Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Lou Pardy

Korea | Headquarters Company, 73rd Tank Battalion

After a training operation in the Caribbean, Lou Pardy was settling in to a routine as a clerk in a tank battalion when the Korean War broke out. They were given seven days to get ready to leave and, after that hectic week, they were shipped to a slightly more hectic location, the Pusan Perimeter. (4:56)
After moving around South Korea, Records Clerk Lou Pardy prepared to head into North Korea to Hungnam. The unit was in relief of Marines, whose tanks were not winterized. It was bitterly cold and there was a constant stream of refugees to screen in addition to regular duties. Finally, as the Allies lost ground, the city was evacuated in almost disastrous fashion. (5:40)
Records clerk Lou Pardy had always been just behind the front lines with Headquarters Company, but after the rapid retreat from North Korea, all HQ personnel were moved back to Seoul. As his rotation date neared, and with a savvy replacement already in place, he took an unofficial job as a courier, which carried him back to the front on a daily basis. (3:23)
Lou Pardy remembers the daily grind of Korea, the constant moving around and making do wherever you were. He also reflects on his long tenure as a Corporal, and why that was, and on his ill-fated attempt to reenter the military years after the war. (4:20)
Lou Smith

WWII | F Company, 2nd Battalion, 21st Regiment, 3rd Division

He had to play a little game with the paperwork, but Lou Smith got his mother to sign so he could join the Marines at 17. He was disappointed to be assigned to guard duty in Norfolk after training, but he still did the best he could. He wanted to get in on the action in the Pacific. (4:48)
On Guam, Lou Smith was made a scout because he was from Kentucky. He wasn't too sure about that but he learned the job and set about mopping up the enemy on the island. He is still shaken to this day by what happened when a Japanese soldier blundered into the almost deserted camp and everyone went for their rifles. (5:31)
They were training for the next operation after securing Guam without knowing what it would be. Marine Lou Smith was a scout but he wanted something else. After a last skirmish line across the island to flush out the final holdouts, he got his wish. (3:12)
One morning the Marines got breakfast made to order, so they knew they would have to saddle up very soon. B-29 pilots had been telling them that where they were going, they could walk right in after the pounding they had delivered. Lou Smith and the rest of those men had a ring side seat, waiting just off shore at Iwo Jima and watching as that prediction was proven very wrong. On the fourth day, they joined the battle. (3:16)
Heading inland on Iwo Jima, Marine Lou Smith dug in and waited for morning. Advancing across the air field, he got his first taste of machine gun fire and then an artillery barrage for good measure. The next day, as he crouched behind a knoll, a grenade trailing smoke landed right there. Part 1 of 2. (4:56)
It took a while to find the aid station on Iwo Jima after a long night in a foxhole. Lou Smith's left side and hand were peppered with shrapnel and he set off on what turned out to be an epic search for the aid station. Comfortable at last on a hospital ship, he witnessed an emotional and stirring burial at sea. Part 2 of 2. (4:59)