December 2004 Dear DMZ Vets:
The History Channel will be presenting Michael Slee’s documentary entitled: “Running
the DMZ: Korea on the Front Lines” on Tuesday, December 28, 2004, first at 9:30 a.m. (that’s
0930 for you officers – 9:30 “in the morning” for us enlisted men) and a repeat showing
at 3:30 p.m. (for you Marines, Mickey’s big hand will be on the 6 and his little hand will
be between the 3 and the 4).
In October of 2003, I was invited by a terrific filmmaker, Michael Slee of Zaragoza Pictures
to fly to Korea to be interviewed for this documentary. At first I was very excited to be
returning to Korea and to be a part of this TV documentary. But as the time to leave drew
nearer, I began to feel a sense of responsibility to all DMZ Vets, living and dead, to “tell
your stories”. I wanted “to get it right” and to tell about all of you and about those who
had died. I wanted the viewers to know about the constant fear of another North Korean invasion,
which I felt the whole time I was there, nights sitting in a fox hole in the rain, being
19 or 22 and spending Thanksgiving and Christmas away from your family, about never getting
enough sleep, the North Korean loud speakers and all that happened so long ago and far away.
I knew I couldn’t tell everyone’s story. I called a fellow DMZ Vet, Bill Holinger, and told
him how I felt. Bill told me just to tell my story because in telling my story, I was telling
all of your stories. So I tried to do that as did the other vets who appear in this documentary.
I hope you and your family and friends will watch the show and will gain a better understanding
of what happened in Korea and what was accomplished in Korea.
We left our homes and families as young American soldiers. We helped keep the peace for
people we didn’t know in a far away land called Korea.
I hope you have come to or will come to the same conclusions that I have come to about
our service in Korea: Mission accomplished. It was an honor to have served.
David Benbow
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