“In honor of our veterans”

For the month of September, Merle Durby is being honored for his service to our country.
Merle Durby, Leland, volunteered for the Army in February 1952. He was a radio teletype operator with the 304th Signal Operation Battalion, part of the Eighth Army in the Korean War. His crew’s job was to transmit teletype messages between Korea and Japan.
Durby was in a radio van in Panmunjom, Korea, in 1953 when the news came across the teletype–the United Nations, China and North Korea had reached a ceasefire. Hostilities were over. The ceasefire was signed July 27, 1953.
Based just north of Seoul, Durby and the radio communications team drove to Panmunjom three times for negotiations between the United Nations and communists. Durby took photos of all of it.
His favorite photo is of U.S. Vice Admiral Joseph “Jocko” Clark, Army Gen. Maxwell Taylor, and Army Gen. Mark W. Clark, United Nations Commander. He also took photos of convoys of prisoners being trucked to processing centers during the prisoner exchange.
“It was an experience,” commented Durby.
The Top of Iowa Quilt Club sews patriotic quilts to donate to local veterans. This has been done in past years, but the club made the decision to submit an article to the Lake Mills Graphic, about one veteran who receives a quilt each month. If you know any senior veterans that have not yet received a quilt, please contact Bill Clark or Robin Grunhovd.