Rachel Brown, Megan Hawkins, & Erika Roman
Corona
U.S. History Period 1
May 29, 2012
Richard DeCenzo: Korean War
We had the pleasure of talking to a man named Richard DeCenzo, who was
drafted into the service during the Korean War. In 1910, Richard's father immigrated
from Italy at nine years old. Richard was born in 1933, in Schenectady, New York, as the
first generation in the U.S. He was born and raised a Catholic along with his brother, who
is five years younger. DeCenzo was born in the Great Depression, where twenty five
percent of families were unemployed. On Sunday evenings, Richard and his family
would go to Central Park for free entertainment. They would watch the fountain and the
lights that were in the middle of the lake. Richard also mentioned that although his family
lived during the depression, they had it better that many of the other families. “Not
everybody grew up the way you did, people come from different cross sections of life,
they're not all like you,” Richard stated. As you can see, he was very considerate of other
people and understood that you can't expect everyone to look like you, act like you, or
have the same values as you.
During high school, Richard took an electrical major, which caused him to have
two extra periods everyday, and didn’t get out until 3:15. Richard DeCenzo graduated
from high school on a Friday, and got a job at GE that next Monday as a technician. He
was going to night school for GE and tested components for missiles. Shortly after
beginning his career with GE, Richard’s military career started when he was twenty years
old, when he received his draft notice for the Korean War in December 1952. His report
date was February 12, 1953. And as he put it, he was “not very thrilled to go.” The
processing was held in Fort Devens Massachusetts. There, Richard was tested for two
weeks so they knew how to use him in the army. Richard’s M.O.S was radar repair,
which had been selected by the army in the processing center. During his training, on
three separate occasions, DeCenzo was interviewed to attend Officers’ Candidate School.
He refused because he did not want to extend his enlistment. This was not a career that
Richard wanted to pursue, preferred returning to civilian life.
After processing, Richard was sent to Camp Gordon, Georgia for basic training in
April-May 1953. In Camp Gordon, DeCenzo was assigned to the Signal Corp. “I learned
discipline, the ability to conform, to follow orders, take a rifle apart in the dark, shoot
accurately, how to handle grenades and explosives, and how to survive when your body
is very tired.” During his training, he also learned to handle himself while under fire.
“They would shoot at you while you were on the ground, and if you panicked and got up,
you were dead.” In training, they also had what was called a struggle pit. This was a
fighting pit, to show who was reliable and who could be trusted to always have your
back. Most people Richard was drafted with were sent out to Korea and some never
returned home. Richard was assigned as a replacement to a headquarters company with
heavy losses. 166 men were sent out, and only six had returned. The North Koreans had
overrun them. During the Korean War 55,000 men were killed in a three-year period, an
awful lot of young men to lose.
Once the eight weeks spent in Georgia were over, Richard DeCenzo was sent to
Fort Mammoth, New Jersey for radar repair training. Richard was at Fort Mammoth from
June 1953 until January 1954. Here, he was attending Signal Corp school and had to
report for formation at 1:30 pm and then have class from 4:00 pm to 11:30 pm due to a
large backlog of students. In October, he finally was able to begin day school until
January 1954. During free time, Richard and others would go to the town of Red Bank
and the beach. This was the first time Richard had been to the ocean, and when he went
into the water, he had to quickly get out because of how cold it was.
Every month, Richard got paid $67.50 after tax. He always sent $40 home to his
family back in New York, and kept $ 27.50. Most men went and spent their money
quickly by gambling, drinking, and women. However, Richard never saw the point of
gambling and losing all of his money. Therefore, he would spend 5 cents on a glass of
beer and 25 cents on a movie. Richard talked to his family once a month over the phone,
and in between sent letters back and forth. In addition, during leave, Richard would visit
home and spend time with friends that he had before leaving for service in the war.
Richard DeCenzo was never assigned out of the U.S. He was assigned to a
Regimental Combat Team, Headquarters Company, and communications in Battalion
headquarters. Richard participated in formal maneuvers “Operation Flashburn” in Fort
Bragg, North Carolina. During this, he traveled by convoy to locations from Fort Devens,
Massachusetts upon return, then by convoy traveled to Camp Drum, New York and
opened facilities for training of National Guard troops during summer of 1954. Upon
return to Fort Devens, he went on winter maneuvers at Camp Cod, Massachusetts.
DeCenzo was always training and going out on maneuvers as “The Aggressor
Role.” They would have mock battles and used blanks so that they had the real effect.
During training, there was a time where an explosion had gone off, and Richard was too
close, causing him to be hard of hearing in his left ear. While in the army, Richard
experienced his first time on a plane. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a good experience. Richard
and the other men flew on a military plane, and only got to Washington D.C until needing
to refuel. So once back in the air, one of the engines began to go out. When releasing
some of the fuel, it caused flames, which made it look like the plane was on fire. This
made the person next to Richard start to freak out until Richard hit him and yelled to shut
up. Then they had to turn back due to the engine failure. Part of the military experience
includes stress and pressure, Richard made new friends, and buddies that enriched the
two years together. There were people to watch your back and in return, you watched
theirs. One person that Richard met in the army was Chuck Hardy. Chuck will stay in his
life for many years after the war. Chuck and Richard talked of going to California and
living in Long Beach.
