Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:47 | It was the best duty he ever had, recalls Alan Lertzman. The newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant was assigned to Air Defense Command and stationed at Swarthmore, a girl's school in Philadelphia, but that ended all too soon as he was put on a plane for Korea and on the job training as a Forward Observer. As a Forward Observer, he had to quickly learn how to call in artillery strikes on Chinese positions, and avoid being taken out by Chinese patrols.
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Alan Lertzman went from a comfortable Ohio State fraternity house to the bitter cold of a Kentucky Army base when he was drafted in 1951. He had attended military school and had a college degree so he was a natural for Officer Candidate School. He didn't mind the hazing but getting left in the desert with a compass and a canteen of water was an ordeal.
The call came soon after Alan Lertzman targeted his first strike as a new Forward Observer on the Korean front lines. The shells were hitting around U.S. tanks. Just before he was transferred to a radar station, he heard bugles and heavy artillery in the middle of the night. The battle of Pork Chop Hill was on.
He had thought about an Army Career, but Alan Lertzman's experiences in Korea led him back to the civilian world. Later in life, there was a side effect to his war service that began with free cigarettes in the C-Rations.
Alan Lertzman was astounded at the devastation he saw when he visited Seoul during the war. Later, back in the states, he joined a draft board during the Vietnam War and made sure that the men who were drafted could handle combat.
