After being promised a Purple Heart 65 years ago after being injured in the Korean War, Paul Fors, 86 of Clear Lake finally received that coveted medal during a church service at South Santiago Lutheran Sunday morning.
Fors, a Marine, had no idea he was about to be honored towards the end of the service, even after local Marine recruiter Sgt. Michael Smart and the Clear Lake Legion Color Guard waltzed to the front of the church to make their announcement. Fors, sitting in the back part of the church, smiled as the Marine mentioned the honor, but still didn’t know it was he who was the recipient.
That was, until Fors’ daughter, Lisa Wallace, was introduced by Pastor David Wall and escorted to the front.
“When I saw my daughter start walking up to the front, I asked myself why is she here?” Paul said afterwards.
Fors’ injury in the war took place at the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, a man-made lake located in the northeast of the Korean peninsula. It is known as a key defensive battle in the Korean War. The name "Chosin" is derived from the Japanese pronunciation "Chōshin".
The UN forces relied on Japanese language maps dating from their occupation of Korea which had ended only five years earlier at the conclusion of World War II. Shortly after the People's Republic of China entered the conflict, the People's Volunteer Army 9th Army infiltrated the northeastern part of North Korea.
Nov. 27, 1950, the Chinese 9th Army surprised the US X Corps commanded by Major General Edward Almond at the Chosin Reservoir area. A brutal 17-day battle in freezing weather soon followed.
In the period between Nov. 27 and Dec. 13, 30,000 United Nations troops (later nicknamed "The Chosin Few") under the field command of Major General Oliver P. Smith were encircled and attacked by approximately 120,000 Chinese troops under the command of Song Shi-Lun, who had been ordered by Mao Zedong to destroy the UN forces.
The UN forces were able to make a fighting withdrawal and broke out of the encirclement while inflicting crippling losses on the Chinese. The evacuation of the X Corps from the port of Hungnam marked the complete withdrawal of UN troops from North Korea.
In the battle, Fors was peppered by a Japanese soldier and suffered a concussive blast and a head full of schrapnel. In the ‘80s, Fors went in to the doctors because he felt he was suffering from a concussion and he was basically turned away by doctors because he couldn’t have an MRI with that much metal in his head.
Fors received his medal Sunday in most part because of his neighbor and friend, Bradley Thom. Thom said he had Paul over to his home a few months back to utilize Fors’ expertise on a project Thom was working on. Through the day’s conversations, Thom learned Fors never received his promised PH medal from the Marines — and that injustice didn’t sit well with Thom. Thom himself is a veteran of the U.S. Navy.
“I just had a family member get their Purple Heart recently, so I knew I could probably expedite the order,” Thom said. “I wanted to get the deed done quickly, especially with such a significant date looming.”
That date Thom was referring to happened to be the National Day of the Purple Heart, Aug. 7.
“I wanted Paul to get his medal on or before that day and so this Sunday was the day we were shooting for,” Thom said.
Thom, a veteran service officer and retired captain, was able to get the medal in time for the ceremony but the official certificate to go along with it will take a little time to get, he said.
Thom served in the Navy from 1988 to 2014.
At Sunday’s celebration, Fors told the story of another time he almost died while serving — but this time on American soil. He was in a convoy in Washington D.C. when his company was involved in a major vehicle accident where Fors was thrown through the windshield of the vehicle he was riding in. His throat was slashed and with the help of other officers, he was able to stop the bleeding and survive.
“Looks like you deserve two of those medals,” Thom quipped.
Purple Heart Day commemorates the day in 1782 when General George Washington created the Purple Heart Medal – a military decoration that is awarded to those wounded or killed while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
The Purple Heart is a heart shaped purple medal with a gold border. The front has a profile of George Washington, while the back has the words for military merit inscribed on it. The medal is attached to a piece of purple silk with a silver border.
Paul A. Fors is a well-deserved beneficiary of the military merit, thanks in large part to his friend and neighbor, Bradley Thom.
