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Mr. Gregory is 81 and served in the Korean War in the Army and later the Air Force. A few things he shared with me...
He said him and 4 of his buddies in high school having not quite graduated were talking about enlisting together. They all went to the Army recruiter in town together. He said by the time the recruiter finished talking, he looked around and he was the only one still standing there. He enlisted at 16 (lied and told them 17). He was just a poor farm boy as was still most of the country back then. This was 1950...
I had noticed he was wearing a waist girdle today and walking with a cane this year. He said he had been in a car accident (rear ended by some kid texting, hitting him doing 60). This just happened in the spring. The doctors told him he would never walk again. He said it wasn't the first time he had thought he wouldn't walk and began to tell me another story.
I have always heard the Korean War referred to as the frozen war. He said it got to -32 degrees. He said your pee would freeze before it hit the ground. Uniforms would just tear like paper in some conditions. One night he and several other soldiers were hunkered down in a foxhole when another soldier jumped in. He said all the men in his company had been killed. They were in there a while when Mr. Gregory heard/saw a grenade land in the foxhole right among them. He jumped and grabbed a steel pot nearby and throw over it then stood on it. It launched him 15 up in the air and out of the hole! Tore his legs up, but he saved all those men. He was honest with me and said it wasn't that he was trying to be a hero. He said he really wasn't thinking about those men, he was just thinking he didn't want to be blown up! Good Karma came later...
He said at one point he became the personal jeep driver for a general. He said the general approached him and had a conversation.
"How old are you boy? 14?" (skinny farm boy).
"No sir, I am 17." (he was actually still 16)
"How would you like to be my personal driver?"
He told me up to that point the only thing he had ever driven was a tractor.
"Well, sir, I I don't know if you'd want me to do that. I've never driven a jeep before."
"Well, you're gonna learn. Nothing to it"
He drove that general all over. I asked what his name was but he didn't say. He said he was later killed...
They were driving somewhere and had another officer in the back. The general called in for a strike and gave the coordinates.
"Sir! Those are the wrong coordinates. That's going to head right for us!"
"Nonsense! I know where I am and what I told them."
"No sir, I've been around here long enough to know that is going to hit us!"
Guy from the back "SHUT UP AND KEEP DRIVING. You don't know what you are talking about!"
In another moment he could hear the shells coming through the trees.
"SIR! ITS HEADED RIGHT FOR US! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF the jeep! JUMP OUT!"
"SHUTUP! KEEP DRIVING!"
"I'M GOING TO JUMP!"
He jumped just in time. The shell hit the jeep dead on. He landed on the other side of a large log. He suffered from a bunch of shrapnel in his back. He said when he got up and looked around, there wasn't a piece left of either man in that jeep bigger than his fist. There was nothing left of them to carry out.
He said he nearly got court-marshaled over the deal. One of them (not clear which) was holding the radio and had the button down and he was heard saying he was going to jump. They wanted to charge him for abandoning his post. Fortunately he wasn't and later got an honorable discharge. Fast forward to 2012, the doctor looking at his x-rays preparing to operate on his back from the aftermath of the car accident, saw the shrapnel still in his back and removed it.
Life went on. He went home when his enlistment was over about 1952. I was very surprised by something he told me. We have all heard about war protesters during the Vietnam Era and how they treated our troops coming home. He said they were doing that to them in 1952 coming home from Korea. He said everyone treated them like dirt. You couldn't get a job either. Employers would yell at you and treat you like shit when they heard you were in the war. I was saddened to hear that such treatment apparently goes back much further than I had ever heard before. Anyhow, after a long while, he could not find any steady work and he couldn't afford an education. So he joined the Air Force so he could later go on to college. He ended up being a fireman while in the Air Force. He got out of the Air Force in 1954. He still had a hard time finding work when he got out though. By then he had married and had a couple of kids. He wouldn't tell me how many medals he had or should of had. Guys like him don't keep close track.
Out of the Air Force, he was standing in line for a job with Halliburton. Several guys were waiting in the line, some with college degrees, but he had not attended school yet as he still had a family to feed. This guy from the office who saw him standing in line came out and greeted him like he knew him, but he didn't recognize him at first. It was the guy who had jumped in that foxhole with them in Korea. "You looking for a job?" "Yes, I am." "You're hired. I'll tell the rest of those guys they can go home, the position has been filled." His friend put him in a position of management over some systems where he learned and did pretty well. He went on to get a college degree, raise a family and live life happily ever after.
