By Ben Orcutt — Daily Staff Writer

FRONT ROYAL — Carlysle C. Crank's combat experience during the Korean War changed his life forever, and he endeavors to keep the memories of the sacrifices he and his comrades made alive for Americans to cherish.

As Veterans Day approaches, the 78-year-old Richmond native and Warren County resident took time out to reflect on his military service and to talk about what inspired him to write a book about the Korean War, "Combat Infantryman Badge Salute."

"A fresh examination of the Korean War, more than a half century after the fact, was ushered into the national consciousness [by] the late David Halberstam's 'The Coldest Winter.' Probably the best-selling book on the Korean War ever, it examined the historic characters and cultures that clashed on the Korean peninsula starting in June 1950. While it included several battles and the everyday soldiers who were key players in those battles, it did not shed any light on the Korean War experience for the average infantryman. Into this void steps Rev. Carlysle Crank,'' writes Morgan "Butch" Sincock, past president of the 25th Infantry Division Association, in the forward of Crank's book.

"Combat Infantryman Badge Salute," published by Xlibris Corporation, came out in August. Crank says there are three reasons he decided to write the book, which included encouragement from his wife of 52 years, 72-year-old Bonnie Lee Crank.

"One was to pay tribute to the men and women who received the Combat Infantryman's Badge for at least 30 days under constant enemy fire," Crank says.

The second reason, he says, was encouragement from his wife, who thought it would be therapeutic for her husband, who suffers from occasional flashbacks.

The third reason, Crank said, is the 13 years he worked as a social worker for the Warren County School System.

"After I retired in 1992, they would have me occasionally come back and talk about Korea," he says.

A well-educated man, Crank earned an undergraduate degree in social science from Lynchburg College. He earned a master's degree in history from the University of Richmond, one in counseling from the University of Virginia and another in the origin of religion from Colgate Rochester Seminary in Rochester, N.Y. He also earned a doctorate in theology from Colgate.

"My call of ministry came out of Korea," Crank says. "I mention that briefly in the book."

While his education served him well as an infantry sergeant, Army chaplain, church minister in Bentonville and Browntown and an elementary school and high school principal in Greensville County, it's the education he received on the battlefields of Korea that made the most indelible mark on his persona.

"I saw a GI who had [taken] a shell where his body was practically disintegrated," Crank says. "I picked up his remains and put them in a body bag. That was my initiation."

Unlike today when reporters accompany troops behind enemy lines in Iraq and Afghanistan, that was not the case during the Korean War, Crank says.

"Normally speaking, Americans didn't care what took place in Korea unless they knew somebody personally on duty there," he says. "The only TV coverage we got was when we were behind the [friendly] lines. There was no news media embedded with the troops like you have today."

"There's a lack of knowledge about the Korean War," Crank adds. "It's called America's forgotten war. It prevented World War III. It's the first time the U.N. took military action in the history of the world."

Crank says he and his comrades' morale was tested following the longest retreat in U.S. military history when allied troops went south from the Yu Lu River to Pusan, after which he says Gen. Douglas MacArthur "started a second front at Inchon and retook Seoul, the capital city, and then the North Koreans and Chinese quickly withdrew because they were outflanked."

"I think the lowest point was after the longest retreat," Crank says. "It was bitter cold temperatures. A cup of coffee would freeze in five minutes if you didn't drink it. You had to constantly move your feet to prevent frostbite. Much of Korea's terrain is mountains."

When the combat was fiercest, there was little time to think, Crank says.

"When we were going forward and things happened so rapidly, you just think about survival, defending yourself and your buddies," he says. "The last part of the war, I had to go through all of those bodies for personal effects. Going through that just psychologically got to me more so than the combat. One time shells were coming in hitting my right boot and several fragments going through my jacket. Once it stopped, I immediately ran to the nearest bunker. One of my colleagues had shrapnel in his forehead bleeding profusely. War is hell. There's many times bullets were all around me, no question about it. I was just one of the fortunate ones ... I think the real heroes we left over there, dead or [missing] alive."

Crank says 21 captured Americans were converted to communism by the North Koreans.

"What they did is brainwashed them," Crank says. "They found out that all of them were dropouts and had poor school attendance. All these facts need to be known."

Crank plans to use 25 percent of the proceeds from the sale of his book to benefit wounded veterans.

"I hope it increases the knowledge of sacrifice made in Korea and all wars and to help those currently wounded and disabled from the battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan," he says. "Remember, freedom is not free and comes with an everlasting sacrifice requiring constant vigilance. There are times you have to stand up, otherwise we wouldn't have the freedoms we enjoy today."

"Combat Infantryman Badge Salute" can be ordered at www.xlibris.com, www.amazon.com, www.borders.com or by visiting your local book store.

*Contact Ben Orcutt at borcutt@nvdaily.com

Korean War Facts

R War was waged from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953.

R 53 United Nations members voted for the war, with 17 nations sending troops and 49 nations sending food, equipment and supplies.

R 72,500 U.N. troops were killed, 250,000 wounded, and 84,000 captured.

R South Korea had 44,000 troops killed and 600,000 homes destroyed.

R 5,720,000 Americans served in some capacity, with 54,246 killed, 103,284 wounded or disabled, and more than 8,000 missing in action.

R 12,773 Americans were put in prison camps, with only 3,792 returning home.

— Source: Warren County resident and Korean War veteran Carlysle C. Crank, author of the book, "Combat Infantryman Badge Salute"