"Forgotten War" Vet Recieves Medals 60 Years Later

Stamford Advocate: "Forgotten War" Vet Recieves Medals 60 Years Later
STAMFORD -- On a quiet, slightly damp Saturday afternoon, Korean War veteran Bob Gaipa sat on the sofa in his Stamford living room, speaking about his military service with U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-Greenwich, who listened intently on a chair nearby.

On the coffee table in front of both men were three Army service medals, the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal & Bronze Star and United Nations Service Medal. Gaipa was awarded those honors for his service nearly 60 years ago, yet this was the first time he'd actually seen them.

"This is sort of the icing on the cake. I never expected this," Gaipa said. "This is wonderful. I really appreciate this."

Gaipa's medals, which were obtained through the National Personnel Records Center, likely never reached their recipient because the records proving his service were destroyed in a fire in 1973. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9617, which Gaipa joined, contacted Himes' office regarding the medals and the Congressman's office appealed for new service papers so that Gaipa's medals could be found. Gaipa himself said he never thought of locating them.

"I think that's probably true with most people who served," Gaipa said. "It's just something we did. Most of us made no attempt to get the medals, especially those who were drafted."

Gaipa was drafted into the Army just after graduating college in June 1952. He underwent basic training at Camp Pickett in Virginia for 16 weeks before being shipped out to Korea. He was stationed 40 miles north of Seoul on the 38th Parallel at the Injim River, with 8055 Mobil Army Surgical Hospital, the same MASH unit that was portrayed in the book, film and television series by that name.

"One of the reasons I was really excited to get personally involved with this is that the Korean War is called the `forgotten war,' " Himes said. "It strikes me that there's a lot of people who served in the Korean War, which was a U.N. action for which there's just not much awareness."

Speaking to the Congressman and district director Mark Henson, Gaipa recalled being stationed on one side of the Injim River opposite Chinese forces, watching flares and tracers at night, when all the fighting took place. He also described how, after the end of the war, he was sent to another unit near the 38th parallel and taught English to orphaned Korean children. His classroom had a portable blackboard, one light bulb and little else.

"There were so many orphans at that time in Korea," Gaipa said. "The kids were perfect, of course. No discipline problems."

Gaipa noticed how few clothes the children had and got students from Stark Elementary School to ship boxes of clothing over to Korea. The Advocate covered the story at the time.

Today, Gaipa speaks often to students at Westhill and Stamford high schools, sharing the history of his experiences, particularly that of living with a draft, which was in effect from 1940 to 1973.

"The concept is important, the concept that all citizens have an obligation to do some sort of service for their country," Gaipa said. "And we're sort of losing that perspective."

Himes and Gaipa also spoke about the state of the armed forces today.

"I've always wondered whether, if every Congressman's son and daughter was going into the military, we wouldn't think differently about going to war," Himes said.

The Congressman invited Gaipa to participate in the oral history project, sponsored by the Library of Congress, which is collecting veterans' stories to preserve. Himes' office has already conducted interviews.

"This is why I'm so enthusiastic about talking to the kids about these things," Gaipa said. "We're going to lose those voices."