Don Leaser

[Beginning of Transcribed Material]

 

D:        My name is Don Leaser, LEASER.

I:          LEASER.

D:        Right.

I:          And when is your birthday?

D:        Eight, eight, thirty-three.

I:          So, your birthday was a few days ago.

D:        Yep.

I:          Happy Birthday, Don.

D:        Thank you.

I:          So, where were you born?

D:        Antigo, Wisconsin.

I:          ANT?

D:        IGO.

 

0:00:30

I:          DO.

D:        GO.

I:          Wisconsin?

D:        Yes.

I:          Antigo.

D:        I was supposed to [INAUDIBLE] Decatur, Illinois.

I:          What is it?
D:        Decatur.

I:          Could you spell it?
D:        DECATUR.

I:          DEC

 

 

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D:        ATUR, Decatur.

I:          Decatur.

D:        Illinois.

I:          Tell me about your family when you were growing up, your parents and your siblings.

D:        We lived on a farm [INAUDIBLE] [TROUBLE BREATHING]

I:          Take your breath.  Take your time.

 

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D:        Okay, I guess.

I:          Um hm.

D:        We can go.

I:          So, you had a farm.
D:        We had a small farm.  My dad ran a dairy farm.  So, he come up here to [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Okay.  How about your siblings, brothers and sisters when we were growing up.

D:        No.

I:          No brothers?  You were an only child?

 

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D:        Yeah, we had a little girl.

I:          How many?

D:        Just one sister.

I:          Just one sister.  And when did you graduate high school?
D:        Fifty-three.

I:          Fifty-three.

D:        Fifty-three.

I:          And what high school did you graduate from?
D:        Antigo.

I:          Antigo?
D:        Antigo.

I:          ANTI?

D:        GO, yeah.

I:          TIGO, Antigo High School.

D:        Right.

 

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I:          In your school, did you learn anything about Korea at the time in your school?
D:        Not really, no.

I:          You didn’t know?
D:        It was large.

I:          And?

 

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So, you didn’t know anything about Korea at the time, right?
D:        No, not really.

I:          Not really.  Did you know anything about China and Japan?
D:        Yeah.  My parents spent lots of time in China.

I:          Uh huh.  But you didn’t know anything about Korea.

D:        No.

I:          Okay.  And what did you do after high school?

D:        Was on commission.

I:          Uh huh.  What do you mean?

 

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D:        I was started up in uh, Japan.

I:          Japan?  So, did you join the Army or what?
D:        Navy.

I:          Navy.  When did you join the Navy?
D:        Eighty-one.

I:          What do you mean ’81?

D:        I was graduated from high school.

 

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Went to the Navy.

I:          Navy.  And that was in ’53?

D:        Yeah.

I:          Okay.  And where did you get the basic military training?
D:        [HEAVY BREATHING]  In boot camp.

I:          Boot camp where?
D:        White Lake.

I:          White Lake.

 

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And then you went to Japan?
D:        Yeah, off and on.

I:          Uh huh.

D:        Korea and come back, [INAUDIBLE] around, go again.

I:          Um hm.

D:        I was kind of a quartermaster from [INAUDIBLE] There’s some pictures there.

 

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I:          You have some pictures, right?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah.  And what was your specialty?
D:        I was a quartermaster.
I:          What does that mean?
D:        You have seven men.

I:          Huh?
D:        And you lead the pack.

I:          So, you did signal?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Uh huh.

D:        Signal, that’s it.

I:          Do you remember any signals still?
D:        Oh, some.

I:          Can you show?
D:        I had to steer a ship once in a while.

 

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I:          Um hm.

D:        [INAUDIBLE] A whole bunch of pictures there.

I:          Yeah.  I’ll show it to you later, okay?

D:        Okay.

 

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I:          Is this your ship?
D:        Yep.

I:          Can you hold it?  What is the name of that ship?
D:        I was here.

I:          You were there at the post?
D:        Yeah.

I:          What is the name of that ship?
D:        USS Herbert J. Thomas.

I:          Herbert J. Thomas.

D:        Right.

 

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I:          What kind of ship was it?

D:        Destroyer.

