Korea

Patriot John T. “Jack” Hodes, a Korean War wounded Army veteran, died April 16, 2012 at age 85. He was born at Fort Laramie, near Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1926 and grew up in an Army family (his father having been the late General Henry I. Hodes). Jack was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1949. He was wounded on April 4, 1951 at Chunchon, Korea when assigned to Company F, 8th Cavalry Regt., 1st Cavalry Division. He also had overseas assignments in Germany and Vietnam during his 30 years active duty before retiring in the grade of Colonel at Fort Hood, Texas. At Fort Hood, Colonel Hodes founded and helped build the first two recreational...

Rodolfo Alaniz was born in 1928, the fifth of 13 children of Roque and Sara Alaniz of Mission, Texas. The children grew up there, in the Rio Grande Valley town of Mission and five of the sons served in the military. Two of Rudy’s older brothers were drafted in WWII, and Ricardo, a rifleman in the 8th Infantry Division, was killed in Germany in the spring of 1945. The loss of his brother deeply affected sixteen year-old Rudy and he says, “I presented my brother’s flag to my mother. That was the saddest part of my life.” Rodolfo enlisted in the Army as soon as he turned 18. He entered active duty on October 23, 1946 at Fort Sam Houston, Texas and was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky...

Wounded In Two Wars: WW II EUROPE and KOREA Harold Elton Lewis was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1917. He grew up in San Antonio and graduated from High School there at age 17. In about 1936 he went to Houston and got a job with “Grand Prize,” a brewing company owned by Howard Hughes. After four years employment there the draft was instituted and, facing certain call-up anyway, he enlisted in the 36th Infantry Division, Texas National Guard just as it was about to be mobilized. The division was activated at Camp Bowie near Brownwood, Texas on November 25, 1940. After training there and participating in maneuvers in Louisiana, the division was moved to Camp Blanding, Florida...

Servando Varela was born in 1923 in New Braunfels, Texas where his family had a farm near the city. When Servando was still a young child they moved to Garfield where they continued farming until 1939 when his family moved into Austin. In December 1942, Servando married Mary Resendez and they were living in Austin when he was drafted into the Army for service in World War II. He was inducted on February 25, 1943 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and was immediately sent by train to Camp White near Medford Oregon. The 300th Engineer Combat Battalion was activated March 1, 1943 at Camp White Oregon, and Servando Varela, assigned to Company B, was one of the battalion’s...

Walter B. Waldon was born in 1919 in Detroit, Michigan. He spent most of his growing-up years in a Michigan farming family that lived through the great depression. When he turned 21 years old he joined the Army, entering service on August 6, 1940. Walter says, “I didn’t go through any basic and advanced training, they just shipped me to the West Coast and I was assigned directly into the mortar section of Weapons Platoon, Company L, 3rd Battalion, 15th Infantry, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis Washington.” He remembers that the next year he was back home on leave when Pearl Harbor was attacked bringing America into World War II. After a period of intensive preparation for...