MEMORIAL ARTICLE Published Assembly Jul '91 John William Vester  NO. 15685  CLASS OF 1946  Died 31 May 1951 as a prisoner of war in North Korea, aged 27 years. Interment: North Korea.

JOHN WILLLIAM VESTER was born 20 August 1923 in Charlestown, West Virginia. His family moved to Somerville, New Jersey when he was quite young and he grew up there. John's family had a long history of military service to the country, serving in every war except Vietnam. His mother's first cousin Clyde Hawkins, was a member of the Class of 1895. This family tradition was just one of the reasons John wanted to go to West Point. After graduating from Somerville High School, he attended Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania for two years, studying pre-med. He was able to obtain an appointment to the Academy and entered West Point on 1 July with the Class of 1946.

John's two years of college stood him in good stead during plebe year. He applied himself and worked hard at academics. He never fought the system but quietly did what was expected of him. His roommates recall that he was the nicest guy in the world to live with. He was never discouraged and always managed to find a light side to every situation, which enabled him to persevere when the going got tough. His maturity made him steady under pressure, which exerted a calming influence on his roommates. John went into the Artillery upon graduation.

Following graduation, John attended the Basic Officers Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma and then attended a three-month course at Fort Bliss, Texas. From Bliss, John was assigned to the 7th Division Artillery on occupation duty in Korea. He moved with the 7th to Hokkaido, Japan in 1948 and rotated back to Fort Lewis, Washington in 1949. At Fort Lewis, he was assigned as a battery officer with the 503rd Field, the medium battalion of the 2nd Division Artillery. It was while at Fort Lewis that John received orders to attend Columbia University in the fall of 1950 to study history prior to being assigned as an instructor at West Point.

When the Korean War broke out in June 1950, the 2nd Division was selected to move to Korea. John's orders to Columbia were cancelled, and he deployed to Korea with his unit. In late September or early October 1950, John was selected to be aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Loyal M. Haynes, 2nd Division Artillery commander. He served in that position until early February 1951.

The Knickerbocker News, Albany, New York carried a detailed account of the action in which John was involved in February 1951. A special support force of an American field artillery battalion and a medium artillery battery with an infantry battalion to protect the artillery was ordered north to support an ROK advance.

This special support force was Task Force Keith, named after Lieutenant Colonel Keith, commander of the 2nd Division's 15th Artillery Battalion (105mm). Keith's 15th was the principal unit of the force and a battalion of the 38th Infantry was to protect the artillery. John was promoted to captain about 1 February and assigned to Task Force Keith. He was made liaison officer from the Task Force Headquarters to the infantry battalion.

On the night of 11-12 February, the temperature was about zero when the Chinese hit the ROK's hard. By 0230 hours on the 12th the Chinese had cracked through the ROK line and were attacking the American infantry perimeter defending the guns. The American support team was sent back down the road to secure a bridge so the forces could withdraw safely. When they arrived near the bridge, they ran into a Chinese ambush and the whole little force was practically annihilated by three Chinese regiments firing into the valley from the hillsides. It was estimated that the Chinese had 33,000 men massed against the 8th ROK Division and the American support force. As darkness fell on the 12th the remnants of the trapped force found themselves in terrible isolation. Hopelessly surrounded, the men of the American force fired until they fell. 105mm howitzers fired at point-blank range. When the Chinese closed in, the gunners destroyed their artillery pieces. John William Vester was captured by Chinese forces sometime 13 February 1951. Lieutenant Colonel Keith was also captured and later died in a North Korean interrogation center.

United States forces did not retake this stretch of territory until early March 1951. When the 1st Marine Division recaptured the valley, the slaughter was evident—a mile of burned and bullet torn trucks, blasted field pieces, piles of cartridge cases where guns were fired to the death. Hundreds of frozen bodies of Chinese, Koreans and Americans carpeted roads and valleys. Shocked and sympathetic Marines put up a crudely painted sign "Massacre Valley."

After his capture, John was moved back to a central collecting center where there were about 600 prisoners who had been captured during the operation. One of these was William M. Shirey USMA 1944, a captain at the time. Shirey had been service battery commander of the 15th. From the collecting center, the prisoners were marched north in two groups of about 300 each. While under Chinese control, the prisoners were fed soupy rice, boiled water and sometimes soybeans. The officer prisoners were placed in squads of about 17 officers each. They marched from 15-20 miles per night, and slept during the day to avoid detection by US planes. John and Shirey were in different squads but often slept in the same room during the days. Most of the prisoners who had been with combat units for some time were wearing shoe-paks and two pair of heavy socks to protect against the extreme cold. John, who had just recently been assigned from a headquarters, was wearing regular combat boots when he was captured. As they moved further north the temperatures steadily grew colder and colder. John started to have trouble with his feet and developed blisters. As the prisoners moved into North Korea, they were turned over to North Korean troops. The food situation became critical, the North Koreans feeding them little or nothing. When they got food, it was just a handful of parched corn. In early March 1951 in a Korean village (somewhere south of Kumhwa) one afternoon, John informed Shirey that he and another POW had decided to drop out of the march and stay behind. Shirey tried to talk John out of that, telling him that he had a better chance of surviving with the group than if he stayed behind, but John's mind was made up. He stayed behind and was never seen again.

Official Army records indicate that John died of malnutrition as a POW on 31 May 1951. They confirm what Shirey related: that John left the march in early March 1951 suffering from malnutrition. What happened to John after he left the other POW's in March 1951 will probably never be determined. Shirey continued the march to the Bean Camp near Kumhwa. He was repatriated in 1953 and was able to tell John's family what had happened to him. John was survived by his parents and two sisters.

John personified the West Point motto: Duty, Honor, Country. He was proud to be an artillery officer and proud to fight for his country. John lived through the ultimate disaster to befall a fighting soldier—to be overrun by massively superior enemy forces, and be captured. The Korean War is referred to as "the Forgotten War." If it is, then the POW's who did not return are certainly the forgotten soldiers, remembered only by their family and friends. John William Vester will not be forgotten. He served his country bravely and with distinction. He died alone in a remote part of North Korea, but his memory will live always with his family, classmates and friends. Finally, some 40 years after John died, a memorial to those who served and died in the Korean War will be built in Washington. When his classmates visit that memorial, they will say, "We remember John Vester, who fought bravely and paid the supreme price of war; and we are proud to have known him for the short time he was with us."

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