I:          Destroyer.  Explain it to the students.  Students will listen to you.  So, what does destroyer mean?
D:        We were recruited to pick up downed pilots, We would pass?

I:          And,

 

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And you were at the mast of the Quartermaster, right?
D:        Right here.

I:          And, with the flag, did you signal them?

D:        Yeah.

I:          Uh huh.

D:        Yeah.

I:          Was it dangerous?

D:        Yeah.

I:          Was it dangerous?

D:        Yes.  We were out there a mile away.

I:          A mile away.

D:        [INAUDIBLE] We had to back in because there were two bridges on the right.

I:          Huh.

 

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So, were you near to Korean seas?
D:        Yeah.

I:          What did you do?

D:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          What was your mission to be near Wonsan you told me, Wonsan?

D:        Yeah.  We were there to pick up a pilot.

I:          Oh.  What happened?

D:        He got shot down.

I:          Oh.  When was it?

D:        Sometime.

I:          In 1953?

D:        Yes. Fifty, or ’51.

 

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Fifty-two.

I:          But you said that you graduated high school   in ’53.

D:        Fifty-one.  I’m sorry.

I:          Fifty-one you graduated.

D:        Right.

I:          And then you went to Japan when, ’51 or ’52?

D:        Both.

I:          Okay.  So, you went to

D:        We had to back in to pick up a pilot, and they were shooting from the bank [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Um hm.

 

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D:        You can see the flags.

I:          How many sailors were in that destroyer?
D:        There are pictures of it over there.

I:          I don’t have it here.  How many sailors?
D:        Four hundred and

I:          Four hundred?
D:        Seventy-five, yeah.

I:          That’s big.

D:        It’s big.

 

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I:          In that destroyer, there were 475 sailors?
D:        Yeah.  There’s a picture there somewhere.

I:          Yeah.  We’ll pick it up later.

D:        Alright.

I:          Wow.

D:        I got hit by a pair of [INAUDIBLE]  I was on the deck up here, and they came in

I:          Uh huh.

D:        And they hit my

 

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attack you might say.

I:          You mean enemy what?
D:        Those were the enemy.  He was the pilot.

I:          Oh.  You mean the North Koreans or U.S.?
D:        U.S.

I:          How did they hit that?

D:        They were shooting with rifles.  That’s how close we were.

I:          I don’t understand.  U.S. pilot hit your ship?

 

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D:        He was part of the North Koreans.  There’s a picture in there somewhere with all of those men.  Anyway, I got hit by shrapnel.  I was on the deck.  We were right close, and it hit my helmet.

 

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I:          Uh huh.

D:        And bounced off.

I:          Was it North Korean cannon?
D:        Yeah.
I:          Uh huh.  How close were you to North Korea?

D:        Well, close enough to get shot at.

I:          Wow.  But you were not wounded?
D:        No.  It bounced off my helmet.

I:          You’re lucky.

D:        Yes. [INAUDIBLE]

 

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In the sea.  We had to go get him.

I:          Um hm.  So, the U.S. pilot was rescued by your destroyer?
D:        Yes.

I:          Wow.  Tell me about it. What happened?  And describe how you, did you see him in the ocean?

D:        Yeah, you could see him.

I:          Tell me, tell me about it.  What happened?

D:        Well, we backed in cause we couldn’t turn around in there.

 

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And they come and get us and get us out of there.  That’s what it was.  [INAUDIBLE]

I:          So, you loved that ship, right?
D:        Oh yeah.

I:          You embraced it like your baby.

D:        Yeah.

I:          So, what do you think about that ship and your service now?  I mean, looking back all those years, what do you think about it?

 

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D:        It was, [INAUDIBLE] It was too close.

I:          Too close.

D:        With that one picture with all the men on it right here.

I:          Um hm.  And how was life inside of the ship there?
D:        Great.

I:          Tell me about it.

 

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What did you eat?  Where did you sleep?

D:        Slept in bunks.  Four hundred and seventy-five guys, that’s a lot of guys.

I:          A lot of guys on a small ship.

D:        Yep.  We had five-inch guns.

I:          Five-inch guns?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Uh huh.  And uh, how was eating, food?  How was it?

