Whenever folks ask William Massengale of Petal about his experiences during the Korean War, he says he gives them just "the facts."

1. Korean War veterans
honored
'Today we're not
going to forget'
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20120523/NEWS01/205230314

2. Whenever folks ask William Massengale of Petal about his
experiences during the Korean War, he says he gives them just
"the facts."
"I don't elaborate on it. Sometimes you want to forget what
happened over there," said Massengale, explaining that it hurts
to dwell on "who we lost and what we lost."
However, it's the need to remember that spurred a special
ceremony honoring Mississippi Korean War veterans on Tuesday
at Lake Terrace Convention Center.
"All too often the Korean War has been known as the forgotten
war," said Maj. Gen. Augustus L. Collins, adjutant general of
Mississippi's National Guard. "Well, today we're not going to
forget."

3. It's not simply that the war has become a distant memory, with
nearly 60 years' separation from its end in July 1953. The war
started in June 1950.
It's also the fact the war has suffered the indignity of sometimes
being classified as just a conflict or police action in the years
since - despite the fact it cost 32,000 Americans their lives.
"The folks I served with, they didn't think it was a police action,"
said Massengale who served for 18 months as a corporal in the
U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division.
U.S. Department of Defense representatives presented more
than 50 veterans with certificates of gratitude for their defense of
South Korea against invasion by communist North Korea.

4. The certificates commended them for fighting "in defense of
democracy and freedom" as they "stemmed the tide of
communism" on the Korean peninsula.
The ceremony came through a partnership of the Department of
Defense, African American Military History Museum and the
Mississippi Armed Forces Museum.
It's one of many such events across the nation. Congress
authorized the Department of Defense in 2010 to organize
ceremonies through 2013 in conjunction with the 60th
anniversary of the war.
Mayor Johnny DuPree began the ceremony by recognizing
some prominent Hattiesburg residents who fought in
Korea, including former Mayor Bobby Chain and Clarence
Magee, president of the Forrest County branch of the NAACP.