It was early summer 1950 at Vance Air Force Base. There was a little discussion about increasing action in Korea but more chatter about the free beer for the soldiers there. One of Brad’s buddies threw down the gauntlet, “Hey Scott, I bet you don’t have the guts to go with me to volunteer for duty in Korea.”
Brad didn’t hesitate, “Let’s go down to headquarters to do it right now.”
Brad, when asked later about this momentous and seemingly crazy decision, gave this explanation, “I was 18 – what else can I say – a small-town kid living one day at a time. I did a lot of stupid things those days. I actually really didn’t even know where Korea was, but I knew most any place in the world would be more exciting than Enid, Oklahoma.”
So Brad and his buddy went straight to Headquarters and were ushered into the First Sergeant’s office. He was tilted back on his chair, looking very superior, “Just what do you two eight-balls want?”
Brad, uncharacteristically forceful, replied, “We want to volunteer to go to Korea!”
The sergeant’s chair dropped with a bang back flat on four legs. “Oh, you do? Well, I’ll just see what I can do about this. You both go back to your work section and I’ll let you know.”
Back on the job, the two airmen, not knowing that the Department of Defense was suddenly in a furious mode to build up forces in Korea, were surprised just two hours later to hear their names come over the loudspeaker with a command to report to Headquarters. There the same sergeant was waiting for them, with a slightly softer look on his face, but shaking his head in puzzlement as if he were seeing crazy men.
“The old man wants to see you two,” and they were led into the CO’s inner sanctum office. There they were read the Articles of War and informed that their orders to go overseas would be arriving shortly. In the meantime, they were to pack up all their civilian clothes and other non-military-issued articles and send them back home.
Brad wasn’t much on writing letters, but he decided he ought to tell his family. So he wrote a letter to his mother, saying he had volunteered to go to Korea and would be leaving soon. Within a few days he received a letter back. “Do you know there is a war going on in Korea?” she wrote. And knowing he wasn’t a regular correspondent, she added, “I have included a pre-addressed postcard in this envelope, with blocks for Yes and No. Please mark your answer and mail back to me.”
And within a week, Brad was awakened in the middle of the night for a long military bus ride to a base near Los Angeles. He had finally made it out of Enid, Oklahoma.
Hi Jean Scott,
This reminds me of the time I was in the service during the Vietnam War, but I had a soft office job and never served in the war directly (and would not even venture any thots of volunteering for such an assignment).
Anyway, several buddies and I were sent to a special training class (office related) in downtown and, in attendance, were other soldiers from other bases for same training.
One guy that we got to chat with told us that he would love going to war, had volunteered, and was turned down 3 times. And, he was going to volunteer again because he hated his desk job.
Buddies and I tried to avoid him thereafter fearing we would catch the fever. We certainly thot he was nuts, but then, America needs those kind of people too.
Never kept in touch so don’t know if he ever was sent.
hilorain