John J. Bourke

John Joseph Bourke was one of many Americans who grew up during World War II, and who were too young to do their part, yet still possessed a desire to do so. In 1952 and 1953, he saw action in the Korean War as part of the United Nations forces, and was awarded with the Combat Infantry Badge, the United Nations Service Medal and the Korean Service Medal, among other decorations.

Bourke was born in New York City in October 1931. Before joining the Army in January 1952, he worked as a draftsman for Consolidated Edison for two years. Bourke trained at Fort Dix and was quickly shipped to Korea. He landed at Inchon and went directly to the front line, which was far more stable than it had been in 1950. Bourke was assigned to the 5th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) and experienced heavy artillery fire on his first night there. The weather was a threat as well, and frost bite was a constant concern to him and his fellow soldiers.

Bourke was initially assigned as an infantry rifleman, but later became a radio operator. He remarked that he was lucky on patrols, since he was never wounded. Bourke did, however, see enemy soldiers on patrol which led to intense close quarters combat that almost became hand-to-hand. He remembered patrols as being dark and rough. While Fort Dix had been flat and warm, Korea was hilly and cold. Sources of light, and often warmth as well, were prohibited on patrols in the dark.

Bourke later became a mailman for his unit. It was a gift of sorts for his birthday, since it was easier than being a radio operator. He remembered how the soldiers loved to see him coming, as he became their connection to home. Bourke himself wanted to go home. As much as he liked the men he was fighting alongside and even some of the generals, he was engaged at the time and wanted to get home in one piece. Bourke certainly did not want to be captured, as that was about as bad as being killed to him. He knew many men who had been killed in the fighting, some of whom were his friends.

When Bourke eventually did go home, as a corporal with a Combat Infantry Badge, no one came to meet him. He went to Fort Dix and then on to New York City, where he and other men returning home from an active war discovered that many people were unaware of what was happening in Korea. Bourke’s first task was to visit his fiancé and his mother. He was in the Army Reserve, stationed at Fort Jay in Brooklyn for several years, but for the most part, was able to return to normal civilian life.

Bourke had no desire to return to the war and certainly did not talk about it much; he was disappointed by its outcome. He went to night school on the GI Bill. Bourke said during his interview, “I’ve probably done more talking today than I have in the last fifty years!”

John J. Bourke passed away on August 9, 2024.