The medals, gleaming in a little plastic case, were all that was left to solve the mystery of an Auburn man's service in the Korean War.
Sam Tenney / The Citizen
Hilda Babiarz sits behind a picture of her late husband, Joseph V. Babiarz, who served in the Army during the Korean War. Mrs. Babiarz recently received four medals earned by her husband during his service, awarded nearly 55 years after his discharge and 15 years after his death.
Hilda Babiarz sits behind a picture of her late husband, Joseph V. Babiarz, who served in the Army during the Korean War. Mrs. Babiarz recently received four medals earned by her husband during his service, awarded nearly 55 years after his discharge and 15 years after his death.
Joseph Babiarz, a corporal in the Army during the war, did not boast of his heroic deeds or eagerly discuss his adventures of trudging through the mud and snow under a hail of North Korean or Chinese bullets. Instead, he took all of his secrets with him when he passed away in 1992.
James Babiarz, Joseph's son, said the only thing he knew about his father's service was that Joseph was on the front lines and that he was proud to have served his country from March 5, 1952, to June 30, 1953.
James didn't even know his father had medals, much less how he got them.
“From what I hear, some of them don't talk much about what happened over there,” Joseph said as he spoke about Korean War veterans. “They just try to leave it all behind them. They just want to bury it.”
Hilda Babiarz, who met and married Joseph after the war, said the family never thought about Joseph's service in the war until Auburn's Korean War Veterans Association began work on the memorial adjacent to County Office Building on Genesee Street.
In order to get Joseph's name onto the memorial, the family had to supply Joseph's discharge papers to prove he served in the war.
“That's when they told us he had medals coming,” Hilda said. “Then they told us to contact the veterans office to get them.”
Hilda said she called everyone on Joseph's side of the family, and no one had any idea what Joseph did to receive the medals.
When James and Hilda called the veterans center to get some answers, all they got were more questions.
“Some fire destroyed a lot of documents in the 1970s when everything was still on paper,” Hilda said. “They couldn't tell us what the medals were for or what he did to get them.”
After two months of waiting, Hilda earlier this year received a package in the mail from the Army. When she opened it, she found a Korean Service Medal, a National Defense Medal, a New York State Medal for Merit, United Nations Service Medal for Korea and two Bronze Service Stars.
Even though Joseph could no longer tell his story, the medals gave insight into the life he had left behind in Korea.
The New York State Medal for Merit meant Joseph was a member of the New York State National Guard and was assigned to serve in the United States Army from 1952 to 1953. The National Defense Medal, the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Medal for Korea were all given to soldiers who served in Korea during the war. The Bronze Service Stars were designated for various combat tours that the different branches of the military participated in.
There were only two military campaigns recognized by the Army during Joseph's tour of duty, which were the summer and fall defensive and the third winter defense.
Joseph's discharge papers also showed he served in Korean for 15 months, which meant he probably was fighting on the front lines during that period of time.
Randy Sowell, an archivist for the Truman Library, said it was not uncommon for front line soldiers in World War II and Korea to serve a tour of combat for one year before being rotated back home. Soldiers needed to accumulate a certain number of points to be eligible to rotate home and the closer to the front lines a soldier was, the faster they typically earned points.
“If that is when he served, it was a very bloody stalemate,” Sowell said. “Both sides are just fighting, there is no more attacking, advancing or pushing back. It's just stationary, continuous fighting while peace talks continued.”
The brutal combat at the time was limited to small squad-based fighting, sniper attacks and lots of hand-to-hand combat.
“This was often referred to as the meat-grinder portion of the war,” Sowell said. “It was just bloody and constant fighting all across the 38th parallel.”
When it was time for Joseph to leave the fighting behind, he met and married Hilda and focused all of his energy into his civilian life.
“He was a good, hard-working husband and father,” Hilda said of Joseph, who spent 35 years working at Crucible Materials in Syracuse.
Even on his days off, James said his father rarely took a break.
