Don Schmincke: Korean War POW

YouTube screen grab 

Don Schmincke joined the U.S. Army right out of high school.  He grew up in a working class neighborhood on Baltimore's Federal Hill, just a few blocks form the docks of the inner harbor. After basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Don reported to a billet with the 19th Infantry Regiment in December 1948.  That posting, at Camp Chuckamunga on Japan's Kyushu Island, gave him about 18 months to enjoy low-risk occupation duty. His paycheck easily afforded him a number of luxuries in nearby Beppu.  The advent of the Korean War changed all of that.

Within days of the North Korean invasion, U.S. Eighth Army headquarters in Yokohama began committing troops to the defense of South Korea in piecemeal fashion.  Because the scale of the North Korean threat was vastly underestimated, the first Army units committed to the war were woefully underprepared. Within days of his arrival in Korea, Don Schmincke, a rifleman, dug in on the banks of the Kum River on July 13, 1950 with the rest of the 19th.  Their mission was to defend the northern approaches to the city of Taejon from North Korean encroachment.  Because they were deployed too thinly, the 19th was quickly overrun.  A few men escaped on foot over hills; many more were killed or captured.  Among those captured was PFC Don Schmincke.

Don would somehow survive 37 months and 14 days in captivity.  Out of the approxiately 700 men captured with him, about 500 survived the march north to prison camps.  Of those, only 285 would live to be repatriated three years later. 

Don's family knew only that he was missing in action as of late September 1950.  They would not receive notice that he was alive and in captivity until December 1951. When interviewed then by the Baltimore Sun, his mother exclaimed, "I'm the happiest woman in Baltimore today, and I thank God in heaven for taking care of my boy (emphasis mine)."

I'll spare you the details here of the prison camp experience, but if you wish, you can see and hear then-Corporal Schmincke describe it in his own words to reporter Bill Downs in a 1953 video clip now on YouTube. (Warning: the opening segment of this clip is not pleasant; jump to 4:08 to see Don's interview at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC, shortly after his repatriation).  

Don may still be alive as of the date of this post; I'm not sure.  He would be 88 years old.

PFC Charles M. "Chuckie" Skero

PFC Charles Michael “Chuckie” Skero was one of the first American troops sent to Korea upon the outbreak of war there in 1950.  He served with Philip Hughes as part of B Company of the 34^th Infantry Regiment. He participated in the battles at P’yongt’aek (Jul 6) and Ch’onan (Jul 7-8).  His company of about 140 men was at the forefront of the U.S. Army’s defensive perimeter north of Taejon when North Korean forces assaulted the position with tanks and overwhelming infantry during the pre-dawn hours of July 20.

Ralph Atherton, quoted in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette on June 25, 2000, was taken prisoner alongside Skero.  Atherton managed to survive the imprisonment that claimed so many others.  From Atherton's testimony, we learned that Skero, who stood 5-foot-7 and weighed 140 pounds, manned a machine gun to repel the North Koreans. When his position was overrun, he was shot five times in the back, then taken prisoner. Skero was one of about 32 men lost by the company in that action.

According to an article published February 28, 1993 by Associated Press journalist George Esper, Skero’s name was included on a list of 125 Korean War soldiers who were reportedly interrogated by Soviet intelligence officials based in North Korea.

Chuckie Skero was from Standard Shaft, Pennsylvania, a tightly-knit coal mining community of Catholic Poles and Slavs.  His hair was nearly white; everyone called him “Towhead.” A high school drop-out at 16, Chuckie’s mother signed for him to join the Army in 1946.  He was billeted with the occupation forces in Japan.  He enjoyed it enough to re-enlist in 1948. He sent his parents a photo of him and his Army buddies.  On the back he wrote “How do you like the shoeshine?”

After his capture, the Army provided scant news of his whereabouts.  Skero's family was notified by telegram on September 2, 1950, that he was missing in action.  After the cease-fire in 1953, released prisoners of war shared their knowledge.  Chuckie’s health declined over about 10 months of captivity in An-Dong, North Korea.  His weight fell to about 80 pounds.  He died of malnutrition on June 22, 1951. Fellow prisoner Christopher McAndrews recalled carrying Chuckie’s remains out of the prison compound at dusk.  Skero was buried in a shallow grave on a North Korean hillside.