Korean War

Henry Matthias hasn't talked much about his fighting days in the Korean War, never felt as if he was living with some deep secret, never was ashamed of what he and his Army unit had done, even if he wished it hadn't been necessary.Now, though, he's a bit nervous because other people are talking about his Army days and what American soldiers did in Korea half a century ago."I'm worried we're going to be the bad guys now," Matthias said yesterday, sitting at the kitchen table in his mobile home in Elkridge, smoking one cigarette after the other -- no filter.

The Jack B. Poage Air Show returns to the Carroll County Regional Airport on Saturday and Sunday with military displays, stunts, aerobatics and flybys.More than 70 aircraft from all branches of the armed forces, civilian aerobatic performers and aviation museums participate in this event. Planes from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf war will be featured.Confirmed acts include the USAF-10 Thunderbolt II Demonstration Team, EAA's World War II B-17G Flying Fortress bomber "Aluminum Overcast," AMPHA's P-40 Warhawk World War II vintage fighter, military flybys and aerobatic performers Drew Hurley, John Greenwood, Nancy Lynn, Roger Lehnert and Ned Surratt.

William L. Brooks Jr., 73, X-ray technician, veteranWilliam Leroy Brooks Jr., a retired X-ray technician and Korean War veteran, died of a stroke Tuesday at Mariner Health Care Center in Laurel. He was 73.The 40-year Greenbelt resident retired in 1987 from a Prince George's County hospital.He was born in Lochearn and was educated in Baltimore County public schools. He was an Army X-ray technician in Korea during the Korean War.Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at the Haight Funeral Home and Chapel, 6416 Route 32, Sykesville.

Many of the nearly 100 people assembled in Westminster's Longwell Municipal Center yesterday once went to war. They met on Veterans Day to commemorate that and to remember comrades who returned from battle in coffins.Sponsored by American Legion Post 31 in Westminster, the second annual Veterans Day event brought together veterans and their spouses for an hour of ceremony and remembering.Some walked with canes. Some passed up the opportunity to lay flowers on a war monument in Veterans Memorial Garden behind City Hall because of the difficulty of ascending stairs.

For Baltimore County's World War II and Korean War veterans, Memorial Day this year will have new significance. Decades after the conflicts ended, their service will be honored with a monument, a gift to the county."

It would be hard to imagine that any aspect of the Soviet-American conflict is left untouched by "Cold War," an exhaustive, 24-part documentary debuting tomorrow on CNN.Initiated and funded by Ted Turner, the world's richest history buff, "Cold War" chronicles, in often astonishing detail, nearly a half-century of blustering, bluffing, maneuvering and battling between two superpowers and a world that became increasingly under their domination as the conflict...

In 1949, Charles K. Eckard, a shy 17-year-old who pumped gas at a Shell station in Westminster, yearned to see the world. He joined the Army Reserve and became one of the first troops to land in Korea in 1950.Two days after his arrival, he was killed in battle. His body was never found.Eckard was the first Carroll County resident to die in the Korean War. Ten more followed.In the years after the war, the 11 men were, for the most part, forgotten. It took more than 40 years before a memorial was built for them, and even then the memory was incomplete.

Dr. Philip Walter Heuman Sr., the quintessential country physician whose medical career included command of afront-line field hospital during the Korean War and serving as team doctor for Bel Air High School football, died Friday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of heart failure. He was 83.Dr. Heuman, who also was Harford County medical examiner for 27 years, practiced medicine for 44 years from a converted two-car garage behind his Dutch colonial house on Hickory Street in Bel Air. He retired in 1996.

In 1949, Charles K. Eckard, a shy 17-year-old who pumped gas at a Shell station in Westminster, yearned to see the world. He joined the Army Reserve and became one of the first troops to land in Korea in 1950.Two days after his arrival, he was killed in battle. His body was never found.Eckard was the first Carroll County resident to die in the Korean War. Ten more followed.In the years after the war, the 11 men were, for the most part, forgotten. It took more than 40 years before a memorial was built for them, and even then the memory was incomplete.

In 1949, Charles K. Eckard, a shy 17-year-old who pumped gas at a Shell station in Westminster, yearned to see the world. He joined the Army Reserve and became one of the first troops to land in Korea in 1950.Two days after his arrival, he was killed in battle. His body was never found.Eckard was the first Carroll County resident to die in the Korean War. Ten more followed.In the years after the war, the 11 men were, for the most part, forgotten. It took more than 40 years before a memorial was built for them, and even then the memory was incomplete.

