War Veteran Recalls Incidents From Time In Service
August 30, 2016 at 4:34 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Two days after his 19th birthday, while fighting in the Korean War, he earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with injuries to his left eye, hands and legs.
But the medal he says he's most proud of is the Combat Infantryman Badge. "No one can wear it unless they've been in combat," he said during an interview last week in his Winona Lake home. He keeps it in an enclosed case on his wall with the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and other medals and ribbons.
"I just turned 19 and the bastard shot me. They shot a lot of us," he recalled of the day he was injured. "Most of our action was patrol action. We'd just go out every night, go down the hill, wander around. Once in awhile you'd run into them, have a fight."
Korean War veterans like Everett will be honored at 6:30 p.m. Friday during First Friday. The ceremony will take place at the war memorial on the southwest corner of the county courthouse lawn.
The night Everett was shot, they were on a "pretty big patrol” involving 32 men. Everett, who was a light machine gunner, had a machine gun with him.
The plan was to go down into the valley by the river. At the top of the hill above the valley, Chinese soldiers were spotted and all the American soldiers took cover as Everett got his machine gun in place.
Flashing back to when he first joined and how he ended up as a machine gunner, Everett said he took his basic training at Indian Town Gap, Pa. It was all mountains so Everett knew where he was heading – Korea. Before going into Korea, Everett and his fellow infantrymen of the 7th Division stopped in Japan. In Japan, they received more training.
"When I got there, there was this old sergeant ... A big, heavy set guy, he took a liking to me. He started talking to me and said I should be a machine gunner. I said, 'What the hell are you talking about?' I saw movies where the life of a machine gunner in combat is 45 seconds or something. He said that's crazy, that's not true," Everett recalled.
The sergeant told him war movies at that time were just stupid and were unrealistic. He told Everett a machine gun is the most important weapon when you go out on patrol. The machine gunner gets set up right in the middle of all the men and the other soldiers protect him. Everett still wasn't convinced, and then the sergeant told him he got to carry a side arm. Being 18 years old, the idea of getting to carry a side arm sold him on the idea of being a machine gunner.
"That's how I became a machine gunner. If he hadn't mentioned (the side arm), I probably wouldn't have," Everett said.
In Korea, he was put in the heavy equipment platoon.
Fast forward to that February night that the big patrol went out, Everett got involved in two firefights. Of the 32 men in the patrol, 28 were injured, but none died.
The reason that happened, he said, is because the Chinese wanted the Americans' weapons. They also wanted them out of there. The Chinese "shot the hell out of us," he said, but Everett blasted away on the machine gun, preventing the enemy from overrunning the Americans.
But then the Chinese got mortar rounds and starting "throwing them on everybody," he said.
From the first round of mortars, Everett has eight scars on his legs. "They just blow up and schrapnel goes everywhere," he said.
During the second barrage of mortars, he said everyone was getting hit, including the Chinese themselves. Everett was hit in the hands – he now has four fingers on his right hand and one finger on his left hand is bent out of place – and he took schrapnel to his left eye.
He's been blind in that eye since, but he said the Lord took care of him because of all the schrapnel flying everywhere that night, only two pieces went into his eye and none ever struck his face.
Everett also carried hand grenades with him out on patrol. He carried four of them with him, in his pockets. No one else liked to carry them because “they were heavier than hell,” he said. During that night’s battles, he had to throw grenades uphill. He practiced first by throwing rocks. After a few practice throws, he threw his first grenade and killed all three of the Chinese who were positioned on the hill.
In the two fire fights he was involved in that night, Everett said he doesn’t know how many men he killed.
He had to be carried back after the fire fights due to his injuries. He refused to be carried on a stretcher because he would have been more easily seen and he didn’t want that, he said.
Everett said he received the Purple Heart for being wounded. Paper work to get his sergeant stripes never went through because the captain who was supposed to put it through got hurt. The Bronze Star, Everett assumed, was for the second battle.
After suffering his injuries, Everett got a M*A*S*H helicopter ride, which he said he would never forget. He swore the M*A*S*H hospital was a lot like the television show, and it had its own version of Hawkeye. He eventually was transported to a Hawaiian hospital for two weeks before going to Texas for treatment on his eye.
He praised how the government has taken care of him since his war injuries. He said he has Tri-Care for life and never pays a cent for his medical care. The government even paid for his college degree in business administration at Tri-State University, which is now Trine University.
Everett, who went in the service in February 1952, was discharged Sept. 30, 1953.
In explaining why he joined, he said, “There were three of us from Lafayette ... We were Three Musketeers in high school. All the way through grade school, high school.”
Thinking they were going to get drafted anyway at their age, they decided to go ahead and enlist. Though he was injured, he said many men never came home alive, but was glad that he did. At his home he flies the black Prisoner of War/Missing In Action flag for those soldiers who never returned.
Everett married Gerry and they had four kids, with 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren "with a hell of a lot more coming."
Gerry has since passed away.
He has served as chaplain at Warsaw's Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion for at least 20 years. He worked four or five years as the county service officer before Gerry's condition worsened, but he said he thoroughly enjoyed helping servicemen get their benefits and medals. He also previously worked at Sun Metal, Dalton Foundry and the IRS.
