Local Korean War veterans comment on North Korea standoff

For many Korean War veterans, this kind of behavior from North Korea isn’t surprising.

One veteran said the situation is scary, and it sure brought back a lot of memories from his time in service.

Charles Rogers is no stranger to tensions between the United States and North Korea. Rogers served in the U.S Air Force during the Korean War right out of high school.

“I was doing the same type of things with atomic bombs back then, not using them, loading them on planes on and off. We could’ve used them in North Korea but we did not. There’s a lot going on right now a lot of scary things.”

Rogers says it’s a whole new playing field today,

“North Korea, we never settled that war, it was just a peace agreement but they’ve changed a lot. They’ve developed all these bombs, missiles, and so forth. Years passed, we never did that.”

Fred Bell, the vice chairman of the Palm Springs Air Museum, has been analyzing U.S. and North Korea relations for decades.

Bell said that if North Korea makes a wrong move even unintentionally, the impact could be disastrous.

“It would be unlike anything we’ve ever seen, something we’d see in World War II. It would be beyond the Gulf War, hundreds and thousands of causalities.”

Rogers and other veterans said they’re standing behind President Trump as he fights against Kim Jong-un’s threats.

“I think he’s trying to flex his muscles and intimidate the world and I don’t think we should put up with it,” said U.S. Army veteran Michael Hintz.

“I think it’s good that Donald Trump our president is standing up to him finally and making him accountable for his rhetoric,” said Vietnam veteran Richard Odenheimer.

Others wish he would take a different approach.

“You don’t tell your enemy, I’m going to do this to you, so it gives them time to do something to you before you do it to them,” said Alfred Wayne Patterson, who served as a military police officer in the U.S. Army. “I think our president should listen to his advisers and maybe zip his lip because he was never in the military and he may not know how the military works.”

Rogers worried about the people in Guam.

“Guam, they’re talking about dropping four missiles around Guam. We have 160,000 people there that belong to us. I know the president says let’s see what they do with that. We need to be a little careful with that.because if they drop something, we need to be ready… it’s a big problem,” Rogers said. “I bet if any of my buddies were still alive who served with me over there, and not many are alive, I’m a lucky guy, they would say the same thing I’m sure.”

Veterans that we spoke with said they don’t want to see another war, but know that active military is ready if needed. President Trump confirmed Friday morning tweeting; “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully, Kim Jong Un will find another path!”

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