Korean War at 70: Interviews with North Carolina Veterans
By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
70 years ago on June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when North Korean troops pushed into South Korea. It lasted until the Korean Armistice Agreement ended the war on July 27, 1953. On June 26, 1950, the United Nations Security Council called for an immediate end to the hostilities in the Korean Peninsula, and for North Korea to withdraw its troops from South Korea. There are numerous political reasons for the cause of this ware from all sides, for which a blog post simply does not offer the appropriate space or is the appropriate venue to cover soundly and to a level which we wish to have represented on the N.C. Stories of Service blog.
As part of our recognition for the anniversary of these dates and events, we chose to include a selection of online-available oral history interviews with North Carolina military veterans who served in the Korean War or through the Korean War-era, taken from the State Archives of North Carolina’s North Carolina Veterans Oral History Collection. The interviews, available through the North Carolina Digital Collections’ (NCDC) Veterans Oral History Collection (which hosts the streaming audio for free on Internet Archive), covers the enter three-year duration of the war. We are also including links in the NCDC of interview summaries with Korean War veterans, featuring their biographies (although the interviews have not yet been digitized). We hope that by listening to their struggles and dedication, the readers will find lessons in their service and appreciation for their sacrifices. We are arranging the selected interviews below in alphabetical order by last name of the veteran.
Veterans Interviews
Anthony M. Andruzzi Sr.
A U.S. Air Force veteran of the Berlin Airlift, Anthony M. Andruzzi was a Brooklyn, N.Y., native who later came to reside in Raleigh, N.C. Andruzzi would served as a radio and electronics specialist during the Korean War, and was sent over to Yokota Air Base in June 1950 with the 325th Bombardment Squadron. He flew 10 missions against the North Koreans and Chinese in the war, serving there about a year and a half. Andruzzi returned to the U.S. and was assigned to Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka, Kansas. He was involved at Forbes AFB with repairing Air Force aircraft, and Andruzzi worked to repair radios and communications systems on the planes.
Andruzzi’s interview is available online here. He would pass away within three weeks of this interview.
Richard E. Baker
Richard E. Baker was from Stallings, N.C. He was a Korean War veteran who served in the U.S. Army, serving from December 1952 to December 1954. Baker received two Purple Hearts for his actions during the Second Battle of Pork Chop Hill in July 1953, days before the UN armistice that ended the war.
Baker’s interview is available online here.
Walter G. Atkinson Jr.
Walter G. Atkinson Jr. was born on August 5, 1921, in the town of Leaksville (now Eden) in Rockingham County, N.C. Atkinson Jr. enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1939, and retired in 1960 from the 81st Chemical Group. By 1940, Atkinson Jr. was stationed with the Army in the Panama Canal Zone.
During World War II, he participated in the invasion of Utah Beach on the Normandy D-Day, and saw combat in the European Theater. Atkinson Jr. was awarded both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for heroism in battle. He fought in the Korean War, and was awarded the Korean Service Medal with four Service Stars, the United Nations Service Medal, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, and the National Defense Service Medal.
Atkinson Jr.’s interview is available online here.
James A. Clark
James Adams Clark was born on February 3, 1925 in Chapel Hill, N.C. to James Arthur and Ethel Clark. By 1930, the Clark family was living in Durham, N.C., where James’ father was working as a carpenter. At the time of his draft registration for World War II, James Clark was working at the Camp Butner Branch Exchange in Durham County, N.C. Clark was inducted into military service on May 3, 1943, at Fort Bragg, N.C., with the rank of Staff Sergeant in the Military Police.
James Clark would serve in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, serving from 1943 to 1972. He served during that period in the 76th Infantry Division; 2nd Infantry Division; 7th Infantry Division; 9th Infantry Division; and 101st Airborne Division. Clark reached the rank of First Sergeant during his military career. He would serve 2.5 tours in the Korean War. He retired from the U.S. Army in 1972 at the rank of 1st Sergeant.
After his retirement, Mr. Clark worked for Duke University and the VA Medical Center in Durham. James J. Clark died on October 11, 2019, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
You can listen to Clark’s interview online here.
