Friday, November 11, 2022

Korean War Veteran

In honor of Veteran's Day 2022, I would like to Thank all Veterans and especially the Veterans who have served from our family.  This Veteran's Day, I will highlight a Korean War Veteran in the family - Charles W. Martin.  The photos and letters in this post belonged to his mother, Maymie Martin, and were found in her photo box.

Charles Wilbur "Chuck" Martin
Korean War

C. W. Martin was drafted into the Army in 1950.  He was sent to basic training at Fort Ord.  Fort Ord was a United States Army post in Monterey, California.  According to wikipedia, Fort Ord was a staging area for units departing for the war in the Korean War.  

After basic training and before shipping out for Korea, Wilbur's parents, Elmer and Maymie, made a visit to Wilbur at Fort Ord during Christmas time 1950.

Wilbur and his dad, Elmer Martin.
Christmas 1950 Fort Ord, CA

Maymie and son, Wilbur
Christmas 1950 Fort Ord, CA

After his parents left to drive back home to Yuma, Arizona, Wilbur sent a post card to them.  There are several things I want to point out on the postcard.  First, he put his brand "/H" on the top of the back of the card.  Secondly, he signed the card as "Chuck", which is a nickname for Charles.  Although I remember him occasionally being called Chuck, I mainly remember him as Wilbur.  Since horses were always Wilbur's first love, he asked his parents how the horses were when they arrived back home🐎🐴.  

Postcard to parents, 28 Dec 1950

Perhaps before shipping out

The following photos are of Wilbur while serving in Korea.

Wilbur in Korea.


Wilbur was a camp cook for a while. (colorized)

Below is a letter written by Wilber to his parents on 23 July 1951.  Note that he was just 200 yards south of the 38th parallel line.

Letter written to parents from Korea.
23 July 1951
200 yards south of 38th parallel line

The following is a photo of 1947 Korean money that Wilbur sent his parents.  Both the front and back are shown.  A notation is made on the back - "Korea - Chorwon".  Not sure if Chorwon is where Wilbur obtained the money or if it is the location of the image on the money.  



Charles Wilbur "Chuck" Martin
Korean War Veteran 





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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousNovember 13, 2022 at 4:18 PM

    Great post! I knew Wilbur when he owned the M&M truck stop.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 12, 2023 at 5:34 PM

    I like this post because I love to study about war. My uncle was an Apache helicopter pilot in Korea. -MM

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousSeptember 11, 2023 at 12:26 AM

    Wilbur raced horses 🐎 at Prescott back in the 1960s.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ChaseOctober 8, 2023 at 12:45 PM

    Respect that he served in war. Would have been cool to have heard some of his stories. Bet they were interesting.

    ReplyDelete