The Forgotten War

For his first book, Last of the Old-Time Texans, Mackey Murdock transported readers to an era that ended before his life began. For his second book, he stayed much closer to home.

By Paula Felps

Mackey retired from Linear Products Front End in 1991. The Forgotten War: Texas Veterans Remember Korea is part personal history and part retelling the stories of others who came of age in the early 1950s:

"[It] meant, for a generation of young Texans, following the leadership of their World War II mentors into the terrible face of war. Their innocence was shattered on the ugly terrain of pain and disillusionment that was Korea. They became battle hardened and worldly wise as only men who have marched to hell and back can be," the back cover of the book reads. And the stories contained inside serve to unfold a tale of equal parts heartache and humor.

"I wanted people to know the sacrifices made by those men, as well as some of the humorous things that occurred," explains Mackey, who retired from his post as Financial Planning Manager of the Linear Products Front End at TI in 1991. "Many of the stories [for the book] had been with me for 50 years. I wanted other people to know what those men had been through."
However, even after the idea for the book came to him, he wasn't immediately ready to put it on paper.

"I wrestled internally with it for quite some time," he recalls. "For me, of course, it was a commercial venture, but it was also some of the most private moments and thoughts of the people who tell their stories. It's a very personally thing, so in many ways I was reluctant to proceed."

It took the encouragement of Larry Zellers, a former missionary who became a Prisoner of War in a Korean camp for the duration of the conflict, to prompt Mackey to pursue his idea.

"He smoothed over any reluctance I had and I saw how I could make it a tribute to these men. As he had mentioned in his own book, it was a way to remember any person that he'd ever had to dig a hole in the frozen ground for, to make sure they're not forgotten."

Although many of the stories Mackey would eventually write hadn't been discussed, they weren't hard to find. Years of silence had given the former soldiers both the time to process their experiences, as well as the willingness to share them.
"I talked to people who couldn't talk about what we'd just been through at 18, 20, 25 years old," he says. "Now they're 70-year-old men who are anxious to tell their story."

Through countless interviews and round-table "bull sessions," Mackey was able to reconstruct a remarkable face of a 1950's soldier, survivors who wanted nothing more than to serve their country but who found themselves immersed in immense loneliness and fear. As Mackey put their stories on paper, he faced a fear of his own as he shouldered the responsibility for sharing their stories accurately.

"I was anxious as [the book] came out," he admits. "But their response led me to the conclusion that this was well done and that it honors the men who served our country."

Ironically, Mackey himself was spared actual conflict because of an injury on the morning he was to report for active duty. He had spent the night in Denton with a college buddy, quaffing a few beers and recalling old times the night before he was to begin serving. He woke up in the wee hours of the morning to find the house on fire - investigators later ruled it was caused by faulty wiring - and he jumped from the burning building to save his life.
"So I showed up for duty at 8 o'clock that morning with a broken leg, and spent the first eight months in a U.S. Navy hospital, recuperating," he says. "After that healed, I went aboard an amphibious ship and we spent our time in the Arctic, supplying radar installations."

While it wasn't exactly what the young future author had planned, those eight months were spent alongside "shot-up marines and sailors," and became the foundation for the stories of The Forgotten War. He has managed to capture their stories with a sense of purpose and passion, evoking both empathy and awe for the men who defended our country. The book, which like his first one was published by Republic of Texas Press, has been well-received since its release last spring, and is going to be featured in the Library of Congress newsletter.

"Tom Brokaw called our fathers' generation 'The Greatest Generation,' and if that's true, I think we've served that generation well by passing on those genes to our current generation," says the author.

And, upon reading The Forgotten War, Mackey leaves no doubt that the Greatest Generation would, indeed, be proud of the one that immediately followed them.

The Forgotten War: Texas Veterans Remember Korea is available through the TI Retiree bookstore, and at all major bookstores.