Michon Mackedon
Five weeks ago, I began reading the news about Fallon, as reported in the local newspapers seventy-five years ago. What emerged was a portrait of a community struggling to cope with a war in Korea and undergoing many changes in local character and culture.
Of interest to me, among other stories, were the personal accounts of our local men at war. Weekly columns provided information as the papers received it—where our men in uniform were stationed, when they came home for a family visit, and where and how they were injured, if they were.
A series of letters sent home by Pfc. Kenneth Rost and published by the “Fallon Eagle” give us insight into one soldier’s life and the dangers he encountered.
The Jan. 17 “Fallon Standard” printed this news sent by Rost to his parents. “I know you will be worried but always remember I’m alright. God is with me. … Haven’t much time but thought I would write as it has been three weeks since I have. Of course, I couldn’t help it. We’ve been breaking and holding road blocks…. It’s so darn cold that I can hardly move my fingers.
I got your letter, Dad, in which you asked about Richard Nixon [a friend from Hawthorne]. He was killed in the trap at Kunuri [a battle which took place in what is now North Korea in November 1950]. He is dead for sure because I talked to some of the boys from C Battery and Dave Best said he was right next to him when he got it. … Tell his dad that I am sorry and that Dick was the best.”
The Feb. 10, 1951, edition of the “Eagle” printed updated news about Rost under the banner, “G.I. Returns to Outfit in Korea, Finds Himself Dead.” Rost, injured in battle in January, had been transferred to a South Korean hospital. When he returned to his company, he found that “he had been listed as dead on the company roster and presented quite a surprise to his buddies who had believed him lost.”
The March 21 “Eagle” carried the news that “Pfc. Kenneth Rost is again in the hospital in Pusan [now spelled Busan, a major port city in South Korea].” He received a slight shrapnel wound in his left arm March 8, but he expected to be back at the line again in a week or so. He reported that the weather was getting warmer and more comfortable, and he said that his mother “was getting popular with the boys in his outfit for the good things she sends over to her son.”
Some of our troops were lucky enough to earn furlough: “Pfc. Bill Hatton, U.S. Marines, came home after being through the rough campaign of the past few months. Young Hatton, in good health, will have a 30-day furlough” (“Eagle,” March 21).
Others wrote home expressing pride over their assignments: “Louis Freeman, metalsmith third class, USN, formerly of Fallon, is serving aboard the destroyer tender USS Prairie, which recently arrived in the Far East and is now flagship of the United Nations blockading and escort force” (“Eagle,” March 21).
“Lt. Col. William H. Stuart, Reno, is a student at the Air War College, Maxwell, Alabama.” The paper noted that Stuart’s parents were residents of Fallon (“Eagle,” Feb. 10).
The ultimate tragedy of war came home to Fallon three months into 1951. This brief notation appeared in the “Eagle,” accompanied by a photo of a handsome young man. “Javy Walker, 21, who was killed in Korea Jan. 14, was the only son of Mrs. Bertha Bowser of Fallon. He was a popular athlete of the Hawthorne High School” (“Eagle,” March 21).
The heart breaks, and the families of the men engaged in war must have read about Walker’s death with sorrow and terror.
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