Korean War Veteran
Norman Gipson

Interviewed by:
Devin Garbitt and Charlie Brooks

"The best thing that I can say is, I'd go back again"

~ Norman Gipson

Norman Gipson was raised in the state of Maine in the 1930's and 40's. Once he completed high school he and two of his best friends joined the US Marines and entered boot camp. Upon completion of boot camp they were sent to California for advanced infantry training. And once done there they were shipped to Korea on a very slow troop transport ship. After 12-13 days they reached Korea and were sent ashore.

When given assignments Norman chose he wanted to become a truck driver but after 5 nights of traveling in one in pitch black no headlights or anything and steep cliffs he thought that was not a good assignment for him. So he became a forward observer. He and a few other soldiers were to go out ahead of the frontlines and call in artillery strikes where they saw the enemy. He was doing the job of a Master Sergeant (but since he was injured he never got promoted).

One day he and the company he was with were scouting when he sat down to take a break and he noticed a mine a couple feet away from him and he was staring at it when it blew up and he was thrown backwards. He landed on a trip line of a couple bouncing betty's and was rescued by two Marines later. He was severely wounded with shrapnel all over the left side of his body and can no longer see out of his left eye. Norman was then airlifted out of there to a field hospital a few miles behind the front lines where he was bandaged up and from there to a hospital ship out at sea. From there the ship sailed to Guam which was a popular to the US Marines in World War II. Then, from there he was shipped to Hawaii and finally all the way to the United States. He met up with one of his buddies in California and they were shipped as close to home as they could get and that was Portsmouth, New Hampshire for him where he spent a few months in the hospital.

Then went back to Portland, Maine where he went to college with the help of the veteran’s administration and then got a job as an accountant at one of the shipyards. Since then he has moved to Yarmouth, MA and lives comfortably.