Korean War prompts ‘hurry-up’ wedding

Bill Mentzer was ready to serve his country as soon as he turned 18. Mentzer spoke about his military service in Korea as part of the Allen County Historical Society’s Annual Meeting Tuesday evening at the Jones Hardy American Legion Post No. 385 in Moran.

Mentzer signed up for the draft in 1948 and was told, “It’ll be awhile before you’ll go. The war wasn’t happening anywhere, but they were still drafting people.”

So Mentzer went on to junior college, only to drop out after a few months when his father fell ill and he was needed to hand-milk 15 cows.

But go back a couple of years earlier, to high school around 1947. In biology class, Mentzer saw a girl sitting across the table.

“She was real nice. I thought she was kind of cute, so I hooked my cowboy boot under her chair and pulled it toward me and it fell. She kind of hung there,” he said. “I married that girl after she got to speaking to me.”

It would be a “hurry-up wedding” for Bill and Marjorie, as he was called to serve in Korea in 1950. Mentzer was given just four weeks to prepare to leave.

With his new bride waiting for him, Mentzer wanted to “get in and get out.”

Although most of his friends signed on with the Navy or Air Force, Mentzer chose the Army because it demanded only two years of service as opposed to four.

Mentzer served with the 23rd Infantry Regiment as a radio operator.

Mentzer recalled being transported to Japan.

“They brought these big tubs and loaded us onto them. About 200 of us. And we called it Sick Call Bay,” he said.

Once there, Mentzer noted they entered Japanese barracks “and everyone banged their heads.”

He was given an M1 rifle that would become his best friend for the next year or so, then it was off to Incheon, South Korea, a city near the capital of Seoul. The men rode through the night on a train, got on a truck the next morning and rode through another night.

“They told us to get in this tent. It was pouring down rain and they were shooting over us all night,” he said. “When we got out, we were at the heart of Old Baldy mountain. And that’s the end of my story. When I came home, the first thing Marojorie did was count my arms and legs.”

Mentzer didn’t talk much about his time in Korea, saying only that as a radio operator he was both a target and heavily protected. Radio communication was vital, as it was the only way to contact the front line.