Howard Wilt: 'The sacrifice was worth it'

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One of Howard "Howdy" Wilt's most vivid memories of his tour of duty in Korea was the day his enlistment expired.

Wilt, a Marine Corps sergeant, went to his First Sergeant's tent and asked him when the truck would arrive to take him away from the front lines.

"I told him my enlistment was up that day and wondered when the truck would be there to take me back. He said, 'Sergeant, you are now at the convenience of the government,'" Wilt said. "I kind of figured that would be his reply. I was just kidding him."

On another occasion, Wilt and several of his comrades were sitting on cots playing poker in a tent when an enemy shell burst overhead. A shell fragment tore through the top of the tent and became embedded in a cot behind one of the poker players.

"It didn't bother him at all," Wilt recalls of the near-miss. "I said, 'S***, I missed rotation (out of Korea) by 2 feet.'"

That was the type of humor American troops used to deal with the harsh - and sometimes horrific - conditions of life on the front lines, Wilt said.

"There is constant stress when you're in combat, and you have to find humor to deal with the stress and uncertainty," he said. "You have to do that just to cope."

Fear was a constant companion during the 13 months Wilt spent in Korea.

"You don't lose your fear, but you learn to live with it," he said.

"Anybody who goes into combat and says they're not afraid are either crazy or lying to you," he said.

The chain of events that brought Wilt to Korea began on March 18, 1948. That is the day he enlisted in the Marine Reserves. Because the corps had no active reserve unit in Williamsport at the time, Wilt did not attend monthly meetings.

Shortly after his enlistment, Wilt began dating his future wife Dottie, whose father was a mess sergeant for Battery B of the local National Guard Field Artillery unit. Dottie's father told Wilt that he could join the unit, whose officials would secure his release from the Marine Corps Reserves.

"I joined, and each time I asked about my release, I was told, 'Don't worry, we'll get your release.' This went on from July of 1948 until the Korean War started in 1950," Wilt said.

By then, the corps was in no mood to release Wilt. When he received a letter from the corps instructing him to report to Philadelphia for a physical, his National Guard commander promised to take care of it. He never did.

Two weeks later, Wilt received another letter from the Marines instructing him to report for his physical by Oct. 30, 1950 - or else.

Wilt was sent to Parris Island, S.C., for boot camp and from there went to Camp Pendleton, Calif., for advanced infantry and artillery training. After two months in California, Wilt boarded a ship bound for Korea.

Once in Korea, he was assigned to Fox Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 105 Howitzers, Gun number 2 of the 1st Marine Division. He joined his unit just after it had fought its way out of an encirclement by the Chinese Army at the Chosin Reservoir.

"They had fallen back to Pusan, and that's where I joined them," Wilt said.

In March, the 1st Division began its spring offensive and began to push northward along the east coast of Korea. Wilt said he was asked to provide weapons instruction to his unit and was thus made gun chief after the previous gun chief had rotated back to the states.

Wilt said he remembers his first night stationed at an outpost opposite the Chinese. Terrified, he lined grenades in a row in front of him, certain that he would have to use them before the night was over.

"I was the most frightened I've ever been or ever will be," he said. "I had no idea what was out in front of me."

Wilt said he had been told that the Chinese communicated by making bird calls prior to an attack.

"I'm sure I heard ducks quacking all night," he said.

Wilt said another incident occured in which an entire South Korean Army division walked off the main line of defense to go on rest and relaxation. Wilt's artillery battalion was rushed in to fill the gap left in the line by the retiring South Koreans.

"We fired continuously for 36 hours. We even had the chaplain helping to break out ammo," he said. When the firing was over, Wilt's howitzer barrel was burned out, he said.

Wilt said he has many memories of his time in Korea. Some of them were very sad, while others were pleasant, he said.

April 12, 1952, was a little bit of both. That was the day the truck he'd been waiting for finally arrived to take him on the first leg of his journey home.

"I was happy to get out of there, but I was sorry I was leaving the group," he said. "They were my close friends. We were just like family."

After he returned home, Wilt was honorably discharged from both the Marine Corps Reserves and the National Guard.

He worked briefly at Avco-Lycoming (now Textron), then at Glyco Chemical Co. (now Lonza Inc.) for more than 38 years, the last 17 of which he served as safety manager.

His wife Dottie, a former Lycoming County commissioner, died in 1995. Wilt married his second wife Jean in 1997.

Wilt was among five local Korean War veterans who founded the Korean War Veterans of Lycoming County in 1997. The group also included William Kast, William Welter, Fred Schaefer and John Kellenstine.

Each member of the original group put up $20, opened a post office box and began inviting people to join the organization.

From that original group, the organization has grown to nearly 400 members. The organization's honor guard has performed ceremonies at more than 700 veterans' funerals.

"They are a great group of people. The honor guard - I've never met such a bunch of honorable and dedicated people," he said. "They realize what they're doing for their fellow veterans."

Wilt said he is equally proud of the American soldiers who fought communist aggression during the Korean War.

"The sacrifice was worth it. We lost a lot of people, but that's one of the things you have to accept with war," he said. "Every one of those people contributed to a freer world."