My good friend Bob

8 - Lexington, KY

This is a tribute to my good friend Bob Rauen of Milwaukee. Bob and I grew up together. We went to the same grade school, played on the same junior high football team and even had paper routes at the same Milwaukee Journal station.
We went to different high schools, but always remained close by doing things together almost every night and weekends. We even had the same kind of car. Bob had a '48 and I had a '47 Ford. Bob was about a year and a half older than I and consequently got drafted for the Korean War. He went to basic and AIT at Indian Town Gap, Pa., and then came home on leave. Needless to say that we went out and had a few beers and chased girls together while he was home.

Shortly after his leave Bob was sent to Korea with the 7th Regiment of the 3d Infantry Division. I received a letter from him dated June 12, 1953, describing the conditions over there and indicating a planned attack on a hill he called Sugar Loaf. I responded to Bob's letter on June 23, 1953. My letter was returned to me on July 17, 1953, stamped "verified deceased."
I later found out that he was killed on June 24, so he never received my letter, He had only been in Korea 20 days, and he was just 20 years old.
I served as a pallbearer for Bob when his body was returned to the States, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. He was a good friend.

Click here (http://www.legiontown.org/korean-war-story/9223/follow-he-was-good-friend) to read an update.

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