Mr. M. Y. Strang
3800 Porter Street,
N.W. Washington 16, D.C.
12 March 1957
Dear Chaplain Blaisdell:
It has certainly been a long time since we last
met sir, but I have had something on my mind for the past few months
and thought I would write to you about it.
I was discharged from the service on November
1952, and it is almost 5 years now, time really flies by. Have
often wondered were you and your family were located, so I called
the Chief of Chaplains Office up and they gave me your new address.
If I am correct you have made full Colonel, you have my heartiest
congratulations sir, and I can think of no other Chaplain that deserves
it anymore.
One of the main reasons for writing this letter
is to tell you that I think Colonel Dean Hess is doing something which
I consider very wrong. I do not know whether or not you have
seen the motion picture or read the book "Battle Hymn," but if you
have sir, you will probably understand why I am very mad about the
whole deal. It seems from the movie and book that is, that Colonel
Hess did everything for those orphans and nobody else had a thing
to do with it. It seems to me that both you and I Chaplain had
quite a bit to do with it, or was it a dream. As far as any
of the technical knowledge in the picture being true, it is not.
Over a year ago Chaplain, I saw where Colonel
Hess was going to make a movie on the subject of orphans or it was
suppose to be a true story of his life, and I called him here in Washington
and he said he would be in California and if I got out there to see
him and he would see what he could do to get me in the movie, which
as you probably know would have been a wonderful starter for me.
Well I went out there and he met me one night for dinner and asked
me a few questions about what happened on Kiddy Kar Operation and
I never heard from him after that, as a matter of fact I called him
any number of times and he never even had the courtesy to return my
call or even leave a message for me. I have just returned to
Washington after having been out there a year. I sold my car
when I arrived out there in order to stay out there and I did not
get a place. Unless you know someone in Hollywood that is willing
to help you, one gets nowhere, but I learned a lesson the hard way,
but did not think Colonel Hess was that type of a man.
In the movie they have the orphans being moved
to Cheju-do by flying box cars and only five of them at that, they
say there were only 400 orphans moved and that they had to walk to
the airport and that Colonel Hess got the planes for them. As
I remember Chaplain Blaisdell, you and I took a jeep one night and
drove into Seoul and you saw General Partridge and then the next morning
we had 16 C-54's waiting for us. All in all Chaplain Blaisdell
I think someone should put Colonel Hess and everyone else straight,
he is taking a great deal of credit and being made a hero when he
did very little compared to a lot of others.
Since I am no longer in the Air Force I would
like to do something about this whole shady mess but do not know exactly
what to do. Yourself along with a few others deserve a great deal
more credit than Colonel Hess but he is the Hero and it is all quite
untrue when it comes to what he had to do with Kiddy Kar Operation.
What do you think should be done about it sir?
Or do you think we should just let things alone and he will eventually
receive his just reward. I am quite mad at him for what he did
not try to do for me in California and I must say have lost all respect
for him. How he can set back and take all this credit is far
beyond my belief.
Well enough of that sir. How is your family?
Bet your son is growing very fast. Have not made any great progress
under the sun these past few years, but have been doing a log of studying
and one of these days with a little more hard work and a lucky break
I still hope to make my mark.
Sir, I hope that you will not think badly of me
for writing this letter, but I do think it is unfair for anyone man
to take all the credit for the hard work that many people put into
that Operation. If you have not read the write-up that Time
Magazine gave the picture, then please do, I think it to be a very
honest opinion of the movie, even thought the movie is very entertaining
and very well acted. Well sir, I do hope that everything is
fine with you and maybe someday I shall have the pleasure of seeing
you and your family again. Please write because I would like
your advice on the above matter. May Our Heavenly Father Guide
and Keep You and Yours Safe Forever,
Sincerely,
Michael
RLB-179
