On July 19, 1953, I got a letter from "my friends and neighbors" (the friendly Draft Board) to report for duty on August 24. The fighting was still raging in Korea. My stomach was in knots. I was frightened. However, the truce was signed on July 27, which was a great relief. Now I was being conscripted into a peace time army. I wondered if the draftees would be released from duty as happened after WW2. This didn't happen, and I was to become a soldier.
I wondered what life would be like in this new peace time army. I soon found out. Some things never change. In the service, you go where they want you, or where there is an opening to be filled. You are a pawn being moved by events beyond your control. Rank has its privileges. To survive, you have to go with the flow. However, this flow leads to many unique experiences, observations and emotions that one never has in civilian life. Some of these service related experiences are the same for everyone in the service. Other experiences are unique to the individual serviceman. The hard times with buddies are remembered with a sense of accomplishment. The personal unique experiences are remembered as, "Did I really get away with that?"
My time in the service was a rewarding experience. I was proud of my uniform and to have served. I wrote this memoir primarily to tell my children about my service experiences for them to hear about another kind of life which they will never experience. They encouraged me to share it with others who served during the same time period for them to remember some of their great times. Probably only those who served will understand and appreciate many of the subtleties of many of my experiences. Enjoy your recollections!!
