By: Nick Broussard

Nick is the grandson of POW Ronald Lovejoy of Mina, Nev. Nick is a full-time student attending college at San Luis Obispo. His parents live in Foresthill. He is a junior and will graduate with a license in Civil Engineering. Nick applied for a $2,000 grant through the Military Ex Prisoner of War Foundation Times, which is supported by donations. The following is his essay:

As the man stood up at the High School Graduation in the small town of Auburn, thousands of spectators began to cheer for their hero. They didn’t know this man personally, but felt they owed a large debt of gratitude to this brave man that had nearly lost his life for their country.

This man was Ronald Lovejoy, who at 74 finally received his High School Diploma at Placer High School.

At the age of 16, Ronald Lovejoy felt the desire to join the Armed Forces, but his age was holding him back from joining. With the assistance of his mother, he was able to join at the age of 16. Ronald was immediately taken to Ford Ord, California to begin his basic training and shortly after was sent to Fort Lewis for his artillery training with the 2nd Division.

When the Korean War began on June 25, 1950, President Truman began sending Armed Forces to aid the South Koreans in their fight against the communist North Korean’s who were now invading South Korea. That June, Ron was shipped out to South Korea and arrived in August 1950. Fighting began and continued for Ron for the next 3 months until in November 1950, his life was changed forever with the involvement of the large Chinese Army.

The Chinese outnumbered the Americans dramatically and on November 30, 1950, Ron and his comrades were given orders to retreat due to the enormous size of the Chinese Army. In the chaos following the orders, Ron and his artillery outfit ran straight into the Chinese. As Ron stated, “I pulled my 6x6 truck into a rice paddy and unhooked the 105 Howitzer. We split the trails on our Howitzers and fired point blank at it seemed, thousands of Chinese. They looked like flies, there were so many.” After this point, Ron and his team began to flee and that night they hid in trenches while the Chinese walked all around them.

After hiding in the freezing cold weather, Ron and his comrades couldn’t resist the cold anymore, since their guns were too cold to fire. When they saw the Chinese again, they were forced to surrender. Ron was now a POW of the Chinese at the age of 17, or as the Chinese referred to them, “Fellow Students of The Chinese People’s Volunteer Army.” After being captured, they were marched North at night to prevent any American planes from mistaking them as enemies and this is when Ron was taken and forced to drive the captured U.S. trucks to haul Chinese soldiers and supplies. It was during these few days that Ron’s life would be affected forever.

I remember one moonlit night where I drove into a dark grove of trees and turned my lights on. As I did so, I ran over a bunch of American soldiers, which had been killed presumably that day. One soldier got hung up on the u-bolts of the 6x6 I was driving I. Had to try to get that dead soldier out from being tangled under the truck. I could see him flopping around as the truck slowly moved through the trees.

At one point shortly after this horrific incident, Ron’s truck was noticed by an American plane and as Ron heard the engine approaching, he and the Chinese jumped out of the truck and ran for cover. The plane missed and Ron’s life was spared. After driving two more days, Ron was placed back with other POW’s and continued their march north towards the North Korean border.

The winter was the worst in 1950-51 and at one point, Ron stated that about 50 POW’s entered a cave for shelter, where the Chinese took large tweezers to a POW’s frostbitten foot and pulled every toe off. They continued their march North until they reached Camp. 5.

Camp 5 was a horrible place where 20 men were kept in each room and the Chinese gave the POW’s small packets of charcoal to help stop the dysentery that they all had by this point. Many were too weak to leave the room to use the restroom, so the stench was unbearable. In that first winter of 1950-51, nearly 1500 POW’s perished due to the horrible cold and poor conditions and were buried next to the edge of the Yalu River.

Each day the men were fed barely any food and while many gave up on life due to the horrible conditions, Ron Lovejoy was determined to survive and make it back home. Ron stated, “If it hadn’t been for an Englishman…I would not have made it.” He said “Lovejoy, you won’t make it if you don’t take these 2 tablespoons of millet mush, morning and night.” “The Englishman convinced me that it would keep me alive to see my Mom and family again.” Ron got down to 78 pounds and at this point was taken to a makeshift hospital where the Chinese made incisions in his back and placed pressure-cooked chicken and hog liver into the incisions. This brought his weight back up, but his body was still too weak to hold him and the cords under his knees had also shrunk, preventing him from straightening his legs. After persistent work, Ron was able to straighten his legs and returned to the regular camp sometime between September and November 1951.

During his time back, Ron and the others were placed in study groups and shown propaganda movies of Maotec Tung and his people. They were frequently asked about their opinion on Communism and Ron told them, “I have learned a lot from the study groups and the movies.” This continued until the Armistice was signed in 1953 and Ron and the other POW’s left Camp 5 on August 1, 1953. After being in captivity for 32 months, Ron was on his way home and arrived back to San Francisco on August 22, 1953.

It would take Ron a while to return to everyday life and eating American food, and still to this day, Ron is haunted by the horrible memories of his captivity in Korea. Many gave up in Ron’s position, but his determination and bravery pulled him through. He finally made it back to his family and thanks to his bravery, was able to create a wonderful family of his own. I am very thankful for life as Ron’s grandson and being here today, writing this story about my courageous Grandfather, who defeated all odds against him, is an honor.