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Quick Thread on this 70th Anniversary of the Korean War: My Grandfather served in the Army during the Korean War. He drank a lot and never talked about it, but he walked with a limp and we knew it was from his war injury.
My Grandfather passed when I was 8 so I never had interest or opportunity to ask him about his service. As I got older, I was interested in his service so I started researching and asking my family questions, and this is what I found.
Grandpa was part of the 2nd Infantry division, he was part of a group that was consistently asked to take a position at the top of the hill. They would fight for ground and the Koreans would fight them back down. This back and forth was devastating to his regiment.
On September 19th 1951, while charging up a hill, a mortar blast (?) hit near grandpa blowing part of his foot off. He landed near where a tree had fallen. When he awoke, it was dark and he could hear the enemy nearby. He hid under the tree until the next day.
When his group charged up the hill they found him there and brought him down. His service was over. He received a purple heart. Most of his friends had died. As far as I can tell, it was Heartbreak Ridge.
It took me a while to find his records. Although he was Native and was really dark. His records identify him as white. I remember the guns firing at his funeral, but my Uncle remembers that they begrudgingly gave him a Veterans funeral.
When they finally allowed him to be buried among other Vets and when they fired the rifles, they did it incorrectly.
