Hero of the Week 87

 Welcome back viewers

This week we will honor a team of heroes

They are...

The crew of the SS Meredith Victory

The Meredith Victory was an American liberty ship that was part the Merchant Marine fleet. It was launched on June 23, 1945. The ship and her crew saw very little service during World War II. Five years later however, the SS Meredith Victory would be called to service again. Her crew could never have predicted what they would be faced with in the winter of 1950.

Part 1

In the winter of 1950, the situation on the Korean peninsula had become dire for the United Nations. The Chinese army had recently entered the war and launched a devastating counter attack. The UN armies (mostly American and South Korean) were decisively defeated and forced to retreat back across the 38th Parallel. By December many of them had pulled back to the North Korean port city of Hungnam to be evacuated by sea. 

While the UN armies were busy evacuating, thousands of North Korean civilians began to arrive in Hungnam. These people were anti-Communists who had supported the UN invasion of North Korea and feared harsh punishment as soon as the Communist armies returned. They had come to Hungnam hoping to be evacuated to South Korea. 

A South Korean doctor named, Hyun Bong-hak urged General Edward Almond to also evacuate the civilians as well. General Almond appealed to President Harry Truman and the latter issued Presidential Proclamation 2914. He ordered all American liberty ships to dispose of their cargo and let the refugees onboard.

Part II

At that time, the Meredith Victory was under the command of Captain Leonard LaRue with a crew of 47. It was one of the last liberty ships to arrive in Hungnam's harbor. By then most of the soldiers and refugees had been successfully evacuated. However, more than 14,000 still remained within the city and the North Korean and Chinese armies had Hungnam in their gunsights.

Captain LaRue quickly ordered the cargo doors to be opened. Although his ship was only built to carry around 60 people, he decided that nobody was going to be left behind. Thousands of refugees were crammed into every available space on the ship. Captain LaRue described them as being, "packed like sardines in a can".

At 11 AM on December 23, the last refugee had boarded and Meredith Victory cast off from Hungnam. By then, the ship was carrying over 14,700 people. This was the largest sea-borne, military evacuation of civilians under combat conditions in American history. It was also the largest ever done by a single ship in maritime history (a Guinness World Record). As soon as it left the harbor, the US Navy opened fire on Hungnam harbor and obliterated anything that could've been used by the Communists.

During the voyage south, the Meredith Victory's crew encountered an unexpected problem. Some of the refugees who were pregnant went into labor. The only crew member with any medical experience was the first mate (Dino Savastio). Due to the vast amount of people crammed aboard the ship, those who gave birth were forced to do so while standing up while Savastio positioned himself so he could catch the newborn. During the three day voyage, First Mate Savastio successfully delivered five newborn babies. On December 26, the Meredith Victory safely pulled into the harbor of Geoje Island. 

Epilogue

Not one life had been lost during the evacuation at Hungnam. Among the refugees that were saved were the parents of a man named, Moon Jae-in. In 2017, he became the 12th President of South Korea. In total, more than 98,100 people (plus the five newborns during the voyage) had been successfully evacuated to South Korea. Today the descendants of the Hungnam refugees number in the Hundreds of thousands. 

Captain LaRue continued to command the Meredith Victory until the ship was decommissioned in 1953. A year later, he was forced to retire from sea-life due to complications from an infected kidney. He later joined a Benedictine Monastery in Newtown, New Jersey. In his later life he reflected on his unexpected rescue mission during the Korean War. He wrote, "I think often of that voyage. I think of how such a small vessel was able to hold so many persons and surmount endless perils without harm to a soul. And, as I think, the clear, unmistakable message comes to me on that Christmastide, in the bleak and bitter waters off the shores of Korea, God's own hand was at the helm of my ship". Leonard LaRue passed away on October 14, 2001, at the age of 87.

After the war, First Mate Dino Savastio later became captain of his own ship in 1957. In 1978, he became assistant vice-president of the Moore-McCormack Lines. After retiring in 1983, he lived a quiet life until his death in 2008. For their heroism during the Hungnam Evacuation, the crew of the Meredith Victory received the Korean Presidential Unit Citation from the government of South Korea. On August 24, 1960, President Dwight Eisenhower officially named the Meredith Victory as a "Gallant Ship". 

The Hungnam Evacuation went into the history books as one of the bravest and most humane acts during the Korean War. It was both a triumph of the human spirt and dedication to protecting fellow human beings from what would've been a terrible fate. The heroism of the Meredith Victory's crew is especially noteworthy. When the time came for it, they answered cries for help and put other lives before their own. I believe that they deserve to be remembered among America's greatest heroes.

https://arsof-history.org/articles/v7n1_hungnam_page_1.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50805106

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2020/01/137_281072.html

http://nedforney.com/index.php/2018/12/19/hungnam-evacuation-korean-war-timeless/

https://www.vos.noaa.gov/MWL/spring_03/voyage.shtml

http://www.moore-mccormack.com/Cargo-Liners/Meredith-Victory-1.htm