Kids & Family
Behind The Tears Of An 84-Year-Old Soldier And His Wife
Tears of joy and sadness marked the end of the Korean War 60 years ago. So, too, today, at the Korean War Memorial dedication ceremony in Tampa.
Ted Morford remembered what he can never forget, at Veterans Memorial Park in Tampa on July 27, 60 years to the day the Korean War Armistice was signed, giving Morford and his wife, Marie, a chance to extend their marriage to what today has become a 64-year union.
With mixed emotions Morford greeted the day, offering at the end of the Korean War Memorial dedication the reason for the tears he held back and the words that got caught in his throat as he tried to answer a reporter's question, after he said: "I left a good friend over there and we're still looking for him."
What would he say to Cpl. Robert S. "Floggie" Manier, a Nashville native, who died in captivity in Korea on July 5, 1951, and whose name appears on a card Morford gives to those who ask him what it was like to fight in Korea?
"I can't," Morford said, tears forming in his eyes. "I can't talk about it."
What he did offer freely was a recounting of the feelings he had for both the Korean War Memorial in Tampa and for the feelings he had when the armistice was signed July 27, 1953, while Morford was stationed in Korea.
"Sixty years ago today I was at Kimpo Air Force Base, just outside Seoul in Korea," said Morford, who lives now in Sarasota. "What I remember so well is the artillery stopped and we could sleep at night. We wanted to clap and cheer but there were too many dead, we couldn't do that."
All these years later, of the Korean War Memorial in Tampa, Morford said, "it's gorgeous."
"I've been to a lot of [war memorial] dedications but this is probably the nicest," he added.
- See video and photos At The Korean War Memorial Dedication In Tampa
- See more photos at Korean War Memorial Dedication At Veterans Park In Tampa
Dan Morford said he was in Korea, flying over the Korean Demilitarization Zone "a couple decades later," and, like his father, can't shake the feeling of what's to become of Korea. "Just this year we were on the brink of [hostilities] again," Dan Morford said. "When is it going to be over?"
For Marie Morford, the agony a military wife faces was over 60 years ago, when the Korean War armistice ended the war that took her husband away.
"Oh God, I can't tell you how I cried," she said, upon learning of the ceasefire. "We're married 64 years and he was my high school sweetheart."
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This story was first posted July 28, 2013 at 5:45 a.m.
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