In loving memory of Trooper & POW Ray Eller
Below is a letter that Trooper Ray's son sent to My Day Is A Vet:
I wrote you back in April about sending the pictures of my Dad, here they are. These were all taken in Korea.
All he ever told me was that he was in the 187th in Korea, and that he did two jumps.
On the second one (from what my mom said) he was injured and captured, when released he returned back to the states, after a while he and several others that had been released started seeing reductions in thier pay check and were told it was for the gear they did not bring back from Korea regardless if they were prisoners or not. The whole bunch decided to go AWOL, from what I was told it was like 20 to 30 guys, he went back after a day or two and told the Army that his intentions were to stay gone but came back, the placed him in jail, he stayed there and worked as a barber in the jail for a few months until the jail was closing and relocating, they discharged him and let him leave the army instead of moving him with the other people in there.
This story is what I learned from my mom mostly, my dad would never talk about Korea, when I decided to join he told me about the 187th and showed me the patch he wore, that was all I ever got out of him.
He did not like the goverment to well and refused to talk about it. I am not sure if posting these will get any responses, I would love to actually speak to someone who knew him over there. Maybe it will work, I tried to get his records but of course they were destroyed in the fire. Thank you so very much!!!!
SFC Eller, Will
Special Operation Recruiting Bn
EOD recruiting Team
Ft. Bragg, NC
Hello, I was wandering how to go about finding some of my dads friends as well. I am currently in the military and would love to talk to some individuals who may have known my dad. He was in the 187th during the Korean war, problem is, I know nothing about his service, he never really talked about it, and all I have is a picture of him and another soldier in Korea in uniform. He has passed on but I would love to actually get in touch with someone who knew him back then. I sent for a copy of his records but they were destroyed during the fire in St Louis at the records place. Do you have any suggestions?
SFC Eller, Will
OPS GRP JRTC
Task Force 4
Ft Polk LA