Wilson V. Eagleson II [Oral History Summary]
Wilson Vashon Eagleson II was born on February 1, 1920, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Wilson Vashon and Frances Marshall Eagleson. As a child, Wilson Eagleson suffered with rheumatic fever and needed a moderate climate, so he and his sister had to live with his grandmother in Bloomington, Indiana, after his parents were offered jobs at the historically-black North Carolina Central College (now North Carolina Central University) in Durham, N.C. Wilson’s father was the first football, basketball, and baseball coach at North Carolina Central College. Wilson’s mother was a registrar at the same college for around 48 years.
Wilson Eagleson grew up Bloomington, Indiana, and attended Bloomington High School. He lived there until his father was killed in a car wreck when he was 13 years old. Wilson Eagleson moved to Durham, after his father’s death. After he graduated from high school in Henderson, N.C., Eagleson attended college at West Virginia State College, where he became a member of the Civilian Pilot Training program in 1938. He wanted to volunteer for the U.S. Air Corps, but they did not accept African Americans into the Air Corps.
Eagleson continued in college, he transferred back to Indiana University and spent a year there. After the United States entered World War II, Wilson Eagleson was inducted into military service on January 19, 1942, in the U.S. Army Infantry. He spent two tours at a base called Fort Walters, Texas. From there, Eagleson was transferred to Fort Benning, Georgia, to attend Officer Training School. Eagleson had applied for the flight program at Tuskegee Army Air Field, and he had been accepted in September 1942. Wilson Eagleson graduated from the training at Tuskegee, and was commissioned on April 29, 1943, in the Tuskegee Airmen. Eagleson got married on May 1, 1943, and left for overseas service in WWII in September 1943. He was overseas for 18 months, and returned home in March 1945.
Eagleson served in the 99th Pursuit Squadron, flying out of Naples, Italy. He was involved in the Battle of Anzio. Eagleson shot down two enemy aircraft, and got two probables over Anzio. In 1943, the Tuskegee Airmen were flying old P-40s. On July 4, 1944, they got their first P-51, which is when Eagleson’s unit became known as the Red-Tail Angels. The group was supposed to have a red stripe across the tails of its aircraft. A member of the group did not think that the red stripe was big enough, so the entire tail was painted red. Eagleson’s group served in Africa, Sicily, and Italy in WWII. After returning home in March 1945, Eagleson helped to close down the Tuskegee Army Air Field and went to inactive duty after being reduced in force following the war. He served for 30 years in the U.S. Air Force, until his retirement in February 1972.
Eagleson’s military career included service in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. During his career, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts, three Presidential Unit Citations, the Red Star of Yugoslavia, the Korean Service Medal, the Vietnam Service and Campaign Medals. Eagleson was a member of the American Legion of Goldsboro, North Carolina, and a member of the Wilson V. Eagleson Chapter, Tuskegee Airmen Inc., with the chapter named after him. Wilson V. Eagleson II died on April 16, 2006, in Dudley, N.C., and was buried in Markham Memorial Gardens in Durham, N.C.
Read more about Eagleson’s interview online here.
Ralph L. Hudson
Ralph L. Hudson was born July 22, 1932, in Norwood, N.C. Hudson worked for P. Collins Ltd Fabrics until he was drafted into the U.S. Army on January 26, 1953 for the Korean War.
He was inducted into the U.S. Army in Charlotte, N.C.; attended basic training at Fort Eustice in Virginia; and attended amphibious training at Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Hudson served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War from January 1953 through June 1954 when he was released from active duty. Hudson aided in the transportation of nuclear bombs for testing in the Marshall Islands as part of the nuclear testing program Operation Castle, serving in Joint Task Force 7 (JTF-7), with his unit being 7.2. Upon his release from active duty, Hudson returned to the textile company he was at before his military service. Since this interview in 2016, Ralph L. Hudson has passed away. He was one the last living members of his unit from the Operation Castle nuclear testing during the Korean War-era.
You can listen to an hour-long oral history interview with Ralph L. Hudson online here.
Lee A. Patterson
Lee Patterson enlisted in the U.S. Army at Fayetteville, North Carolina, with his three friends. Originally, Patterson wanted to go into the U.S. Air Force, but the length of service contract was three years for the Air Force. It was only two years service period for the Army. Patterson was sent for basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
After traveling to Japan first, Patterson arrived in Puson, South Korea, in April 1951. He served during the Korean War in the 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, U.S. Army, with the rank of Private First Class. During his time in Korea, Patterson was injured by a hand grenade. Patterson arrived back in the United States from Korea in December 1951.