While in the service, DeCenzo and other men experienced some humorous and
unusual events. At one time, they were in Fort Bragg and most of the men had never
heard of ticks, including Richard. Therefore, at one point they would be falling from trees
and would be on the men’s skin. This was very strange because they had no idea what a
tick even was, but soon learned how to deal with them. Some pranks that the men would
pull in the mess hall would be to acquire their dessert, since you only got one serving,
they would find the men that had weak stomachs and tell a story or say something that
would make them unable to eat their dessert. So then, the men would get those persons
dessert.
At Fort Devens, the home base, the barracks were wooden, old, and only had coal
furnaces. At one point, Richard DeCenzo was promoted to Corporal. So another man and
he were in a private room at the end of the barracks in charge of the men.
On February 11, 1955, Richard DeCenzo was released. He spent two years in
active duty, and then spent six years inactive. Richard went home on a train through
Williams Town College at the end of his active duty. Looking out the train window
reflected on the young men who the war left untouched and were living their lives, not
seemingly unaware of how many of us were affected. He spent time at home in
Schenectady, New York for a month and then waited for Chuck to be released. When
Richard was released, he was anxious to return to civilian life. The service affected his
life in respect to giving him an appreciation for values and upbringing. He achieved the
ability to adapt and make the best of any situation. The war was valuable and gave
Richard a sense of who he was, how he could positively affect a situation, and task. His
military service was a positive experience because it allowed him to learn about different
backgrounds and diverse life goals.
Once Chuck got out, the two men set out on their journey to California. In Boston,
they stopped at a car dealership and Chuck bought a 1950 Mercury Lincoln Monterey
hard top (Limited edition). They drove that car to California. For two weeks, Chuck and
Richard stayed with Chuck’s uncle. Then the two moved into an apartment in Compton,
paying $65 a month. It was nice in Compton; they lived there until June 1956. They then
bought a house in North Long Beach on Cummings Lane. The house cost $7,800, and
they paid $67.50 a month which included 1st and 2nd mortgage, property tax and
insurance. Richard’s first job was with Pacific Telephone Company working there for
thirty-three years until retiring. He retired from Pacific Telephone, which became Pacific
Telesis and then SBC, which later acquired AT&T. At that time, 1955, Richard drove a
1951 black Cadillac convertible. He retired twenty-five years ago from Pacific Telephone
where he met his second wife, who had three children, Brian, Lenny, and Kevin.
When they got married, Richard was fifty-six, and she was forty-six. Richard
thinks of his wife very fondly, as he stated, “She was 5’4 and 115 pounds.” Their story
was one that you could never forget. They first met when Richard was calling about a car
she was offering for sale, but they didn’t actually meet. In addition, he had also seen her
in the newspaper when she was Miss West Minister in 1961. Then a few years later saw
her in front of her home though not actually meeting her in person yet. A few more years
later, he found out that she had worked for the same company as him. Their meeting was
“meant to be” and they were married for twenty-three years until Marilyn passed away in
September 2011.
Richard DeCenzo lived in Hermosa beach for five years, 1962-1968, selling his
first house in North Long Beach for $14,500 in 1961 and now currently lives in
Riverside. DeCenzo now has his three stepsons and seven grandchildren to love and care
for since the love of his life passed away. His stepsons are in their late forties, and his
grandchildren are in between seven and twenty-two. One of his stepsons, Lenny Dykstra,
was even in Major League Baseball, playing for the Mets and then the Phillies. Now,
Lenny’s son Cutter Dykstra is currently playing minor league ball.
Over the years, Richard has lost touch with everyone he knew in the war,
including his closest friend Chuck Hardy and has never attended a reunion. DeCenzo
says, “Change is continual; all wars are terrible, no matter the outcome. The loss of
individuals and what they may have contributed will never be known.” Richard always
had great respect for those who served in the war, stating, “We never know what to
expect, our destiny is in the stars.” And that sometimes the military bare the brunt or
blame for policy or decisions that are out of their control and in reality based on political
issues sometimes. It is more than what is an appropriate military strategy or action.
Richard DeCenzo was drafted at the age of twenty, and is now seventy-nine years
old. Although Richard was not deployed to Korea during his time in the military, he was
well trained and ready to serve if the need arose for him to be deployed. He was part of a
very large team that couldn’t function without men like him at home being well trained
and waiting to serve. It was a pleasure to talk to Richard, and hear his story. We learned a
lot about what it felt like to be taken from your home so suddenly and having to take on
such a big responsibility by defending this country. From talking to DeCenzo, we also
learned about the many places he traveled in his time in the military. Richard served hi
country well and faithfully, and it was an honor to have talked with him. His time spent
in the war taught him many ways to view life and its mysterious outcomes. Thank you for
the job you did and the sacrifice you made in giving part of your life in the service of
your country. It is because of people like you that we have freedoms that the rest of the
world envies. Richard DeCenzo is a truly honorable man, and his story will never be
forgotten and will remain in the memories of many.