Some Forgotten Boys From South San Gabriel

Airman Second Class Richard Carrell Fuller was just one of the boys from my home town, South San Gabriel, Ca. who had volunteered for military service during the Korean War. My brother Fred Leland had gone to the Navy, my uncle Sam Tisdale went into the US Army, lots of Good Ol' Oakie, Arkie, and Mexican Boys went down and joined the service.
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The reason A2C Richard "Dick" Fuller stands out in my memory was because he was lost in Korea. Missing in Action. Every Sunday our priests would include in our prayers for the deceased and sick of the parish the name of Dick Fuller as Missing in Action.
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Father would tell how Dick was a tail gunner in a B-26B Invader bomber and how his plane had gone down on a night mission over North Korea.
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It seemed forever and almost became "normal" to have Father ask for our prayers for Dick Fuller, still Missing in Action (MIA) in Korea.
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Everyone else I knew, my big brother, my uncle Sam Tisdale, all the other Oakie, Arkie, and Mexican boys made it home, as I recall. Some had been injured, shot, but had recovered. Some came home malfunctioning emotionally from what we were to learn from them had been a terrible war. Some came home scarred by terrible acts committed upon them in communist prisoner of war camps.

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I do not feel at liberty to give the name of one of our returning POW's who never would be the same mentally again and about the terrible brain washing techniques he suffered, to include what we have in the past few years been calling "Water Boarding". Our boys just called it the "water torture" in those days. This technique was determined to be in violation of the Geneva Convention.
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I wanted to remember one of my "big brothers" from Saint Anthony's who gave all tomorrow. Dickie Fuller, like his sisters who were classmates of my older sisters, had fiery red hair and so many freckles you could not begin to say how many. I wanted us all to remember when it was "our boys", our big brothers, our sons, who were the subjects of the horrendous "water torture" and more.
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I wanted, I thought, if I could, to somehow get everyone I know to let it be known that how we treat prisoners, POW's or Enemy Combatants, is how we will allow our own soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, to be treated in the future.

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A lot of the guys and gals who served in Korea are gone now, those remaining deserve our thanks still, and those who have passed on deserve to be honored and cherished in our memories as long as we live.

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So, thanks to A2C Richard Carrell Fuller, Dickie, my brother Fred Leland, my uncle Sam, and all the boys from South San Gabriel, Ca, and this whole nation who gave so much for us then and who continued the course set for them by those who had served before them. They served with honor and made us proud.

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The way our POW's were misstreated by the North Koreans, the Soviets, and the Communist Chinese in the prisoner of war camps reached new lows on how POW's would be treated. We dare not allow now the use of the "water torture" ourselves, be it called "water boarding", or be it called by any other name, or any other technique that will be used against our own beloved troops in the future.