Okay. What is your full name? Frank, when and where were you born? I was born in Scott County Kentucky. Frank Huffman: March the 3 rd, 1931.

Transcription

1 My name is John Zimkus. I am the Historian and Education Director of the Warren County Historical Society. Today is July 19 th. It is 9:57 and we are conducting an interview with Mr. Frank Huffman for the Warren County Oral History Project. Mr. Huffman, do we have permission for the Warren County Historical Society to record your memoirs here and we have the full literary and audio and visual recording rights to these memoirs? Yes sir. Thank you very much. Okay. What is your full name? Frank Huffman Jr. Frank, when and where were you born? I was born in Scott County Kentucky. What year? March the 3 rd, I was born March the 2 nd. Huh [chuckles]. March the 2 nd for me. You were in the Korean Conflict? What were you doing before the war began? Driving a truck. Were you married or single at the time? Single. When the Korean Conflict began, were you driving that truck then at that time? Okay, how did you get into the military? Page 1 of 19

2 I volunteered. Okay, when was that? Do you know? February the 10 th, Now had the North Koreans at that time crossed the 38 th parallel? Oh yes, sir. That was what started the conflict. What branch of service were you in? I was in the Army. Okay. Where did you do your training? Fort Knox, Kentucky. Is that where you were that was your basic training, your first post? Okay. What was basic training like? Well, it wasn t easy but it wasn t hard for me because I had been used to being highly active, working. But we had wonderful training because we knew where we were going and they wanted us to be tops. Now, I imagine all the people in your unit were probably people who were too young to be involved in World War II. Is that correct? Oh yes, sir. Okay. I wanted to go in World War II. I wasn t old enough. I always felt it was my duty to serve this country. Now, were your Drill Sergeants veterans of the war for the most part? World War II, that is. What now? Were your drill sergeants veterans of World War II? Yes, they were. Yes, they were. What weapons did you become proficient with in your training? Page 2 of 19

3 Well, we were proficient with all of them: machine gun, rifle, small arms, and sidearm pistol. What rifle were you using at that time? I was using the M-1 Garand. Was it were you training to be a member of the infantry? I was. I was. Yes, okay. Now was it Fort Knox, Kentucky you said? Was all your training there or did you move to another place? No sir, all the training was at Fort Knox, Kentucky. And how long did that last? What did we have? We had ten weeks of rigid training. The last two weeks was in the field. What qualifications did you achieve as far as marksmanship? Were you a marksman or sharpshooter or expert? No, just regular marksman. Okay. Okay. When were you deployed overseas? We sailed out of Seattle let s see. I believe it was the first of June. Yeah. It took about two weeks to bring them all in, for whole shiploads to ship out. So ten weeks at Fort Knox did you say? So after your ten weeks, did you automatically go to Seattle or was there a place in between? No, we went straight to Seattle by troop train. It took about a week to get there by troop train because they stop at every cow path but we weren t allowed off [chuckles]. What unit were you part of? What was the name of the unit? The name of the unit when I got to Korea, I was tapped to the 25 th Division but I was with the 89 th Tank Battalion. Page 3 of 19

4 Now, with the tank battalion, were you an infantryman who accompanied the tanks or were you actually in the tanks themselves? Well, you won t believe, here I am infantry, okay? You could not do it today, everything is computerized what have you, but see I started driving a truck when I was 15 years old. I quit at the eighth grade. I had to help my family and go to work. And on my way up, the night they took me up to the front lines, I thought I was headed to the infantry. This is a true story. I get up there and this tank outfit was supporting the infantry. I never will forget, Captain Belcher, he said, We re going to be moving from this front to another front in about three days. You re my driver. I said, Sir, I ve never been in a tank. Well he said, You better start getting familiar now. They must have had this is a true story. You couldn t do it. They changed my MOS. Yeah. I saw tanks at Fort Knox. I had never been in one but I guess they saw where I drove a truck. They figured that I can drive anything. I ll show you. So it was on the job training then for sure? Yes it was on the job training and your life depended on it. Now, here is a separation paper and this is what they had to take it off of. See, truck driver. Turnover on the back and I went all the way to Tank Commander and Platoon Sergeant and started out as a driver. You couldn t do that today [chuckles] because everything is run with computers and what have you. Oh, sure. But the captain must have had confidence in me that I could drive it. Were there any similarities between driving a truck and driving a tank? I don t see any steering wheel in a tank. No, it s all manual foot lock work. Lock one side just like you re running a bulldozer. Yeah [laughter]. What kind of tank was it? M4 Sherman, World War II. It carried a 76 millimeter cannon, two 30-caliber machine guns, and one 50 on top. How many people were in a crew in a tank? Five. We had a driver and an assistant driver. We had five tanks to a platoon and one tank out of the five where the assistant drivers sit with the 30-cal, we had a flamethrower. That was the main instrument. Now, you were initially the tank driver? Page 4 of 19

