Not My Usual

I received something from my dad yesterday not knowing how very much it would affect me. I got a binder full of letters that his brother, Patsey Gene Parker, had written home from the Korean war. Also in there were a few that my grandmother had written him.

His letters begin in February 1953. Some of his first letters come from Fort Jackson, South Carolina. I believe from there he went to Dallas and then San Francisco. Once he arrives in Korea he was assigned to K Company of the 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Division. He writes about every two days, without fail.

He usually would end the letters with a little note on the bottom telling everyone hi. Sometimes he would tell his mom to specifically tell his brother (my dad, Stevie they would call him) hi. My dad was 3, almost 4 years old. In one particular note at the bottom he told his mom to tell Stevie to keep his knife for him and that he would get a bigger one when he was older. My dad still has that knife.

As you read on, there are talks of the war possibly ending. He is doubtful, but hopeful. In Korea, I believe he spent most of his time in a place called Sandbag Castle. He says they are on one side of this huge hill and the Koreans are on the other. There is little fighting, if any. Mostly he writes about how he lays around and that there isn't much to do.

There are a few article in The Commercial Appeal about him. A reporter talks about how when he met him he was scared to death but the picture of him showed the biggest grin. At the time the reporter was there my uncle was reading letters he had received from home.

The last letter in the binder from him is dated July 13th, 1953. He says it is raining and cold and not to worry that he hasn't written in a bit. They are in a place called Christmas Hill now. He sent some money home and told his mom to use it if she needed it.

The next letter in the binder is from my grandmother to him. It is dated July 10th. She tells him to be a real good boy and worries he isn't getting enough to eat. She also tells him that once he is home he doesn't ever have to go away again unless he wants to. She hopes he is home by Christmas. That was one of the first letters that the envelope was marked "Return to Sender." My uncle's name and address were marked through and stamped over it were the words VERIFIED MISSING IN ACTION.

There are others dated July 13th, then the 16th. One was written on the 27th which I am guessing is when they announced that the peace treaty was signed. She is so happy and doesn't believe he will be in much danger now. Her last letter was written on the 31st and she asks him to write her because she hasn't heard from him since the 13th. Tomorrow is her birthday and all she wants is a letter from him. She says she won't worry and hopes to hear from him with a letter dated after the 27th.

There is also a letter from his sister dated July 30th. She asks him in the letter why he won't write mother every day. Says she is worried about him. I believe that my aunt was 7 years old at the time.

The next letter is dated August 3, 1953 and reports that my uncle was officially listed as Missing In Action since July 14th. Hope arrives in a letter from a soldier that my uncle was fighting with. My grandmother had written to this man after Gene was missing. This man wrote to her and said that after the fight that he apparently went missing in , they gathered all the wounded and dead and Gene was not one of them. They thought he was captured.

My grandmother writes a letter on October 2 to the United Nations Commander regarding the whereabouts of her son. The return letter comes November 3 that there is no new information regarding her son.

A letter dated March 25, 1954 states that my uncle was killed in action in Korea, date unreported. He was 21 years old. The next letter, dated April 1, states that his remains were recovered near Pan-Gol, North Korea, on November 6, 1953. The Colonel regrets that the information was not furnished earlier but a definite identification had to be made.

He was awarded the Silver Star and it was presented to his father in a ceremony.

I have grown up hearing very little of my Uncle Gene. My father doesn't remember him, as he was only 3 when he left for the war. My aunts would get visibly upset when his name was mentioned so I never really questioned much.

The letters offered an insight that I have never had. They made him a real person. Those letters that were written home by him showed a loving and dedicated son. I wish that I could have known him. As I read these letters and then the letters written by my grandmother to him, unknowingly, after his death, I was filled with such emotion that I couldn't explain. The anguish that must have been felt for months, not knowing if he was alive or dead, had to have been excruciating.

I was close to my grandmother growing up and she could never talk of him either. I hurt for her reading those letters. I guess because I have a son and can not wrap my mind around sending my baby off to a place that I know he might not come back from. Trying to keep up hope, and looking forward to every single letter. Then, getting that twinge of despair the first time it was too long between them. You can tell, as the days pass in her letters, she is trying desperately not to give up.

I have watched many war movies and documentaries in my life time but they didn't quite seem real at the time. I know that as long as people are on this earth there will be war. There will be death and there will be numerous families that must go through this. I can only hope that those of us that benefit every day from the sacrifices of those men and women and their families don't ever take it for granted.