Experiencing the Korean War -- La Verne “John” Schuning
My grandpa (1953)
“SCHUNNING, LA VERNE L.” is what my grandpa’s dog tags read. At first thought you think after the war he tried to hide himself, changing the spelling of his last name and also changing his first. But that’s far from the truth. Him not liking his first name and his last name changing spelling somewhere along the way had nothing to do with being burdened from the war. In fact, if he could fight again he would.
La Verne “John” Schuning served in the Korean War from 1953-1956. Around age 17 he enlisted himself in the United States Army. Basic training was located in Fort Riley, Kansas. At Fort Carson, Colorado he took more training in combat engineering. For 14 months and 21 days (Yes, he remembered exactly) he was overseas fighting in the war. With stops throughout Korea like Inchon, Seoul, and We-Young-Bo, and also in Tokyo, Japan, he was representing his home country. He met many new friends from Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, and many other states.
My grandpa was part of the 10th Infantry Division, fourth platoon. He would later reach the title of Staff Sargent. While in Korea there was a young Korean boy attached to every squad. The boy would have been around my grandpa’s age, about 16 or 17. There were four squads per platoon, so four young Koreans per platoon. The soldiers’ job was to build roads, repair bridges, and build landing strips for air planes. They also recorded mines that were set by the Chinese and hadn’t been previously recorded.
For most of their time in Korea the soldiers slept in squad tents, exactly like the ones on MASH. They ate good food in mess halls and also had a lot of C-rations (individual canned meals). The American soldiers were stationed close to Turkish and Australian units. The Koreans were scared to death of the Turkish Army because they were very mean. Most of the Koreans didn’t like the Americans very well. South Koreans could tell North Koreans just by looking at them, but Americans couldn’t, and that made fighting tougher. North Korea was and still is a very large military country. They starve their people so they can focus on building up their military.
A war buddy with my grandpa, and my grandpa (standing)
While overseas my grandpa had to have hernia surgery. He had his surgery done in a MASH unit, with Quonset huts and oil burning stoves. During the surgery he remembers it raining outside and hearing the rain running down the stove pipes. He also contracted hepatitis while in the war. I could have been from food, water, or anything because the conditions were so poor. It wasn’t a life-threatening strain, just a light one. He stayed in a MASH unit for a few weeks while receiving treatment. After he returned to the United States in 1956 he had to stay in the VA Hospital for 30 days.
When he was in Korea he wasn’t too scared. The scariest part was when they first arrived. In the middle of the night they arrived by ship in Inchon and loaded trucks. The trucks took them to old, beat-up trains with windows broken out. No one knew where they were going or just what exactly was going to happen. I asked him how he felt about serving in the war, and he told me this:
“It was a growing experience. I feel like I went in as a kid and came out as a man. The military made me grow up. It made me more responsible. It was a good experience, and I would do it again.”
A group photo at camp, and a close of up my grandpa
A story I have known for many years still makes me upset to this day. You see, my grandpa didn’t have the greatest home life. He had a step-father and a total of 9 brothers and sisters. His step-father was mean and didn’t like the children that weren’t his. That’s part of the reason my grandpa had lied about his age (you had to be 18 to go into the army, and he was 17) and went to war. While in war, every time he got a paycheck he would send it home with a note telling his mom to put it in the bank for him. When he came back to the United States he found that he had no money. His mom and step-father had spent all his money, leaving him with nothing. But with some of his money he did buy a nice China set in Korea. It’s still in his house today and since my mom is the oldest child someday she will get it. Also, since I’m my mom’s only child that means someday it will be mine too.
I loved getting this information from my grandpa, even if it wasn’t too much. I’m sure if I didn’t have to do this over the phone (he was in Council Bluffs for the weekend) that I probably could have gotten more out of him. My grandpa never really likes to go overboard on stories, and I tried multiple times to get stories out of him. He would tell me that he had many stories but “some of them you wouldn’t want to print.” I couldn’t imagine NOT being scared while fighting in the war. Wouldn’t you be scared if you were in battle? I would be. I could tell by talking to him that the title of Staff Sargent really meant, and still does mean, a lot to him. I consider myself very lucky to have found some of his war-related items in my own house (His 10th Infantry Division book, sort of like a yearbook, from Fort Riley, his dog tags and also one of another foreign soldier, and a few pictures including a very large one of him in uniform). I also think I’m pretty lucky to have a grandpa that was in a war, and survived.
A page in the 10th Infantry Division book, and a close up of my grandpa
10th Infantry Division book, Dog tags, and my grandpa in his American Legion uniform (1996)
Source: La Verne "John" Schuning
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