5 Even with your lack of training, you didn t become assistant driver, you became driver. Yeah, driver. Okay, now, was the assistant driver, for the most part, just as proficient as the driver, just the driver s copilot or something like that. No, he was supposed to man that 30-caliber and help keep the maintenance up on the tank. Okay, so the name is a little misleading saying assistant driver because you did a whole bunch of other things. Right. Okay. Now, did you become it was in Korea that you became the tank driver? Okay, where in Korea did you first land? What part of Korea? Well, when we left Seattle, we landed at Yokohama, Japan and that was where we zeroed our weapons then. Then, they loaded the ship again and we landed in Incheon. Now, how long were you in Tokyo? A brief time? We were there only for like over a day in Yokohama, Japan. Okay. Now, you arrive in Korea. How far away are you from the front at that time? Well, we landed at Incheon, I forget where it was at then, it was a little bit below the 38 and we moved forward. We were probably maybe 75 miles back, yeah, and then they moved us up to the front. Now, in this capacity, as a tank driver as part of this battalion did you often lead in the conflict or did you come after the infantry had made some headway or how did it work? Well, a lot of times the infantry moved on line with us. We d move up and set up a perimeter, yeah. How were your tanks compared to the ones the North Koreans were using? Page 5 of 19

6 Of course that was the time Russia had sent over their you know. But I think our tanks did good in that course. There were other tank outfits there that were using the M48 Pattons but we were still using the World War II Sherman like Patton had. Now, the Korean War is in many ways a confusing war because you had North and South Korea, but then you had the involvement, as you ve already mentioned, the Russians supplying them. Eventually you had the Chinese supplying. Yeah, the Chinese came down. So initially were the only people you were in conflict with were the North Koreans? No, the Chinese. From the very beginning? Oh yes. Okay. Because they had crossed over when they over run them up at the Chosin Reservoir. That s where the two divisions came in, the Chinese. Yeah. Now, how were the first actions you were involved in? Were they successful or since the majority of the men, except for perhaps the leadership, were not veterans, were they acting like green troops or did they perform well? Well, I think they performed pretty well. Did you my knowledge of the Korean War is somewhat limited but I often know that sometimes they had to capture something simply because that s where the enemy was but once they had it, they really didn t need it anymore. Is that correct? Am I correct in that assumption? What now? They would capture a hill simply because the enemy had it but once they had it, the enemy walked off, they didn t really need that hill strategically, simply capturing it just because that s where the enemy was. Well in combat, the one that holds the highest elevation is King on the Mountain, so to speak. If you re looking down on that valley, you could drop a mortar right in their back pocket and that s why we always tried to hold the highest ground. Yeah. Page 6 of 19

7 So what kind of what initial conflicts or battles, if you will, I don t know if they were necessarily called battles, were you involved in? Oh there were several of them. They ran a story here just a few years ago. I think I got I hope I didn t leave it in the truck. That was the yeah, BFW. BFW. See the tropic allotment? M hm. SFC That s what I was attached with. Headquarters Schofield Barracks, Honolulu, Hawaii was where the 25 th is out of but that was one of our that lasted for three days, September the 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th, Hills by Tangwon-ni. Several men were lost there out in the middle of the company. We got into many not only our job. We didn t stay in the tank. We had to get out and help evacuate the wounded, help with the prisoners. We weren t in a tank all the time. May we copy this please? Yes Ma am. Thank you. Now you arrived there, your conflict begins in the summer of 1951? The weather in Korea changes drastically didn t it? What was it like in the summer and what was it like in the winter? I have heard there is nowhere like it and I believe it. The winter of 51, there wasn t a chill factor. Now, we had boys that froze to death but you don t hear about it because we did not have the winter gear that our home forces have now. I even wrote home, it took 30 days to get anything, a pair of winter socks. But the winter of 51, they said it was officially 35 below. That s not a chill factor. We didn t have the gear. And it would get 100, 105 in the summer, 90% humidity. To say there is nowhere like that Vietnam was humid and hot, but it didn t get that cold in the winter. That s the toughest to fight is living out in a hole in the ground in a Were the vast majority of supplies just leftovers from World War II then? Oh, yeah. We were still eating World War II C-rations. Yeah. You rose to the rank of Sergeant? Page 7 of 19

