Last week in Knotty Pine Post 334 Commander Hank Thieman and Post secretary Jerry Schrage presented Korean Conflict Veteran Doug Rueth a certificate for 50 years of Continuous membership to Post #334.

Thieman thanked Rueth for the time spent in the service of our country. Rueth was not a member immediately after his discharge due to American Legion rules but joined later when Koren Veterans were recognized as true Veterans.

When he entered the Army he trained first at Fort Bliss and Fort Hood in 1954 he was deployed to Korea where he served as a cook. He noted when he arrived one cook told him just remember when its smoking its cooking when its burning its done. He added he did become quite proficient at flipping eggs. When the men came in they entered from four directions, so you had to be fast. If he had breakfast duty another rotation of cooks would have the evening shift. Things were a little rustic to say the least, the men lived in an almost bare quonset with only outside toilets and no showers. He recalled he would wipe down with a washcloth occasionally, but he remembered taking one real bath while there when he drug a makeshift tub up to the quonset. The country was very poor people did what they had to, to live. His service in Korea lasted just under a year. He moved back to Petersburg began farming married his wife Viola in September 1986. Today he is still living in that same home he returned to.