After the war in January 1952, Patterson became an instructor at Fort Jackson, S.C., for the U.S. Army in camouflage and concealment techniques — despite having never been involved in such techniques in the field prior to serving as an instructor. After he got out of active service, Patterson served for an additional five years in active Army Reserves. He left U.S. Army service with the rank of Corporal.
After his military service, Patterson worked as a barber, after attending barber’s school in 1954. At the time of this interview, Patterson was living in Sanford, N.C.
You can listen to Patterson’s interview online here.
Charles E. Tart
Charles Eldridge Tart was born on August 3, 1931, in Sampson County, N.C., to Stephen E. and Bertha Tart. The Tart family farmed on their own farm while Charles was growing up. He went to school at a rural school near his home, and left school in the ninth grade. When he was 17 years old, Tart and his friend traveled to Dunn, N.C., and enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 13, 1949. He was inducted into military service at Fort Bragg, N.C. Tart attended his basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., in Company H, 5th Regiment. While at Fort Jackson, Tart started boxing for the Army.
He was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington, for advanced training in Army tank operations, assigned to the 72nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division. Tart remained at Fort Lewis for just over a year, and was involved in the mock battles and tank operations in Hawaii. When his unit was being put on alert to head to Korea for battle, Tart was assigned as a temporary Military Police officer, tasked with walking through Tacoma, Washington, businesses and institutions to round up U.S. military individuals who were in the city, and have them report back to their military bases. Tart’s unit was sent to Korea at the end of August 1950, and arrived in-country at Puson, Korea. Tart’s unit was involved in fighting along much of the Pusan Perimeter, including the city of Taegu and the Naktong River area in 1950. His unit made it to Pyongyang in the north of Korea, before they were ordered to retreat back to the 38th Parallel. Tart reached the rank of Staff Sergeant while in Korea, and served on the front lines for over 10 months.
He was sent to Japan to be stationed for 18 months after signing up for this additional service, which Tart did just to get off the front lines in Korea. Tart was the First Field Sergeant of a company while stationed in Japan. After leaving Japan, he arrived in the U.S., and took a train across the country to get back to Fort Jackson, S.C. Tart was assigned to Fort Polk in Louisiana, tasked with training Ohio National Guard men on tank operations in preparation for the Korean War. He caught malaria while in Louisiana while training troops. Tart was honorably discharged from the Army on June 25, 1952. He did not have to serve in the Army Reserves after his Korean War service.
Tart served for a total of three and a half years. After the war, Tart returned to his family’s home in Sampson County, N.C. He moved to Fayetteville, N.C., and attended a nine-month junior accounting course. Tart graduated from a business college in Fayetteville. He worked as the credit manager for the Fayetteville Public Works Commission for a number of years. Tart owned and operated a dirt race track in Newton Grove, N.C., in the 1950s, called “Easy Street Drag Strip.” He ran the race track on the weekends. Tart also for around 25 years played piano for a local band called The Modern Knights. Charles E. Tart died on October 17, 2019, in Linden, N.C.
You can listen to Tart’s interview online here.
Ralph R. Todd
Ralph Reid Todd was born on December 24, 1912, in Tabor City, N.C. By 1930, the family had moved to Greensboro, N.C., where Ralph Todd grew up and his father worked as a railroad rate clerk. Todd graduated from Greensboro High School. He earned his undergraduate degree through attendance at multiple institutions, including: Guilford College in North Carolina; Georgia State University; University of Metz in France; Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; and the University of Maryland. Todd earned a graduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From the 1920s and into the mid 1930s, Ralph Todd was a professional musician. From the late 1930s to July 1942, Todd worked with the Texaco Oil Company in Greensboro, N.C., as a clerk. Ralph Todd had married Lois Evelyn Shields in Martinsville, Virginia, on October 3, 1936.
During World War II, Ralph Todd enlisted in July 1942 in the U.S. Army. Todd participated in the following military campaigns with the Third and Seventh Armies in the European Theater: Normandy Beach Landings, Campaigns of Northern France, Central Europe and the Rhineland Offensive. Todd held the rank of Captain during WWII.
After WWII, he remained in the Army, and participated in the Korean War in the 1950s. Todd was involved in the Summer-Fall Offensive, the 2nd Korean Winter, and the Korean-Fall Offensive 1952 Campaigns. His other post-Korean War foreign military assignments were in Tokyo, Japan; Ankara, Turkey; and Verdun and Orleans, France. Todd also served at the following military post: The Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; Georgia; New Mexico; Maryland; and Pennsylvania.
