Apr 23, 2019 4 min read

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For the first time, the Traveling Korean War Memorial is coming to Southwest Pennsylvania, stopping at the Greene County Fairgrounds from May 31 to June 2.

Both Carl Headlee of Waynesburg and Jim Towsend of Rices Landing said they plan on attending the memorial. They are two of the 1.7 million Americans who served in the Korean War, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. Both men were drafted and landed in South Korea in April 1953. Headlee served in the Army and Towsend was a Marine.

Headlee recalls the rough water and creaking of the ship during the entirety of his boat ride from Seattle to Busan, South Korea.

“There were 3,000 (men) on board,” he said. “And 2,999 of ’em was sick.”

From Busan, Headlee said he took an open car train to Incheon, then to the Chorwon Valley where he and the rest of his Army infantry served on the front lines.

“I got scattered around a lot,” he said. “I was just wanting to go home, but you don’t get to make the arrangements when you’re in the army.”

Towsend said he landed in Incheon and doesn’t know where all he spent time after that. He just recalls moving from place to place before getting injured by some shrapnel. He said he spent most of his time on USS Haven, a hospital boat in the Incheon Harbor.

“You didn’t know one day from another,” Towsend said. “Half the time you didn’t know where you was at. Time didn’t mean nothing because there wasn’t anything to do but wait for letters.”

Towsend and Headlee said they were both still there at the time of the ceasefire and recall the seemingly non-stop gunfire the night before, followed by silence on the first day of peace. At that time, Towsend said he was on the deck of USS Haven. Headlee said he was in the Chorwon Valley on the battlefield.

“(Both sides) knew ceasefire was happening the next day,” Headlee said. “So they just went at each other.”

In the months leading up to his discharge, Headlee said he was sent from South Korea to Maryland where he was part of an aircraft unit. After recovering, Towsend served on the Military Police force as a border guard for the Korean Demilitarized Zone. The two hadn’t met until their joint interview at the Waynesburg VFW on April 15.

“It makes you wonder if anyone really cares,” Headlee said of the long nights he spent in the Chorwon Valley. “It’s a lonesome feeling when you’re alone on those Korean hills at night.”

He said he found solace watching the moon, thinking about how that was the same moon his family back home would see.

Towsend said while on USS Haven, he would watch the ship hands dump garbage off the side and remembers how Korean citizens would dig through the garbage to find food.

“They made me realize how good we live,” Towsend said.

Towsend and Headlee both said they carried bibles everywhere they went. Headlee said his was a gift from his sweetheart, who later became his wife. Towsend’s bible was from his mother.

“(War) is not a picnic,” Headlee said. “It’s real.”

“It’s life,” Towsend added.

Local Korean War Veterans who died in action, according to the Greene County Veterans Affairs, are James C. Bierer, Billie S. Blue, John M. Flemming, Stanley B. Haladyna, Warren G. Harding, Warren J. Ingland, Peter Medunic, Charles M. Rein, Steve Sarapa Jr., Homer J. Sprankle, Kenneth C. Stewart and Curtis Usher.

The Greene County Veterans Council is looking to honor local Korean War Veterans, living or deceased, at the memorial said Rick Black, a member of the council. To be featured in the memorial, veterans or their families can fill out forms, available at any Greene County Veterans Council location or by calling Black at 724-998-0598.

Black said the memorial will display 22 statues of soldiers on patrol, wearing rain parkas.

“When it rained in Korea, you ain’t never seen rain,” Headlee said with a laugh.

For more information on the Korean War Memorial or to make a donation to the Greene County Veterans Council call Rick Black at 724-998-0598.