Korean War veteran Joe Barna reflects on sacrifices of comrades

WILKES-BARRE — Korean War veteran Joe Barna quoted the Bible, saying, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for a friend.”

Barna, 94, of Freeland, a Korean War veteran who was awarded two Purple Hearts, talked about the significance of the medal and his love and respect for all recipients of the prestigious military award.

The National WWII Museum says this about the Purple Heart:

“Apart from the Medal of Honor, one of the most recognizable awards in the U.S. Armed Forces is the Purple Heart.”

Barna said the Purple Heart medal shows that we honor all the Americans who have given their lives, or who have been injured in battle.

“On Memorial Day, we honor all those who deserve to be honored,” Barna said. “When a veteran joins the military, he takes a vow that will never be broken. Friendships are formed that will last forever.”

In his hometown of Freeland, Barna said veterans have never been forgotten. He said among the war monuments at the Freeland Public Park, sits a beautiful piece of carved red granite — a Purple Heart Monument — which honors all veterans from all over America.

“Any veteran who sheds blood receives a lifetime membership,” Barna said. “Their souls are forever inside. The key to the monument is the Purple Heart medal.”

Barna said the monument is a symbol to all American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines who had felt a bullet enter their bodies, or have had shrapnel tear into them.

The Purple Heart Monument in Freeland was erected and dedicated by the Freeland American Legion Post 473 and the Freeland VFW Post 5010. Working together, these two proud veterans organizations from this small town raised more than $4,000 toward the memorial through donations and fundraising.

The monument stands proudly in the Freeland Public Park War Memorial Area and serves to honor all who shed blood for our country.

According to the National WWII Museum, the medal was first awarded by George Washington as the Badge of Military Merit. The Purple Heart Medal, in its present form, was established in 1932. Those wounded or killed while serving, on or after April, 5, 1917, with the U.S. military, would be awarded the medal. To date, more than 2 million have received the Purple Heart.”

Barna has used his life to promote veterans and to urge all Americans to never forget them and to always honor and respect veterans — especially those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and those who were injured in battle.

“Someday, I will join the grand reunion in Heaven,” Barna said. “I did my time in Korea, but I will be hearing about all those barracks, the beaches, the towns, the cities, the mountains, the rice patties, the rivers and jungles, the oceans, skies and deserts where young men and women served the country they believed in.”

Barna said they all began a journey early in their lives, never knowing if they would finish it.

“On these journeys, God took some too soon,” Barna said. “He must have needed more angels. Others, God told to go home. There they would marry those girls who waited for them. The others came home in a flag-draped coffin. God instructed the survivors to never stop honoring their fallen buddies — to never leave them out of their hearts and minds. To forget them would mean losing the honor they earned.”

Barna urged everyone to look at all the new American flags in our cemeteries, as they wave gently in the wind.

“On Memorial Day, try to feel what these flags stand for,” Barna said. “Try to imagine the pain that the hero felt. He or she is now lying under a blanket of grass. Think of the children who lost their fathers. Think of the wives who lost their husbands. So many parents never again filled the empty chair at the holiday dinners.”

Barna said veterans come in all colors, religions and sizes.

“But they become as one,” he said. “In wars, some friendships are formed that will last forever. Some friendships are ended much too soon. Remember, a hug is better than any picture.”

Barna offered a speech his great-granddaughter gave when she was 13 years old:

“Some people consider themselves lucky when they win a lottery. I consider myself lucky because someone I love came home from one of our wars and made me a great-granddaughter.

“What would our country be like if our boys and girls didn’t go to serve when our country needed them? But they went, and many laid down their lives for all of us. My veteran came home, and now he has many grandkids.

“The veterans didn’t expect to die, but some still lie in the ground in far off countries. They had so much yet to live for, but now only remain a memory to their families. The greatest gift anyone can receive is the gift of life.

“This gift was given to so many when their veteran came home alive. I received this gift. How can we repay them as they get older, weaker and slower? He may look weak, but don’t let this fool you.

“His strength is in his mind and heart. You have to pay them back with love, honor and remembrance. I owe my great-grandfather so much.

“I owe him the air I breathe, the legs I can walk with and play sports.

“I owe him the arms I have to hold the hand of a child.

