Veterans Interview: Chuck Olmstead with Frank Brazik

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

This special answers for elders podcast honoring military veterans is sponsored by carriage. For more information about carriage, the website is sear EA gecom. Well, this is chuck holmstead. I’m here at Patriots landing and Dupont Washington with our answers for elders veterans interview and our special guest today is Frank Bracick and frank, welcome to answers for elders. Thank you. Yeah, well, you go by Frank. Your official title is Francis. Francis Green. Yes, and you were a PFC in the army, that is correct, which stands for Private First Class. Your First Class, Guy, frank, you, ha ha ha. Well, we like to hear the stories of our veterans, and frank stories usually are good when they start at the beginning. So did you? Where did you grow up? I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, okay, right there on the shores of lake ear in the shows of Lake carry. went to schools over there. At the age of I think it was eighteen, I decided to join the military, Uh Huh, which I did and found myself in Korea in a few months later. Later, okay, so born born. What year? One thousand nine hundred and thirty three? Thirty three, so eighteen years later the one, so right at the beginning of the Korean War. That’s correct. Yeah, so did you join the service in preparation of that? Did you know that the Korean conflict was about ready to happen or no, I had no idea about that and I probably thought about that for Tenzero Times now. But what I had in my but I think what I had in mine, is there was some chaos at home, Uh Huh, in school, every place else that I seemed to be going at that age of of Seventeen, I guess it would. MMM, and I thought it’d be a good idea for me to join the military to get away from the chaos that have seemed to me, anyway, that was going in my where I lived, which happened to be Cleveland, Whi. Yeah, well, Cleveland at that time, of course, people, my men had been coming back from World War II. Correct, a big industrial area, lots of tire manufacturing and a lot of other kinds of manufacturing. Correct. So, but I’m sure jobs were a little bit tougher because I don’t know, Ye, if when you’re seventeen, eighteen years old that you know, and you’re getting military people coming back from from wherever. They’re probably obviously more bitter targets for for work, sure, than somebody that doesn’t really basically not know anything right, just coming out of high school, for sure. So you join the service. You why did? Why did you decide on the army? Just it seemed like to be the easiest place to go, from what I what I understood. Uh Huh, I wouldn’t really dead educated. Didn’t have what I thought was maybe more whatever right that you needed to the other military places to go. Uh Huh. Yeah. So so you do it. You join the army. Where’s basic training then? I think it was Fort Nights for knocks. And then where was your secondary training? Some place in California. But, as I recall, the Korean things started and everybody went into you know, training and then Bing Bang boom here in the military in a war. Yeah, yeah, make it short. So you travel over to the Korea in a military and a troop ship, I would imagine, it’s correct. Yeah, and where did you end up in Korea? Well, in eventually, and when there and wound up in North Korea, from where we were fighting. That’s where I was wounded. Well, tell me, tell me about that. So, fifty one. So you you, I’m sure. So then did you travel up the peninsula as you were? Fine, we did. We were doing real well, as I recall, we’re talking about a long time now. Yeah, you know, in almost sixty years now. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you a story. I don’t know where this goes or whatever, but but I was in North Korea, North Korea where I got wounded, and it was I keep thinking about our president, current discussions, but with tell his name. Yeah, with Kings, Kim John. Yeah, well, I knew I almost knew him. I almost killed them, but they shad me first. Right, right. So every time I hear it’s something about the news, I think, you know, hey, maybe he’s going to call me and ask me how the things are over there, right, but of course never happened. Not that hasn’t here. Yeah, so we’re you in a particular battle, how don’t? We were in, you know, a battle. Yeah, north in North Korea, North Korea, going in right, where everything was you’re talking about nowadays is happening from it’s kind of, you know, like wow, here I am at that my age, thinking about all this stuff again, right, just don’t go away. or it’s military stuff, right, right. So how old were you done when you were ahead to be eighteen or seventeen? Eighteen? Uh Huh, UH, Huh. So did you get ship back state side or what? Eventually I came back to the United States, but at that age I was, as I don’t know, let’s say, goofy as can be from going through all kinds of stuff at that age and decided to leave the military, that going back to college or going to stir school, doing something, it’s probably the better thing to do then to stay in the military. Yeah, I was. I can honestly tell you. I didn’t get any ratings that. I guess how you might say I wasn’t that a wonderful the trooper or soldier or whatever at the age of eighteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, that that wasn’t me. Uh Huh, and I did think about it for a while that sooner or later they put me into another war or something, because I wasn’t really that. And I don’t even know how you explain that ready for the military, wasn’t you know? Hmm, this is what you’re supposed to do and that dad that that wasn’t for US young guys. We could do whatever we wanted. Blah, blah, blah. Right, right, so that’s but I did leave, went to college and then Blah, Blah. Yeah, some please. So, yeah, so you were actually served. So then how long were you actually then in the army? Three years, umtory year. And so you you came back to the US after you were to the state side, after you were wounded, and then you just went to school. UH, Huh. Where did you go to school? I went to different Kylor college is. I couldn’t go go to for for a year because I had to hand had a good finish my high school. Then I went to a business college for three years in Cleveland, mm. And from Darn I we just went into the industry. Well, frank, I want to thank you for joining me today on this answers for elders broadcast. We’ve been speaking with Frank Brazick. He’s PFC US Army, a Private First Class, and thank you for joining me today on answers for elders radio. This has been a special honoring Veterans Presentation of answers for elders brought to you by carriage. For more information about carriage, the website is CRA angecom