8 Sergeant First Class. Okay, were you still in a tank at that time? Okay. Did you to rise in rank, was it based on your longevity or accomplishments or? Accomplishments. And what sort of things had you done to deserve the rise in rank? Well, here I started out I had never been in a tank, started out as a driver, then I loaded, was a loader, then I was a gunner for a while, then I rose to Tank Commander. Yeah. So of the five men, the Tank Commander, is that the one who periodically appears outside of the tank to see what s going on? You stand yes. Yeah. What was a typical engagement with the enemy like, with the tanks? How far were you were you shooting at other tanks, were you shooting at infantry? No, we were shooting at infantry dug in the hillsides. About how far away would they be? 100 yards, maybe 75 at times because we had to get closer to use the flamethrower. They bring them out. Yeah. I ve got pictures somewhere. I had the 50-caliber mount shot. I had a yeah, I had a 50-caliber. I ve got a better picture somewhere. I had a 50-caliber mounted right in front of my turret because every fifth round was a tracer but me standing up now that the gunner, he is down there looking through a periscope, so to speak. A lot of times, I could pick out a target that he wouldn t be able to pick up real quick because I was standing up and I would tell him, I d say, You watch my tracer, and I would put him on target to put a big round in. Were the tracers, do they work well during the day or is that simply more or less a nighttime thing to use? Oh, yes, better in the night, yes. Page 8 of 19

9 Right, but did it help any during the day? Could they actually do anything during the day? Well, as soon as they would hit, you could see where it was hitting at. Oh okay. Not only do you see it going but once it hits, it Creates yeah. So you have a better idea of where things are hitting. Based on that, you can change what you re shooting at. Right. Okay. When you were promoted to Sergeant, were given a separate tank or were you in the same tank unit? No, same tank. Okay. Yes. What happened to the sergeant who was in charge of that tank prior, the Tank Commander prior to you? He rotated out. See, it got to where that s why I wound up from an infantry, you could not leave and rotate out and come to the States until you had a replacement and I guess they saw that I was familiar with equipment. I replaced the Tank Commander, I mean the driver that left. That s how How long were you with this particular tank unit? I had 10 months and 21 days front line in Korea. And then did you rotate out at that time? Yes, 10 months and 21 days. Okay. Now, during the 10 months and 21 days, were you ever brought to I forget what the phrase would be. I don t want to say a rest area. Were you pulled off the line for recuperation mentally and physically? We pulled back one time for like I think it was two weeks. We were going to move to another front. We pulled back two weeks and then we brought all of our equipment up and made sure everything was okay. Plus I had three tanks blown up in a tank match and every time that the ammo well could see your whole bottom I ve got the white phosphorous over here, I ve got the heavy Page 9 of 19

10 explosive over here, and that s all? [00:22:05] because I ve heard of tanks Yeah. Did the members of your particular tank, did all of them escape injury or was anyone hurt in your tank? Well just jarred up bad. If something there is no way to describe it yeah. Did you say earlier that your particular tank unit had five tanks in a platoon was it? Now, were any of those tanks destroyed during combat? Yeah. A buddy of mine, well he was with me at one time and they put him on another tank and they met a disaster but we were lucky in my platoon. We had 25 tanks to a company, 5 to a platoon. 5 and 5 is 25. Okay. How far North ( in Korea) did your particular company make it as far as in Korea? Well it was above Pyongyang. Now in this book here, that s not Pyongyang, that s Pyongyang. They set up what was called the Iron Triangle. You had Cheorwon and Gimhwa and Pyongyang. It s pretty close together, Pyongyang, but Pyongyang was the capital of North Korea. We were above there and then when I rotated back, we had pulled back some. When I left, we were still above the 38 th parallel. Yeah. Did you ever see General MacArthur? No, he had done been just relieved when I got there. Oh is that right? Yeah. That was the greatest it s political. He wanted to get it over with. That s what it was. He wanted to end it, yes he would have. I don t think we would have communist aggression around the world today. Douglas was the man. Are there any other conflicts or battles that you can recall that you were involved in that were especially memorable? SFC Oh, yeah. There was a place that was called the Mundung-ni Valley. We had five tanks and we had five tanks back behind them because if we had ever got over run, we were going to pull the first five tanks back in line with the second. Now in this one here, we brought the flyboys in and that was the first time that I had ever saw them. It was on Hills , that was that F-81 Shooting Star. They would come down and you could see the pilot in them. As he started to pull up was when he was laying the jelly gasoline and the Page 10 of 19

