문재인 대통령과 정상회담을 하면서, 한국전쟁의 살아있는 영웅, 94세의 당시 소위였던, Ralph Puckett Jr. 에게 최고의 훈장을 수여했다. 문재인 대통령은 수여식에서 그앞의 의자에 앉아서 이광경을 지켜봤었다.
메달 수여식에 앞서, 문재인 대통령이, 미국이 6.25전쟁에 참가하여, 한국을 지켜준 그고마움을 나타내는 짧막한 연설을 하는데 까지는 실황중계로 봤으나, 정상회담 내용이나, 그진행과정에 대해서는 아직까지 한마디의 언급이 없다. 왜일까?
전직 대통령들의 백악관 방문은 항상 회담내용과 브리핑, 회담후의 식사광경까지 다 보여주곤 했었는데.... 미국의 언론이 편파적이라고 해야하나? 아니면 정상회담을 보도할만한 가치가 없어서 안한 것일까? 무척 궁금해진다.
한국의 조선일보는 정상회담이 백악관의 야외에서 있었다는 짧은 몇마디가 속보로 전해진게 전부였다. 그대로 옮겨놨다.
문재인 대통령은 22일 새벽 3시5분(현지 시간 21일 오후2시5분) 미국 백악관 야외테라스에서 조 바이든 대통령과 첫 한미정상회담을 열고 37분간 단독회담을 가졌다.
두 정상은 코로나 백신과 반도체, 북핵문제 해결 방안 등 다양한 의제를 놓고 의견을 주고 받고 있는 것으로 알려졌다. 곧이어 문 대통령과 바이든 대통령은 단독회담에 이어 소인수회담, 확대회담 순으로 정상회담을 진행한다.
다른것은 몰라도 5천만 국민들의 Pandemic방역을 위한 백신접종 도입에 대한 확실한 보도내용을 듣고 보고 싶었는데.... Ralph Puckett Jr, 예비역 대령에 대한 최고의 훈장 수여식은, 본인의 고사에도 바이든이 설득하여 백악관에 와서 목에 훈장을 걸어주는 엄숙한 순간을 갖었었고, 그자리에 참석했던 Ralph 대령의 가족들이 전부 Podium으로 나오게 해서, 대통령과 악수를 하면서 최고의 예우를 베풀었는데, 그자리에서 바이든 대통령은 가족들을 문재인 대통령에 소개하지 않고 지나쳤었던 점도 맘에 걸린 부분이다.
회담에서 주고 받았다는 내용에 대한 자세한 뉴스보도는 전연없다는점이 자꾸만 신경을 쓰이게 한다. CNN, Washington Post, NY Times, USA Today 등등의 정상회담에 대한 뉴스 보도는 이시간( 현지시간으로 오후 3:45분) 현재 일체의 보도가 없다. 백신과 반도체 등등의 한미 경제상호협력에 대한 회담결과를 초조하게 기다리는 국민들의 속만 탄다.
자세한 평가는 다음에 분석해서 해보기로 하자.
President Joe Biden presents the Medal of Honor to 94-year-old retired Army colonel Ralph Puckett Jr.
(CNN)Ralph Puckett Jr. -- a United States Army Ranger who led the defense against six Chinese assaults on a frozen hill in the Korean War -- was presented with America's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, by President Joe Biden on Friday.
Biden said that Puckett's initial reaction to receiving the Medal of Honor was to ask, "Why all the fuss? Can't they just mail it to me?" Biden said that after waiting more than 70 years to be recognized for his heroics, the ceremony was well-deserved.
"Col. Puckett, after 70 years rather than mail it to you I would have walked it to you," Biden said. "Your lifetime of service to our nation I think deserves a little bit of fuss."
On November 25, 1950, the then-first lieutenant led a company of 51 US and nine South Korean soldiers against Chinese forces on what was called Hill 205, according to an award citation from the White House and an oral history given by Puckett.
In the initial daylight assault on the hill, Puckett repeatedly exposed himself to enemy fire, rallying pinned down US troops to advance and take the hill from its defenders. But once night fell and temperatures on the hill dropped below freezing, Puckett and his command faced wave after wave of Chinese assaults attempting to retake the key location.
Retired Col. Ralph Puckett Jr. went above and beyond the call of duty as a first lieutenant and Eighth Army Ranger Company's commanding officer during a multiday operation that started on November 25, 1950.
It was estimated that hundreds of Chinese troops were involved in the attack against Puckett's group of five dozen, he said a video recorded for Witness to War, a compilation of oral histories from veterans.
Sitting atop the hill looking out over the 360-degree perimeter the US forces had set up -- with the Chinese lines somewhere in the darkness beyond -- Puckett could hear the sound of whistles and bugles.
"That was the way they coordinated with each other," he said of the Chinese forces. When the notes stopped, "we were hit with a mortar barrage and automatic weapons fire and shortly thereafter a shower of hand grenades."
Puckett radioed in an artillery strike, stopping the Chinese advance. But a grenade fragment had left him with his first wound of the night.
Six Chinese attacks
That assault was the first of what would be six attacks on the US Rangers' perimeter into the early hours of November 26.
"We were getting more and more pressure and had more and more people wounded" with each assault, Puckett said.
Despite being wounded a second time, through five assaults Puckett was able to call on artillery, firing on points he determined in advance to hold off the Chinese troops.