“I owe him the eyes I have to be able to see all the beautiful things in my life, and the ears to hear the wonderful sounds.

“I owe him the mind I have to think with.

“I only hope I have part of his heart.”

Barna’s brush with death

Barna said his life almost ended before he turned age 22. Barna said one night in Korea, he found himself lying in a mountain trench 10,000 miles away from his family and town where he grew up.

“I was losing blood from a deep bayonet wound to my left arm,” Barna said. “The battle was raging all around me. I looked around and I saw many of my buddies covered with blood, crying out and calling out for ‘Doc’ — a Navy Corpsman trained to keep Marines alive. If a corpsman is not there to respond, that boy may very well die.”

Barna said he remembers watching his blood soak into the Korean dirt and he was getting weak and tired.

“I was about to close my eyes and meet God,” Barna said. “Then I heard a voice — a voice I had heard every day. It was Corpsman John (Jackie) Kilmer. I was very tired but I heard him say ‘Wake up, I have to close that wound or you’ll die. God doesn’t want you yet.’”

That night, Barna, 94, said he was given a second chance to live 71 more years of life and counting. However, the corpsman who saved him, Kilmer, would lose his chance to see old age. Kilmer died in battle five weeks later when helping another Marine live.

“He was the bravest man I ever met,” Barna said. “In a few minutes this hero earned three medals — the Purple Heart, the Navy Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor.”

Barna said he could never forget Kilmer, who he regards as his brother and Guardian Angel.

A few years ago, Kilmer was remembered and honored in a ceremony in San Antonio, Texas, for being the hero he was. Barna traveled to Texas to honor and remember him and he was invited to speak at the cemetery where Kilmer sleeps forever.

“I felt his presence as if I was speaking directly to him,” Barna said. “I felt he was looking down at the crowd that was there to give him the honor he deserved and earned. I could almost hear his voice saying ‘I knew you would come corporal. I’m sorry I had to leave you on Aug. 12, 1952, but God needed me to care for some of your buddies.’”

Barna said Kilmer has been in Heaven for 71 years.

“On that long-ago night in Korea, he gave me something out of that bag — that something was life,” Barna said.

Kilmer now lies covered with a grass blanket and is surrounded by flowers and an American Flag. Barna thanked him by kneeling down alongside his headstone.

“I told him I will never forget him,” Barna said. “I know now that God takes only the best. My one wish is that God would have given Doc Kilmer the years that he gave me.”

Barna’s combat time in Korea included some of the most terrible fighting that the Marines endured including the mountain battles at Bunker Hill, Old Baldy, Siberia, Vegas, and Reno.

Barna served as a combat veteran of the Korean War from June of 1952 to July of 1953.

“Jackie Kilmer was just a boy from Michigan who loved all Marines and wanted to save as many as he could,” Barna said.

Barna said he was knocked down by a shell and he found himself laying on his back, the half-full flamethrower tank pinning him to the ground. A North Korean soldier came at him with his bayonet.

“In his quilted suit, he seemed to come out of nowhere,” Barna said. “I can still see his face and smell the garlic on his breath. As he lunged at me, I was able to turn, but he stabbed my upper left arm with his bayonet. I had a double-barrel shotgun taped on the arm of my flamethrower and gave him both barrels. I think I blew him in half.”

A hero’s story

Several weeks later, Barna said Kilmer was called to go to a nearby battle to help with the wounded. During this battle, Kilmer was hit with shrapnel and was taken into a bunker to be treated.

“From inside the bunker, he heard Marines calling out for help,” Barna said. “Looking out, he saw two wounded men on the battlefield. The sergeant told him that if he would go out there, he would die.

“Jackie replied, “If I don’t go out there, they will die!”

Barna said Kilmer crawled out to them and began to treat their wounds. As he did, a heavy round of shelling came in. Kilmer threw himself over the two Marines. A shell landed so close that 15 pieces of shrapnel entered his body.

Kilmer died, but the two Marines lived. Kilmer was six days short of his 22nd birthday.

Shortly after Barna arrived home in 1953, he called Kilmer’s mother in Flint, Mich. He told her that her son was the bravest man he ever met.

Barna carries a picture of his hero, John “Jackie” Kilmer, in his pocket, close to his heart.

“We all should carry all veterans close to our hearts every day,” he said.