FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. - A man whose family sold property to the government in the 1940s, for what was to become Fort Leonard Wood, returned to the area last week with a battalion reunion tour.
Lee Brumley, a Korean War veteran, was born and spent his early years in Falcon, Mo., on land his forefathers cleared of trees for farming.
"My great-grandfather was one of the first settlers of Laclede County," Brumley said.
There weren't a lot of people here, back then, Brumley said. "This was just a farming community; there was no town here. Waynesville was the biggest town in the area, and there was probably only 500 people - maybe not even that many."
During the 1930s, Brumley's parents moved north to Iowa, looking for better farmland, but some of the family stayed behind until the fort's construction.
"The government came around, paid them good, and they had one month to get out. One of my aunts, Ida Meyers, was the last person to leave the Fort Leonard Wood area. She was expecting a baby, so they let her stay until the baby was born," Brumley said.
As life would have it, Brumley would return to the post his family made way for, when he joined the Army in 1952. He completed Basic Combat Training as well as Tractor-Scraper School at Fort Leonard Wood, before deploying to Korea, where he joined the storied 44th Engineer "Broken Heart" Battalion.
Brumley served as a bulldozer operator for two years in Korea. After his tour ended, he left the Army and returned to Iowa, where he worked most of his life as a heavy equipment operator. He's retired now, and life has taken on a slower pace, he said.
Brumley now enjoys being a member of the Broken Heart Battalion Association, a group of former unit members and their spouses. They have reunions twice a year, usually at an Army base.
The Falcon native returned to post once again as the U.S. Army Engineer School and the 1st Engineer Brigade hosted a battalion reunion, Sept. 22-24.
Brumley and 50 members of the association spent a few days touring Fort Leonard Wood, reminiscing on days gone by, and sharing their experiences with some of today's Soldiers.
There is a lot of history to share, according to Ken Jobe, a former 44th Engr. Bn. commander (1978) and association president.
"They were part of Patton's breakout of the 101st Airborne Division at Bastogne ... they landed at Inchon," Jobe said.
The battalion got its nickname after leaving Fort McClellan, Ala., for combat in Korea.
"They had to have some way to mark their tools and equipment. The headlines in the Aniston, Ala., newspaper were "44th departs for Korea, leaves many broken hearts behind," so they put a broken heart on all of their equipment," Jobe said.
The battalion would serve in the Korean theater for five decades.
"They had been in Korea till August of 2004. So they were the oldest, continuously serving unit of its size on the peninsula. Then, they were the first unit to deploy from on combat theater to another, in Iraq," Jobe said.
Unfortunately, after the unit returned to the U.S., it was deactivated, Jobe said.
The engineer school was happy to host the Broken Heart association's visit, said Brig. Gen. Bryan Watson, USAES commandant.
"If you could see when they walk into the regimental room, they all gravitate to the 44th Engineers' plaque. We all look at those plaques as a history of a unit - to them, those are chapters in their lives," Watson said.
The association had an opportunity to meet with today's Soldiers, which is a great opportunity, Watson said.
"Today, we need that connection more than ever. We are who we are today, because of who they were then, and the opportunity for these guys to rub shoulders with today's sappers is priceless," Watson said.
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