by John P. Collins (Author)
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.