My uncle turns out to be a Korean War Hero

[muddyboots]

Son of a gun. My mother, who doesn't like him, only said once that he "was just a mechanic during the war and never really did anything,"

Well, after not seeing him for twenty years, he stopped by the house to meet up with my cousins who had to evacuate from the hurricane and I got a chance to pick his brain.

It turns out, he is a plank holder in this Unit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMX-1 and he was a mechanic of the very small number of the first helicopters flown by the marine corps in combat.
THe unit was made up of these

(they had to take a door off and shove a stretch catycorner with the injured marines feet through the other doors open window.

The unit also flew these ugly things. I don't know why.


between the helicopters and the corsairs, they made up this unit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Provis ... ne_Brigade

which was drawn into
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War

as the NK army drove us down to pusan. They ended up as the fire brigade for the whole

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pusan_Perimeter

and he fought (I don't mean mechanicked, he mechanicked and and actually fought, particulalry he remembers getting frostbite as he had to fight his way through Chinese lines and back to his unit when he was cut off from all the other marines (he was A.L.O.N.E. waay in back of enemy lines) when he was sent out to work on another chopper that had gone down and was still repairable. Both of birds made it out but the bent one couldn't take his weight so he walked out.

Did I mention the battle? No. Well, it was:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Chosin_Reservoir

Somehow along the way he ended up with a jeep and drove around picking up wounded guys and loading them on it and in the end he and another half dozen guys clinging to wheel wells, bumpers and each other drove it back into our lines. He got pretty bad frostbite but in those days they couldn't afford to let you off the lines for that. So he stayed with his unit, which fought back down the penisnula and through the battle of Seaul and evidently he fought from the Marines first engagement of the war all the way through to the armistice.

He has all his awards in little hat pins on his baseball cap. They include,: several purple hearts, a silver star, a navy and marine corps medal, a DFC and a bronze star (He claims to have more than one of some of them, and after he told me some of his stories, I tend to believe him> He knows all he places I rucked in Korea, and fought over a couple of them.
He had a bunch of stuff I didn't recognize, but Mom later told me he and his friends got together when he had a mojor surgery, and they all talked about how he got them out of there.
I am ashamed that my mom downplayed his service. He stayed when he could have left, he stayed behind enemy lines to collect wounded and stragglers at the freaking Chosen REservoir, and he fought almost every step of the way through the Korean War. I could slug her when I think of how he was "just a mechanic"

[Forgotten Field]

My 1st First Sergeant who was also a distant relative was a Marine at Chosin. He said he and some other wounded rode 18 (eighteen) on a jeep through the lines. He told me that EVERY Marine got to see Chesty Puller at least once during the fight- that's real leadership. It's a legend that should be oft told... Thanks for reminding us of it.

[Jack Cook]

My cousin John was a BAR gunner with D 2/1/1 who landed at Inchon and was MIA at Chosin Reservoir.
My uncle George was a squad leader in E 1/5/1 in Korea 1951-52 and rec'v the Bronze Star with V.

[Owen Miller]

Ask your uncle is he remembers a guy named Ross Russell who flew
the early helos. In WWII he was an SB2C driver who converted in
the post war years.

[muddyboots]

I'll do that. I'm planning on calling him again this week. Now taht we live in the same town, I think I should manage to see him more often, maybe do some things together.

[gary1954]

muddyboots....That is too Cool man, ya ought to throw him a party a thank you Party

[muddyboots]

Yeah. He's a real special guy. He gave me a business card that says

"The Chosin Few" Mississippi Chapter.

He's a cool old guy. He and my cousin (his son) are the guys that gave me the airplane bug. Mark died a couple of years ago on active duty, but Uncle Jim is still around and now I'm home you WATCH me do some catching up.!

Last edited by muddyboots on Tue Sep 02, 2008 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[hang the expense]

That is awesome.Would you please thank him for all of us here on the wix.Definatley above and beyond the call.

[The Inspector]

Truely one tough and dedicated character with a ton of grit, I'll bet once he opens up you'll be running for a recorder to get his story, so long bottled up, out in the open-
Pass along my thanks too!

[TAdan]

Thanks for sharing your uncle's story Muddyboots. Simply amazing.

[Django]

Wow, that is some exciting family history to learn after all these years. You're so fortunate that you get to learn about it first hand!

My uncle was a C-47 mechanic in Korea. He doesn't say much about it. I should ask him.

[michaelharadon]

Way cool, Muddy. Get his stories down; tape them. It sounds like there's a book waiting to be written...

My dad died before I had a chance to do that, and boy, do I wish I could have preserved his legacy.