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| U.S. Army veteran Edward 'Ed' Salmon of Windham displays medals, ribbons and a certificate he received during a special ceremony on Veterans Day at the Windham Veterans Center. Salmon, 91, never received the medals for his military service during the Korean War following his discharge and return to civilian life in 1952. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE |
Nearly 70 years ago, Edward “Ed” Salmon answered the call to
be drafted into the U.S. Army and logged two years creating critical lines of
communication for soldiers in combat zones on the Korean Peninsula during the
Korean War. When his time in the Army was up, Salmon returned to the United
States vowing to make a life for himself, but there was always something
missing.
On Veterans Day, Salmon, 91, of Windham, who went on to earn a
college degree in civil engineering and served for 20 years as the Director of
Plant Facilities for the University of Maine at Orono, was brought full-circle
to his military career when he was awarded five medals and two ribbons for his
service in Korea.
Born in 1929 in Cornwells Heights, Pennsylvania, Salmon just missed being drafted for service in World War II because he was too young, but as he was approaching his 21st birthday in December 1950, he was drafted and was among the first soldiers to train for eight weeks at the newly reopened Fort Meade in Maryland. From there Private First Class Salmon was sent to Fort Benning in Georgia for further training and then he swapped places with a fellow solder going home on a hardship discharge and was sent to Korea early in 1951.
Working in heavily fortified areas, he learned to climb
telephone poles and crisscrossed much of the
Korean Peninsula building,
installing and maintaining communications lines. It was tough and dangerous
work, under constant watch by the enemy and sometimes being shot at.
Because of the nature of their mission, his unit didn’t
receive much recognition by the Eighth Army based in Tokyo and to a man was
overlooked for promotions in rank and unheralded for their work under some of
the most trying conditions of the war.
“I didn’t particularly care for any of it,” Salmon said. “You
were constantly on the move and I didn’t like Korean food.”
After spending almost 13 months in the combat zone, Salmon was
discharged and back in the USA by February 1953, feeling lucky to have survived
the experience.
He was accepted for admission to the University of Maine and
earned a Bachelor of Science degree. He began his civilian career working as a
structural design consultant for a Massachusetts firm and then returned to
Maine to work for a construction company in Yarmouth.
Salmon married his first wife and they had four sons together.
After his marriage fell apart, he met his current wife, Pat, in Portland and
they have been married for 37 years, moving to Windham about 15 years ago.
“He didn’t talk about his time in the military,” Pat Salmon
said. “About four or five years ago, we started going to the Togus VA Center
for a hearing problem he has and it was
then he started thinking and talking about the medals he never received for his
military service.”
She said that he knew he had been awarded some medals for his
time in Korea but had never physically received them.
“It was something that had passed long ago,” Salmon said. “I
did my job and came back. But I had a life to lead and went on with my life. Over
the years I forgot all about them.”
Being around other veterans at the Togus VA Center rekindled
his desire to obtain his medals, he said.
Pat Salmon helped him fill out paperwork to receive his
medals, but a few issues stalled the process.
“His DD 214 discharge papers had his birthday wrong,” she
said. “They had his birthday off by one day and getting that corrected took
some time.”
In his role as Adjutant of the American Legion post, David
Tanguay was able to obtain the medals for
Ed Salmon.
During a special ceremony at the Windham Veterans Center on
Veterans Day, Salmon received not three medals as he had thought he had coming,
but five medals and two ribbons.
He received the National Defense Service Medal Award
retroactive to 1950; the Korean War Service Medal, the United Nations Korean
War Service Medal; the Korean Commemorative Medal; the Korean Service Medal;
the U.S. Army Presidential Citation Ribbon; and the Korean Presidential
Citation ribbon.
“I was very pleased to get them and with two of my kids there
to watch me receive them,” Salmon said.
The framed medals, ribbons and a commemorative certificate
from the American Legion now occupy a prominent place in the family’s living
room and are a source of great pride for them.
According to Pat Salmon, the family is grateful to Tanguay and
the American Legion for helping fulfill Ed Salmon’s dream of receiving the
medals he earned in Korea and for the camaraderie of being around other
veterans.
“He needed the social outlet,” Pat Salmon said. “It has allowed him to meet and talk with others who have shared his experience. We can’t thank David and his wife Lin enough for their efforts in introducing us to the group and helping make this such a memorable time for us.” <
