Sidney Franks said this pocket knife saved his life during the Korean War. Sidney was making his way to the front lines when his fatigues got hung up in some brush and he had to cut himself out.
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“You can’t holler for help on the front lines unless you want a bullet in the head,” he said. Sidney served as an infantryman on the front lines in the Korean Conflict 1950-51.
He’d purchased the American made knife at a pawn shop in downtown Tokyo, Japan. It is a three-blade Camillus of New York, USA.
Sidney said the knife blades are well-worn, mostly due to his using it to dig out a fox hole of volcanic rock.
Sidney found some money going up to the front lines. The military certificates are worth five cents and for use only in “military establishments by authorized military personnel.”
The Korean phrase book is dated March 27, 1944. He traded three packs of cigarettes for it.
Sidney will turn 87 on Oct. 1, and his wife Helen will turn 81 on Oct. 31. They live in rural Gallatin.