Although my schooling and initial training was in vehicle maintenance and repair, my primary duty was performing highly classified activity under the direction and surveillance of the Atomic Energy Commission.

My duties involved the loading unloading and maintenance of nuclear weapons on B-36, B-47 and B-50 aircraft.

Since we were the initial Air Force base to receive nuclear weapons after only lab testing, many of the duties and safety measures were not completely defined. We were not issued any protective wear or monitoring equipment, so recording of any exposure data was not available.

During the loading and unloading of the aircraft, the nuclear warhead was beside me at all times. It was during these times that I was exposed to radiation that has later caused me to have multiple myeloma (cancer of the bone marrow), and mononeuritis multiplex (nerve disease.)

After becoming completely paralyzed, it has taken me more than 12 years of therapy and medication to perform some of life’s basic functions again. The VA health system has taken very good care of me.

They will not, at present, acknowledge that I was exposed to any radiation since no official data was recorded. I am still pursuing my case through the appeals process.

 was part of the 555th Field Artillery Battalion that was completely overrun by the Chinese on July 14, 1953. It was one of the worst massacres of Americans in the Korean War. The Chinese Army charged three sides of the U.S. unit smashing the perimeter, batteries and command post.

The battalion came out with only five of its 105 Howitzers and sustained heavy losses in personnel. This occurred at the 38th parallel near Seoul, South Korea. For the next two weeks, we were surrounded and swarmed by the enemy and found ourselves in a desperate attempt to escape the attacking Chinese Army. We were out of contact with our base. Eventually we were rescued by the 29th Infantry Division. I ended up spending one year in Korea and returned home in August 1953.

Serving as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army has opened many doors for me. It has also taken me many places I once only dreamed to visit. This experience has afforded me the opportunity to counsel, advise and defend soldiers of every branch across the globe during pre-deployment, mobilization and de-mobilization stages.

I’m continuously impressed by the selfless service our young men and women in uniform demonstrate as they prepare to leave their loved ones to enter battle. I’ve also come to appreciate the freedoms we sometime take for granted in the United States. As a citizen, I’m willing to do my part to help preserve those liberties.

I’m proud to call myself a warrior citizen.

I am a 29-year Air Force retiree and have resided in Tacoma since 1979. I retired as a Senior Master Sergeant.

In 1951, I enlisted and was sent to Spokane for air gunnery training, but the school was closing down, so I was sent to Fort Lewis to the specialist chef and bakers training school. On my last day of training, I was returning in a military ton-and-a-half truck that overturned and I suffered several fractured vertebras. I spent the next nine months at Madigan Hospital recovering. After my recovery, I went to the food service squadron at McChord Air Force Base.

In 1955, I was transferred to Beaver Lodge in Alberta, Canada, for 13 months and then back to McChord. I was assigned to General Gillespie’s staff. I remained there until 1964, when I was transferred to Evreux, France, and stationed at Fallville Support Base where I trained in agriculture and chef school. I supervised the dietician meals.

In 1967, I was assigned to the Adair Air Station in Corvallis, OR, as the club steward. Two years later, I was transferred to Tachikawa, Japan, under the direction of General McGhees’ staff as Loadmaster on his aircraft. We then transferred to Peterson Field Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, CO, with the same staff. I remained there until 1974, when I was assigned to Shape International Headquarters in Mons, Belgium, where I again served as a Loadmaster. This time it was on General Goodpastures’ staff.

In 1979 General Haig assumed command and I served as Loadmaster on his staff until my retirement in 1979.

For a number of months, I worked as a security guard for, among other things, the beer refrigerated unit. I was never shot at, or had to take a shot, which is amazing considering I was stationed to guard most of the beer reserves on the island. I was discharged in Lido Beach Long Island in late 1946.

After the service, I enrolled at Champlain College in Plattsburg, N.Y. for one year on the GI Bill and finished my education at Harper College which has now been consolidated as Binghamton College. I spent 34 years as an account executive for Georgia Pacific, selling safety paper for the Western United States.

Currently, I live at the Redwoods Retirement Center in Mill Valley, Calif., which is an eclectic town 10 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge. I play many instruments including guitar, banjo and the harmonica. I am active in Seniors for Peace, and every Friday we gather at the busy intersection in town and hold signs and play music for the crowds. I am divorced and have two boys and one girl.

I attended basic training in Buckley Field, CO, as a bombardier. After some “creative” changes to my height, as I was listed as 6’ 2” and the maximum height allowed was 5’ 11”, I began my training. I started with B-24 training and had to strip down to my underwear, as otherwise I didn’t fit in the small enclosed spaces. I eventually trained on a B-29 as a gunnery class through the remainder of 1944.

I never got to use my training, as the war ended before I was cleared into service. After my discharge, I returned to Seattle where I went to the University of Washington on the GI Bill.

After the UW, I worked at Weyerhaeuser for 12 years as a chief accountant, at Alaska Airline as a budget director, and for 18 years as treasurer of an industrial supply company.

I am 83 years old and currently reside at Foundation House in Federal Way with my wife of 16 years, Evie.

After one visit to the local unemployment office to sign up for the 52/20 club, as I had been advised to do, I decide that I was better off as a buck sergeant in the Army, so I re-enlisted. I was assigned as a non-commissioned officer in charge of a troop train from St. Louis to Keesler Field, MS. From there I went to Fort Jackson, S.C. After attending the Signal Corps Photographic Center on Long Island in New York state, I went to Fort Dix, N.J. for shipment to Germany.

