Uncle Karl

terribly early in the morning on Tuesday, the 26th of April 2005 by Chad

KOREAN WAR CASUALTIES, 1st Cavalry Division, 5th Cavalry Regiment, LETTER ‘A’
AMBERG KARL A Rank=CPL Serial Number=RA32062932 Branch=Infantry
Military Occupation Specialty=04745 Year of Birth= Race=Caucasian
State of Residence=NJ County of Residence=Essex
Unit=5th Cav Regt Division=1st Cav Div Type of Unit=Inf Regt
Place of Casualty=South Korea Date of Casualty (yymmdd)=50 09 11
Type of Casualty=DOW
Detail of Casualty=SWA/Seriously wounded in action by missile
Group of Casualty=DOW or DOI (Far East Command)
Evacuation Disposition=

That’s all that is to be found about my grandfather’s brother who died in Korea. The rest of the story is the interesting part.
Seems he was on his way home after his tour was over, and stopped in Hawaii. Stopped in a bar, where he got in a fight with a Russian naval officer. Killed him. Big diplomatic mess. Lots of embassies screaming at each other.
The powers that be wanted to make this mess go away, so Corporal Karl Amberg was sent to the front lines, in the worst of several battles, until the problem finally went away. Hit by a mortar round, he managed to hang on until he made it to the MASH unit.
I never met him, of course, since he died twenty years before I was born.