Wallace DeCoster

In March 1953 I joined the army for three years and was sent to fort Devens, ma for processing; then to Fort Eustis, va for basic and onto training in my chosen mos at Fort Eustis which was diesel engine repair.  We all got notice that we were going overseas and were issued ibm cards with various large letters on them.  I received a K not realizing I was being sent to Korea.  We went by troop ship to Japan and changed ships to go to Korea and landed in Pusan. We joined up with the 765th.  My first day there the first sergeant asked "can any of you guys type"?  And I mistakenly volunteered and spent most of my time in Headquarters Company and never saw the inside of a locomotive or diesel engine again.  I do remember seeing the General Pershing Steam Engine.  Sometime in 1954 we became or were transferred to the 724th trsb.  I served 19 months in Korea and rotated home to serve the rest of my time in a AAA Aak Aak missile outfit in or near Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.  I got honorably discharged in 1956 with a Spec 4 classification.
 
I got married to Beverly Wood and we have three children, and eight grandchildren.  We will celebrate our fiftieth anniversary next year.  My career consisted of drafting and I ended up being a director of Computer Aided Design and retired in 1995 and moved to our summer place in Maine for good.  I graduated with a BS from Northeastern University and went on to Fitchburg State to earn a certification in teaching.  Currently I teach about two days a week mostly middle school age  kids which is my niche and I also volunteer as a train host on the amtrak downeaster which runs from Portland Maine to Boston Mass.