Korean War vets to be honored on Armed Forces Day

Three of Superior’s Korean War veterans will be honored for their military services at the Armed Forces Day ceremony on Saturday, May 18 at Superior High School. Cabin Fever Quilters will present Wayne Bricker, Lee Magone and Doug Cummings with quilts in honor of their services in the Korean War. The event begins at noon and is open to the public.

Wayne Bricker

When Wayne Bricker was 19, a few of his unemployed friends persuaded him to join the Marines on the buddy system. One was stationed Hawaii, another never left California, and Bricker spent 15 months in a tent at the base of Mt. Fuji. Although Bricker never went to Korea during the war, he did get deployed to Japan as part of a Korean Conflict backup unit. After serving in the Marines from 1953 to 1956, he was awarded a National Defense Service Medal, U.N. Service Medal, Korean Service Medal and a Good Conduct Medal. After Bricker’s discharge, he briefly returned to Sandpoint, Idaho, and later moved to Superior to enter the logging business. He married Toots Bricker in 1962 and they had two children. Now 85, Bricker and his wife recently celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.

Lee Magone When Lee Magone, 90, was in South Korea during the Korean War, bathrooms — and running water — did not exist. The only paved roads he saw were a product of the U.S. Army and ran just 20 miles from the port to Seoul. “When I was there, no civilians that I saw had pretty clothes, cars, or anything else,” Magone said. “They walked wherever they were going and they carried their belongings on their backs.” Magone served in the U.S. Army from 1947 to 1952. While in Korea, he served as a staff ammunition sergeant for the 3rd Infantry Division, and was awarded three Bronze Battle Stars and a unit citation from South Korea’s president. “I was not wounded, I was very fortunate,” he said. After Magone’s discharge, he returned home to the states, went to college and began surveying for the Montana Power Company. He retired in 1990 and returned to Superior in 2004, where he grew up.

Doug Cummings At age 17, Doug Cummings joined the U.S. Navy, and by 1952, he departed San Diego for Korea. Although he never set foot on land, Cummings spent a lot of his time on a destroyer. “We did a lot of shooting on soil, but never set foot on land,” Cummings said. Cummings served as a petty officer and received several medals while in Korea, including a Good Conduct Medal, a U.N. Peace Medal, and a Korean Medal. Following his discharge, Cummings returned to his hometown of Plains, got married and shortly afterward moved to Superior. He spent almost 54 years working in the hardware business between Missoula and Superior. Cummings will turn 85 on May 17, the day before Armed Forces Day.