Interview with Andrew Salmon
July 25, 2017 — Seoul-based Englishman Andrew Salmon is a familiar face at Asia Society Korea Center being a regular at our events and recently lecturing at the September Monthly Luncheon. Mr. Salmon is a journalist, broadcaster and author who has been a resident of Seoul since 1998. He has published books on the Korean War, including To the Last Round: The Epic British Stand on the Imjin River, Korea, 1951 and Scorched Earth, Black Snow: Britain and Australia in the Korean War, 1950. Salmon met with the Asia Society’s contributing writer Matthew Fennell to talk about Scorched Earth, Black Snow which has recently been translated into Korea and released here on the Peninsular.
Scorched Earth, Black Snow covers the role of British and Australian soldiers in the early years of the Korean War. What was the inspiration behind this unique perspective?
Simply put, I wanted to cover the war’s most dramatic period – i.e. the first six months – from a different perspective. June to December 1950 saw the North Korean invasion; the retreat of ROK and US forces to the “Pusan Perimeter” when it looked like the North Koreans might actually win the war; the stunning reversal of fortune that was the Incheon landing; the liberation of South Korea; the counter-invasion of North Korea; and the second, stunning reversal of fortune when the Chinese struck and drove UN forces from the north. This was a period of bitter defensive battles; amphibious landings; the only (counter) invasion free-world forces launched of a communist state during the entire Cold War; the 20th century’s greatest ambush as the UN forces advanced into the Chinese trap; and the horrific scorched-earth retreat. It is traumatic, tragic stuff. This has been well covered by US authors – covering (largely) US forces – but I wanted to tackle this immense drama from another perspective. The only non-US and non-ROK forces that took part in all these events were the British, who provided the second UN contingent to deploy after the Americans. And the Aussies were then brigaded with the British, so it made perfect sense to tell their stories, too.
Your book includes numerous first hand Western accounts of the fighting. How were you able to research many of these stories?
Primarily, through veteran interviews: I have 90+ first hand stories. They are mainly Brits and Aussies, but include South Koreans and Americans too. Secondarily, though taped interviews from the Imperial War Museum’s sound archives: They have collected thousands of interviews with veterans of every war the UK has fought since World War I, so it is a tremendous resource. Thirdly, through written accounts - primarily, letters and diaries, which are kept in various museums and regimental archives. Fourthly, through official documents, such as unit reports and war diaries, which are now declassified, and which live in the National Archive at Kew in London. Lastly, I mined the existing literature and cherry-picked data from that – with attribution, of course!
The Korean War is often referred to in the West as the "Forgotten War". Was your book written to help people understand the role of the UN in the conflict?
Primarily, it was written because I thought it was in incredible story that has been under told. Some may ask “Why write a book titled “Scorched Earth, Black Snow?” Fair question. That is not just a catchy title: it is appropriate to the subject and is backed up by historical content. The book contains first-hand, up-close-and-personal accounts of commando raids, close-range combat, air attacks and Biblical-level destruction. It includes accounts of previously unknown atrocities (by both sides) and details the horrific suffering of the Korean population in the savage war during the winter of 1950, when some 700,000 refugees attempted to escape from the frozen, burnt-out wasteland of North Korea. It certainly includes some inspirational accounts of heroism and comradeship - but on the whole, it is not a pretty picture. What is it like to be shot or bayonetted? What does it feel like to do the same to another human being? What happens when napalm is dropped on your position? Why do men commit atrocities? These are things I wanted to know. But why? Well there is that fine book in Homer’s “Odyssey,” when Odysseus is washed up on the shore of the Phaecians. He is shipwrecked and destitute, the only survivor of the shiploads of men he led into the carnage at Troy. The Phaecians take him in, clothe him and feed him. At a banquet, as he eats and drinks, he recovers. Then a bard is bought in to sing of the battles at Troy. As he sings, the Phaecians are transfixed, but Odysseus breaks down and weeps: He personally experienced the horrors that the bard is singing about. Homer is the foundation stone of Western culture, and this scene illustrates a fundamental contradiction in the human condition: We may hate to experience war and horror first hand, but we love to hear or read about it - hence the many genres of thriller, war, crime and horror in popular literature and film. So to answer your question: We all need to know this information as a warning from the past that will advise us for the future. Moreover, as humans, we may hate to experience war and suffering, but it makes great stories. This is tragedy.
Some of the stories in the book are both emotional and graphic. How did you feel as you were carrying out your research?
My interview technique was to first win the trust of the interviewees: As I had already written one book on the Korean War, I already had a reasonably high level of trust among veterans. Once that trust was established, and once they realized that I knew what I was writing about, they opened up. The story of one of the worst atrocities - the murder of an elderly Korean civilian by a British soldier who simply wanted to test out his rifle - in the book came completely unbidden; during a bus trip with a group of veterans, one of the men simply told me the story. I think he wanted to get it out in the open. None of the other veterans said a word, or contradicted him. And one veteran, a very senior member of the House of Lords, a man with a famed soldiering career, told me of “soldier’s law” – the revenge killing of enemy wounded on the battlefield. This is the kind of material that rarely makes it into military histories. Another recollection: Two retired commando officers, very hard men indeed, told me their stories together. Later, one of their wives told me that she would not sleep as her husband would be thrashing around in bed, reliving the battle of “Hellfire Valley” in his sleep. War sinks its roots deep into men’s psyches.
Your recent release is a Korean translation of the 2011 original. What are your reasons of wanting to share your book with the people of Korea?
That is easy to answer. As a writer, one wants to have one’s work read by the largest possible readership. The Korean War is not a cool or trendy subject, so it took a long time for a publisher to step forward. I am very grateful to my translator, Yi Dong-hoon, a specialist in military history, for introducing me to the publisher. But as a Seoul-based Englishman, I also wanted to tell a British story of Korea. This is it.
*Interview by Matthew Fennell.