11 napalm. I don t think they use it today but that s what it takes to end anything. That s what it takes. So that was the first time you saw any kind of air support working with you? Where we needed them. The rest of the time we would just take care of the problem ourselves. These were jets, something they didn t have for the most part during World War II. There are two things interesting about Korea. Korea was the first war, it was a funny looking thing compared to today, that they used a helicopter. It s also the first war that a jet plane was used and it s also the first time I think we had troops from 19 different countries under UN. That s the first time that ever happened. Speaking of that, did you come in contact with allied troops during your deployment in North Korea? Oh yes. Where did you see troops from? Huh? What other countries were you fighting alongside? The Turks. Turks. Were they good fighters? Yeah, I m going to tell you like it was. I always believed in leaving the dead alone. That really bothered me that you would drive down and see all these dead bodies with no ears. That was their trophies, God s truth. To me that was barbaric. Of course they were fighting the enemy same as us but you would meet one of them and he would put these ears on wire and hang them on the side and he would grin. That was his trophy. No, the man is dead, leave him alone [chuckles]. Now, they were fighters, I m not kidding you. So was the ROK (Republic of Korea) Army. Tops. Was there any kind of political conflict as to who should be in charge of a particular battle the Turks saying, We re not going to listen to the American General. We re going to do this on our own. Did you see any kind of, I don t have to listen to you, you re not from my country kind of issue? Page 11 of 19

12 No, we were the 25 th Division Commander was General R.P. Swift. I met him one time personally. Yeah, I had pulled the tank back and it was right on the front line. I saw the Jeep pull up and he said, What are you doing back here? I said, I got someone waiting to load ammo to be brought up to me. He said, Okay. And there is one thing you learn quick, you use a microphone to speak to the driver, the whole crew, but the only branch of service on the radio that uses the word repeat is artillery. You must never, ever that s why we have a lot of friendly fire kills. Just like if I didn t quite understand a transmission on the radio, I would say, This is 1-4, over. I say, Would you say again your last transmission? Don t you say repeat because if rounds have been coming in 75 yards out, you re moving up and that s how you can t forget you never use the word repeat because it s for an observer. That s what he used. Now, was the South Korean Army of much use in those days? Were they what now? Were the South Korean Army themselves, were they a good presence or was it mostly done by other countries? That RoK Army was as tops as the American Army. Were most of your conflicts against the Chinese rather than the North Koreans? Well, it was mixed. It was mixed and I m not kidding you, the kids, when they were little going to school, they carried all of the dead Chinese and North Korean pictures off, destroyed them. I would say, looking at them, some of them were only kids, maybe 14, 15 years old. I guess they had them hopped up on patriotism, put them out there for cannon fodder. Yeah. Could you tell the difference between which country it was when you fought them? Was there a difference in their tactics or their tenacity? Was one more aggressive than the other? Yeah, the Chinese was. They would like to hit you like at 11:00 at night. They would think you were sound asleep or around 5:00 in the morning. We always had somebody 100% alert all night. You ve got to be on your toes. Now while you were on the front, was it basically K-rations that you were eating and C-rations? I m glad you asked that. The only day, one day from another, they tried to bring us a hot meal up every Sunday but they didn t always make it. The chow Jeep might have gotten something happened. When they would bring the hot meal up and there was one thing they would give you and I d watch them guys I took every one that they ever gave me, it looked like a horse Page 12 of 19

