Special KWVA "W in Your Dream Vacation Fund-Raiser" Information ...

RIGHT: Helems’
name inscribed at
the Entrance
Memorial Hall to
Korean War
Museum in Seoul,
Korea
FAR RIGHT: Fred
Helems’ grave
marker at Woods
Cemetery,
Uniontown, OH
the 38th Parallel, North Korea,” in which he told them about his first
injury:
Well, you will be getting a telegram telling you that I was wounded but
just don’t worry. It isn’t bad. I just got a hunk of shrapnel in my leg and
it is coming along fine.
He explained what happened.
We were taking some mines out of the road and we had some
tanks for protection.
The Chinese must have spotted them because they threw an
artillery barrage at us.
They would throw four rounds at a time. We were out in front of the
lines so all we could do was hit the ditch. But one hit too close and it got
myself and another kid. He got hit three places and I just got hit one, so
the Lord was with me.
The last comment was not surprising.
In a 26 February 1951 letter home he had written:
Well, I might not get to have all that Christian fellowship when we leave
but I will have the greatest fellowship, which is with Christ. I’m so glad
I found him when I did, but to think I could have had him before and I
knew the way all the time…Well, when I get back I would like to do
something big for Christ.
He never got back, and he never did anything big for Christ. But,
people did something big for him.
Jim Helems, who was four years old when his brother Fred died,
thought it would be a good idea to acquire the Purple Heart he figured
Fred deserved. He mounted a campaign to get it. He wrote a letter to
Ohio Congressman
Ralph Regula in
which he requested
the Purple Heart. He
authorized William
Bloss, a KWVA member,
to “help facilitate
in the awarding of the
Purple Heart.” Their
efforts paid off. Not
only did they get the
Purple Heart, but they
arranged a memorial
service for Fred
Helems.
On 28 May,
A brick with Fred Helems’ name on it at All
Veterans Memorial, Uniontown, OH
Memorial Day 2007 there was a ceremony in Uniontown, OH to
honor Fred Dale Helems and to present to his family the medals he
had earned. (His parents both died in the early 1990s.) It was the least
some of the people for whom he fought and died could do for him.
No doubt Fred and Christ looked down on them as they did something
big for Fred.
THANKS: The information for this article was furnished by William
H. Bloss, 3865 Hugh Street, Uniontown, OH 44685-7009, (330) 699-
3337, Cell: (520) 574-5517.
James Helems can be reached at 9601 N. 10th Street #16, McAllen,
TX 78504, (956) 369-2307.
Presentation of Helems’ medals on 28 May 2007 (L-R) William Bloss
(Korea 1951), Robert Harris (Marines), James Helems, Han Lee (ROK)
The peaceful surroundings at the All Veterans Memorial at Uniontown, Ohio
59
The Graybeards
May – June 2009