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Lt. Richard Talbert — Korean War hero

Today is Armed Forces Day (May 21), and I have in my possession a copy of the Enterprise carrying a story from December 1950.

It is an Associated Press (AP) story about a Saranac Lake soldier by the name of Lt. Richard Talbert. The Korean War lasted from June 1950 to July 1953.

His parents were Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Talbert lived at 24 Ampersand Avenue. His sister, Elaine, Mrs. Ronald Leahy, lives on the Trudeau Road next to her son Paul Leahy and his family. That beautiful stretch of the Trudeau Road was once the Ward Leahy dairy farm. (I am still suspicious that Paul is designing and laying out an 18-hole golf course there.)

The AP story added, “His father, Ben, a popular and well-known person in Saranac Lake passed away while he was in Korea.”

Here are excerpts from that story written by William J. Waugh:

“With the U.S. Seventh Regiment, Korea, Dec. 18 (AP) – It was late in November and the allies were still on the offensive in Northwest Korea. A small reconnaissance patrol, 26 men in seven jeeps, drove cautiously toward the small village.

“The patrol, under Lt. Richard Talbert of Saranac Lake, N.Y., had seen no enemy during the scouting that took them through the city of Ipsok and a mile beyond.

“In the small village beyond Ipsok, Talbert halted the patrol and got out of the lead jeep to question civilians. And it was then that hundreds of Chinese entrenched on nearby hills opened up.

“The first flare of gunfire destroyed Talbert’s jeep. The Reds directed a hail of mortar fire, machinegun and small arms bullets at the patrol, but the Americans held them off for 30 minutes.

“Talbert’s men got six jeeps out of the line of fire and started back down the road.

“We could never have done that except for two men on machine guns, Talbert recalled. “One was Sgt. Takeo Ono of Honolulu. The other was a sergeant who was wounded and taken prisoner. I’ve recommended both for Silver Stars.” The sergeant’s name was withheld.

“During the first part of the patrol’s retreat, the road ran parallel to Red positions in the flanking hills. Talbert, a radio operator, an interpreter and an engineer from an Army engineer company remained in the village.

“A shell hit the gasoline tank of the rear jeep and the two men abandoned it. Then the Chinese swarmed down the hillside. One of the two – a Corporal – turned around and saw that his companion was surrendering to two Chinese.

“The Corporal shot one of the Chinese through the head with a pistol. The other Chinese was so excited that the other American grabbed up his gun and shot him.

“Intense gunfire forced two men in another of the six jeeps to dive into a ditch. Both were taken prisoner.

Talbert and men make a run for it

“Back in the village, Talbert and his three companions decided to make a run for it. They started across a broad, flat field in back of the village.

“It was like a comedy in the movies,” Talbert said. The Chinks were coming off that hill and the four of us were running like mad, shedding our outer clothes as we ran.”

“The enemy soldiers stopped to look at Talbert’s wrecked jeep. That enabled the four Americans to increase their lead from 50 yards to 150.

“I wasn’t worrying about being hit by gunfire but kept worrying they’d run us into the ground,” Talbert said. “We were nearly exhausted and all of us were puffing like mad.”

“Talbert said, we’d run about half a mile when out of the sky came four Shooting Stars (F-80 jets) with rockets firing at the Chinks chasing us across that open field.

“I didn’t even look back, I just kept running but, man, was I happy. The four ran on for about a quarter of a mile and then from sheer exhaustion had to stop. Talbert looked back and the Chinese soldiers were moving back into the hills from where they had jumped the patrol.

“It was miracle we escaped. They shot everything at us but the kitchen sink.

“The patrol, airmen estimated, had ben jumped by 400 Chinese. American losses were two wounded, two men taken prisoner, and two jeeps destroyed. Talbert and his men walked five miles across country back to his unit.

“I lost everything, he said, “All my gear was in the first jeep destroyed. Running across that field, I threw everything away except my shirt, pants and shoes, an M-1 rifle, two clips of ammo and a pistol.”

Talbert rescues comrades from minefield

“Later during the Korean War, Talbert walked through a minefield to rescue three wounded comrades when there jeep was destroyed by a land mine and they were thrown 30 feet into the minefield area. Talbert, waving back offers of assistance, dauntlessly moved through the minefield and singlehandedly evacuated the three wounded.

“Another time when Lt. Talbert was given the mission of securing a hill near Waegon to tie in his unit, the 7th Cavalry, with another American unit, his patrol was pinned down halfway to its objective by enemy small arms fire. Talbert moved forward alone, engaged the enemy and killed six of them with his carbine and grenades.

“When he returned to his former position his South Korean force had become disorganized and had withdrawn. Talbert remained in the area and directed artillery rounds just 100 yards from his own position and squarely at the enemy held ridge, causing the enemy to withdraw with heavy casualties.

“This added an Oak Leaf Cluster to his Siler Star decoration for extreme heroism and gallantry along with a Bronze Star for valor.”

(The Silver Star is the third highest military medal awarded after the Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Service Cross.)

He was also a World War II Navy veteran.

At that time Lt. Talbert, who was also a WWII Navy veteran lived with his wife Marilyn lived in Valatie, N.Y. Lt. Talbert was a teacher.

I am so honored to have been an acquaintance of Dick Talbert.

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