Korean War veteran finally receives long-overdue Purple Heart
By Krista Tatschl
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OLATHE, Kansas (KMBC) — Ninety-four-year-old Korean War veteran Rex Comley of Olathe has some stories to tell.
“Maybe I’m just a big mouth. I like to talk.”
A spectacled Comley, his face brimming with a constant ear-to-ear smile, remembers most of his three years as a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant from 1951 to 1954.
At 19 years old, he and several friends decided to enlist but did not know which military branch to join.
He says, “We only chose the Marines because the line was the shortest.”
Comley was a machine gunner with the Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division.
He muscled around a 1917 A-1 30-caliber weapon up and down the mountains of central and South Korea. His position hugged the 38th Parallel.
He says of being a target for Korean mortar rounds, “They would put a round in front of you, one behind you, and the third was right in your lap.”
In 1952, a round slammed into his position.
“The whole jacket of the machine gun was torn up, and it picked me up and set me back in the bunker about ten feet. That’s when they carried me back off the lines, and I got hit around the face. It tore this eyelid plumb down back, and they said it pitted my face. I don’t know how I figured that, but they said like 13 or 14 pieces of small shrapnel,” Comley recalls.
He was out of the military hospital and back at his position only days later.
To this day, he still has shrapnel in his face. Such injuries and battlefield mettle are worthy of a medal of a different kind — a Purple Heart.
But, due to suspected lost paperwork, the award never made it to Comley.
Enter Don Puchalla.
Puchalla’s recycle and trash bin cleaning business frequently brings him to Comley’s neighborhood.
About six months ago, Puchalla was wearing a U.S. Marine Corps cap outside Comley’s home. Comley spotted the hat and shouted to his wife, Mary, “Mary we got a Devil Dog out here!”
(“Devil Dog” is a nickname for those who are U.S. Marines.)
Puchalla quickly corrected him, saying, “No, sir, I’m not a Marine. My son was a Marine…he is guarding the streets of heaven.”
Puchalla’s son, Gabriel, died on active duty in the Marine Corps. From that moment on, both men say they became fast friends who shared stories.
During one of those conversations, Comley mentioned he was injured in Korea, and Puchalla asked about his Purple Heart. Comley said, “I don’t have one.”
Puchalla says it became his mission to help get that award pinned to Comley’s lapel.
After enlisting the help of many local agencies that assist veterans for several months, a ceremony was scheduled for Feb. 15 to give Comley his long-overdue Purple Heart.
Puchalla says through tears, “I just think it’s really important not to forget…my son would be saying, ‘Heck yeah, Dad! We got to do this!'”
The presentation ceremony was held at the American Legion Post in Overland Park and was attended by dozens of relatives, friends and veterans.
Comley’s wife of 65 years, Mary, expressed, “I’m happy that he’s getting it, really. He deserves it.”
She humorously wondered, “If he goes first, then I have another bad decision, who gets it?”
Comley responded, “We got a lot of grandkids.”
As the Purple Heart was pinned to the left side of Comley’s jacket, he uttered a quiet, “Thank you very much,” to which the room responded with a standing ovation.
Reflecting on his service, Comley said, “I don’t remember the bad times, I remember the good times.”
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