A few months after he began work for Monarch in 1959, John Robb found a surprise in the mail, a draft notice telling him when and where to report for induction to the U.S. Army.
That wasnt what he had intended for the next two years. However, Robb took it in stride, hitched up his britches and went off to basic training.
Robb spent 13 months in Korea, stationed at an Army post about 50 miles north of Seoul and not far from the demilitarized zone that splits Korea into North and South.
Robb was in an engineer platoon attached to the 35th Infantry Regiment.
We spent a lot of time training Korean soldiers to do things our military way, John said.
Translators, of course, were necessary because few of the soldiers spoke the others language.
Stringing barbed wire, known militarily as concertina wire, was a task John adapted to quickly, he being a farm kid, as well as other construction-type jobs.
The journey to and from Korea was an ordeal 13 days by ship, interrupted only by a short layover in Japan.
Once home, he returned to Monarch without losing an hour of seniority, the company honoring his time in the Army the same as if he had toiled daily at the plant.
JOHN, 83, was born at home on a farm south of LaHarpe in 1936.
He learned to milk cows early on, along with other farm chores. He marveled each day when the Pet Milk truck arrived from Iola. The driver tossed the two cans of milk aboard as if they were light as feathers.
A little over a mile away was Salem School, which he attended through eighth grade.
When it came time to go in town for ninth grade, John picked Humboldt High, where brother Rex went four years earlier.
I lived closer to LaHarpe, but they didnt have a football team and I wanted to play football, he said. Cub faithful were delighted; he earned all-Tri-Valley League honors as an offensive lineman.
During two years at Iola Junior College, John agreed to go out for basketball, to fill out the team and let them practice against me.
John and wife Charlene had three children. After she passed away, he opted for the graveyard shift at Monarch so he could be home during the day to care for his three young children.