Two days after his 19th birthday, while fighting in the Korean War, he earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star with injuries to his left eye, hands and legs.
But the medal he says he's most proud of is the Combat Infantryman Badge. "No one can wear it unless they've been in combat," he said during an interview last week in his Winona Lake home. He keeps it in an enclosed case on his wall with the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and other medals and ribbons.
"I just turned 19 and the bastard shot me. They shot a lot of us," he recalled of the day he was injured. "Most of our action was patrol action. We'd just go out every night, go down the hill, wander around. Once in awhile you'd run into them, have a fight."
Korean War veterans like Everett will be honored at 6:30 p.m. Friday during First Friday. The ceremony will take place at the war memorial on the southwest corner of the county courthouse lawn.
The night Everett was shot, they were on a "pretty big patrol” involving 32 men. Everett, who was a light machine gunner, had a machine gun with him.
The plan was to go down into the valley by the river. At the top of the hill above the valley, Chinese soldiers were spotted and all the American soldiers took cover as Everett got his machine gun in place.
Flashing back to when he first joined and how he ended up as a machine gunner, Everett said he took his basic training at Indian Town Gap, Pa. It was all mountains so Everett knew where he was heading – Korea. Before going into Korea, Everett and his fellow infantrymen of the 7th Division stopped in Japan. In Japan, they received more training.
"When I got there, there was this old sergeant ... A big, heavy set guy, he took a liking to me. He started talking to me and said I should be a machine gunner. I said, 'What the hell are you talking about?' I saw movies where the life of a machine gunner in combat is 45 seconds or something. He said that's crazy, that's not true," Everett recalled.
The sergeant told him war movies at that time were just stupid and were unrealistic. He told Everett a machine gun is the most important weapon when you go out on patrol. The machine gunner gets set up right in the middle of all the men and the other soldiers protect him. Everett still wasn't convinced, and then the sergeant told him he got to carry a side arm. Being 18 years old, the idea of getting to carry a side arm sold him on the idea of being a machine gunner.
"That's how I became a machine gunner. If he hadn't mentioned (the side arm), I probably wouldn't have," Everett said.
In Korea, he was put in the heavy equipment platoon.
Fast forward to that February night that the big patrol went out, Everett got involved in two firefights. Of the 32 men in the patrol, 28 were injured, but none died.
The reason that happened, he said, is because the Chinese wanted the Americans' weapons. They also wanted them out of there. The Chinese "shot the hell out of us," he said, but Everett blasted away on the machine gun, preventing the enemy from overrunning the Americans.
But then the Chinese got mortar rounds and starting "throwing them on everybody," he said.
From the first round of mortars, Everett has eight scars on his legs. "They just blow up and schrapnel goes everywhere," he said.
During the second barrage of mortars, he said everyone was getting hit, including the Chinese themselves. Everett was hit in the hands – he now has four fingers on his right hand and one finger on his left hand is bent out of place – and he took schrapnel to his left eye.
He's been blind in that eye since, but he said the Lord took care of him because of all the schrapnel flying everywhere that night, only two pieces went into his eye and none ever struck his face.
Everett also carried hand grenades with him out on patrol. He carried four of them with him, in his pockets. No one else liked to carry them because “they were heavier than hell,” he said. During that night’s battles, he had to throw grenades uphill. He practiced first by throwing rocks. After a few practice throws, he threw his first grenade and killed all three of the Chinese who were positioned on the hill.
In the two fire fights he was involved in that night, Everett said he doesn’t know how many men he killed.
He had to be carried back after the fire fights due to his injuries. He refused to be carried on a stretcher because he would have been more easily seen and he didn’t want that, he said.
Everett said he received the Purple Heart for being wounded. Paper work to get his sergeant stripes never went through because the captain who was supposed to put it through got hurt. The Bronze Star, Everett assumed, was for the second battle.
After suffering his injuries, Everett got a M*A*S*H helicopter ride, which he said he would never forget. He swore the M*A*S*H hospital was a lot like the television show, and it had its own version of Hawkeye. He eventually was transported to a Hawaiian hospital for two weeks before going to Texas for treatment on his eye.
He praised how the government has taken care of him since his war injuries. He said he has Tri-Care for life and never pays a cent for his medical care. The government even paid for his college degree in business administration at Tri-State University, which is now Trine University.
Everett, who went in the service in February 1952, was discharged Sept. 30, 1953.
In explaining why he joined, he said, “There were three of us from Lafayette ... We were Three Musketeers in high school. All the way through grade school, high school.”
Thinking they were going to get drafted anyway at their age, they decided to go ahead and enlist. Though he was injured, he said many men never came home alive, but was glad that he did. At his home he flies the black Prisoner of War/Missing In Action flag for those soldiers who never returned.
Everett married Gerry and they had four kids, with 11 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren "with a hell of a lot more coming."
Gerry has since passed away.
He has served as chaplain at Warsaw's Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion for at least 20 years. He worked four or five years as the county service officer before Gerry's condition worsened, but he said he thoroughly enjoyed helping servicemen get their benefits and medals. He also previously worked at Sun Metal, Dalton Foundry and the IRS.
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