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korea not a 'forgotten war by families of fallen

Story by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

At first, President Harry Truman described it as a “police action” between the northern and southern parts of the country, but for the more than 35,000 who were killed during the Korean War, it demanded the ultimate sacrifice from them and their families.

U.S. Marine Cpl. Charles Leo Flynn, born in Elizabethtown, was one of the casualties of the war which began June 25, 1950 when North Koreans crossed the 38th parallel, the de facto division of the country. The North was supported by Communist China and the South by the United States and the western world.
President Truman decided the Koreans needed help from the United States.

“Communism was acting in Korea, just as Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese had ten, fifteen, and twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea was allowed to fall Communist leaders would be emboldened to override nations closer to our own shores. If the Communists were permitted to force their way into the Republic of Korea without opposition from the free world, no small nation would have the courage to resist threat and aggression by stronger Communist neighbors.”

Cpl. Flynn came from a patriotic family whose members had answered the call to service over the generations and continue to do so today, according to Cpl. Flynn’s younger brother, Larry.

A grandfather had served in the “Yankee Army” during the Civil War; his father fought in the Great War — World War I — as an Army sergeant, and a brother fought in World War II as a captain and pilot in the Army Air Corps.

Larry Flynn served as an Army sergeant first class during the Vietnam era, and his son serves as a major in the Army Reserves.

The family began life on a farm near Elizabethtown where Larry Flynn and his older siblings were born, but moved to town when the senior Flynn became the county superintendent of schools. He held that position for 29 years.
Larry Flynn, who now lives in Golconda, described Elizabethtown as “a great place to grow up with a population at that time of about 700 people, boasting two large grocery stores and six to seven small ones, restaurants, bars and three filling stations.

Many of the breadwinners worked at one of three Hardin County fluorspar mines near Rosiclare.

Larry Flynn, a member of St. Joseph’s Church in Elizabethtown and a VFW and American Legion member, said the group places American flags on the graves of veterans to honor them on Memorial Day. However, he added that he keeps a flag on his brother’s grave all of the time.

Looking back, Flynn said his brother was “rough and ready,” but he didn’t think he would join the service. Less than a month before it was time for him to come home, he was killed Nov. 25, 1952, when dynamite exploded prematurely as his team was preparing to detonate a bridge.

Well liked by others, three members of his unit visited the family to talk about their friend and fellow soldier after he died.

They described the corporal as “a good guy, not afraid of anything,” somebody who would help anybody.
Larry Flynn was in high school. “I was real close to him,” he said. “If I had a dollar, he had a dollar.”
When his brother died, Larry Flynn was devastated, he said.

The Flynn family believed in their country and still does. “Patriotism drew us in,” Larry Flynn said of his family’s dedication to the military. “You believe in your country.”

Cpl. Flynn was 19 years old when he died, and his death took a toll on his parents as well. They visited the cemetery every day for two years after he was buried in Elizabethtown.

Thinking about this Memorial Day, Larry Flynn said: “It’s a day we need to honor those who gave their lives” so that people can enjoy the freedoms we have.