My father Wallace D McMillin served in the Korean War. Often called the "forgotten war", it was not insignificant. About 37,000 service members died. After WW II, Korea was divided into a communist northern half and an American-occupied southern half. The Korean War started when the North Korea communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded the non-communist South Korea. The US came to South Korea's assistance. General Douglas MacArthur commanded the US troops. The war lasted from 1950-1953. China became involved in the war when the US army fought the North Korean army to upper North Korea. China was concerned that the US would take over North Korea as a base for operations against Manchuria. President Truman wanted to end the war quickly but Gen MacArthur wanted to unify North and South Korea first. Finally peace was negotiated and North and South Korea returned to their divided status as it remains currently.
The North and South Korea issues still are playing out today. In the recent news, North Korea is again stirring up trouble by threatening to invade South Korea.
I don't remember when my father left for Korea but I went to live in Tulsa Oklahoma at the home of the Brandenburg's and I went to school a few blocks away. I remember missing my dad and wondering when he would return. Newspapers had daily updates on the war and even back then, I read them voraciously. I don't remember if I wrote him any letters. My family life was messed up back then and I don't know if anyone told me I could write him. I was 10 when my dad returned. I had just gotten out of school for the day and was in the main yard of the school. He drove up in the car and I ran to hug him. He stayed to talk to some people and I ran and ran and ran around the yard of the school. I was beyond myself with happiness to see him again. At the time, I did not realize the harm he had been in or how many casualties had occurred. I only knew I loved seeing him. He had his uniform on and I thought he looked so strong and brave. My friends didn't have any fathers in the war but they were interested to know about the war. At the time, I knew very little. I just knew I loved my dad and I cherished him being home.
We honor our war heroes by learning about each war. Our family has at least one ancestor in each of the wars including the War of 1812. Now you know about a relative who was in the Korean War. Perhaps he will write us a story of what he did in the war.
That's so cool! I actually had never even thought about Grandad McMillin serving in the Korean War. I had only thought about that he had served in World War II. That was a great story M-Boo, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks, M. I actually pulled up the story from last year that you wrote, and we read both of them for Family Home Evening. We also tried to list every member of the family that has served in the armed forces--a long list, to say the least!
ReplyDeleteWe have so many hero ancestors. They all served so honorably. Some came home, some didn't. The mothers and fathers suffered as much as they do today when their sons or daughters fall in the line of service. I have started to collect the military records, most recently Thomas Ramey, brother of David. He served in the CW, Ohio infantry and was in battle in Tn. His tombstone is gone now in Seward. It had his Ohio Co number on it. It was a beautiful stone.
ReplyDeleteDear M-Boo,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post on the war heroes of our family! I have to say I love working for Altoona Ob/gyn but I do miss the honor of serving our country in the Air Force. It was a great experience, and even though some of my leadership was out in left field I loved the AF and the planes and being a major and all of the special things about being in the military. We love you and appreciate you telling us these thoughts!
John