Cy Sun came not as Pacific’s recently-elected mayor but as a citizen determined to defend his military record.

Standing beside a display of medals he had earned in battle, the 81-year-old Korean War veteran sent a clear, emotionally charged message to those who had questioned his decorated duty to country.

“I am not a liar,” Sun assured some 75 residents in the course of a prepared, passionate 54-minute speech at the Pacific Community Center Gym last Friday night. “I’ve been to hell and back.”

The former U.S. Army master sergeant then went on to unpack for his audience the horrors of three years of fierce combat with the 23rd Infantry Regiment, reliving narrow escapes from near-death experiences suffered under the most brutal conditions imaginable.

Such was Sun’s response to several citizens, including City Councilman Gary Hulsey, who’d questioned the validity of the military background he’d claimed. Sun, a write-in candidate who upset two-term incumbent Richard Hildreth in the November general election, had circulated a memo during the campaign referring to some of the wartime medals he’d received for gallantry in action, including the rare Croix de Guerre.

Military records and documents obtained by the Auburn Reporter confirmed that Sun had indeed earned the Croix de Guerre, the Silver Star, the Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster, the Korean Service Medal with three Bronze Service Stars, the Combat Infantry Badge (CIB), two Distinguished United Citations and one Overseas Bar, among other citations.

Sun said he had never intended for this controversy to spill out into the open and become a public spectacle. But as a former soldier, Sun said, he felt compelled to fight for his honor and for those who died alongside him in battle.

“The medals and citations were in a cardboard box, until only now,” Sun said. “I have never laid my laurels on being a hero. I am not a hero. Those guys who gave their lives are the real heroes.

“After (proving) I am not a liar, the medals and citations will go straight back in cardboard boxes,” he said. “But now, there’s an ugly stain on them, the stain … that I had to bring them out to prove that we, my blood brothers and I, are not liars.”

Sun never intended to use them to prove he was telling the truth.

Sun’s wife, Barbara, says the ordeal has reopened painful wounds. Severely wounded on three occasions, Sun still refused to come home. He was determined to stay with his fighting unit.

“For the years we have been married, he never talked about the depth of his military history in Korea. What has surfaced not only surprised but also shocked me,” she told the audience after her husband’s speech. “Now I know his true feelings of why he kept the depth of his career in combat behind a closed door in his heart. The trauma is too great to even understand why. For these past several weeks, the pain for him has been intense.

“Now his military service is an open page, a page that was his, and only his, to keep … that has been forced open to the public,” she added. “How mean and inconsiderate can people be?”

Sun left the podium and gymnasium to a standing ovation, fighting back tears. Vietnam War veteran Frank Hatten was among those moved by Sun’s detailed story.

“He took it personally. You could see that, and that hurts me as a veteran,” Hatten said. “It’s shameful that somebody could question it and continue to question it.”

Apologies given

Hulsey, who was in attendance, later met privately with Sun to acknowledge the man’s “exemplary military service record” and “resolve” any matters.

“We are moving on,” Hulsey said.

Corky Berthiaume, Veterans of Foreign Wars state adjutant, has apologized to Sun on behalf of those who doubted his service.

Hildreth, who refused to challenge Sun’s record during the mayoral campaign, said Sun effectively has defended his honor as a decorated war veteran. “I think the City can move ahead now,” he said.

According to documents, Sun, then 21, received the Croix de Guerre for his actions in a launched attack on Hill 851 of Heartbreak Ridge on Sept. 19, 1951. Historians and analysts consider it the war’s bloodiest battle.

Gen. Ralph Monclar, who commanded the French Battalion as part of the UN fighting force in the Korean War, awarded the Croix de Guerre to Sun, describing him “as an excellent non-commissioned officer … who distinguished himself” in a counterattack.

“Sgt. Sun constantly appeared at the most exposed positions, encouraged the survivors, directed their fire, and showed them a good

example,” Gen. Monclar wrote. “The personal actions … and his braveness demonstrated under these critical conditions under mortar enemy fire, greatly contributed to the success of this action and deserve to be cited as an example for all.”

Sun says he has never worn his medals or ribbons in public, only his CIB.

“The medals don’t belong to me,” Sun insisted. “They belong to those guys who fought in combat beside me. Those guys who took the bullets and made the supreme sacrifice. Without them, the medals would not have gotten in my hands. The medals are the symbols of our comradeship in battle. The medals belong to all of us.”