Three Korean War veterans reunite

Local News

October 23, 2009

Anonymous The Weatherford Democrat Fri Oct 23, 2009, 02:36 PM CDT

Crystal Brown

cbrown@weatherforddemocrat.com

Three pieces of a wrinkled and faded dollar bill are placed on the table while a group of Korean veterans sit inside Davis City Pharmacy reminiscing about the last time the three were together, some 50 years ago.

Freddy Detherage, Gene Cotter and Jack Phillips and Williams Paul are just a few of those drafted to serve in the Korean War. The men all hail from Parker County but met on the Army training fields at Fort Hood in 1952. They all boarded the same ship for Korea and were all lucky enough to come home. While on the ship overseas the men tore a dollar bill into four pieces and signed each fourth as a reminder of their friendship.

Cotter said, “When you’re that far from home, anyone from home is...”

“Good to know,” Detherage finished.

While deployed the men went their separate ways and Detherage, Cotter and Phillips saw each other one time, but said Paul was on the front lines and didn’t cross their paths.

After returning to the United States, Paul eventually moved to Cortez, Colo. and has since passed away. The remaining three men recently decided it was time for a reunion.

“I figured we should stop pushing our luck,” Phillips said.

Phillips live in the Dennis community, Cotter in Weatherford and after 40 years in Austin, Detherage moved back to Aledo about five years ago.

Thursday they met up, each with their piece of the dollar, but one piece remains missing. They pondered if Paul’s family might now where the fourth piece is and toyed with the idea of making a road trip to search for it.

The men also talked about their time in basic training and in Korea.

After having lived in a tent on Fort Hood, Cotter said he was about ready to volunteer to go back to Korea. But he also talked about how bad the smell was at ports they landed at overseas. He said there was nothing even standing in Seoul at that time.

The also talked about the sea sickness and how packed the ships where that took them back and forth from the United States.

“I was so glad to get off that boat,” Cotter said.

The men put away the pieces of their dollar as they continued sharing stories. They vowed to keep in touch and maybe get together for dinner with their wives.

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