The following is a selection of some of Todd’s military missions over his career: 62nd Ammunition Battalion with mission to furnish 3rd Army ammunition in WWII Europe; Commanding Officer of 192nd Ordnance Battalion in Pusan, Korea, with mission to furnish equipment and supplies to U.S. troops during Korean War; Special Advisory Group to Turkish Army during the Cold War, stationed in Ankara, Turkey; Commanding Officer at Fort Wingate, New Mexico; and Commanding Officer at the Letterkenny Army Depot as the back-up supplier to U.S. forces in Europe through the New York City Port.
Ralph Todd retired in April 1966 from the U.S. Army with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and came to live in Chapel Hill, N.C. He worked with the Durham County School Systems for twelve years. Todd would serve on the town council and as mayor of Pinehaven Village, N.C., a resort area where he had a second home.
You can listen to Todd’s interview online here.
Almyra M. Watson
Almyra Maynard Watson was born on September 17, 1917 to G.M. and Jennie Llloyd Watson. The family lived in the Lake Landing commuity of Hyde County, North Carolina. When Almyra was a young girl, they moved to Bethel in Pitt County. Her father was the first owner of an automobile in Pitt County, and he operated the county’s first service station there.
Almyra Wayton trained to be a nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia in 1939. Following this training, she joined the North Carolina National Guard, and was due to leave the service after her year was up when the U.S. entered World War II in 1942. She was selected for a special field hospital program in the Army, and ended up staying in the Army for 23 years. During that time, she became one of the first nurses to work in medical setups in field conditions; and she later became a consultant for this area of operations. Watson would eventually attained the rank of Major in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps (ANC).
During her Army nursing career she was stationed in a number of places, including: Fort Monroe, Virgnia (in the early 1950s); the Army’s Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, D.C. (in the mid-1950s); Fort Knox, Kentucky (around 1960); and locations overseas including Germany, the Phillipines, and Japan. She served in both WWII and the Korean War. Almyra Watson retired from the Army in 1963. Almyra Watson died at the age of 101 on December 9, 2018.
You can listen to Watson’s interview online here.
Ellis W. Williamson
Ellis Warner Williamson was born on June 2, 1918, in the town of Raeford in Hoke County, N.C., to James Bailey and Zula Warner Williamson. Ellis’ father James served in World War I, which left Zula Williamson to care for six children through 1920 without her husband at home while Ellis was a baby. Ellis Williamson grew up and went to high school in Raleigh, N.C. He served in the North Carolina National Guard during high school and college. Williamson attended and graduated from Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in Wilson, N.C., in 1940 with a bachelor of arts degree.
His National Guard unit was called into federal service at the start of World War II. Williamson remained with the 120th Infantry Regiment, 30th Division, throughout the war, serving in ranks from Private to Colonel. Following being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in March 1941, he served as a commander at platoon, company, battalion and regimental levels, and as a battalion and regimental staff officer. Williamson was regimental Commander at the time of the unit’s return to National Guard status in January 1946. Then General Ellis Williamson married Margaret Ethel McNeill on September 27, 1942. Williamson participated in the D-Day landings at Normandy in June 1944 with the 120th Infantry Regiment, and he served throughout the rest of the war in the European Theater.
In 1950, Williamson was on the planning staff for and participated in the Inchon Landings in Korea during the Korean War, and subsequently served on the X Corps staff. 1959, he became a U.S. Army paratrooper. Promoted to Brigadier General in 1963, Williamson organized the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate) on the island of Okinawa, and took the brigade into Vietnam in May of 1965, becoming the first U.S. Army ground combat unit to enter into combat service in the Vietnam War. In 1966, Williamson became Assistant Commandant at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was promoted to Major General, and assumed command of the Army Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana.
In 1968, Williamson returned to Vietnam, commanding the 25th Infantry Division (nicknamed “Tropic Lightning”). He was designated Chief of the U.S. Military Mission in Iran, and Personal Advisor to the Shah of Iran in 1971. Ellis Williamson retired from the U.S. Army in 1973. Ellis W. Williamson died on January 28, 2007, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Williamson is interred in Section 60, Grave 383.
