LYNN — The 18 months he served in Korea are far from forgotten for Norman Thibodeau who makes sure his grandson learns as much as he can about the so-called “forgotten war.”
Thibodeau, aided by a walker, was escorted by his grandson, Liam Finnegan, to Friday’s annual City Hall salute to Korean War veterans, attended by 80 veterans and their relatives and elected officials.
Thibodeau served with the Army’s 7th Division and he recalled tugging on two pairs of socks, two pairs of pants and coats to stave off Korea’s winter chill.
“You think it’s cold around here. Over there, you froze your knockers off,” he said.
Thibodeau and 16 fellow Korean War veterans stood for a group photograph in City Hall’s foyer after city Veterans Services Director Michael Sweeney read the names of 35 Lynn residents killed while serving in Korea.
Their names are enshrined on a plaque mounted on a City Hall corridor wall next to plaques memorializing city residents killed in the Vietnam War and in World War II.
Sweeney thanked the Lynn Veterans Council for ensuring the Korean War is remembered annually in the city. Stretching from 1950 to 1953, the war claimed almost 40,000 American lives and left 100,000 people who served injured. The war ended with the signing of an armistice on July 27, 1953.
Thibodeau served in Korea in 1951-1952 and he has read books throughout his life on the war and passed them onto his grandson who is 17 — the age Thibodeau was when he enlisted in the Army.
Martin McDonough enlisted fresh out of Lynn Trade School where he played football. Unlike soldiers serving in Korea, McDonough and fellow Marines were not issued winter equipment until 1954, he said.
“We had a poncho and shivered. When the rainy season came, it was worse than the cold,” he said.
He has worked in the water treatment industry since 1956, including more than 40 years with the former city Water Department and Lynn Water and Sewer Commission. The 14 months he served in Korea remain etched in his memory.
“I was a young 19-year-old but I grew up,” he said.
