On Wednesday, Oct. 2, a special ceremony was held for Korean War veteran, Royall Dodge, at St. Andrews Village by the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services. Director David Richmond and Director of Strategic Partnerships, Sarah Sherman, presented Mr. Dodge with the Korean Ambassador for Peace Medal on behalf of Jae-Hui Kim, Consul General of the Republic of Korea in Boston, Massachusetts. 

In addition, Mr. Dodge was awarded the State of Maine’s Korean War Certificate and challenge coin, and as a Purple Heart decorated veteran, the Maine Silver Star Honorable Service Medal and certificate. The Maine Department of Corrections Wood Shop created a handcrafted wooden Korean War Veteran’s plaque for him and a Quilts of Valor ceremony was conducted with the quilt being wrapped around the veteran’s shoulders as Director Richmond read a ceremonial tribute. 
 
Mr. Dodge was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951 at the age of 21 and served in an Engineering Detachment. In October 1952, he received orders to ship overseas and boarded the USS General HB Freeman which later docked in Inchon, Korea. For several days he traveled by train across country and then boarded a truck convoy for two more days of travel until he finally arrived at his base.  

The base was set up behind the Main Line of Resistance which was a line at the forward edge of the battle position, designated for the purpose of coordinating the fire of all units and supporting weapons, including air and naval gunfire. After only being in country for about a month, Mr. Dodge and several men in his outfit received orders to locate land minds in the Khumwah Valley and disarm them.   

The mines were either wire tripped or detonated when stepped on, and the men were probing the ground with their bayonets to try to locate them when someone to Mr. Dodge’s side tripped one of the land mines. He was thrown to the ground and was badly wounded in his left leg, shoulder, and face. He was evacuated to 8209 Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in Seoul, Korea. The doctor who operated on him remarked, “If you hadn’t had that flak jacket on, you probably wouldn’t be here.”   

Then he was transferred to an Army Hospital in Japan, Tokyo Army General, and later to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii. He was eventually flown to Andrews Air Force Base in California, and finally to Fort Devens in Massachusetts where he continued to recuperate, before being transferred to Murphy Army Hospital in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he was discharged from the Army in April of 1954.  
 
During the ceremony, Mr. Dodge was surrounded by his wife Eleanor, daughters, Sandra and Brenda, his son-in-law, friends, and staff at St. Andrews Village. Light refreshments were provided, and a special cake was decorated as an American flag to help commemorate the event. Congratulations Mr. Dodge and thank you for your service.