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Veteran Remembers Forgotten Korean War

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SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (USTCNS) -- Historians may remember the names and dates, but for Korean War soldiers, it's the sights and sounds that are hard to forget.

"It's hard for me to give you dates because I didn't keep track of it," said Leroy Getz, a decorated veteran of the Korean War who now resides in Belleville. He does, however, recall the disturbing sight of fallen comrades, the haunting sound of the enemy's bugle before an attack and the biting cold.

He did keep track of where he went on a folded, and now well-worn, map of Korea. He carried it throughout his six and a half months in Korea and now uses it to aid in his storytelling.

The Collinsville, Ill., native had been in Korea just a short time in July 1950 when his company loaded onto trucks to head to the front lines. As the trucks headed down a mountain toward the valley and the fighting, the convoy pulled wide on a tight curve to allow trucks headed the opposite way to pass, Getz said. He and the other soldiers joked about the good luck of those on the trucks heading away from the front and prepared to yell something as the trucks passed. As the trucks came by however, the soldiers fell silent, Getz said.

"The trucks were full of our dead," he said. "They were stacked two deep in the backs of the trucks."
Only a short time later, Getz was on patrol and came upon captured American troops who had had their hands wired behind their backs and then been shot through the head. "I saw that more than once," said Getz, who served as an Army infantryman in the 1st Cavalry Division, 7th Regiment, Company L. "I don't care what anyone says, I know it happened."

Getz earned two Bronze Stars with Valor during the Korean War, and both were similar situations in which he rescued a tanker. The first incident occurred during a firefight with the Chinese. A tank in front of his unit was knocked out, and Getz and a buddy were able to rescue the tanker from under the track, he said. As the weather turned cold and snow fell, the fighting continued. Getz remembers the snow as fairly deep and crunchy.

"The enemy spent all night sneaking up on you, and you never heard a thing," he said as he shook his head. "Then they would attack about 4 or 5 a.m. when you were good and tired."

"Before they would attack, a bugle would sound from a few hills away," he continued. "You knew you'd better watch out."

With the cold weather, the soldiers faced many hardships, according to Getz. Many of them suffered frostbite on their feet. One of the more important things Getz learned was to carry an extra pair of socks under his shirt where, hopefully, they could dry out.

"Even if they weren't dry, they were at least warm," he said. "They were better than what you had on your feet." During this time, a soldier with an air rescue unit saw Getz' name in a copy of the Collinsville Herald and came looking for him.

"We got to talking," Getz said. "He asked how we stayed warm and dry. I told him, 'the best that you can.'" Getz then showed the soldier the many layers he was wearing. The soldier returned the next day with a sheep-lined air crew jacket like his own for Getz.

The jacket proved to be invaluable. On Feb. 6, 1951, Getz was wounded during an attack. The injuries earned him his second Purple Heart and a trip home. Getz was hit by what the medics believed to be .50 caliber gunfire. The medics credited his air crew jacket with greatly reducing the extent of injury to his arm.

Getz was sent back to the United States where he spent 18 months recovering.
Looking back on what he sees as a largely forgotten war, Getz sees a lesson we all should learn. He recognizes it has been said before, but it still holds true.

"Freedom does not come free," Getz said. "We do have to go to foreign places to fight to keep our enemies from here."

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