell of kimchi. The website goes on to say that he describes his impression of Korean people and his appreciation for their warm sentiment toward Korean War Veterans.

“I’ll never forget those days, I was trained to shoot early. They had a Quonset hut of course to stay in,” he said in the video. “We had a water tower up on the hill, we could get some water and an outside latrine. It was rustic but at least you had somewhere to sleep or get out of the elements. We had a lot of rain. While I was there monsoon season was on and we had a lot of washouts in roads.”

Upon his return from service in Korea, he continued with the Army Reserves until receiving an honorable discharge, according to the website.

Additionally, he has held a variety of jobs in farming, meat packing, insurance and law enforcement, and enjoys being an active part of the Korean War Veterans Association.

Edwards said he decided to share his story with the foundation for the website because many people today do not know anything about the Korean War. He said many young people are not taught about it in school, noting that he often gives talks at the library and with the ROTC.

At the time it was called an action, not a war.

“And they didn’t have the coverage of the sacrifices being made over there, getting killed. We didn’t have TV coverage on the front line,” he told the foundation. “You get a little trickle back of what the government wants you to hear … It was terrible.”

In his comments, Edwards said the troops were not properly trained and didn’t have the proper equipment or clothing.

“Everybody after World War II, everybody was thinking about World War II,” he said. “The guys that served in Korea come back, got married, got a job. Well it wasn’t long after that, Korea, Vietnam started. So we were caught between two well publicized wars and Korea was never really talked about, and it’s unfortunate.

He praised the work of KWLF.

“What you’re doing right there is what needs to be done about it,” Edwards said in the video interview. “Our group, the Korean War Veteran’s Association needs to be more involved in our schools and civic organizations to tell about this, to show videos, to let the American people know.”

He said that every time he made a presentation, he heard back that people in the group had no idea what those drafted were facing and how many people got killed in Korea.

He praised the Korean people for their involvement in helping to tell the sacrifices Americans made there on their behalf.

“I appreciate that, and I think all the guys that served in Korea appreciate it,” Edwards said.

He stressed the importance of telling the story of the Korean War, which he said has been absent in history.

The interview was recorded when Edwards was 78, which would have been around 2012. It was part of his vision for helping get more information on the Korean War to the public and imparting it to the younger generation, the KWLF website said.

To learn more about the Korean War, visit the foundation at koreanwarlegacy.org.

KOREAN WAR LEGACY FOUNDATION Smithfield veteran John "Sonny" Edwards served at the DMZ during the Korean War. His story was shared as part of an educational program on the war's history with the Korean War Legacy Foundation. In his interview recorded for the website about 10 years ago, Edwards stressed the importance of educating students on the conflict. He said often the war in Korea is overlooked as historians jump from World War II to the Vietnam war.