"They were the overwhelming force that saved our goose," he said.
Between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., Puckett said the Chinese whistles and bugles sounded again.
He radioed for another round of artillery but got bad news: the big guns had another mission, and Hill 205 would have to wait, the artillery unit said.
"We're crumbling. We're being overrun. I just gave my unit the order to withdraw," Puckett radioed back.
His personal situation was dire. By now, he had been wounded three times and was lying in a foxhole "unable to do anything."
"I could see three Chinese about 15 yards away from me and they were bayoneting or shooting some of my wounded Rangers," he recalled.
Then hope ran up the hill.
Then-1st Lt. Ralph Puckett Jr. led fellow Rangers and Korean Augmentation to the United States Army soldiers across frozen terrain under enemy fire to seize and defend Hill 205 in Unsan, North Korea.
"All of a sudden, two of my Rangers charged up the hill -- Pfc. Billy G. Walls, Pfc. David L. Pollack -- they shot the three Chinese, killing them I assume," Puckett said.
The soldiers came over to their wounded commander.
"Walls said, 'Sir, are you hurt?' I thought that was the dumbest question I'd ever heard in my life," Puckett said.
But aloud to the private Puckett said only, "I'm hurt bad. I can't move. Leave me behind."
Disobeying orders
Walls ignored Puckett's order and scooped him up, threw him over his shoulder and began running down the hill as Pollack provided covering fire.
They'd gone about 150 yards when Walls put Puckett down, saying he was too heavy to carry, Puckett recalled.
Each private then grabbed a wrist and dragged their commander the rest of the way down Hill 205 on his backside.
"Not very ceremonially, but we made it," Puckett said.
They found cover with three US tanks, from which Puckett was able to call in a final artillery strike of white phosphorous and high explosives on the Chinese troops now occupying the hill.
"I certainly am pleased that Walls and Pollack disobeyed my order to leave me behind on the hill," Puckett said.
Then-1st Lt. Ralph Puckett Jr. sustained wounds in the Battle for Hill 205 that ended his combat tour in Korea.
An official Army history records that Puckett sustained wounds to both feet, his thighs, buttocks and left shoulder that night. His combat time in Korea was over.
Puckett "distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty," the White House citation says. "(His) extraordinary heroism and selflessness above and beyond the call of duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of military service."
Chinese forces drove Americans back
While that night stands out for Puckett's heroism, it also marked the beginning of a difficult two years for US forces in the Korean War.
The strength of the Chinese forces that had come to the aid of the largely defeated North Korean army surprised the Americans, according to a US Army history.
Chinese attacks across the peninsula eventual pushed the US forces and their United Nations allies back into South Korea. At one point, the southern capital of Seoul fell to Communist forces for the second time in months.
"The setback would cause the war to grind on for two and a half more years before ending in an uneasy Armistice on July 27, 1953," an Army history says.
That armistice, resulting in the Korean Peninsula being divided between North and South along the 38th parallel, persists to this day.
"Korea is sometimes called the forgotten war, but those men who were there under Lt. Puckett's command will never forget his bravery," Biden said. "They'll never forget that he was right by their side through every minute of it. The people of the Republic of Korea haven't forgotten."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in attended the ceremony, the first time a foreign leader has attended such an event. He lauded Puckett and said he and other American soldiers helped ensure his nation's freedom and democracy.
"Col. Puckett is a true hero of the Korean War. With extraordinary valor and leadership, he completed missions until the very end, defending Hill 205 and fighting many more battles requiring equal valiance," Moon said. "Without the sacrifice of veterans including Col. Puckett and the Eighth Army Rangers Company, the freedom and democracy we enjoy today couldn't have blossomed in Korea."
Long road to highest honor
Born in Tifton, Georgia, in 1926, Puckett had a long career in the US military, first enlisting as a private in 1943 during World War II. He was discharged in June 1945 to attend the US Military Academy at West Point, graduating four years later with a commission as a second lieutenant.
After Korea, he also served an 11-month combat tour in Vietnam in 1967-68 in the 101st Airborne Division before retiring from active duty in 1971 with the rank of colonel.
As a retiree, Puckett remain actively involved with the military affairs and in 1992 was one of the first people to be inducted into the US Army Ranger Hall of Fame.
Puckett was originally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions at Hill 205, but John Lock, a retired US Army officer and assistant professor at the US Military Academy, came across Puckett's story during research in the early 1990s and thought it met the criteria for the Medal of Honor, according to an account on the Army's website.
In 2003 Lock began a process to get Puckett the Medal of Honor, but the petition was denied in 2007 and again on appeal in 2009, according to the report.
Lock persevered, submitting a petition for an upgrade for Puckett after the military ordered a review of all awards in 2016.
After that was denied, Lock was told of alternate route, through the Army award corrections board. That was successful and last year the Medal of Honor for Puckett was approved, but Lock stressed that it was something that Puckett never pushed for.
"As we were going through the process and dead in the water, he appealed to me to stop because he didn't want me to continue wasting my time," Lock told the Army website.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2021/05/21/medal-of-honor-ralph-puckett/
https://www.chosun.com/politics/politics_general/2021/05/22/ZSCAQNXDSBC57ECYX5JN3KM7EY/
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/21/politics/ralph-puckett-medal-of-honor-korea-intl-hnk-ml/index.html
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