Posted on 05/31/2021 6:56:41 PM PDT by Sasparilla
Some years ago my wife bought her Dad a book called "A Father's Legacy" which has blank pages for Fathers to write thoughts on memories of various activities that affected their own lives. One page asked the question, "If you were in the Armed Forces, how did your service affect your life?"
He entered the Korean war as an infantryman and carried a Browning Automatic Rifle and a 1911 in his holster. I have a photo of him fresh off a combat patrol holding his BAR at his side & it was almost as tall next to him as he was at the time. Near the end of his tour he volunteered to be a combat medic.
What he told his daughters was understated compared to the realities he told me about. I think he opened up to me because I'm a veteran.
I can't even imagine the horrors of what he saw and what he had to do in performing his duty in Korea. He wouldn't talk about it at all until he neared death.
When he started talking to me about the War during his last two years he told me that he killed so many people in combat that he couldn't even remember how many.
He told me that once there were hundreds of North Korean soldiers & accompanying civilians carrying pitchforks, shovels, axes, hammers & sticks charging toward the birm that he and his fellow soldiers were behind defending themselves. And that his ammo carriers could barely keep him supplied with magazines for the rate of his BAR firing. In the next few days a bulldozer dug a trench to bury the dead from the North.
He served 27 years in the Army and retired as a Sergeant Major
Here's what he wrote to his daughters.
"I enlisted in the Army in August 1950 at Whitehall Street NYC. I was sworn in at 16 years old. I was sent to Ft. Dix New Jersey for basic training. Then to Ft. Meade Maryland for advance training. Then on to Virginia.
I flew to California and on to a troop transport ship for 17 days to Japan. 2 days after getting there we were on another ship headed to Korea. South Korea, where war had broken out. That was January 1951.
It was "Cold as Hell." Then 14 months of nonstop combat.
Then back to Japan. Tokyo Japan and back on a ship again 16 days to California and on to Edwards Massachusetts. Then I was sent to West Point to train Cadets.
I was married to Mom so I put in for a transfer to Ft. Jay Governor's Island New York Hospital. Then I transferred to Ft. Wadsworth Staten Island. I worked in the dispensary there. It was about 5 miles from our house in Staten Island.
Then I got out of active duty and went into the Reserve in 1954.
The War affected all of our lives because everyone I knew drank very heavily when we came back. I did too. It was the biggest mistake I ever made. Drinking was trouble."
Love Dad
Sergeant Majors run the show. I had a great one while permanent party 86’-88’ as a combat medic. I was fortunate as it was peace time. I also did my Basic training at Ft. Dix. Ft. Lewis I forgot to mention,trained/cross trained with the Air Force at the Yakima firing range. Got to meet older guys who had seen live fire ...you learn a lot.
On many pages, however, these books can be a terrific vehicle for learning details about a parent's or grandparent's life that may just go unlearned. I filled in one with my mother. She talked while I wrote. That book is a now a family treasure.
I neglected to mention that he suffered horribly from PTSD until the last 5 years of his life & recovered. But, he never recovered completely from the frostbite damage to his feet.
He lied about his age to enlist at 16.
Bump!
I just keep remembering things. After he passed when we were sorting out his things, we found his Medic bag that he brought home.
It still had a number of Morphine syrettes in it & among gauze bandages & other first aid items, there were about 30 large safety pins strung along one one safety pin to hold them together.
He had told me at one time that he used safety pins stuck through ripped wounds to close them as well as possible till the wounded could reach more advanced treatment.
Also, the Red Crosses they were required to wear on their arms & helmets were perfect targets. You know unyielding regulations back then. So,they somehow stuffed socks under the helmets to raise them higher on their heads
& moved the red crosses on the arms to the wrist.
I have a picture of one of his Medic friends with two buddies on each side of him pointing up to him in the middle & the raised helmet he was wearing with an obvious bullet hole in the middle of the red cross.
I just can’t imagine.
I can identify with the excess drinking as a PTSD symptom as I saw it in my WW2 vet father. Of course, in the 1960s-70s PTSD was not a term in general use. Instead, we had another name for it - alcoholism...and it killed him in 1973 when I was a senior in high school.
And the VA didn’t want to hear anything about that as the time.
He went cold turkey finally on the alcohol. That must have been very hard after years.
He had to go on Zoloft & Xanax for a while later for the mental scars he was left with,but eventually weaned off it.
Thank you for posting this. I’m glad your wife’s father was able to tell his personal story this way; it’s a hard thing for so many. I’ve spent all day thinking about those who lost their lives and loves, families and futures in sudden moments or succumbed to wounds; this was a good reminder of the heavy price paid by veterans who lived on.
My Dad was a farm kid from Minnesota when he joined the Army. He was at Ft Belvoir when a levy came down for troops to go overseas. He thought it was to Germany. He found himself on a troop ship to Korea.
A PERFECT example of the Americans who endured the most awful we as humans can do in order for us/we to reside in a comfort beyond the comprehension of themselves at that time. Freedom is not free and I am of the belief that God truly has blessed this great nation. But right along side of that is the flip side of the coin ...evil which discounts and pays lip service to ALL of those who served...while they undermine this Republic every chance they can. Thank you so much for the insight into your Fathers service. May God be with you always!
A PERFECT example of the Americans who endured the most awful we as humans can do in order for us/we to reside in a comfort beyond the comprehension of themselves at that time. Freedom is not free and I am of the belief that God truly has blessed this great nation. But right along side of that is the flip side of the coin ...evil which discounts and pays lip service to ALL of those who served...while they undermine this Republic every chance they can. Thank you so much for the insight into your Fathers service. May God be with you always!
My dad was armor in Korea, advancing just after the barrage from 16” naval guns he said was the most destruction because ever seen. He didn’t stop until his tank unit was on the north side of the Yalu river. Yeah. Dad said was fu@kin cold over there too.
We lost a relative in the Korean War. He was killed in the explosion on the USS Walke in Korean waters in June 1951.
They didn’t know if the Walke was torpedoed or hit a mine laid by the Chinese.
I disagree. This post has nothing to do with vanity.
The American people largely ignored the returning survivors of direct combat from WWII and Korea and Vietnam and pretended that everyone should just act as though nothing happened. Because combat was such a meatgrinder, most of those men who made it home were wounded, physically and mentally and many or most turned to drink to "self-anesthetize" and kept to themselves.
On this Memorial Day, we need to remember the sacrifices of those among us who fought and suffered - and did their best not to bother anyone else with their memories.
At age 18 he was a combat vet and he was training West Point Cadets! Remarkable!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.