Korean War Vet Awarded Purple Heart

It was the third day of battle. And someone was jumping into his trench. U.S. Marine Eugene Bradford grabbed a knife and ran to confront the intruder. The man swung around and sliced Bradford on the chest.

“So I gave him a right with my fist,” he said. “I’m sure I broke his chin, because I jumped when I did it,” Bradford added, relaying his version of the battle that transpired on July 23, 1953.

After the man fell, Bradford “followed him down for the kill.”  

Knowing more enemies were down the hill from where he stood, he grabbed a case of grenades and started lobbing them in their direction.

“If they were down there, I wanted them to get the hell out,” he said.  He noticed that one of the men from Hal Company, 3^rd Battalion, 1^st Regiment was at the bottom of the hill, so he ran down to rescue him. He picked him up and ran back up the hill carrying Private Calico, who was wounded in the stomach. 

“And after that was done, I took a half an hour break, ‘cos I was out of breath,” Bradford said.

Calico later lost the use of one eye, but went on to have four kids. 

“I feel great about five people living now because of me,” Bradford said. His own life and freedoms were altered that day as a result of the explosions taking place around him. Today, the 77-year-old is in a wheelchair, spending most of his days writing songs and hanging out with his friends who also live on the Veterans Affairs campus in Menlo Park.

“I’m so proud of Eugene,” said Don Bagnall, who also lives there. “Eugene is the best friend I’ve had in my life,” he said. Bagnall used to be in a barber shop quartet and sings regularly with Bradford.

Why did it take 58 years?

Bradford’s sister Cindy Bradford Baxter says that when Eugene moved to Menlo Park in June, she discovered that he had never been given medals for being wounded in battle.

“I was cleaning out is home and I couldn’t find his medals,” Bradford Baxter said.  “Everything was all written and signed for, but I couldn’t find them,” she added. 

Somehow they were never distributed when he came back to the U.S. and no one had followed up about them until she did this year. 

Eugene Bradford, 77, was awarded the Purple Heart Tuesday October 11, 2011 for being wounded multiple times in one day while fighting for the United States of America in the Korean War.

Fun fact: The award was first given by George Washington in 1782 to reward troops for “unusual gallantry,” according to the program that was distributed to Bradford’s friends and family. Its original name was the Badge for Military Merit. 

After Bradford received his award, he sang a song he wrote called “H31,” which you can listen to by .