In February 1948, I was assigned to the 6th Constabulary Regiment in Schweinfurt with temporary duty to the 53rd Constabulary Squadron in Schwabach and Weiden. The 53rd was reorganized as the 15th Constabulary Squadron with the mission of keepers of law and order in Germany along the borders of the U.S. Zone, the Soviet Zone and the country of Czechoslovakia. My duties were: official U.S. Army photographer, special investigations section investigator, provost sergeant, NCOIC of the special police platoon, commander of the honor guard and first sergeant of headquarters troop.

I was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in January 1952, and assigned as a reconnaissance platoon leader. I served as trial counsel on several special court martials. I remained with the 15th Constabulary Squadron until July 1952 when I returned to the U.S.

I held several command and staff assignments at Fort Leavenworth, KS, until 1956, when I transferred to Keflavik, Iceland, for duty with the 2nd Battalion Combat Team. In December 1956, I went to Fort Benning, GA, until mid-1957 then to Fort Lawton, WA, until 1960.

I went back to Germany and served with the 21st Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division. I was captain of the 1st Battalion marksmanship team and we took second place in the NATO shooting matches. I returned to the U.S. in May 1963, and was assigned as the senior officer advisor in the VI US Army Corps Officer Command in Pontiac and Flint, MI.

During my Army career, I achieved 14 enlisted and commissioned ranks. I was selected for promotion to lieutenant colonel, but I chose to retire in April 1966 with a rank of major.

I currently reside in Federal Way. I have one daughter and triplet grandchildren. My first wife, Irma, preceded me in death in 2003. I am now remarried to my beautiful bride, Katie.

During my first deployment to Korea, I helped load ammunition and food, shoveled snow for plane landings and helped launch jets that bombed enemy targets. Everyone had a job to do, and I was a part of it.

When my orders finally came in, I was in Japan at the time. I was supposed to report back to the United States but I missed the ship that was going back. Instead, I boarded the carrier General Gaffey and made stops in the islands and ports in the Pacific before finally arriving in San Diego to a hero’s welcome.

After the war, I took a job as an elevator mechanic and as a city inspector for Seattle. I retired after 23 years.

Little did I realize that after the war, Harold Welch would marry and have a daughter named Laura. Laura would eventually marry a guy by the name of George Bush, who would eventually become the president of the United States.

On Veterans Day 2006, Laura Bush invited all of the survivors of the 555th to a breakfast at the White House. Her invitation included wives and children. There were 40 veterans who attended. I was there along with my wife, LaVerne, and our six children. We had our picture taken with the president and first lady.

During the war, our battalion was involved in the Battle of the Bulge. This was the most stressful period of our entire combat. The sky was overcast and the temperatures were in the 20s with lots of snow. We had no way to stay warm, and there was always threat of an enemy nearby. On Christmas Day, the skies cleared. It was beautiful and snow covered all of the debris of war. Suddenly the air was full of planes – mostly our planes. Bombers were headed to Germany and there were bombers coming back from Germany. There were also low flying fighter planes attacking ground targets.

I was standing next to one of our guns when we saw two planes coming at us. Even though we saw that they were P-51’s, they started firing at us as though we were the enemy. The gun next to me returned fire and shot both of them down. One of the pilots survived. I will point out that there were cases where Germans were using captured U.S. equipment so it was natural to assume that these might have been Germans using our planes. We caught hell for this incident, which led to a write up in Time magazine. The name of the fellow who did the shooting was Lester Brown.

We had dinner in the hotel the evening after our visit to the White House. I happened to sit next to one of the vets. I did not recognize him. We introduced ourselves. His name was Lester Brown. We had an emotional recollection of the events on Christmas Day 1944. A few weeks ago, Lester Brown was killed in an auto accident in St. Louis, MO.

We worked 24/7 and copied messages from Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba, among other traffic from that part of the globe. Asmara was quite high in elevation and one would often pass through clouds on our way down to the Red Sea at Massawa for rest and relaxation.

Asmara had been built up by the Italians during their occupation up until after World War II. When I was there, it was just beginning a slow state of decline, as almost all of the Italians who ran and maintained it had been forced to leave. It was a wonderful little town with tree-lined avenues and an ideal climate that stayed around 80 degrees. There was a short rainy season when it would pour for an hour or two, then the sun would come out and it would be another beautiful day. The people were friendly, though curious of what we were doing there which, of course, was top secret at that time.

Asmara was considered a hardship post, but we were able to take MAT’s flights to anywhere in the world (except home) on our leaves. Houseboys made our beds, shined our shoes and cleaned the barracks. The food was excellent. On Thanksgiving and Christmas, there was a traditional roast pig complete with an apple in its mouth. Jack Daniels Black was 20 cents a shot and we consumed more vodka than any of the far larger posts in the European theatre. Smirnoff flew to our small base (there was only a few hundred of us) and threw us a party complete with a bathtub full of free vodka and adjacent tables stocked with orange juice. I will never forget that night. There were many others I could not remember on the following mornings.

I just graduated college and turned 21 when I enlisted. Vietnam was going on in full swing at that time, and I feel guilty about how easy it was for us, though many of the men were miserably homesick. I wasn’t. I loved the local people and was able to visit Jerusalem, Germany, Greece, Egypt and a host of other places. I have never since had so many friends, such great food, inexpensive booze and free travel to exotic places. It was one of the happiest, most carefree times of my life.

After my discharge, I went back to college and the government paid my way through a master’s degree. I wish that military experience could be as good for all of our enlisted men and women. I was one of a few who got very, very lucky.