Veteran Narratives

SSgt. LaVerne P. by Michael J. Thorp

My Dad, L.P. "Jim" Thorp left the family farm in Wells Township in the Thumb of Michigan in 1950; he was 17. He went to serve in Korea as a forward observer/scout. He didn't talk about it much. OH, he would talk about the cold, the trip over in a ship that was bounced around by two typhoons, the food, taking care of his feet, leave in Tokyo, but not much more. At home everyone called him LaVerne or Bernie, but he picked up a new name in Korea, Jim. His buddies called him Jim, after the great Native American athlete Jim Thorp. My brothers and sisters and I always knew that if someone called and asked for Jim, it was someone he knew after his service in the Army, if they asked for LaVerne they were likely relatives. He served his first tour in Korea and came home to train others in Louisiana. He was bored and decided to volunteer to go back to Korea, since he would get a chance to go home on leave first. (He always said it was the last time he volunteered for anything) However, on his trip home an amazing thing happened, he met my mother, Barbara DeGrow, the woman he would spend the rest of his life with, on a train. She was with a girlfriend coming home from a vacation. Dad visited mom in Flint, Michigan while on leave. His family didn't have a car so he had to hitch hike. So here he was, on his way back to Korea, but this time he had a reason not to go; my mom! I can't imagine what he was thinking at the time. If he hadn't volunteered to go back to Korea he wouldn't have met her. But now he had a reason to live but he had to return to the battlefields of Korea. Dad, and his brother Richard "Dutch" were over there at the same time and were two of the lucky ones who came home. He was always aware of how blessed he was to get to come home. My dad always said he was no hero, that the heroes were those who didn't get to come home. He was right, but he was still a hero, my hero.