Gordon Haber

A Zoom Conversation with Ryan Walkowski and Ed Gruber

6/26/25 @ 7PM ET on ZOOM

“If the best minds in the world had set out to find us the worst possible location in the world to fight this damnable war, the unanimous choice would have been Korea.” 
—Dean Atcheson, Secretary of State, 1949-1953

“I had to reach them and get their stories before it was too late.” 
—Ryan Walkowski

June 25^th marks the 75^th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, when North Korean forces crossed the 38^th parallel to invade South Korea.

The war lasted only three years and was officially referred to as a “police action.” And yet it cost millions of lives and its effects still reverbate throughout the world. 

Ryan Walkowski’s In Combat in Korea: Eighteen Veterans Remember the War (McFarland) brings this historical event to light with Korean War veterans recounting the most terrifying moments of their own lives with startling emotion and bluntness. 

The preface is by Ed Gruber, a veteran who saw combat while embedded as a Navy journalist with a Marine unit. 

Writer and editor Gordon Haber (who has published several short stories about the Korean War) will moderate an online conversation with Ryan and Ed about the book, Ryan’s incredible determination, Ed’s own war experiences, and what it means to remember the “forgotten war.” 

Time: Jun 26, 2025 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Zoom meeting ID: 789 4703 3320
Passcode: 9iYQd9
Meeting link: 
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78947033320?pwd=hBbTAXjG3zvehwkxnqSmtECb813b78.1

Ryan Walkowski (Author)

Ryan Walkowski is a blue-collar worker from the small farming town of Birnamwood, Wisconsin, and an avid hunter and fisherman. He has always been a military history enthusiast, but his grandfather and great uncle never talked much about their own experiences in the Korean War. So Ryan began interviewing soldiers, sailors and Marines. Using weekends and vacation days, he drove coast to coast in pursuit of the stories that eventually collected into In Combat in Korea.

Ed Gruber bio (Author)

Born and bred in The Bronx, Ed Gruber resides in Woodstock, Georgia. As a US Navy Correspondent, Ed wrote speeches for Admirals, Navy radio programs and films, news releases, and fleet newsletters. He earned three battle stars while deployed with Marine Corps infantrymen on nighttime patrols. Ed then had a prolific career as a writer, Creative Director, and marketing consultant. He now enjoys writing, golfing, fishing, and talking to senior and veteran groups about his rich and varied experiences. 

Gordon Haber (Host)

Gordon Haber is a writer and editor. His reporting and commentary on religion and culture have appeared in The Forward, Religion Dispatches, Arc, and Salon. His short stories and novellas have been published in journals like Bodega, Cagibi, The Rumpus, and The Short Story Project, and as three best-selling Kindle Singles. His awards include a Fulbright Fellowship to Poland, a MacDowell residency, and a residency at the Toji Cultural Center in South Korea. His Korean War novel, The First Hard Fight, is currently on submission to publishers.