Published : Sept. 3, 2010 - 17:17
The daughter of a U.S. journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting of the Korean War over half a century ago is taking a journey down her late mother’s memory lane and sharing stories of how her mother fought her own war to bring the struggle of South Koreans to a global audience.
“I’ve always said she’s my heroine. She was very brave and a very determined woman. She did not take no for an answer,” said Linda Vanderbleek, the daughter of Marguerite Higgins. Linda and her son arrived in Seoul on Tuesday for a five-day visit on the invitation of the Korean Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.
Higgins was the driving force behind the coverage of the 1950-53 Korean War.
She was assigned by the New York Herald Tribune to Korea in 1950 when the war broke out. Covering front-line battles for six months, she produced vivid reports of the conflict that made her the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting in 1951. Later she authored “War in Korea,” which recounts of her journalistic adventure during the Korean War.
Marguerite Higgins (left photo) and her daughter Linda Vanderbleek (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald)
U.S. General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United Nations Command in 1950-51, once said that she was “held in highest professional esteem by everyone.”
Her achievements did not come easily. At the time, the 30-year-old often had to fight very hard or sneak in to gain coverage.
“She didn’t want any special treatment because she was a woman,” Linda said in an interview on Wednesday. “She slept on the ground, on tables, and in the trenches with other reporters, and with the military. She gained tremendous respect from the military for being very willing to endure the hardships that they did along with them.”
Higgins also covered stories in World War II and the Vietnam War during her 24-year career in journalism. She died in 1966, at the age of 45, of a tropical disease she contracted in Vietnam. She was laid to rest at the Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C.
Linda and her son plan to visit “the places that are of interest, having to do with stories that my mother told” during their five-day stay here, Linda said.
Included in their tour was the Han River Highway Bridge, whose detonation caused Higgins to be momentarily stranded with the northern forces closing in, and the Incheon seawall, where Higgins climbed over right alongside the marines that she said “might even capture the devil.” When Korean media quoted her they translated this description as “Ghost-catching marines” – a name that caught on and gained wider use.
History repeated itself when the Vanderbleeks were emotionally touched by the country and people of Korea, more than half a century after Higgins fell in love with the nation.
“My mother fell in love with the people of Korea, and the country of Korea, when she was here and she wanted to see the Korean people be able to have their freedom and have their prosperity and I think she would be so happy.”
On Thursday, the South Korean government bestowed the Diplomatic Medal in recognition of her bravery in covering the war.
“It’s very touching to me that Korea has remembered my mother and valued the role she played in the war,” said Linda.
“I’m really thankful that the Korean people are bringing something back into my life that I didn’t really get to experience,” said her son Austen Vanderbleek.
By Robert Lee (rjmlee@heraldcorp.com)