Purple Heart Day

[wctriumph]

Today is National Purple Heart Day. I thought I would share from my father. He was wounded in action in the Korean War. The article is a little off, he was wounded as part of a mortar crew when his position was attacked by enemy mortar fire. After the surgery he went through rehabilitation working at Kojedo POW camp. He related his experience with honey buckets and later as as guard. He retrained as a corpsman and went back into combat. During his time as a corpsman he won two Bronze Star medals. He never talked about his experience to us except once at our mother?s urging. My mother did not know about the Bronze Stars until the VFW recited his citations at his funeral.

[wctriumph]

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[StagLefty]

Such were the men of his time. My father was a World War II vet and never related to us any of his experiences. After his passing we found a Purple Heart among his belongings in an old cigar box. May they both RIP !!

[flogger]

My dad was one of 6 brothers who were in WW2, five were in the Navy and one in the USAAF (he was the only one that couldn't swim, ended up as a turret gunner on a B-24 flying over the channel, scared him shitless).

They all made it and were a very close family and I remember spending countless hours with all of them on weekends and reunions. They never really talked much about thier experiences. I wish I had probed more, even my dad.

[Baetis]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Great men never look for the glory, they just do what needs to be done. I have extended family that served in Vietnam, Army and Navy, and that?s about all I know. My army uncle, who did a couple of tours in country, doesn?t share too much about it, even with his own family. At his wife?s urging, he is starting to catalog some of his experiences for posterity. My dad, his brother, is anxious to see these experiences as it shaped my uncle into a lot of who he is today. My navy uncles have shared slightly more as they were based on ships without the extreme horrors witnessed by the grunts.


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[Bailey Guns]

I'm in awe of men like those mentioned here...

[rondog]

Both my parents were machinists during the war at Mare Island shipyard, there were more people working behind the scenes than there were in uniform. Think about all the stuff you've ever seen or heard of related to or used in WWII, somebody had to make it!

My uncle Ralph was a Ranger though, and he went through some heavy shit from what I heard. I don't know many details, but I did hear that he was a sergeant leading a squad/platoon/whatever, and they were wading across a small river at night. The Germans opened up on them and most of his men were killed, maybe all of them, I don't know. But he survived by playing dead and floating down stream with the bodies of his men.

I didn't come along until 1956, but I remember uncle Ralph was pretty fucked up and a heavy alcoholic. Didn't know why for a long, long time.