A Pennsylvania family's history of service in both world wars and Korea

Pittsburgh, PA

My father, Peter J. Killmeyer, served in France during World War I with the 80th Blue Ridge Division. His best story was how how his company occupied a French farmer's stable, which was equipped with a fireplace, for a short while. But they got the dickens for using the farmer's fence posts for firewood. Their captain said he was going to have to pay for the fence.

Another of his stories was that he and his buddies had to go retrieve water from a pump on the farm. They'd hide behind a manure pile and took turns pumping because the Germans would shoot at them. You took your chances just to get water.

My older brother, Richard P. Killmeyer, now 88, served in World War II with the 77th Statue of Liberty Division on Guam, Leyte, Okinawa and Ie Shima, the little island where Ernie Pyle was killed.

My brother was wounded while carrying a stretcher in no man's land. The bullet hit him under the shoulder and went through his back. He placed a clean sock over it and somehow made it back to his buddies. He still has scars on his chest and back, and doesn't know to this day what happened to the man carrying the other end of the stretcher.

From 1949 to 1952, I served at general headquarters in Tokyo during the Korean War.

Other relatives, including first cousins, served - mainly during World War II - but there are too many to list.

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