Melvin George

Age 85

Born in Chester South Dakota in 1930

Korean War Veteran

Lifetime Member of the Disabled American Veterans

Currently lives in Fairmont, MN.

Melvin George relies on his cane and the helping hands of others to sit down and get up out of a chair these days. He's a bit bent over and takes slow, deliberate steps as he walks. He needs his hearing aides to follow a conversation. But at 85 years old, and a recipient of a Purple Heart medal during his days at war, he still has a twinkle in his eyes and sports a pretty broad infectious smile.

It was 1952, and George was 22 years-old when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After basic training he was sent to fight in the Korean War. George was in Korea from 1953 through 1954. The Fairmont, MN. resident jokes about the way he got his Korean War “job” as a radio telephone operator. “Some of the guys were getting shipped home and the lieutenant came up to me and told me I was going to be the new radio operator. I would be the guy who called in the mortar rounds (targeting the enemy),” he remembered. “I told the lieutenant that the radio man duty was a sergeant's job. He said, 'Don't worry. You'll be a sergeant in no time.””

Another one of George's wartime duties was to guard the Korean prisoners of war that were brought in from the front lines. “I was a guard and I had to be really careful with the prisoners. You didn't know if they were going to jump you.”

After his stint in Korea, George headed back to the States and settled in Fairmont. “I wanted to be an auctioneer, but never made it,” he laments. Instead the former soldier became a finish carpenter and worked in that trade until his retirement.

George is a lifetime member of the Disabled American Veterans and a member of the Korean War Veterans Association Chapter 254. 

Photos and story © 2015 Joseph Kreiss