Wayne Pelkey

Bio

Wayne Pelkey served in the United States Army during the Korean War. He served at the accessory Battle of Christmas Hill in July of 1953 to Pork Chop Hill. At Christmas Hill, he survived an artillery attack. This same attack killed three other soldiers and left him with a severe concussion. During the war, Wayne Pelkey served as a volunteer sniper. Wayne Pelkey, along with other members of the 45th Infantry Division contributed two months’ worth of pay for an orphanage for the Korean children. On another occasion, he had his Seargent’s rank taken from him for helping a small Korean child with gangrene. He had 47 years of bitter memories of his service until he revisited Korea in September of 2000. The change that South Korea has undergone made his service worth all of the losses. Wayne Pelkey also had a modest advisory role in the creation of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.