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‘Forgotten’ no longer

By TOM SHARPE | The New Mexican
July 27, 2007

Korean War memorial dedicated under an appropriate light rain

About 100 people, including 20 Korean War veterans, stood in a light rain Friday afternoon at Amelia White Park to dedicate a memorial to the “forgotten war” that ended 54 years ago.

Former California Rep. Paul “Pete” McCloskey Jr., who has owned a house in Madrid for 30 years, said the rain was appropriate for any Korean War commemoration.

“Is there any Korean veteran here that doesn’t remember being soaked for days at a time?” he asked. “I always thought when I came back from Korea, I’d never worry about the rain again because I knew I would be dry in a few hours, rather than a few weeks.”

Read the rest of the story at The Santa Fe New Mexican

Reprinted with permission
©Tom Sharp and The Santa Fe New Mexican

Parasites stick to POW as reminder of hard times

Monday, July 16, 2007 BY FORD TURNER Of The Patriot-News

The scans of his abdomen and legs were complete when Charles Egresitz was asked a strange question by the doctor.

Ever been to the Far East?

His answer of "yes" produced the biggest "Aha!" moment of his life.

The scans revealed small nodules embedded in his legs and abdomen. They were, Egresitz learned, dead, calcified parasites -- a kind he probably picked up when he ate rotten pork while a prisoner of war, about a half-century earlier, in North Korea.

On later X-rays, they showed up as small, white jellybeans.

"I couldn't believe it at first," said Egresitz, of Lower Paxton Twp. "And then I saw them."

For years after the war, he had suffered unexplained seizures. At least one of the worm-like parasites had worked its way into his head before it died. Egresitz and his wife, Judy, believe the parasites caused the seizures, although that's never been conclusively proven.

The seizures are over. Egresitz, 79, has accepted the little nodules as reminders of a harrowing time. They were discovered in his body in the late 1990s, not long before he attended his first veterans' reunion.

"It was so emotional," Judy Egresitz said. "All these men coming up to Charlie, talking to him. It was good for him. It got him to open up about those times."

Read the rest of the story at pennlive.com

FORD TURNER: 255-8486 or fturner@patriot-news.com
reprinted with permission, The Patriot-News July 2007

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