This area hero was injured in a Korean War firefight, and he’ll lead Hamilton’s parade on Memorial Day

Joe Garrett dropped out of Seven Mile High School in 11th grade to join the Army, because “I wanted to get over there and kill North Koreans,” he said. “My best friend that I grew up with, he was already over there.”

It took two months after he turned 17 before he persuaded is mother to sign the papers that let him join the service in 1950.

“I was there two months and 16 days,” he said this week. “That’s when I got hit. “

He and about 80 others with the 2nd Infantry Division were on a bare, rocky North Korean hillside one morning when the enemy on the other side of a ridgeline started firing.

He was struck by mortar shrapnel in the left leg and foot, and — as many others sprinted for their lives — he stepped on a land mine.

“It was a wooden box mine, and they were only good to take your foot off,” he said. “I was running really fast, and I was on it and off of it, so I missed a good part of the blast. That’s the only thing that saved my foot, was the fact I was running so fast.

“We never got to fire a shot. “It really was a bad scene.”

Garrett will serve Monday as grand marshal of the Memorial Day Parade in Hamilton, which starts at 10 a.m. on South Monument Avenue. The parade will travel up Court Street to High Street, to 7th Street, onto Heaton Street, finishing at Greenwood Ceremony, where Air Force veteran and member of the Butler County Veterans Service Commission will be keynote speaker.

The mine broke most of the bones in the front of his left foot, and he lost the tips of a couple of toes. His body also was badly injured. He later received a Purple Heart.

Only 11 from his 38-man platoon weren’t injured or killed that morning. Four died, and 23 were hurt.

Compared to his two months stationed in Korea, “I spent four months and three days in the hospital recuperating,” he said.

“It was probably the most exciting moment of my life,” he said with a quiet laugh. “Once I got out of the hospital, I went back on duty, but I was limited. I could no longer serve in the infantry.”

After the hospital, Garrett was stationed in California, preparing other troops who were bound for Korea for their basic training.

Garrett, now 85, spent most of his life out west and retired from Union Pacific Railroad in Las Vegas. He was a switchman, brakeman and conductor. He moved back to Butler County in 2012.

If he had it to do again, he still would enlist.

“I don’t regret quitting high school and going in,” he said. “I got hurt and all of that, but I learned things that no amount of high school would have ever taught me about life.”

“It was great,” said Garrett, a father of three. “I really enjoyed the military, and I would have liked to have stayed in.”

One of his brothers retired from the Army after 21 1/2 years. His oldest brother served 3 1/2 years with the Navy in the Pacific during World War II. His father, Marion Garrett, served during World War I.

“One thing about the Garrett boys: We never waited around to be drafted. We all enlisted,” he said.

American Legion Post 138 again will place flags on graves of veterans at Greenwood Cemetery, St. Stephen Cemetery, the Jewish Cemetery and St. Mary Cemetery, as well as Hickory Flat Cemetery in Overpeck. They only will put flags at markers that indicate the deceased was a veteran.

Anyone with a family member who was a veteran whose grave does not indicate they served can contact Fred Bailey at (513) 886-8670 or the Legion at (513) 889-0138 so flags can be placed at their markers in the future.

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