 

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D:        Food was good.

I:          What was your favorite?
D:        [INAUDIBLE], that kind of thing.

I:          Uh huh.

D:        And we’d be ahead of the fleet.  There was two of us spread out, downed pilots.  We’d go in and get them.

I:          So, you are at the forefront of the whole fleet, right?
D:        Right.

I:          Yeah.  What was the name of the aircraft carrier

 

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That you were ahead of?

D:        It was, [INAUDIBLE] I think it was.

I:          What was it?
D:        Chihuahua.

I:          Chihuahua?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Um hm.

D:        I think that’s what it was.

I:          So, there was not much difficultly living inside of the ship, right?

D:        No.

I:          Huh.  Were you able to write letters back to your family?

D:        Oh sure.

I:          Uh huh.  How often were you able to do that?

 

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D:        Oh, as many as you want.

I:          So, how often did you do it?
D:        Not enough.

I:          Who did you write to?
D:        My parents.

I:          Did you have a girlfriend at the time?
D:        Yeah.
I:          Oh.  What was her name?
D:        Geneva.
I:          Geneva.
D:        Right.

I:          Yeah.  And did you write letters back to her?
D:        Yeah, once I think.

I:          Huh?
D:        Once I think.

 

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I:          Just once?

D:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Oh, come on.  Why didn’t you write more?
D:        Cause I was just too busy.

I:          Didn’t you want to see her?
D:        Not that much.

I:          Oh.  And

D:        We were in Hawaii for quite a while.  I had a home base over there.

I:          Hawaii was your home base?
D:        Yeah.
I:          How was it?
D:        Fine.

 

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You can go over there and see more pictures.

I:          What did you do in Hawaii?
D:        [INAUDIBLE] mainly.  Cigars and cigarettes.

I:          And what was your rank?
D:        Third class.

I:          Third class.  And how much did they pay you?

D:        Oh [INAUDIBLE], like $125 or something like that.

 

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I:          Uh huh.  And what did you do with that money?
D:        Spent it.

I:          On what?

D:        Booze.

I:          Drinking?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Uh huh.  What was your favorite drink?
D:        I don’t know.  Beer I guess.

I:          Oh, beer?

D:        Yeah.

I:          You’re a beer drinker.

D:        Yeah.

I:          Uh huh.

D:        And [INAUDIBLE] ammunition also.

 

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I:          What was the most difficult thing during your service in Korea?
D:        That was it I guess, going to Korea, the rescues of those pilots and [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Had you landed in Korea any time during your service?
D:        Yeah, the destroyer.

I:          Huh?

D:        North Korea.

I:          North Korea?  Where did you land?

D:        Wonsan Harbor and higher south.

 

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I:          Did you land in there?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Actually?
D:        Yeah.
I:          And what did you do?
D:        We picked up the pilot like I told you.
I:          Oh.  So, it wasn’t from the sea?
D:        Yeah, it was from the sea.

I:          But you landed in Wonsan.
D:        Yeah.

I:          And you put your foot into the soil?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Wow.

D:        We used to land

 

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[HEAVY BREATHING UNTIL 17:09]

I:          And when did you retire from the Navy?
D:        Forty-four.

I:          Forty-four, 19

D:        Yeah.
I:          Fifty-four?

D:        Yes, forty-four.
I:          What do you mean?  You graduated high school 1951.

D:        Yeah.

I:          And then you served in Korea until when?

 

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Fifty-three?
D:        Yeah.

I:          Firty-three or ’54?

D:        Fifty-four I guess it would be, wouldn’t it?

I:          When did you join the Navy?
D:        While I was in school.

I:          Fifty-one?
D:        Fifty-one.

I:          And then you retired from the Navy in 1954.

D:        Right.

I:          And what did you do after you retired?

D:        Went to a farm.

 

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I:          Farm again?
D:        Yeah.  We had a farm, my folks did.

I:          So, you took care of the farm?
D:        Yeah, I helped.  Me and my brother.  He went to the east coast, and I went to the west coast out of boot camp.

I:          Um.  So, you had a brother then.
D:        Yes, stepbrother.

I:          Oh, stepbrother.

D:        Yeah.