A new poll shows a substantial majority of Americans have resigned themselves to the reality of our nation's perpetual foreign wars. They don't like it, but they see it happening and know there is nothing they can do about it. The poll, conducted by Clarus Research Group, showed that 68 percent of us agree with idea that we won't either win or lose the war in Afghanistan, now eight years long, but will instead just remain there. The image of flies and flypaper again swirls in my head, just as it did at the time of the invasion of Iraq.

George Dayton Dodge, a mechanic and former fleet manager for the H&S Baking Co. who earned two Silver Stars in combat during the Korean War, died of cancer May 22 at a daughter's Dundalk home. He was 80. Mr. Dodge was born in Terra Alta, W.Va., and raised in Oakland, Garrett County. He enlisted in the Army in 1946, and served from 1950 to 1951 as a staff sergeant with the 195th Ordnance Depot Company near Korea's 38th Parallel, where he experienced fierce enemy action. "I was in two active fire fights.

IRVING R. LEVINE, 86 Longtime NBC economics correspondent Irving R. Levine, the bow-tied NBC newsman who explained the fine points of economics to millions of viewers for nearly a quarter century, died Friday of complications from prostate cancer in Washington, D.C. Mr. Levine was a presence at NBC since 1950 when he began covering the Korean War until his retirement in 1995. He had become the network's full-time economics correspondent in 1971 and in the last five years of his tenure also did weekly commentaries on CNBC.

Robert S. Pardoe, a retired Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. manager of customer accounts and a Korean War veteran, died of cancer Jan. 9 at Montgomery County General Hospital. The Woodbine resident was 77. Mr. Pardoe was born in Baltimore and raised on Wilkens Avenue. He was a 1947 graduate of Polytechnic Institute and during the Korean War served in Army intelligence from 1951 to 1955. Mr. Pardoe went to work for BGE in 1948. At the time of his 1992 retirement, he was manager of customer accounts.

James S. Brennan, a retired supervisor for General Motors who also served in the Air Force during the Korean War, died Dec. 21 in his Severna Park home after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. He was 75. Mr. Brennan was born in Baltimore. He graduated from City College in 1951 and attended the University of Maryland, College Park. He enlisted in the Air Force and fought as an airman first class in the Korean War. He then returned to Maryland, where he worked as a supervisor for General Motors for more than 20 years.

Col. Eugene Martin "Gene" Faber, a career Air Force officer and decorated combat fighter pilot who flew during World War II and the Korean War, died in his sleep Saturday at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Kingsville resident was 85. Colonel Martin was born in El Modena, Calif., and was raised there and in Orange and Santa Ana, Calif. "He excelled in sports in high school and developed an intense interest in flying. Flying was just something he always wanted to do," said a son, Larry E. Faber, a retired Air Force colonel who lives in Boerne, Texas.

Francis Joseph Chmilewski, a retired Domino Sugars Co. mechanic and veteran of two branches of the military, died of lung cancer July 13 at Mercy Medical Center. The Edgemere resident was 76. Mr. Chmilewski was born and raised in Baltimore and attended city public schools. He later earned his General Educational Development diploma while serving in the Army. "He lied about his age when he enlisted in the Navy, where he served for four years," said the former May Birkelien, his wife of 11 years.

As reported Nov. 8, 1961, in The Evening Sun: Three Ellicott City service clubs will dedicate a monument to Howard County War Veterans at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Courthouse. The Veterans Day activity is sponsored by the Yingling-Ridgeley Post No. 7472, V.F.W., the Lions Club and the Rotary Club. The monument - 4 feet by 5 feet - is on the front lawn of the Courthouse. It commemorates Howard County veterans of World War I , World War II and the Korean War . Judge C. Ferdinand Sybert , of the Court of Appeals and a native Howard countian, will give the dedicatory address.

Mitchell Phillip Myers, a retired maintenance electrician and former Cumberland resident, died Sunday of a heart attack at a hospital in Spartanburg, S.C. He was 81. Mr. Myers was born in Baltimore and raised in Hampden. He was a vocational school graduate and enlisted in the Navy during World War II. "He was an electrician aboard a ship that was sunk during the Battle of Okinawa. He earned a Purple Heart but never talked about the war very much," said his wife of 60 years, the former Margilee Fletcher.

The Rev. Henry Bruce Land Jr., a retired Southern Baptist minister and military chaplain, died of an infection complicated by Parkinson's disease Oct. 2 at St. Agnes Hospital. The Catonsville resident was 87. Born in Martinsville, Va., he decided to enter the ministry at 17 and earned degrees at Wake Forest College and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. During World War II, he took chaplaincy training at the College of William and Mary and joined the Navy. One of his first assignments was preaching three Sunday services to 3,000 new recruits at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.