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June 22, 2000
Web posted at: 5:00 p.m. EDT

(CNN) - This month marks the 50^th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. At age 23, James Brady commanded a rifle platoon on the front lines in Korea, where he served from 1951-1952. Brady described his experiences in the Marines in his book, "The Coldest War: A Memoir of Korea." The book was republished this month.

Brady later became a journalist, an Emmy-winning correspondent and publisher of Women�s Wear Daily. Currently, his articles appear weekly in the Sunday Parade magazine and Advertising Age. Brady�s newest book, "The Marines of Autumn," is a novel about the Korean War.

Chat Moderator: Welcome to CNN Korea Series Chat, James Brady.

James Brady: Hi. This is Jim Brady in New York, and I will be talking about the Korean War.

Chat Moderator: Please tell us a bit about your book, "The Coldest War."

James Brady: "The Coldest War" is a memoir first published in 1990 about my own experiences as a young Marine lieutenant in Korea commanding a Marine rifle platoon. It was published in 1990 and republished this month in a new edition.

My current book is a novel about Korea, "The Marines of Autumn," just published by St. Martin's Press. It is set at the great battle of the Chosin Reservoir between the first Marine division and the Chinese Communist Army in November and December of 1950.

Question from Anaconda: Mr. Brady, in which areas of Korea did you serve? Did you become a company commander after serving as a platoon commander?

James Brady: I was promoted to company executive officer and later to battalion intelligence officer. I fought in the fall and winter of '51 and '52 in the Taebaek Mountains of eastern North Korea. Then, in the spring and summer of '52, I fought against the Chinese in central Korea, north of Seoul.

Question from Chicago: Mr. Brady, from your perspective, what mistakes did we make in the conduct of the Korean War and how can we learn from these errors?

James Brady: General Douglas MacArthur made the major mistake in the autumn in 1950 when he divided his army and pushed north towards China, ignoring threats by Mao Tse-Tung that China would intervene in the war if the Americans persisted in their drive north. MacArthur very nearly lost his army when the Chinese sprang a trap that November in the snow-covered mountains of North Korea.

Chat Moderator: What were some of your experiences as you "came of age" as a young leader commanding troops in the Korean War?

James Brady: I was a very unsure and rather immature 23-year-old when I arrived in Korea. Nine months later when I left, I was a grown-up and a pretty good Marine officer. War is a strange country, with its own rules. You can't really learn about war in a training camp in the United States. It has to be on-the-job training on the battlefield.

Question from Matt: Do you believe in conscription and killing other people on the other side who have been conscripted also? Do human rights get suspended as soon as a war starts?

James Brady: I think that is a question that would demand a 15 minute conversation. Is war evil? Yes.

Question from Dm2k29: First of all, I would like to express my respect to you and to all the veterans. Do you feel anything was accomplished during the war and did you feel it was in our national interest to be there at all?

James Brady: Yes, it was in our national interest. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West was on and the Soviets kept probing and testing us at Berlin and elsewhere. At some point, you have to make a stand. And we did, in Korea in 1950. We saved a small, independent country; we insulated a vulnerable Japan from possible communist pressures; and we proved a United Nations army could fight effectively.

Chat Moderator: Are there any people that you still maintain contact with from that time?

James Brady: Sure. Until his death last October, I maintained very close contact with United States Senator John Chafee, who was my rifle company commander in Korea and the most admirable man I knew. [I�m also in contact with] a couple of dozen other rapidly aging Marines like myself who are just good pals. If you've ever been in combat with a guy, he's always going to be close to you in a very special way.

Question from Anaconda: Mr. Brady, were any of the reports about the Red Cross not doing a good job in Korea true, or were they exaggerated?

James Brady: I never saw the Red Cross in nine months of combat. That didn�t mean they weren't doing the job; I just never saw them. I went on a hospital ship once, when I was promoted, to take a physical. The Navy doctors and nurses seemed offended by the fact that "here were these five or six Marine officers, filthy, smelly and armed" being put down in their midst. Forty-eight years later, I still resent that.

Question from Veritas: Veteran Brady, do you remember the name of your commander in 1950?

James Brady: I got there in '51 and my company commander was Captain John Chafee of Rhode Island, a young lawyer who had fought all through WWII, had graduated from Yale and Harvard Law School and was now back fighting once again. How can you not remember such a man?

Chat Moderator: What has been the reaction to your book?

James Brady: A tremendous reaction and very positive, except that during a radio talk show, I got a call from Mobile, Alabama, criticizing me for criticizing General MacArthur.

"My pappy always said �MacArthur was our greatest general�Equot; said this gentleman in Mobile.

My response was, "Sir, you forget Robert E. Lee, don't you?"

Question from Anaconda: Mr. Brady, were you discharged immediately upon your return from Korea?

James Brady: They flew me over because they needed fresh meat after some very heavy fighting. We sailed home on an old ocean liner, taking 19 days. At the San Diego Marine Corps base, they poked and prodded us for a couple of days, gave me a check for back pay and an airplane ticket, and I flew back to my home in Brooklyn, New York that very night.

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Chat Moderator: How have those experiences shaped your post-war life?

James Brady: I became a Washington correspondent and a foreign correspondent and had a successful career writing for magazines such as Parade. And it certainly gave me material for these two books about Korea and provided me the sort of experience that always has helped in writing books about life in general and the ability to judge people and situations. If you fight in a war and come home in one piece, I think it usually is a very positive experience that you can't replicate on a computer or anywhere else.

Question from Dm2k29: I understand that 30,000 Americans died. Why do you think people call this "the forgotten war"? How can someone forget that?

James Brady: Korea fell between two other events: World War II, the great historical event of the century, and Vietnam, not a larger war but a more controversial one here at home.

Question from Matt: Mr. Brady, what do you think of the United Nations today in the year 2000?

James Brady: Pretty ineffective.

Question from Syme: Mr. Brady, why did you write this book?

James Brady: It's what I do for a living. I am a professional writer. And I had two very intense and important stories I thought ought to be told. I love writing; I love being read. Except for family, that is what my life is all about.

Question from Anaconda: Mr. Brady, could you comment on the economic gains which South Korea has made, compared to the non-progress by North Korea?

James Brady: North Korea is an outlaw state and its leader, whom I call "Kim of the North," is sort of a nut case. South Korea is a functioning, if not always perfect, democracy. I think it is time for them to reconcile and start to work together to reform into a single country but, I must confess, I don't trust the North and I'm skeptical about prospects even after their apparently "chummy" summit meeting 10 days ago.

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Chat Moderator: Do you have any final thoughts to share with us today?

James Brady: I hope that people who read "The Marines of Autumn" and "The Coldest War" understand that there are still 37,000 young Americans manning the "demarcation line" between North and South Korea even today.

Don't forget them and don't forget the men who died there half a century ago.

Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us today, James Brady.

James Brady: Goodbye folks!