Happy Father’s Day, Korea Edition
Some 75 years ago this week.
17 June 1951. Company M, U.S. 27th Infantry (“Wolfhounds”) Regiment, “Somewhere in Korea.” Note the unit had just earned its third Presidential Unit Citation of the conflict after liberating Seoul (again) just two months before this snapshot.
Official caption: “Typical day of the many soldiers in Korea who observed Father’s Day without ever having seen their offspring are these five men of the 25th U.S. Inf. Div., who get together to compare snaps of their youngsters.”
Photographer: Cpl. Allison Sherrod (SK), Signal Corps Photo SC 374885. U.S. National Archives. Digitized by Signal Corps Archive.
L-R: Sgt. Weston Yates, New Orleans, La.; Lt. Charles Roffe, Eugene, Ore.; Capt. Lloyd Rainey, Emporia, Kan., (C/O Co. “M”, 27th Inf. Regt.); Pfc. Robert Parrick, Depew, Okla.
After checking the casualty lists for the conflict against the above names, none perished on the battlefield that I can find, so let’s hope they all made it home to their respective kids and went on to mark many further Fathers’ days with their families.
From what I can find:
Charles “Chuck” Roffe, who earned a Silver Star with the 10th Mountain in Italy in WWII, passed away in 2019 at 98 and left behind two daughters.
Major Lloyd Jay Rainey, also a WWII vet and Silver Star earner, passed in 1999 and is buried on post at Fort Riley, next to his wife of 55 years, Florance.
Robert William “Sonny” Parrick passed in 1998 and is listed as a “loving husband, father, and pa” on his headstone.
Hug your dad, if he is still around, and I salute all of you out there who have kids, and/or grandkids. I treasure mine.