INTRODUCTION

Bud Farrell
" We few, we happy few, we Band of brothers ...
for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my Brother!"
        -Shakespeare's Henry The Fifth

Although I kept no diary or journal during my short time in the service, I may have a better reference resource in the letters I wrote, and received, which were saved by my mother, and which frequently contained newspaper clippings from The Philadelphia Inquirer, Stars & Stripes, The Ryukyu Review, old airline ticket stubs , copies of special orders, flight logs, SAC Gunnery School and Air Refueling Operator SOP Manuals etc ... .just stuff I thought Mom would be interested in , for whatever reason ... perhaps this! At that point in her life, they may have in fact have been some of the brighter spots in her day ... even with all of the worrying she did about me!

The letters probably contained more dated and specific detail than I might have kept in a journal ... writing home was something to do and THE connection to home! A friend and associate from The 19th Bomb Group has previously written a book titled DEAR FOLKS , a collection of his thoughts during a combat tour in B-29's over Japan in 1944-45. Most of his letters home began "Dear Folks, just as I suspect most letters have begun from all servicemen, in all wars . At any rate, I trust that Van Parker will understand my reference to his book style, and that my use of MY letters was not a plagiarism but decided on long before I ever met Van, and simply the coincidental use of my own letters to my own " Dear Folks"!

I am using actual names and events as closely as cross-referenced letters, records, copies of military orders, and recollections will permit. If I appear to use more names than would seem necessary, it is simply in the hope that I will hear from anyone who might stumble upon these ramblings from either direct involvement or familiarity with any of the individuals written about. "We Band of Brothers", with all of these years behind us, remain Brothers ... and I shall cherish their memory forever ... as I have until now! Perhaps I'll simply prove that adage that "Old Soldiers have done more than they remember, and remember more than they have done!"

Many years after getting out of the service and during a flight on a business trip, a very pretty and bright young girl, obviously of oriental parentage, and a recent Stanford University Graduate, told me her parents had emigrated from Korea during the Korean War, and she asked me if I had ever been to Korea . As I attempted to explain that "Yes, I had been to Korea - North Korea - 25 times, but had never touched Korean soil", it was obvious that this was something that she really could not relate to, even with her excellent education. Forty eight years after having been " to Korea 25 times", and perhaps 20 years after talking to that young woman, upon reading the Dedication of The Korean War Memorial, it struck me that indeed we HAD truly and hopefully defended a country we never knew ... and a people we never met!!!

KOREA - The Forgotten War ... but the following events and people weren't ... and I wonder if any remember me?

"Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered a call to defend a country they never knew and a people they never met."
-Korean War Memorial -


(This is a collection of individual narratives, most of which could stand on their own, thus there are some duplications of content relevant to similar but separate stories, for which I apologize!)


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