J.B. Brownfield
Korea 1950
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Veteran thankful for 'round-trip ticket' home from war
By Linda Hicks 10 Nov, 2000                                                                                      

    The parents of J.B. Brownfield received a telegram informing them that their teenage son had been killed in action during the Korean War. Instead, he was lying badly wounded in a hospital bed.
    "When I got to the hospital, I had a nurse send them a letter," Brownfield said. "The letter beat the telegram but they didn't know. They thought maybe I had died after the letter was sent."
    During that incident, he was wounded in the shoulder, both legs and the face. Afterwards, he walked about 10 miles to an aid station where he was loaded on a helicopter and carried to a MASH unit and later on to a hospital. Shrapnel remains in his body today.
    Brownfield, who lives near Letona, was wounded three times while serving in Korea. Prior to being shipped over, he said that he believed that he was signing on for a "round trip ticked" and he is thankful that it worked out that way.
    Brownfield shipped out July 23, 1950 on his 17th birthday. After basic training and an eight-week school, he was taken to the frontlines. That was in January 1951. He remained there for more than a year. He was a member of E. Company,  38th Regiment, Second Division of the United States Army. The average age of the soldiers in Brownfield's squad was 17-20.
    His first night out in the field, he was assigned guard duty.
    "It was pitch black, and they didn't have street lights over there," Brownfield said. "I had to walk out 30 to 40 yards from where the rest of the people were. I was scared to death.
    After staying at that location for a couple of nights they would walk about 15 miles through three-feet of snow.
    "We dug in on top of a hill and I was baptized into action," Brownfield said.
    Brownfield's squad had been issued and wore seven layers of clothing and snow boots to protect themselves from the bitter cold.
    "I put clean clothes on January 11 and I put some other clean clothes on the 18th of March," Brownfield said. "I had one shower between then but I didn't have clean clothes to put on."
    Among the soldiers most valued possessions were their four pairs of wool socks. They wore two pair at a time and changed every day.
    "We put our socks inside our jackets on our chest so they would dry out before the next day." he said. "They would get rank but we knew the dangers of not changing every day. I saw some who didn't and it Wasn't a pretty sight.
    As foot soldiers, his squad's basic duties had to do with advancing and attacking. Soldiers slept with one eye open basically catching a nod in a foxhole. His squad took several pretty hard hits and lives were lost.
    "A hair-lipped Colonel told us that if we had any thoughts of being a hero to get it out of our mind,' Brownfield recalled, "He told us to just concentrate on staying alive. That's what I did."
    Brownfield shared several memories. For instance, during the month of February, his squad removed their clothing while wading a river. They had just reached the other side and dressed when they were threatened with enemy fire. They again waded the river. This time they left their clothes on.
    "It was three days before we dried out," he said. "I didn't even catch a cold."
    The soldiers ate rations. And Brownfield said "they weren't that bad." He particularly liked the canned hamburger and gravy. At one point, they lost their kitchen and did without food for three days. He said he found a can of corn beef hash and ate a portion. Shortly after, he developed yellow jaundice.
    On the light side, once the hungry soldiers killed a farmer's cow and were preparing to cook when they were told to load up.
    "We had to leave it without even getting to cook it,: he said.
    Care packages were especially welcome. One time, his aunt in California mailed him 14 giant Hershey Bars.
    "I shared with everyone," he said. "We ate them for ten days.
    As far as his military time, Brownfield said he was honored to serve his country. He said he enlisted as his uncles and father had done before him.