A Soldier's Prayer • Korea (Revis)

Often called "The Forgotten War," the US/Korean conflict lasted from 1950 to 1953.

Uncle Kenny Revis (1913-2001) tells his personal Tale of a bitterly cold night in Korea, waiting for the enemy to engage . . . and a miracle.

The Night I Stood with God on a Mountain Top in Korea.

It was in the mid winter of 1950-51. I was with the infantry in South Korea. We were in a staging area to get replacements to bring our company up to strength when we received orders to move out.

We boarded an old Korean train with the windows all broken out. We rode it for about a day and a half. We unloaded at a small deserted village at the foot of a mountain range. There our company commander read us our orders that had been sealed, it stated that there was a force of about 500 enemy guerrillas heading our way and are spoiling for a fight and our job was to stop them.

Then we were briefed as to where our platoons would be located. I was told to take my platoon to the outpost position which was a point of land jutting out in a position to give us a total view of the entire company front and being the outpost it would become our job to engage the enemy first thereby alerting the whole company.

The snow was about knee deep and the temperature was about 24 degrees below zero. After positioning my men, I told them to try to get some rest because we were supposed to get hit before morning and they would need all the rest they could get and I would take the guard watch.

There was an old gnarled tree on top of the point and a limb jutted out just high enough I could lean on with my elbows and my body up against the trunk in the shadows so I blended in to the tree shadows.

There was a full moon and the snow in the valley below being frozen sparkled like so many diamonds, under different circumstances it would have been beautiful.

As I stood there I started thinking about war and it was as though I was talking to Someone. I thought why do we have to have wars, why can't we settle our differences by talks, now we think we are right because we have been taught our form of government from childhood. Now these boys range in age from about 17 to about 23 years of age. None of them are married and have never lived life to its fullest, known the joy of having a good wife and children, and some of them may die before morning. Now it won't be bad for me as I have lived life to its fullest with a good wife and son.

And Lord we all have families at home who are praying for our safe return. But now Lord on the other hand the young men on the enemy side believe they are right from the way they have been taught from childhood and they also have loved ones at home praying for their safe return. But God You and You alone knows which side is right and I pray that the right side may win.

Then there in that 24 below zero cold it actually felt as though an arm was placed around my shoulders and I became so warm and all at once I felt so at peace and good. I stepped back from the tree and dropped my head and how long I stood there this way to this day I do not know.

Now we did not make contact with the enemy that night, and three more days went by and we were not hit by them. Then the company commander called the platoon sargent back to the command post and told us,

"Something funny has happened, our intelligence force tells us that the enemy force that was supposed to hit us has just seemed to disappear, and we cannot find them anywhere, and don't know what happened to them."

In my own mind I thought, "I know what happened." I knew that I had stood with God that night on that mountain top, and it was His arm that I had felt around my shoulders, and the great sense of peace I felt was His blessing. This tells me that God truly is everywhere, even on the battlefield.

(Ex-Sargent) Kenneth L. Revis

This letter was given to me by Uncle Kenny's son, Lyle.

Kenny's father was Harris Revis (1860-1941) "Frontier Folk" Tale.

Illustration from MidJourney

Korean War photos from internet

Korean War in 30 seconds

Major Battles of the Korean War

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, over one million Korean War veterans are alive today. So if you see one, tell them something that you learned about their war. They will appreciate your taking the time to remember.

My goal in all of the Dead Family Tales is to present stories that would have been told around a kitchen table or campfire during family gatherings.

A new Dead Family Tale is posted every Monday.

Come and visit again!

Do you have more tales of our Koprek, Haupt, Revis, or Oswald lines?

Please contact me or add it in the comment section at the bottom of this page.

In order to comment on this site, you will need to sign in first.

If you are in a position to help with funding,

Dead Family Tales also has a Patreon page.