Warren veteran George A. Culver served in two wars
Trending
EDITOR'S NOTE: To suggest a veteran for this series, which runs weekly through Veterans Day, email Metro Editor Marly Reichert at mreichert@tribtoday.com.
WARREN -- George A. Culver, 89, served in the Vietnam and Korean wars as a member of the Marine Corps.
After the Vietnam War, he continued serving for four more years.
Culver left high school in Edinboro, Pa., to join the Marines, which he said was inspired by his neighbor.
"He said 'if you ever really want to do something important, join the Marine Corps,'" Culver said. "He was in the end of the first world war and the beginning of the second world war."
Culver's basic training took place in 1951 in Parris Island, South Carolina. He said basic training was hard for him, but it was something he'll never forget.
"They take boys and make men out of them," he said. "They still do that. It was really a tough 13 weeks. Boot camp took a rural Pennsylvania farm boy and made him a real man and put him in the service and made a Marine out of him. There's nothing more proud in this country than a United States Marine."
After his training, he landed on Treasure Island in San Francisco, California, where he learned to become a jet pilot. After learning to fly, he became a 3rd Marine Air Wing. "The only time I was ever scared in my whole life was when I landed the first time on an airplane," he said.
After learning to fly, he served in the Korean War.
"War is nasty," he said. "There's no good things to remember about a war. You try to forget everything."
Culver said he was hospitalized for five months in 1953 after an explosion that gave him a head injury.
"We were on an ammunition run, and we came under mortar fire and I ended up in the hospital," he said. "They put a plate in my head. They told me I wasn't gonna have any hair, but I have a pretty good head of hair and I learned to walk and talk and navigate as a human again."
In 1952, during the war, he was stationed at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base in Oahu, Hawaii, where he met President Harry Truman. He said this was his favorite military memory.
"He came to visit our Marine base," he said. "Truman came to visit us and I was on the honors committee standing at the end of the red carpet when he came out of the airplane and he looked straight at me and I smiled at him and at the time I was a kid and I enjoyed just being there. He walked past all the surrounding officers and said, 'what's your name marine?' and I said, 'George Culver' and he stuck out his hand and I shook his hand. I got invited to have dinner with him that night and listen to Margaret (Harry Truman's daughter) play her piano."
The Korean War ended in 1953 after his injury.
In 1954, while stationed at the Opa Locka Marine Corps Base in Miami, his commanders were changing commands so they put him in charge of inventory.
"The commanding officer asked me to put together a crew to inventory the armory so I was in charge of the people counting the normal gear of the Marines; their guns, pistols and ammunition and then I had to report and give it (inventory) to him," he said.
While serving in Vietnam, his plane was shot down over the jungle.
"That was an F80 Shooting Star, and I was shot out of the plane with a parachute and landed in a tree," he said. "There was an anaconda in the tree that I landed in, about 20 feet long."
He said he survived thanks to God's help.
"I think God walked with me all the time," he said. "I'm here today simply because God held my hand and took me along with him."
He was 28 years old when he left the military. After leaving the military, he got his GED and then attended the University of California in Los Angeles, where he got a master's degree in mechanical engineering.
After college, he worked for White Motor Corp. as an engineer where he built trucks, but the company went bankrupt in 1980.
He then worked in Paris, France at L'Air Liquide as a traveling engineer.
After getting some money, White Motor Corp. restarted in Eastlake and Farmington Hills, Michigan. In 1981, George got rehired and worked in Michigan until the company went bankrupt a second time.
After White Motor Corp., he got a job working at Volvo White, where he also worked as a traveling engineer.
In 2000, he married his wife, Penelope Culver.
He said if he could go back to the military, he would.
George Culver
AGE: 89
RESIDENCE: Warren
SERVICE BRANCH: Marine Corps
OCCUPATION: Traveling engineer at White Motor Corp. and Volvo White
FAMILY: wife, Penelope and three children