Joan Taylor
Bio
Joan Taylor experienced the Korean War as the wife of a soldier. Though that marriage ended, she later remarried yet another Korean War veteran, respecting both for their service during a time of war. She revisited Korea many years later with her second husband and felt it helped her better understand what they went through. The experience made her extremely proud of what they accomplished when she was able to see the prosperity of South Korea.
Video Clips
The Importance of Care Packages
Joan Taylor describes what it was like to be a young bride of a Korean War soldier. She recalls living with her parents while her first husband was away at war. She describes the care packages she made for her husband that included warm clothes because winter military clothes had yet been provided.
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Personal Understanding of the Korean War
Joan Taylor emphasizes the importance of the work of the Korean War Legacy Foundation because she believes the program will create a personal understanding of the Korean War through interviews of veterans. She recalls taking a trip to South Korea with her second husband and how the visit enabled her to better understand what he went through during the war. She describes the generous hospitality of the Korean people.
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Korean War Soldiers Returning Home
Joan Taylor shares her first husband came back home early from the war due to a death in the family. She explains his father passed away, and his mother was left to run a business and needed help. She communicates that her first husband was stationed as an Army Security Agent (ASA), so he did not participate in any fighting; however, he recalled the bombs dropping and hiding in the bunkers at night.
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Video Transcript
00:00
the one’ll see Taylor and we’ve been
00:03
married 30 38 years when or where when
00:09
July 28 1973 st. Peter’s Episcopal
00:14
Church so this is he’s your second way I
00:18
am his second wife he’s my second nuts
00:23
Neal he has four boys and I have two
00:25
daughters but we didn’t have any
00:27
together but we all lived together when
00:29
I married Neal one big family one six
00:33
children yes
00:38
Neal’s boys my two girls kind of fit in
00:42
the middle uh with the boys and so they
00:44
kind of went you know like the oldest
00:48
one is 57 the boy and my oldest daughter
00:52
is 56 participating in this project I
01:02
think it’s wonderful I think people
01:05
should know a lot of this history many
01:08
times you just read in a book well there
01:10
was a war but you don’t get any personal
01:12
touch out of it so they might understand
01:15
a little better what does it mean to you
01:18
to be here today
01:21
well I I’m very happy to do this
01:31
well we went to Korea I believe it was
01:35
about three years ago through the
01:37
Presbyterian Church and this terrain
01:41
Church in Seoul and they treated us very
01:44
kindly fabulous trip like a history trip
01:50
you know in places that Neil talked
01:53
about and we were treated so well oh yes
02:01
yes you mean the Korean veterans because
02:13
we did at to the Veterans Park meet some
02:16
of the Korean veterans who fought at the
02:19
same time Neil and the other men did and
02:23
it was so nice
02:25
we had a Korean minister with us and he
02:28
translated between the veterans and
02:32
their faces would light up you know and
02:35
something came up that they were
02:37
familiar with and it was was a manner so
02:41
he you met the South Korean army
02:44
soldiers yes as well as the American
02:47
than Amen well we’re in this a park
02:52
where there was a bridge that you would
02:55
cross over to the 38th parallel but of
02:57
course the bridge is closed now but
02:59
these veterans were just there walking
03:01
around and we realized because they hid
03:03
their medals on and some heavy part of a
03:06
uniform and so we spoke to the minister
03:10
with us and he said I’ll go see if they
03:14
would like to talk and so of course they
03:17
spoke in Korean and but he translated
03:20
yeah it was well they they wanted to
03:26
know where Neil and the other men had
03:28
been and you know where they had been
03:32
stationed and I really don’t remember
03:36
what all they said but and it wasn’t a
03:38
lengthy conversation
03:40
but they did meet and they were very
03:42
happy to meet the Americans shook hands
03:46
reminisce a little bit yes they did so
03:51
this to disinfect your relationship with
03:54
each other after you went whitneyhl to
03:57
Korea well well it made me understand
04:05
what he fought for he would he was so
04:12
pleased to see it so prosperous well I
04:27
was a young girl of 21 and I had moved
04:31
home with my parents and I went to work
04:34
every day no children at that point and
04:38
it just was worried
04:41
Neil talked about the cold winters well
04:44
my first husband talked about the cold
04:46
winters and the winter clothing hadn’t
04:48
come in where he was and so we would
04:52
send wool sacks and you know warm
04:55
undershirts and things of that sort that
04:57
we could send to help until their
05:01
clothing came the big packages yes oh
05:06
yes any wine gloves a candy you know
05:11
anything that would survive on a long
05:14
trip seemed pretty proud of it yes yes I
05:18
saw what he did
05:21
when he returns in a war do you remember
05:24
anything about that well I actually have
05:30
always known Neil because her families
05:32
were friends our parents were friends
05:34
there’s what you think what did he want
05:36
well I mean Hillhurst I was not married
05:39
to him and I really didn’t see him at
05:42
that point I was when he came home it
05:46
was after my my husband at the time
05:49
first husband came home because dick
05:52
came home like on a hardship case his
05:55
father had passed away and his mother
05:59
was running the company business with
06:04
the father and he was needed to help out
06:06
at home so it was very glad to have him
06:10
come home and that was very happy
06:12
occasion and he was with the aasa’ and
06:17
his army Security Agency and he was
06:24
rather isolated where he was at and
06:28
stationed and so he was not involved in
06:33
the act of fighting but was close to it
06:37
and he talked about you know the bombs
06:41
landing near them and they ran their
06:43
bunkers at night and like Neil talked
06:45
about the rats and Joan Joan Joan II
06:53
Kayla
06:55
you know we live a mile out of the
06:58
village at Cayuga you’re pretty much
07:02
grew up out mm-hmm and do you go to the
07:06
functions with him
07:08
the Koreans so you did have an auxilary
07:11
know the Korean vest do not have an
07:14
auxilary locally but they have events
07:18
where you know the ladies are invited
07:21
and involved in the park a little bit
07:24
when something is going on oh yes what
07:30
do you think a job well I think gems the
07:33
kind of man you need to lead a group
07:34
like that he’s very gung-ho and full of
07:38
life and death
07:39
and joys that it’s his whole life at
07:42
that Park and the organization and you
07:44
need someone that has a spirit well I
07:51
think it’s wonderful
07:54
when we were in Korea we went to a
07:57
museum in there were lots of children’s
07:59
groups the museum so neo spoke with one
08:04
of our people who was Korean in he asked
08:08
out one of the teenage girls if she
08:10
liked to see a picture of Seoul be at
08:13
the time of the ward so Neil showed her
08:16
the snapshot where a good part of Seoul
08:18
was leveled she said no no no no I don’t
08:21
mean pointed outside CCC you know she
08:24
was unaware of you know what Seoul was
08:30
like at that time