“My dad was a hard-working man and he had a great heart,” James said. “If he wasn't working at the steel mill, he was doing some work on the side for someone else.”
Joseph never had a chance to stop working and enjoy life after retirement, Hilda said. Joseph died at 11 p.m. Nov. 11, 1992, of heart complications.
“He died on Veterans Day,” Hilda said. “He was going to retire when he turned 62. He was three months away from making it. I never knew and he never mentioned it before he died, but I wonder if he even knew he had medals coming.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
James Babiarz, Joseph's son, said the only thing he knew about his father's service was that Joseph was on the front lines and that he was proud to have served his country from March 5, 1952, to June 30, 1953.
James didn't even know his father had medals, much less how he got them.
“From what I hear, some of them don't talk much about what happened over there,” Joseph said as he spoke about Korean War veterans. “They just try to leave it all behind them. They just want to bury it.”
Hilda Babiarz, who met and married Joseph after the war, said the family never thought about Joseph's service in the war until Auburn's Korean War Veterans Association began work on the memorial adjacent to County Office Building on Genesee Street.
In order to get Joseph's name onto the memorial, the family had to supply Joseph's discharge papers to prove he served in the war.
“That's when they told us he had medals coming,” Hilda said. “Then they told us to contact the veterans office to get them.”
Hilda said she called everyone on Joseph's side of the family, and no one had any idea what Joseph did to receive the medals.
When James and Hilda called the veterans center to get some answers, all they got were more questions.
“Some fire destroyed a lot of documents in the 1970s when everything was still on paper,” Hilda said. “They couldn't tell us what the medals were for or what he did to get them.”
After two months of waiting, Hilda earlier this year received a package in the mail from the Army. When she opened it, she found a Korean Service Medal, a National Defense Medal, a New York State Medal for Merit, United Nations Service Medal for Korea and two Bronze Service Stars.
Even though Joseph could no longer tell his story, the medals gave insight into the life he had left behind in Korea.
The New York State Medal for Merit meant Joseph was a member of the New York State National Guard and was assigned to serve in the United States Army from 1952 to 1953. The National Defense Medal, the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Medal for Korea were all given to soldiers who served in Korea during the war. The Bronze Service Stars were designated for various combat tours that the different branches of the military participated in.
There were only two military campaigns recognized by the Army during Joseph's tour of duty, which were the summer and fall defensive and the third winter defense.
Joseph's discharge papers also showed he served in Korean for 15 months, which meant he probably was fighting on the front lines during that period of time.
Randy Sowell, an archivist for the Truman Library, said it was not uncommon for front line soldiers in World War II and Korea to serve a tour of combat for one year before being rotated back home. Soldiers needed to accumulate a certain number of points to be eligible to rotate home and the closer to the front lines a soldier was, the faster they typically earned points.
“If that is when he served, it was a very bloody stalemate,” Sowell said. “Both sides are just fighting, there is no more attacking, advancing or pushing back. It's just stationary, continuous fighting while peace talks continued.”
The brutal combat at the time was limited to small squad-based fighting, sniper attacks and lots of hand-to-hand combat.
“This was often referred to as the meat-grinder portion of the war,” Sowell said. “It was just bloody and constant fighting all across the 38th parallel.”
When it was time for Joseph to leave the fighting behind, he met and married Hilda and focused all of his energy into his civilian life.
“He was a good, hard-working husband and father,” Hilda said of Joseph, who spent 35 years working at Crucible Materials in Syracuse.
Even on his days off, James said his father rarely took a break.
“My dad was a hard-working man and he had a great heart,” James said. “If he wasn't working at the steel mill, he was doing some work on the side for someone else.”
Joseph never had a chance to stop working and enjoy life after retirement, Hilda said. Joseph died at 11 p.m. Nov. 11, 1992, of heart complications.
“He died on Veterans Day,” Hilda said. “He was going to retire when he turned 62. He was three months away from making it. I never knew and he never mentioned it before he died, but I wonder if he even knew he had medals coming.”
Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net
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