Page 51 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2023 - Online Magazine

arMy
Korean War

for being a good guy. It’s been a good life. I’ve
been lucky.” Donald Neil Tugwell will not only be
remembered for being a “good guy,” but also as a
proud Korean War veteran who served his country
honorably.

Seoul, Korea and spent the first night in tents at an
abandoned airstrip. It was very cold, but we were
issued mountain sleeping bags. We’d wake up and
didn’t even know it had snowed. Later, we had nice
warm tents with diesel-burning stoves. Each tent
held seven men. They looked just like the tents in
the movie M*A*S*H.

“I left Korea in December 1954 on the Navy ship
USNS Marine Phoenix (T-AP-195) with 3,149
Army men aboard. It took 28 days to cross the
Pacific Ocean this time.” The Marine Phoenix
was the first ship of the new year to bring back
troops from Korea to Seattle, landing on January
3, 1955. “They flew us to Ft. Bliss in El Paso on a
two-engine plane. I was discharged on January 6,
1955. I took a bus to Lubbock and hitchhiked to
Levelland.”
Don continued working on his dad’s farm for
a time, then leased some farmland for 33 years.
“I had met Opal Wade in high school. She used
to pull cotton for my dad. We got to know each
other and fell in love. We married on July 8, 1958.
We had three daughters: Dawn, Sherry, and
Marla. We also have seven grandkids and 14 great
grandkids. We’ve been married for 64 years now.
I heard about the Texas South Plains Honor
Flight from Becky Currington who was with the
Veteran’s Assistance Office here in Levelland.
I was glad that I got to go with my brother
Claude. I was so proud when he was picked to
lay a wreath at the U.S. Air Force Memorial (in
Arlington, Virginia). I’d like to be remembered

Lubbock Senior Link 51