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The following was composed from interviews of Sidney Franks and a historical essay written by Larry McNeely of Pattonsburg, the second cousin of Sidney’s wife Helen.
It was never really even called a war. It was called a conflict. But the men who fought in the hills and rice paddies of Korea made as many sacrifices for America’s freedoms as men in any other war.
Sidney Franks believes the ‘forgotten war’ needs to be remembered. Sidney served as an infantryman on the front lines in the Korean Conflict in 1950-51.
Sidney, who will be 83 on Oct. 1, was born to Charles Lawrence and Vernice and raised on a farm in Daviess County. He had five brothers and three sisters. He graduated from Gallatin High School in 1947.
At age nine, Sidney contracted polio.
"My muscles gave way and I couldn’t walk — period," Sidney said. "I drug myself around on the floor."
His mother cared from him by bathing him in hot baths constantly. He was taken to a hospital in St. Joseph at age 10. He had an operation on both feet to tighten the muscles.
"I pulled cat gut, which is what they used for stitches, out of my feet for years, even while I was in the service," Sidney said.
He took physical therapy for weeks and doctors put plastic casts for braces on one leg, then the other. He attended school at Gallatin wearing the braces which were very uncomfortable. Fortunately he didn’t have to walk to school. He rode a spotted Indian pony.
One day Sidney saw some kids swimming in Honey Creek. He swam out up to his neck and then swam back. He taught himself to swim.
"I either had to help myself out or lay there," he said. Once he learned to swim, Sidney made up his mind to learn to walk again. He got rid of the braces before high school and went on to have a somewhat normal physical life.
After graduation he started working for the Bososando Construction Company which got the contract to install the Rural Electric Administration (REA) electric service lines in Daviess, Caldwell and Clinton counties. This was the first time many people in these areas received electric service.
"It was hard work clearing out brush, running the electric lines and hanging pots [transformers], especially in the winter," Sidney said.
He continued working for Bososando until 1950, when he got a letter from the Daviess County Draft Board #31, instructing him to report to the courthouse. The Korean War in 1950 was in full force and President Truman was drafting men for the army.
Because one of his legs was shorter than the other from the childhood polio, Sidney didn’t think he would be drafted. But he was wrong about that. All six of the Franks boys went into the service, including Sidney.
Sidney reported at the induction center in Kansas City for a physical. At age 21, he was inducted into the United States Army and got his service ID number (US 55026697).
He was sent to Fort Leonard Wood where for two weeks, Sidney said, "We marched around and watched movies about transmitted diseases and got lots of shots."
He received his M-1 rifle and was told to take it everywhere he went in camp.
"We slept with it, ate with it, even went to the bathroom with it; it was on our shoulder all the time," Sidney said.
Then the new recruits took a troop train to Camp Cook in southern California. He spent four weeks at Lompoc. He was now a part of the 160th Infantry Regiment, Company D, and they all boarded a ship (#450) to Yokohama, Japan.
Aboard the merchant marine ship, the soldiers sailed about four days in heavy seas from California to Japan. A lot of the guys got very, very seasick.
"After I got tired of mopping up after sick soldiers, I volunteered to work on-board ship just to keep busy," Sidney said. "I was assigned the engine room and oiled the engine of the ship."
They arrived at their camp in Japan. Japan, Sidney discovered, is a little smaller than the state of California. Their camp was at the base of Mt. Fujiyama, called Camp Haugen. Actually there were about three camps all in close proximity: Camp Haugen, Camp McNair and Camp Zawa or South Camp.
They had just gotten settled in when sirens went off and a typhoon hit Camp McNair. It was a scary start for the young soldiers, but things soon quieted down. Sidney’s stay in Japan was both pleasant and memorable. The camps were close to Tokyo and he made several trips to that city as well as to the surrounding area. He took the local bus or train and he got to know the locals in Japan very well.
"I bought my own cameras," Sidney said. "I bought one at Hollywood and Vine before leaving the states and I bought two more in Japan. I carried one all the time. I was a Missouri farm boy and I took a lot of pictures of this new country."
Sidney befriended an officer, Lt. Weatherspoon, from eastern Ohio. The officer got Sidney a job as a mechanic for the officers vehicle motor pool and also a job at the officers club. Sidney got assigned a jeep with a star on it and he drove it everywhere.
"I was the mechanic for the motor pool and I also drove the big-wigs around," he said.
This mostly easy-going camp life in Japan would end in September 1951 when the "General" called the soldiers all out for a talk and told them that they were being shipped out to Korea and that meant the front line.