He said him and 4 of his buddies in high school having not quite graduated were talking about enlisting together. They all went to the Army recruiter in town together. He said by the time the recruiter finished talking, he looked around and he was the only one still standing there. He enlisted at 16 (lied and told them 17). He was just a poor farm boy as was still most of the country back then. This was 1950...
I had noticed he was wearing a waist girdle today and walking with a cane this year. He said he had been in a car accident (rear ended by some kid texting, hitting him doing 60). This just happened in the spring. The doctors told him he would never walk again. He said it wasn't the first time he had thought he wouldn't walk and began to tell me another story.
I have always heard the Korean War referred to as the frozen war. He said it got to -32 degrees. He said your pee would freeze before it hit the ground. Uniforms would just tear like paper in some conditions. One night he and several other soldiers were hunkered down in a foxhole when another soldier jumped in. He said all the men in his company had been killed. They were in there a while when Mr. Gregory heard/saw a grenade land in the foxhole right among them. He jumped and grabbed a steel pot nearby and throw over it then stood on it. It launched him 15 up in the air and out of the hole! Tore his legs up, but he saved all those men. He was honest with me and said it wasn't that he was trying to be a hero. He said he really wasn't thinking about those men, he was just thinking he didn't want to be blown up! Good Karma came later...
He said at one point he became the personal jeep driver for a general. He said the general approached him and had a conversation.
"How old are you boy? 14?" (skinny farm boy).
"No sir, I am 17." (he was actually still 16)
"How would you like to be my personal driver?"
He told me up to that point the only thing he had ever driven was a tractor.
"Well, sir, I I don't know if you'd want me to do that. I've never driven a jeep before."
"Well, you're gonna learn. Nothing to it"
He drove that general all over. I asked what his name was but he didn't say. He said he was later killed...
They were driving somewhere and had another officer in the back. The general called in for a strike and gave the coordinates.
"Sir! Those are the wrong coordinates. That's going to head right for us!"
"Nonsense! I know where I am and what I told them."
"No sir, I've been around here long enough to know that is going to hit us!"
Guy from the back "SHUT UP AND KEEP DRIVING. You don't know what you are talking about!"
In another moment he could hear the shells coming through the trees.
"SIR! ITS HEADED RIGHT FOR US! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF the jeep! JUMP OUT!"
"SHUTUP! KEEP DRIVING!"
"I'M GOING TO JUMP!"
He jumped just in time. The shell hit the jeep dead on. He landed on the other side of a large log. He suffered from a bunch of shrapnel in his back. He said when he got up and looked around, there wasn't a piece left of either man in that jeep bigger than his fist. There was nothing left of them to carry out.
He said he nearly got court-marshaled over the deal. One of them (not clear which) was holding the radio and had the button down and he was heard saying he was going to jump. They wanted to charge him for abandoning his post. Fortunately he wasn't and later got an honorable discharge. Fast forward to 2012, the doctor looking at his x-rays preparing to operate on his back from the aftermath of the car accident, saw the shrapnel still in his back and removed it.
Life went on. He went home when his enlistment was over about 1952. I was very surprised by something he told me. We have all heard about war protesters during the Vietnam Era and how they treated our troops coming home. He said they were doing that to them in 1952 coming home from Korea. He said everyone treated them like dirt. You couldn't get a job either. Employers would yell at you and treat you like shit when they heard you were in the war. I was saddened to hear that such treatment apparently goes back much further than I had ever heard before. Anyhow, after a long while, he could not find any steady work and he couldn't afford an education. So he joined the Air Force so he could later go on to college. He ended up being a fireman while in the Air Force. He got out of the Air Force in 1954. He still had a hard time finding work when he got out though. By then he had married and had a couple of kids. He wouldn't tell me how many medals he had or should of had. Guys like him don't keep close track.
Out of the Air Force, he was standing in line for a job with Halliburton. Several guys were waiting in the line, some with college degrees, but he had not attended school yet as he still had a family to feed. This guy from the office who saw him standing in line came out and greeted him like he knew him, but he didn't recognize him at first. It was the guy who had jumped in that foxhole with them in Korea. "You looking for a job?" "Yes, I am." "You're hired. I'll tell the rest of those guys they can go home, the position has been filled." His friend put him in a position of management over some systems where he learned and did pretty well. He went on to get a college degree, raise a family and live life happily ever after.
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