Brandon Twp.- Mass confusion and terrifying.
That’s how township Army veteran Don Kengerski describes the chaos of a battlefield in early 1952 near the cities of Chorwon, Kumwha and Pyongyang, designated as the Iron Triangle near the border of North and South Korea.
‘You never get to know anyone very well,? said Kengerski, a Minnesota native and now a township resident, who entered the U.S. Army in March 1951. ‘You’re moving all the time. Men are scattered everywhere on a battlefield’no one clusters together, and we live and sleep in foxholes.?
It was somewhere on a battlefield in the North Korean countryside that Pvt. Kengerski, then a 21-year-old machine-gunner in M-Company, 32nd infantry regiment, of the 7th Infantry Division, met Pvt. Hughie Cutshall of Weaverville, N.C.
‘He called me ‘Ken?, said Kengerski, recalling their conversations. ‘Hughie was a sharp guy and we were close to the same age’we got to be good friends. We just seemed to hit it off.?
Just a few months earlier, 20-year-old Cutshall had requested the Army transfer him to North Korea after serving as a guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
‘I wrote to Red (nickname for Hughie) that he should never come over to Korea,? said Chester Cutshall, older brother of Hughie who had participated in battles in North Korea with the Army. ‘The letter came back unopened.?
‘I was stationed in Japan when Hughie told me he wanted to come over here’he wanted action. We had exchanged letters during that time, but it was rough getting mail and a letter meant a lot to us.?
Kengerski also recalls Hughie’s feelings toward guarding the Tomb and volunteering for duty in Korea.
‘He was bored with his duty of being a guard, walking back and forth in front of the Tomb,? said Kengerski. ‘Chester told him, don’t come over here. Hughie did anyway and volunteered for the duty.?
Their relationship took a tragic turn in late October 1952.
‘It was early in the morning and we were getting shelled with missiles pretty good. You’re spread out all over the fields during those fights. I did not realize at the time, but Hughie got hit and killed during that firefight. I found out the next day. They don’t tell you a lot about what happened.?
The Army contacted Chester regarding his brother.
‘At first, the Red Cross told me that Hughie was wounded and asked if I could make it to the hospital, however, before I could make it they notified me he was deceased. I then flew back to Oakland (Calif.). Hughie’s body came back to the States on a ship. We both came home on a train from California to Marshall, North Carolina. He was buried near Marshall (North Carolina) at the Gaither Shelton Cemetery.?
Kengerski, a seasoned combat soldier who received 38 pieces of shrapnel in an August 1952 skirmish, continued his duty in North Korea. He returned to the United States and was discharged on March 5, 1954.
‘That was more than 55 years since I saw Hughie and I never forgot him. I kept saying, ‘I’m going to travel to North Carolina someday and find Hughie’s family.??
Although more than a half-century had passed, on Feb. 25 Kengerski’s quest to find the family of his combat buddy became a reality.
Don, along with his wife Margaret, drove to Madison County, (North Carolina), to search the county records in a variety of courthouses, libraries and government offices for the family members of Hughie Cutshall.
‘We’d been looking all day when a man happened to overhear our conversation at the Madison County Register of Deeds. He told us he knows where Hughie’s older sister Flora Cutshall once worked. We told him we’d wait in the Carolina Cafe for a phone call.?
A few minutes later’the phone rang in the cafe.
‘She said, ‘This is Flora, I’m Hughie’s older sister, Don’t you leave that spot, I’ll be right there,?? recalled Kengerski.
About 15 minutes later, Flo Wallin, an older sister of Hughie, entered the cafe.
‘When I went into the cafe, Margaret met me at the door,? said Wallin, now 83. ‘Then Ken looked up at me’we both had a little cry.?
‘We were so happy, that he would care that much for Hughie, that he would find the time to look us up,? said Wallin. ‘We never knew that much about his death or what it was like for him in Korea.?
‘I remember when mom and dad came to the house and told me that Hughie was killed in action,? she said. When I got the call from Don, it was just like it happened all over again? the memories came back. I kept thinking to myself, ‘This is the guy that was with my brother when he was killed.? He told me that he and Hughie went everywhere together. To hear those stories was so good.?
Since the February visit, Kengerski converses regularly with both Flo and Chester.
‘My only regret is that I waited so long to find them’I should have done this 50 years ago.?
Don and Margaret Kengerski have five children, Mary, Barbara, Diane, Michael and Edward, all graduates of Brandon High School.