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120 from Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties died in Korea
YOUNGSTOWN
The Korean War, the so-called “Forgotten War” between World War II and the Vietnam War, is anything but forgotten by two local men who fought in it and witnessed friends die.
The war lasted from June 25, 1950, to July 27, 1953, according to the Department of Defense. America suffered 33,686 combat deaths and 2,830 noncombat deaths, including 120 from Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties. More than 7,800 Americans remain unaccounted for.
Lloyd Gruver of Austintown and John Pariza of Boardman, both of whom left school before graduating to enlist in the Army, remember the Korean War in vivid detail, especially during patriotic holidays such as the Fourth of July.
Gruver, 81, attended East and Chaney high schools before enlisting Oct. 15, 1950, his 17th birthday, before graduation. In the fourth week of March 1951, he arrived in Korea, where he was deployed for 13 months.
Pariza, 82, born Dec. 28, 1932, in East Liverpool, moved to Romania with his family when he was a baby and did not return to the United States and Youngstown until 1947, when he was a teenager. He attended Hayes Junior High School and enlisted in the Ohio Army National Guard in 1949 and was activated in May 1950.
He arrived in Korea in August 1950, where he served for 16 months. He spent his 18th birthday in Korea.
Gruver, a member of a heavy machine gun squad in Mike Co., 32nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team, known as the Queen’s Own, of the 7th Infantry Division, remembers fighting in famous battles: The Punch Bowl, Mount Baldy and Pork Chop Hill.
“But,” he said, “90 percent of the time I never even knew where we were at.”
A machine gunner, he was on patrol when they came across a Chinese mortar unit.
“I threw a grenade and killed all three of them. I’ve lived with that all these years. I still think about it. It was terrible over there. People would not believe what went on over there. You are like an animal when in war,” Gruver said.
Gruver was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, Korean Ribbon with four bronze battle stars, six ribbons and two presidential citations.
“It’s the Combat Infantry Badge I’m proudest of,” he said.
Pariza, whose weapon was a Browning Automatic Rifle, was a member of the 5th Regimental Combat Team attached to the Army’s 24th and 25th Divisions in the drive through North Korea toward China early in the war.
“When I got to Korea, they took pretty good care of me,” he said.
Pariza said he saw a lot of combat.
In action north of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, he helped kill two Chinese soldiers and capture a third. Also, while fighting the Chinese, he and some others were captured, but were rescued after 45 minutes by Turkish forces.
Unlike Gruver, who said he was very lucky not to have been wounded, Pariza suffered shrapnel wounds to his left arm and elbow and a gunshot wound to his right foot, for which he received a Purple Heart.
Also, he sustained frostbite to his feet, according to his military medical records.
Pariza’s decorations include the Combat Infantry Badge, the Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Medal and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation.
After their stints in Korea and the Army, Gruver and Pariza returned to Youngstown to work and raise families.
Gruver said he “moseyed around awhile,” then worked at Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. and as an Isaly’s Dairy milk delivery man before going to the General Motors Lordstown Complex, where he worked 29 years in the assembly plant.
He also was a member of the Austintown Fire Department for 40 years, retiring as a captain in March 2005.
Gruver had three children with his first wife, Donna States, who died in 1985: Patricia Gruver and James D., both of Austintown, and John of Las Vegas; and two grandchildren.
His second wife, Marlene Mchenry, a former Mahoning County deputy sheriff and a licensed social worker, has a son, John Mchenry of Austintown, and three grandsons. She also operated Comprehensive Behavior Health.
Gruver is a member of Korean War Veterans Chapter 137 and Victory Christian Center in Coitsville.
Pariza, former commander of Korean War Veterans Chapter 137, came home to work at Republic Steel in Youngstown. When he was laid off from the mill, he went to the Wheatland Tube Co. in Wheatland, Pa., where he worked 30 years before retiring.
He had three daughters – Janice Bender in Colorado, Teri Lyn Simpson of Youngstown and Jill Pariza of Austintown – with his first wife, Shirley Gibbs, who died in 2001.
Pariza and his second wife, Beverly, have been active in veterans organizations.
The United Veterans’ Council of Youngstown named Pariza, who was instrumental in renaming Interstate 680 the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway, as its 2010 Veteran of the Year.
He helped establish the Mahoning Valley Korean War Veterans Memorial in Austintown and was founder of the Korean War Veterans Memorial in West Middlesex, Pa. His wife was the United Veterans Council’s 2012 Citizen of the Year.
Gruver said he has a 20-foot-high flagpole in his front yard on which flies a 3-by-5-foot American flag 24 hours a day.
When asked about his feeling about the Fourth of July, he said, “I’m proud to be an American. I still love America, and I would die for it. I grieve for my comrades who did not make it home. They were the heroes over there.
“We went over there to stop communism from advancing into the Western Hemisphere and our country, and we accomplished our mission. The South Korean people, even after all this time, are still appreciative of what we did.”