Mondays with Mike: A Story of Challenge and Hope
A Conversation with Head of School Emeritus, Dennis Runey
Dear PCA Community,
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and as part of our ongoing America 250 reflection, I wanted to share a story that is both challenging and hopeful.
In this week’s Mondays with Mike, I sit down with my father, retired Army Colonel Dennis Runey, to tell a lesser-known story from the Korean War—the moment when the U.S. Army fully integrated in combat. Soldiers who had been separated by policy learned, under fire, to trust one another as brothers.
Yet the story does not end triumphantly. When those same soldiers returned home, they encountered a country not yet ready to live out what they had learned together overseas.
This conversation is honest, sober, and deeply human. It does not reduce people to categories, nor does it ignore the weight of history. Instead, it invites us to see one another as God does—fully human, deeply valued, and called to love our neighbor well.
I hope you will listen through, reflect, and perhaps share it with someone who might be encouraged or challenged by it.
Grace and peace,
Mike Runey
Head of School
Portsmouth Christian Academy
Key Takeaways
- Shared hardship can form genuine brotherhood
In Korea, Black and White soldiers learned to trust one another not through policy or theory, but through shared danger, shared work, and shared life. Combat did not erase difference, but it clarified what mattered most: faithfulness, courage, and care for one another. - Institutions can lead moral change before society does
The U.S. Army integrated in combat before the country was ready to live that reality at home. The painful train ride through the Deep South reveals how progress can be real and yet incomplete. - Progress is fragile and must be stewarded
What took years of sacrifice to build was undone in minutes by entrenched cultural habits. The story reminds us that justice, dignity, and unity are not self-sustaining; they require vigilance and courage. - Seeing people as individuals matters
The episode resists reducing people to categories. It honors cultural difference while affirming equal dignity, responsibility, and worth as people made in the image of God. - Faith shapes how we endure, respond, and hope
Christian conviction quietly undergirds the story: perseverance in hardship, humility in leadership, and hope that God is at work even when outcomes are mixed and unresolved.
Episode Timestamps
A Story of Challenge and Hope Mondays with Mike | MLK Day | America 250
00:00 – Welcome and Setting the Moment
Martin Luther King Jr. Day, America at 250, and why this story matters now.
01:40 – A Long, Overlooked History
Black participation in America’s wars from the Revolution through World War II.
04:00 – Segregation as the Norm
How military service remained segregated even as courage and sacrifice multiplied.
05:00 – Truman’s Order and the Army’s Delay
The decision to integrate—and why the Army moved slowly.
06:30 – Korea: War Comes Suddenly
The outbreak of the Korean War and an unprepared, segregated force sent into combat.
08:00 – Fighting Side by Side
The Busan perimeter, early chaos, and the shared hardship of war.
09:20 – Integration in Combat
The Army integrates units mid-war and sends them back into battle.
10:20 – Mistrust, Fear, and Adjustment
Two weeks to integrate, years of prejudice to overcome.
11:30 – Brotherhood Forged Under Fire
Trust grows through shared danger, daily life, and dependence on one another.
13:00 – Life Beyond the Front Line
Conversations, downtime, and bonds formed in the quiet moments of war.
13:50 – Heading Home Together
The troop ship, shared joy, and the sense that something new had been built.
14:45 – The Troop Train
Arrival in the United States and the journey across the South.
15:25 – “You May Be Integrated in the Army…”
The moment of forced re-segregation on the train in Mississippi.
16:30 – Silence, Loss, and Disillusionment
How quickly progress unraveled—and what it revealed.
17:45 – The Army Moves Forward, the Country Lags
Personal reflection on segregation years later.
18:30 – A Different Army
Life in an integrated military in the years that followed.
20:00 – Cultural Difference Without Dehumanization
Why unity does not require sameness.
22:00 – Faith, Fraternity, and Limits of Policy
What faith contributes when laws and orders fall short.
24:30 – Lessons for PCA and Christian Community
Seeing people as individuals made in the image of God.
26:30 – America at 250: A Call to Faithful Witness
Remembering honestly, loving neighbors well, and stewarding what has been gained.
28:10 – Closing and Blessing
A final word of gratitude, challenge, and hope.
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