Jul/Aug 2008 - Korean War Veterans Association

Recon Missions
60
PFC James M Jordan, 2nd ID, 23rd RCT, HQ Co.,
Sept. 1950—Sept. 1951
My grandfather was a proud Korean War veteran. He was a
radioman. He landed at Inchon and was wounded by a mortar round
on the first day of attacks on Heartbreak Ridge. He died three years
ago this August. Since then I have been trying to piece together what
little he told me with what I have found out about his service since
his death.
What I have learned is that he was more of a soldier than I
thought. He joined the Army voluntarily. When the Korean War
broke out he volunteered for combat duty, transferring from the
Fourth to the Second Division. He was slightly wounded on the first
day of combat when he a bullet grazed his ankle. He never told anyone.
He was too ashamed.
He was at Chosin, ran the gauntlet with the 23rd, and had an
artillery round pick him up and throw him in the back of a jeep as it
passed. He held the line at the landing strip with the Marines, using
the bodies for cover. He told me about the harbor and told me he
wished I could have seen it.
He was evacuated to the States for treatment of frostbite, but he
was only there for a few days. He volunteered again to go back—
and he was back in Korea before his family even got the letter he was
home! Then, he went through the spring offensives. I have a picture
of him on top of “Old Baldy.”
Finally, he was wounded so badly that he lost an eye and was
covered in shrapnel. Again, he had to leave Korea to recover. Due to
some glitch, he stayed in the Army even though he had only one eye.
But, when he volunteered for combat duty in 1953, this fact came to
light and he was given an early retirement and honorable discharge.
He earned five combat stars for the five campaigns in which he participated.
Now, I want to find out more about him. Before, they were just
stories that he told me. There was nothing really tangible. Today I
have his stuff, watch, papers, etc.
One thing that I was researching was a story that he told me about
Kunuri, where the 23rd captured a train. He was on the frontline and
talked about how he could hear the steam hissing as the bullets
would strike the train. Then, in a 1952 book that he was given about
the 2nd’s role in Korea, 1950-51, I saw a picture of an engineer
wiring the train to blow. It was the same train he helped capture.
Maybe this is what I am looking for: facts that I can use to put
together a timeline and biography of his story. He made a scrapbook
for me, which I found only recently. I thought it was lost. What was
inside was a very different view of Korea than I thought it contained.
He had cut pictures from books and magazines and put them in
there. It was his view of Korea, rather than a textbook’s.
I miss him terribly. I remember him as short and unassuming. He
never raised his voice to me in my whole life, and he taught me to
fish. Being a soldier was more of a thing he did, rather than just a
part of him. At least that’s what he led me to believe. Now I know
that he was a soldier till the day he died. He just didn’t know how to
tell his story. I think this is the best place to start that story.
I do have one reminder of him. His picture appears in the book
History of the United States Army, in the Korean War section—all
three pages of it. It is a green, cloth-bound book with a brass Army
logo on the cover. He takes up a whole page; he is the man leading
a load of ammo past a tank. If you look closely you can see the bullet
hole in his trousers by the ankle.
If you have any information about my grandfather, please contact
me. Thanks.
William E. Ray Jr., P.O. Box 292
Nome TX, 77629 rooster_rugburn@hotmail.com
Sgt E. Paul Morin
I want to know if anyone knew or remembered my brother, Sgt.
E. Paul Morin, who worked in Administration in Sasebo, Japan in
1951-1952. He was married in 1952 and had three children. His wife
died at 28 years old in 1956; he died of cancer in October 1958. His
children, ages 6, 4, and 2, never knew him.
I am a Korean veteran (non-combat) and I am 74 with health
problems. My request is that anyone who knew him could send any
information they might have about my brother that I can pass on to
his children. He died 50 years ago this year.
Here is what I know based on newspaper clippings I have.
Cpl Morin joined the Army in August 1948 after receiving an
Associates in Science degree from Becker Junior College. He was
shipped overseas to Japan in August 1950. Paul was a battery clerk
in a radar unit. He had been stationed in Texas after undergoing basic
training at Breckenridge, Kentucky.
Paul was promoted to Sergeant First Class in March 1952 at
Sasebo, Japan, where he was continuing to perform administrative
work. In January 1953 he received the Army Commendation Medal
and Ribbon “for performing duties normally assigned to a commissioned
officer.” According to the citation, he “carried out his duties
with diligence and devotion” and with great administrative skill.
Thank you for any assistance you can render.
Maurice L. Morin, 23 Scott Street
Bellingham, MA 02019, (508) 883-9396
William Chapin, USS Lipan
My husband, William Chapin, was on the USS Lipan from 1950
to 1954. I’m looking for guys who served with him. Contact him at:
Bill Chapin, P.O. Box 1432, Paso Robles, Cal, 93447, (805) 239-
1733, chap1tiger@sbcglobal.net or chap1tiger@yahoo.com
Nancy Chapin
Looking for stories about Turkish troops in Korea
My name is Col Ali Denizli. I am writing from Ankara, Turkey
with warm greetings and brotherly affections to all the U.S. Korean
War veterans. I am a retired Colonel from the Turkish military. My
father was a Turkish Korean War veteran and I am a historian.
I have started to write a book about the Korean War in Turkish,
July - August 2008
The Graybeards