Ziegler, George H. Papers

Corporal, U.S. Marine Corps; Lt. Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve; American Red Cross Volunteer in South Vietnam.

The papers of George H. Ziegler consist of correspondence, certificates, printed materials, and other items relating to his military service in the Korean War, his service as an American Red Cross volunteer in South Vietnam, his involvement in reunions of Korean War veterans, and other aspects of his life.

Size: 2.5 linear feet (about 400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor of the papers has also donated her copyright interest in unpublished writings in the collection to the United States of America. Records created by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Otherwise, copyright interest is presumed to belong to the authors of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2023).

George Herbert Ziegler was born in San Diego, California on November 25, 1929. He graduated from Atascadero High School in 1948 and enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Ziegler was sent to Korea during the early stages of the war and took part in the fierce combat at Chosin Reservoir in late 1950. He was wounded in action and subsequently received the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. After graduating from Santa Monica City College and California State Polytechnic College, he joined the U.S. Army and served as an officer in Europe, eventually rising to the rank of Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. In the mid-1960s, Ziegler volunteered for service with the American Red Cross in South Vietnam, where he lived for about a year and a half with his wife, Janet, an officer in the Women’s Army Corps. During the 1980s and 1990s, Ziegler was active in organizations of Korean War veterans, and participated in reunions and memorial tributes to the “Chosin Few” who had fought alongside him at Chosin Reservoir. His battlefield recollections were cited by a number of historians in their books about the Korean War and the Chosin Reservoir battle. Ziegler died in Florida on May 28, 2000 and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

The papers of George H. Ziegler consist of correspondence, printed materials, certificates, and other items relating to Ziegler’s military service in the Korean War, his experiences as an American Red Cross volunteer in South Vietnam, his involvement in reunions of Korean War veterans, and other aspects of his life.

Almost all of the correspondence in the collection dates from 1965 to 1982. Included are ten letters from Ziegler and his wife Janet to their daughter Debra, written during their service in South Vietnam in 1966-67. The letters provide information about everyday life in that country during the Vietnam War. One letter contains a description of a trip from Pleiku to Quy Nhon along “Route 19.” Also in the collection is correspondence between Ziegler and the historian Eric Hammel concerning Ziegler’s experiences during the fighting at Chosin Reservoir in Korea. Hammel used Ziegler as a source for his book Chosin: Historic Ordeal of the Korean War (1981). Other correspondence includes letters to Ziegler from veterans of the fighting at Chosin Reservoir (mostly concerning their shared experiences and plans for reunions) and letters relating to Ziegler’s service with the American Red Cross.

The printed materials include a French-language guidebook to Saigon, a U.S. Army communications manual from the Vietnam War, and obituaries published after Ziegler’s death in 2000. Citations for the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, certificates honoring Ziegler for his civilian service in Vietnam and his military service in the U.S. Army Reserve, and Ziegler’s birth and death certificates are also in the collection. Other materials include an unpublished story by Ziegler entitled “Across the River to Heaven,” biographical notes provided by Ziegler’s daughter Debra, and information about books on the battle at Chosin Reservoir that were published in the years following his death.

Related collections at the Truman Library include the Korean War Collection and the Records of the Center for the Study of the Korean War.