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At the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C., one of the permanent inscriptions reads “Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew and people they never met”. Bailey Gillespie spent 1013 days, from November 1950 to September 1953 as a POW in the Korean War. It was a miracle that he survived! Mr. Gillespie landed in Korea on July 10, 1950 and was captured just over four months later.
On Sunday, February 3rd about 40 friends and family gathered at his wife Joy’s invitation to celebrate his 83rd birthday. For the lady whom he had met at an Ellenboro restaurant 59 years ago and married just two weeks later, it was a monumental occasion.
“It was just by the grace of God that I survived” Bailey will tell you. A Bible that he hid from his captors gave him strength. More than 60% of the Korean war prisoners died, most from starvation or dysentery. They received no water and were only fed twice a day. Their food was ground up corn or millet. The stench from inside the shacks which they lived in was terrible. Freezing weather, no blankets, and a dirt floor was home. Their only possessions’ was the clothes they were captured in and the boots they wore.
On Sunday, at the age of 83, Bailey looked back and humbly said: “God has blessed me with family and good friends. No man should ask for more.”