13 pill. It was for Malaria. Those mosquitos will, oh anyway, I took every pill. They were horrible. I believe it was called Quinine tablets. It was to prevent Malaria. I never had Malaria over there. As soon as I came back to Fort Knox, I took Malaria. I laid down in a coma there for eight days. It was the only way that we knew one day you think you re going to keep count of time, but whenever the chow jeep came, I knew it was Sunday. Yeah, they tried to give us one hot meal. The rest of it was C-rations. Yeah I dropped from like 190 down to like 170 real quick. How did you feel about your Commanding Officers? Huh? Did you respect your Commanding Officers? I respected all rank. Not just the person. Did any one of them stand out to you as being a really good leader? Any particular one you remember? Yes, after Captain Belcher left, Lieutenant Mainer, I was his driver, he rose to Captain pretty quick. I really respected him. Excuse me, when you said you were his driver, did you mean you drove his tank or just? Yes. Okay. Yeah, I drove his tank and one of the things I will never forget we were getting ready to move, that was after this and I saw something, I think it had a little piece of paper or something at the base of this tree and I said, Captain Mainer, I said, Look through. I said, There is something. And what it was, the night before now he was torn up bad, but he was conscious. The night before, the Chinese had taken his he was stripped stark naked and he had been torn up bad but the bleeding had stopped, just like it congealed. The night before, they had taken his uniform off. They thought he was dead for sure and he played possum with them to get his uniform to infiltrate through the I will never forget that. Captain Mainer said, Go back and bring my bag for me. I didn t know what he had [laughter]. He had a bottle of whiskey and he gave that boy, yeah, sure did. Did you have much interaction with the South Korean citizens, those who were living in the area? Most of them had all departed. We were occupying. Most of them had fled and the Chinese and the North Koreans, we would go as high as eight to ten miles behind the enemy line to destroy everything because they had fled. We Page 13 of 19

14 put a round of that they were just straw shacks. White phosphorus would burn then up right there. Now your ten months began was it in June that your ten months began? Okay, you were there over Christmas then? Oh yeah. Did the unit try to do anything special for the troops during Christmas? Yes, they I never will forget. It rained, it was cold, we had a turkey, sliced turkey. They prepared it. And dressing. Of course it was instant potatoes. They fixed that up. It rained in the mess kit. You tried to hunker down but I was just thankful for what I got. Yeah. How often did you get mail from home? Well it took 30 days then to get a letter from home. During World War II, they did often censor letters from soldiers. Was there any kind of censorship during the Korean Conflict? They didn t go into it but they would encourage you not to mention exactly where you were at and everything. It wasn t as strict and we still got free mail. It didn t cost anything to mail it. You often read about celebrities like Bob Hope and others entertaining the troops. Did anyone ever did the USO group ever come to your unit? We went back one time and saw a I don t know if her name was Betty Hutton or something, it was USO. Okay, Betty Hutton is a famous actress. It could have been Betty Hutton. I believe it was Betty Hutton. That was years ago. Yeah. So after your ten months were up, where did you when you were pulled off the line, where did you go? Well we started rotating back to the States. We came back through landed in Seattle. See, I sailed out from Seattle on Pier 91 and we came back but it was something different. We went across on a General, a General Hugh J. Gaffey. We broke all records. We went across ten days and 24 hours out from Yokohama, Japan, we had this typhoon. Everybody below deck, water-tight doors shut, and they would slightly turned the ship, it would go under. Page 14 of 19

15 We came back on a private ship sleeping in shifts and we come back VIA Hawaii to take on fuel and they gave us eight hours. I found a YMCA to take a shower because on that private ship see, on the General ship, they changed that salt water and we could take a shower, but that salt water, even with that special soap, no, forget a shower. From Korea, did you initially go to Japan for a period of time before you got on that ship to go to Hawaii or did you go straight from Korea to Hawaii? We went straight from Korea on this liberty ship back to Seattle, Washington. Then you had eight hours, you said, in Hawaii? Yeah. Okay. Now, when you got back in Seattle, how much of your military service did you still have to serve? Oh I still had I would come back to Fort Knox. I didn t get out until December of 52. Yeah. When I got back to Fort Knox, they made me First Sergeant and we were still training because Korea was still going on until July of 53 and we were still training because the thing wasn t over yet. Stateside, what was your job? Were you still a Tank Commander? No. No. I was back in the same outfit that I took training, D13AIB, which was armed infantry battalion, infantry training. Was all of that time spent at Fort Knox or were you stationed any place else? I stayed all at Fort Knox until I was discharged. The biggest mistake I ever made was not re-enlisting. Nobody likes to get shot at but I always felt that if a person enjoys this freedom here, he ought to be willing to serve his country, I think. Both of my boys served and I just felt that all of my life. I should have stayed in. When the fighting stopped, how did you feel? Did you think that was good that the fighting stopped or should they have carried it on to actually have a winner and a loser in this war? Well, they should have went ahead. That s why Truman relieved MacArthur I know beyond a shadow of a doubt because he was going to go on and just he might have had to use that thing but The thing being the bomb, right? Yes, but I truly believe that we would not have all this communist aggression around the world today. We should have went ahead and finished it just like Vietnam. Where are we at now, we have no business being there. Russia, Page 15 of 19

