DOCUMENTARY Korean War's lingering effect on veterans

Four area men who served in Korea are featured in the film.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Ron Jongeling's documentary, "Forgotten War -- Forgotten Warriors," is a matter-of-fact, absorbing and moving account of the Korean War as seen through the eyes of four area veterans.
Jongeling, a graduate assistant at Kent State University's main campus, produced the documentary last spring as part of his master's degree requirements.
But, said Jongeling, a former Steelworker, what started out to be a chronicle of the war evolved into a story more about the veterans themselves, and how the war continues to affect them half a century later.
"Stories have a way of dragging you where you don't expect to go," said Jongeling, 48, of Youngstown.
Post-traumatic stress disorder didn't hit some of the veterans until they retired from their jobs, Jongeling said.
Jongeling's 28-minute documentary will air on PBS Channels 45 & amp; 49 at 10:30 p.m. today and Wednesday.
Four veterans
The film features Domenic Lentini of Hubbard Township, Don Brown of Liberty, Harold Baringer of Austintown, and John Pariza of West Middlesex, Pa.
They were chosen because they all shared the common thread of having served in the Army infantry, and their service took place at various times during the war, which ran from June 1950 to July 1953, when the cease-fire occurred, Jongeling said.
Lentini served with the 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, from August 1950 to January 1951 when he was wounded and evacuated.
Pariza was in Korea with the 5th Regimental Combat Team from August 1950 to November 1951.
Baringer was with Headquarters Co., 2nd Infantry Division, in Korea from June 1952 until August 1953.
Brown served with the 45th and 24th Infantry Divisions from May 1953 to October 1954 in Korea.
"[The film] dredged up some memories. But, he [Jongeling] did a nice job of putting everything together. The film is the way it was," said Pariza, who was wounded twice in Korea and suffered from frostbite and malaria.
Surprising revelation
The thing that surprised Jongeling about the veterans is not the stories about blood and guts -- that is a part of every war, he said.
The revelation, made clear by the veterans' personal stories and memories about the Korean War, is that though the conflict ended 51 years ago, it is still affecting the veterans who fought in it today.
In fact, he said, for some of the veterans PTSD didn't hit until after they retired from their jobs.
"I still have nightmares," said Lentini, who attends PTSD group therapy at the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic on Belmont Avenue. "A bunch of us go to the clinic. It helps," he said.
Lentini praised Jongeling's film for its accuracy but said he felt sad when he watched it because "I lost a lot of friends there."
PTSD is directly proportional to how close to the front lines they served, Jongeling said.
About the filmmaker
Jongeling wrote, edited and produced "Forgotten War -- Forgotten Warriors" under the auspices of his company, Flying Dutchman Films. He also creates commercials and corporate and training videos.
Jongeling mostly grew up in Detroit but graduated from Austintown Fitch High School in 1974. He enrolled at Youngstown State University, where he studied engineering for two years. He worked at the old RC Cola plant on Indianola Avenue after high school, and in 1978 he was hired at Copperweld Steel Corp. in Warren. He was a motor inspector there when the plant closed in 2001.
It was then he enrolled at KSU to study radio and television production. He received his bachelor's degree in December 2003 and through the university's combined baccalaureate-master's program, called Plus-21, in the journalism department, expects to graduate with a master's degree in December 2004.
Brutal and nasty
The Korean War, sometimes called the "forgotten war," was particularly brutal and nasty ... a war in which the enemy was known to throw American soldiers into bonfires and to execute prisoners. The weather also had incredible extremes of heat and cold. Some 54,229 Americans died in the Korean War, Jongeling said.
Besides interviews with the local veterans, he drew information from books and tapes on the Korean War. Also, he added original film footage of the war that he found at the National Archives in College Park, Md., that to his knowledge has not been used in other documentaries on the war.
Jongeling said he plans to enter his film in regional film festivals in the hope of attracting the attention of financial backers for his work. He said the instructors on his KSU master's team told him the film is "a winner," and that the university plans to enter it in the student production category for an Emmy, an annual award by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for outstanding achievements in television.
Jongeling said he has enough material that he would "have no problem" lengthening "Forgotten War -- Forgotten Warriors" from the 28-minute PBS commercial-free format to the 441/2 minutes needed for commercial television.
alcorn@vindy.com