They call it ‘The Forgotten War’ because it just couldn’t compare to the scale of World War II, which preceded it or the controversy of the Vietnam War, which came after.
According to the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, between 1950 and 1953, more than five million Americans fought in the Korean War. They defended South Korea by fighting against North Koreans who were backed by the Chinese and the Soviet Union.
Korean War veterans will be honored during Saturday’s Veteran’s Day Parade in Abilene. Robert Williams has been selected as grand marshal of the parade; he was a paratrooper in the Army’s airborne infantry who served in both the Korean and Vietnam War.
The first thing that comes to his mind concerning his time in Korea is the freezing climate.
“Anybody who’s been over there can tell you that is the coldest cold you’ll ever be in in your life,” Williams said.
Besides the misery of freezing temperatures, Williams was gripped by fear as he fought in Korea but he learned to live with hard emotions.
“There’s no such thing as a good war, you’re scared in one and you’re scared in the other,” Williams said. “You’re a professional, you do your job, you try to stay alive. You try to keep your people alive.”
Williams said he found a home in the army and it suited him. He was later sent to Vietnam where he served two and a half tours.
He said all around him men were falling into mental illness because of the horrors they experienced.
“They were getting to the point what we called the “walking dead” their minds were just about gone,” Williams said. “They didn’t care whether they lived or died and we got them out as fast as we could. They call it PTSD now.”
Williams was wounded in Vietnam, and when he finally came home, no cheering crowd to welcomed him home, nobody waved American flags or thanked him for his service. In fact, it was the other extreme; Williams said groups of hippies harassed him in the airport.
Now, decades later, he’ll receive respect and gratitude from his community. He was “dumbfounded” to hear he’d been selected as grand marshal for Abilene’s Veterans Day parade.
“I asked for a good-looking girl to ride next to me in the parade but I was told I must furnish my own,” Williams said.
