Today, Omer “Tom” Church is happily retired, only a short drive from K-State, celebrating his golden years fishing and scuba diving, but his life 70 years ago was very different. Church spent time with the U.S. military in Korea from 1952 to 1953 and Vietnam from 1969 to 1970, where he earned four honors for service: two Medals of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Meritorious Service Medal.

“I was in Korea, and I was with the fifth Regimental Combat Team,” Church said. “Any time a division was losing, or … the Chinese were pushing them back, we relieved the division and took over and took the land back, and once it was stabilized, we gave it back to the division and they replaced all of our lost equipment and soldiers.”

Church said he enlisted as a medic because of a family member’s advice.

“My brother was in the second World War, so he told me when I joined the military that I should become a medic, and it was probably more of a chance to survive,” Church said. “Maybe in Germany, it was, but Korea, it wasn’t so good.”

As a licensed practical nurse, Church and the 5th Regimental Combat Team risked their lives to treat the injured on the front lines, all while taking mortar fire in the bitter cold on the tundra of Korea, where Church was stationed at Outpost Harry.

“If you took your gloves off your hands would freeze right away; it’s about 30 below zero cause it’s a high mountain,” Church said. “We were … the fourth company that had went up and … had about 300 people in each company… and when they get down to about 20%, they’d pull ‘em back and replace them.”

Church compared his time in Korea to that in Vietnam.

“In Korea, you were in for the long haul, … you couldn’t go back and rest,” Church said. “You were under duress all the time. … In Vietnam, I split some. I used to go with a helicopter, … they had door gunners, you know, the 50 caliber machine guns they’d shoot, but it makes terrible noise if you don’t have … your ears covered.”

Church said he’s found it helpful to focus on moving forward when reflecting on his experiences.

“I think your main thing is you have to function,” Church said. “You can’t come back and dwell on the past. You gotta do the future … I never had a problem with it … my kids have done really well.” 

Church is thriving in his golden years, spending time checking off bucket-list items while being surrounded by his loved ones. Reflecting on the time he spent fighting for our country takes him back to his glory days in remembrance of the lives lost and events occurred during the country’s troubling times.