Published: February 17, 2009 11:25 pm            

Surprise in the mail

Veteran receives 13 military medals

Among the regular bills and letters stuffed in Louie Muse’s mailbox last week was a bulky tan envelope.

Muse’s curiosity piqued. He wasn’t expecting a package nor did he recall ordering anything. So he opened it. The package contained 13 military medals — including a Bronze Star and Commendation medal — Muse had been awarded during a 21-year Army career that included service in the Korean and Vietnam wars.

“I was touched,” said Muse, now 76 and living in the Carbondale community in south Whitfield County. “I was really touched because I didn’t realize what all these medals really meant. I’ve never been one to brag about what I did. I think what I did, I was doing it for the country. I just thank God that I came back alive.”

Muse said he doesn’t speak with his family much about his time in the Army. Because of his age, Muse wanted a copy of his military records for them. He has three children who still live in the area and several grandchildren. He went to the state veterans services department in Dalton and requested his records. After several months passed, his military records came in the mail along with a list of medals he had been awarded. Muse said he didn’t think anything about the list and wasn’t aware the Army still made the medals. Then last week, to Muse’s surprise, the medals came.

Although Muse didn’t graduate from Valley Point High School — he “had words” with one of the administrators and dropped out — he was nonetheless energetic and joined the Georgia National Guard in 1949 because he “wanted to do something for my country.” There was also a financial incentive to join and stay. The next year he entered the Army and participated in basic training in Ft. Jackson, S.C. After completing basic training, Muse was transferred to South Korea and joined an infantry division.

It was a definite shock for the young man who had lived in Whitfield County all of his life.

“You’re not really afraid, you’re not really scared,” Muse said. “You find yourself on a ship going over. You’ve been in Georgia, you haven’t been out of Georgia hardly and it’s just like a vacation. But when you get to the place where you’ve got your combat boots on, your combat helmet and your rifle and you’re moving with the enemy it’s a little different story. We didn’t really have time to get scared. We had a goal and that was to move those people (North Koreans) out or they were going to move us out.”

Muse’s Korea tour lasted one year. His squadron moved toward the 38th Parallel (the dividing line between warring North and South Korea) and Muse spent his last week there on Heartbreak Ridge, which was the scene of a month-long battle during the Korean War. In 1953, Muse transferred to Germany and remained for three years. Upon returning to the United States, he attended at 60-week electronic school course in New Jersey and eventually settled in Fort Huachuca, Ariz., where he competed with an Army rifle team.

He returned to Korea for another tour, then spent time at Fort Benning in Columbus. He went on to serve two tours in the Vietnam War (1966-1967 and 1968-1970). He had a base station during the first tour, but his job in telecommunications took him all over the country.

Muse earned the Bronze Star when he was assigned as a communications and electronics technician in Vietnam. The Bronze Star is awarded for “heroic or meritorious achievement or service.”

The North Vietnamese had invaded a town in South Vietnam and taken over the radio station. Muse’s general contacted him and asked him to take a group of six others into the town to disable the transmitter, then re-establish radio transmissions for the South Vietnamese.

“We took off right in the middle of enemy territory and put the transmitter in,” Muse said. “That was something that was very dangerous and we didn’t receive a shot.”

Muse retired as an Army Chief Warrant Officer in 1971 and returned home to Whitfield County. After four years teaching at Calhoun High School, he went to work for the state Department of Labor to work with disabled veterans. He retired from the labor department in 1994.

        

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