A Korean War Memoir

About the Book

In the fall of 1950, I was a college student at Boston University. The Korean War had just begun, and while I had a college deferment, I felt it was unjust that other young people were fighting in Korea while I was in the classroom. Thus, in January 1951, I joined the army paratroopers with the hope of doing my part as a member of an elite fighting force. During a regimental parachute training jump, I was severely injured and later reclassified as a logistical support person. I was sent to the Korean War as a member of the Eighth Army. In this memoir, I provide readers with insights into my life as a soldier from basic training and jump school to my experiences in the Korean War. For the first time, documents from the National Army Records Archives and the US Army Transportation Museum are used in recounting the Korean War activities of my unit, the 513th Transportation Truck Company. These records are integrated with vignettes of my military life during the Korean War.

About the Author

: John Collins is a retired educator who served in the US Army during the Korean War. He graduated from jump school in June 1951 and was assigned to the 508th Regimental Combat Team. During a regimental jump, he was injured and assigned to the Eighth Army in Korea for eighteen months. After the army, John finished college and received three graduate degrees, including a PhD from Boston College. After thirty-seven years in public and private schools, he retired as a school superintendent and served as a faculty member for fourteen years at Worcester State University, College of the Holy Cross, and the International Education Program Inc. John has published a monthly newspaper column for eleven years and has published many religious and literary articles related to Thomas Merton in scholarly journals. He has also contributed chapters for two books. John facilitated an International Thomas Merton Society Chapter at St. Mary’s Parish in Shrewsbury, MA for eleven years and currently is the facilitator of a ITMS Chapter at Shirley Correctional Institution. John is a co-producer of a cable TV program on Thomas Merton. John’s wife, Pauline died in 1979 from cancer. He is the proud father of two sons, two daughters and seven grandchildren.