Dean Danley spent 21 years in the service, including the Army and the Air Force, and saw many parts of the world. But, it seems, he kept coming back to Korea.

Born in 1929, Danley spent his early days in the Metz area, moved to Des Moines in 1937, but came back in time to graduate from Newton High School. On Aug. 9, 1946, when he turned 17, he went to Des Moines to enlist in the U.S. Army. After a brief stop in Fort Snelling, Minn., and then Fort Riley, Kan., for processing, he was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland for basic training. From there, he was sent directly to Korea during the Japanese occupation. That was in January of 1947.

“Oh, it was cold,” Danley remembers. “I had worked for my dad as a mechanic, so they put me in the motor pool. But, when the commanding officer found out I could type, they made me the company clerk. That was much better.”