They were on a troopship for about one day, with only their duffle bags. They passed through the Yellow Sea and arrived on the west side of Korea.
Upon arrival the ship "dropped a plank" about 600 feet from the shore in rough seas at night. The soldiers had to tread water and all their gear got wet, except their rifles, which they held above their heads. It was miserable.
Upon arrival on land, they went to a "replacement center" and got dry clothes At the replacement center, Sidney talked with a GI named Cpl. Bernard Rode (NG28092428) who gave him his 45 caliber gun with holster and a "Korean Phrase Book," dated March 27, 1944.
"The corporal wished me good luck," said Sidney. "I needed it, fighting the North Koreans and the Chinese in winter."
At this time in the war, September 1951, the Chinese Red had pushed the U.S. troops to just below the 38th parallel and all hell was breaking loose. The war was very bitter between the Communist North Koreans and the free South Koreans with a lot of casualties. It was reported that South Korea alone lost over one million people with 100,000 children orphaned. Many homes were destroyed in the south.
At the camp on the front line the soldiers wore insulated clothes, but it was still bitterly cold. They slept in tents until rain water leaked in and flooded them. Sidney and some other guys dug some fox holes for shelter.
"We put in sticks, plastic, anything we could find for a bed roll," he said. "We rarely got good hot food on the front line, just our C Rations. Once in a while we would have pancakes and boy it was good, even if it was 15 degrees below zero. We had no bathroom, no hot water, no hot meals and did not even shave for days and the fighting went on and on."
Sidney carried a carbine, which is a smaller rifle and lighter and easier to carry. As they waited and watched, Sidney could see and hear the North Koreans on the front line. You can imagine the sheer terror these young soldiers went through as the North Korean Army would make a run for the line with hundreds of soldiers. Yet, despite their fear and hardships, the American boys kept slogging it out. They managed, with the help of air support, to fight off the enemy each time.
"It was hand-to-hand stuff," said Sydney. "And we did go through some very fierce fighting. We had to crawl up to the truce line. Crawl, or get your head blown off. If it hadn’t been for the air strikes, we would probably have been gone."
They did experience a "cease fire" for a day and Sidney observed the North Koreans pick up their dead on the battlefield. They used a white flag to signify the cease fire. Many of the dead enemy soldiers froze, wearing few clothes and appeared to have been starving for food. The enemy came very close to Sidney’s foxhole to retrieve the bodies. They just stared at each other.
Sidney received the Army Occupational Medal Japan; Korean Service Medal with Bronze Service Star; United Nations Service Medal; and the Combat Infantry Badge.
Finally he was told in September 1952 that he was going home.
"I had a few scratches and I lost hearing in one ear from shell shock," he said. "Otherwise I came out all right."
When he arrived at the "replacement center" he gave that same .45 caliber gun to an arriving GI so as to keep the tradition going.
The last picture he had taken was of him with a local woman he had just met while leaving.
The returning soldiers boarded a ship and arrived in San Francisco three days later. During the trip Sidney was so tired, that he did not eat much but just slept. He was later sent to Camp Carson, Colo., where he was told that he would be on inactive reserves for five years and discharged.
He took a train to Union Station in Kansas City and then a Greyhound bus to Gallatin,
Sidney settled on a 90 acre farm in Daviess County. Besides farming, he worked at Hallmark for a year and a half. Then he worked at the Lambert cap factory in Gallatin for nine years and was assistant manager. He was head of maintenance at the Daviess County Nursing Home for a while. He owned a furniture store in Gallatin at one time called the Outlet Store, along with partner J.C. Campbell. Upon retirement he built a drag racing and circle track off of Hwy. 36 toward St. Joseph called US 36 Raceway.
He built a house and lives there with the love of his life — Helen. They were married on Nov. 12,1954. Helen worked for the telephone company in Gallatin. It was first called the Inter-County Phone Company; then Missouri Telephone; and it had other names. They had a house at Lake Viking for a while. But they’ve lived most of their lives on Hwy. CC in the house that Sidney built. They have two sons: Jerry Lyn of Kearney and Mike of Cameron; two grandsons; one great-grandson; and three step grandchildren.
"I got off the bus in Gallatin at the sale barn," Sidney recalls. "I carried my duffel bag over my shoulder and walked as far as Place’s Dairy, which is about where the grade school is now. A man came by and picked me up. It was Gene Caldwell’s grandpa. He brought me home. I just stood there in the yard a bit, thinking. It all ended, right where it began."