16 what was Russia in Afghanistan, 12, 15 years, what did they accomplish? It s sad. We interviewed a Colonel a couple of weeks ago who was in Afghanistan. He was? He said some of the older tribesmen wouldn t believe that he was an American. They swore he was a Russian because to them it s, The tall, white outsider is here. He must be Russian. If you had to pick one individual from your experience who stood out in your mind as being special in some way, who would that be from your involvement in the Korean War? Was there anybody whether it be a comrade or a commander or someone that stood out in your mind as being? Captain Mainer that I would kill for. Do you know what his first name was? SFC Ma am? Do you know what his first name was? No, I don t. I can t remember it. What unit would he perhaps we can find by researching the unit. What unit would he have been in charge of, Captain Mainer? 89 th Tank Battalion, Baker Company, B-Company. B-Company 89 th Tank. Is there anything you think we should have asked you or anything you want to tell us that we haven t talked about so far about your experience in the Korean War? No. Not that I can think of. The Korean War is sometimes referred to as the Forgotten War. How do you feel about that? People think of World War II and World War I and the Vietnam War but for some people, they sort of overlook the Korean War. Does that bother you? Does that upset you or? No. Well, it s known as the Forgotten War but the sad part today, so I m told, the greatest generation was World War II. They held up their hand when the war first began. You didn t sign up for no two years, three years. You held up that hand when it first started. It was for the duration of the war. Some guys left home and never came back for four. If it had gone on for ten years, they would have done ten years. That was the greatest generation but I m told Page 16 of 19

17 there is so much of this that is not in their schoolbooks anymore. These kids are just not going to have a clue. When you got out of the service, did you go back to becoming a truck driver? Yes I did. Did you get married shortly after the war? I didn t get married until And I got a notice see, I went into reserves for five years after I got out. I got a notice and then they cancelled it. I would have been ready to go even though I was married because you re obligated to. What brought you from Kentucky to this part of Ohio? Well, at that time, there wasn t any kind of jobs so to speak. And I drove for this gentleman before I went to Korea and he told me, he said, If you make it back, I ll make sure that I ll get you a union job. I said, Okey dokey. So everything worked out. How long have you been living in this area now? I ve been in Ohio since 19 well as soon as I came back. I got married in 57 but I ve been in Ohio since January of 53. But I ve been in Warren County since I think it s one of the greatest counties in Ohio. I m just thankful where we live in a conservative county. I want to thank you Mr. Huffman. It s been fascinating talking to you and are you sure that there is nothing else you might want to add or are you sure there isn t anything else you want to tell us? Well I ve been highly active. I don t know how many hundreds of military funerals that I have done since I lost my wife a year and a half ago. But my knees got so bad that I had to give it up but it was always an honor and a privilege to do a military funeral. That s the highest honor that we could give a person that served this country honorably. So when you would do that, were you part of an Honor Guard? Yes, Post 194, American Legion Mason. Here is one, if I live to be 100, I will never forget it, all of these that were killed, were 20 years old, this is where the plane was in the ocean. This lady contacted me and Sergeant Major Yost. I contacted Mrs. Jeanie Smith, she was our District at the time, she got me a flag she got me two flags. I got one I took to Western Row School. This lady here, she is dead now, Lillian Sakic, she approached us how her brother never had a military funeral, and he never will but we gave him one because all of them is in this whole group, he left home just as a kid and she never got Page 17 of 19

18 to see him again. So in her home, over here by Kings Powder Plant up on top of the hill, it was about 110 men. I put up a tent. I had a full Honor Guard and me and Sergeant Major Yost folded the flag and presented it to her. This flag had flown over the White House of Washington. She died about two years later. I got a hold since of the Cincinnati Enquirer there but there is one funeral I will never forget because that made that lady s day to see her brother get a military funeral. Wow, that s great. And they died in the Philippines in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Leyte. So his plane went down into the gulf then? Yes. And that s why he had no funeral. And everyone, less Lieutenant Knowle, was 20 years old, just kids serving our great country. Wow, that s nice. I can see how that would be memorable to you so thank you for your service. Thank you for your service you did for years for the American Legion for honoring such people as this But I ve always said, Freedom is not free. It never has been and it never will be and if it s not worth fighting for, it s not worth having. Is that a pretty good slogan? I totally agree with you. I totally agree. Well, thank you again very much. Yes. May I see some of your pictures, I mean your photos? Huh? Do you want to cut that off? Page 18 of 19

19 Yes. Page 19 of 19