Happy Veteran’s Day, Dad!  Here’s a photo of Tom with his mother Be, just before he shipped out to the Korean War.

I love that look on Grandma Be’s face.  Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I sense a combination of pride (her Marine son is serving our country) and fear (he may not be coming home).  Fortunately Tom did return home safe and sound, otherwise my siblings and I would not be here.

If you can love, thank a parent.  If you can read, thank a teacher.  If you can speak your mind in a free country, thank a veteran. 

Thank you all U.S.A. veterans for protecting our great nation and way of life.

We celebrate this Memorial Day 2010 by remembering our father, Thomas Ray Martin, and his brave service as a United States Marine during the Korean War.  Here are some photos of Tom’s life during his service to our country.

Tom is the third National Guard from the left, working crowd-control for General Douglas MacArthur. 

MacArthur was Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area during World War II.  For his defense of the Philippines, MacArthur was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor.  He officially accepted Japan’s formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, thus ending World War II.  MacArthur then oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951, during which he ushered in sweeping economic, political and social changes that helped build Japan into the global economic powerhouse it is today.  MacArthur handed over control to the Japanese government in 1949 but remained in Japan until relieved by President Truman on April 11, 1951.  (Source: Wikipedia)

MacArthur visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin just two weeks later on April 27, 1951.  He met some of the men who were under his command in the Philippines during the early months of World War II.  These men included 13 Janesville, Wisconsin survivors of the 192nd Tank Battalion (Source: Janesville Gazette).  Tom was a member of the Wisconsin National Guard and one of MacArthur’s personal guards during his visit.  Tom was stationed outside MacArthur’s door at the Pfister Hotel and worked crowd-control.

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We held a memorial for Tom Martin on Saturday, June 20, 2009 at Wisconsin Memorial Park in Brookfield.

The United States Marine Fox Company – Milwaukee I & I performed military honors for Tom by folding the U.S. Flag and playing Taps.

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I joined the Marine Corps on March 26, 1953 for a 3-year tour.  On December 5th, 1953 (my 21st birthday, by the way) I landed in Korea and was assigned to the 1st Marine Div. FMF, 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, combat zone.  The Corps was playing the numbers game then: 4 points a month on line, 2 points a month in reserve, 36 points and you go home.  After 8-1/2 months they changed the rotation, and I spent 15 months in the combat zone.

The uniform of the day was the Flak Jacket (they were heavy then), a loaded M1 rifle, 45 caliber pistol, bayonet, canteen and cartridge belt.  When we wanted to dress up we wore our steel helmets.  We shaved and bathed out of those helmets.

I spent 2 winters in Korea.  It got very cold there.  Once after a long time in they brought up portable showers.  We each got a 5 minute hot shower in which we thought we died and went to heaven.

Now the nitty-gritty.  I guess the Armistice meant no more Divisional clashes.  Some of this is from a 50 year memory.

We were in the Chorwon Valley, ran from Siberia to Southern Korea on the North Side of Imjin River between the Freedom and Liberty Bridges some 38,000 meters apart.  The river ran east to west maybe 50 to 100 yards wide.  On one flank was the British Black Watch, and on the other the Turkish Army and Australian Regular Army. 

You never forget the sound of a bullet cutting the air past your ear.  Some nights we could hear the big ones headed North overhead.  105′s and 155′s.  As long as they were headed north, we were happy.

What were we doing there?

Right in front of us were one half million Chinese and Regular North Korean Troops.  If they jumped off, we were supposed to hold them long enough for the Eighth Army to blow the bridges.

OH YEAH!

We figured our survival rate at about 3 seconds.  Hence the term:

DEAD MAN WALKING