I:          And you have one sister, right?
D:        Right, but I think she died.

 

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I:          Have you been back to Korea?
D:        No.

I:          Do you know what happened to Korea?
D:        [INAUDIBLE ] no, not really.

I:          Korea is a very small country, right?
D:        Right.

I:          But it’s 11^th largest economy in the world.

D:        What?
I:          Eleventh largest economy in the world.

D:        Yeah, you might say so.

I:          Right.  So, Korea is now what Korea used to be,

 

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Very strong economy and democracy.

D:        Right.

I:          Did you know about that?
D:        Yeah.
I:          Oh.  How did you know?

D:        Over the radio.

I:          Radio?
D:        Yeah.

I:          What else do you know about modern Korea right now?

D:        Well, they’re in a fight for missiles.

I:          North Korea.

D:        North Korea.

I:          Yeah.  Tell me about it.  What do you know about it?

 

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D:        Not much.  We still have [INAUDIBLE] drop them over there.

I:          Uh huh.

D:        And we would just sit there in the hills cause they have tunnels through there, through the mountains.  And they’d go in there and shoot and [INAUDIBLE] and closed them back in the [INAUDIBLE].

 

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I:          So, what do you think about your service in Korea?
D:        What do I think about it?
I:          Yeah.

D:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Hm?

D:        [INAUDIBLE – BREATHING HEAVY] [INAUDIBLE]

 

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Should have been in that pot over there.

I:          Okay.  We’ll look at it later, okay?  So, what is the legacy of the Korean War to you?

D:        Well nothing [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Um hm.  Would you want to go back to Korea?

 

0:21:00

D:        Sure, I’ve been there.

I:          You’ve been there and you wanna go back?
D:        I’d go back, sure.  [COUGHING]

I:          Do you need tissues?
D:        No, I’m fine.
I:          You’re fine.  So, when did you check into this Veterans’ Home?

D:        About a year ago.
I:          A year ago.

D:        Better than a year.

I:          Uh huh.  And how do you like it here?

D:        I don’t mind it.

 

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I:          Do you like it?
D:        Yeah, it’s alright.
I:          Um hm.

D:        You get everything done for nothing.

I:          Right.  What do you think about North Korea right now?

D:        They’re in the wrong.

I:          Huh?
D:        They’re in the wrong.  And they keep trying to shoot missiles over there.

 

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I:          What do you think we have to do?
D:        Stop them somehow.

I:          Somehow, right?
D:        Yeah.
I:          Yeah.

D:        They can [INAUDIBLE] they say.

I:          Yeah, they say.  But nobody knows, right?
D:        Nobody knows.

I:          Any other memory that you have about your service in Korea?

 

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D:        Well, not really.  I have a tattoo there.

I:          How did you get it?
D:        Got it in the lower Korea [INAUDIBLE].

I:          You had it when you were in Korea?

D:        Yeah.  I got it taken in Korea.

I:          Who did it for you?

D:        I don’t know the [INAUDIBLE]

I:          [INAUDIBLE]?

D:        Yeah.

I:          Huh.  What is it?  Could you show that again, your tattoo?

D:        Where was it?

 

0:23:00
It’s not finished yet.  See?  I got one there.  And I got one up here, too.

I:          Ah.  Do you see, do you have many other Korean War veterans here in this facility?
D:        There’s a few.
I:          Do you talk to them?
D:        No, not really.

I:          Not really.

D:        Yeah.
I:          Okay.  Any other story you wanna leave to this interview?

 

0:23:30

D:        No.

I:          Okay. Don, very nice meeting you.  Thank you for coming.
D:        You’re welcome.

I:          That’s your beautiful ship.

D:        [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Yes, I’ll give it to you later, okay?  But thank you for sharing your story with me.

D:        You’re welcome.

I:          Thank you.  Don, could you explain what that is?

D:        The ship.  This is for, right here.

I:          Um hm.

 

0:24:00

D:        And this is [INAUDIBLE]

I           Yeah.

D:        This one’s the one I wanted to show you with all the names [INAUDIBLE]

I:          Yeah, I wanna see that later, okay?    Thank you, Don, again.

D:        You’re welcome.

 

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