Korean War vet has stone etching made

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POCATELLO — It’s been more than 50 years since Tony Fix served in the Korean conflict, but his service and that of his fellow combatants is never far from his mind.

Tony, 76, and his wife, Joann, 75, moved to Pocatello from Boise a few years ago to enable Tony to get a handle on his asthma by dint of Pocatello’s cleaner air.

During Fix’s visits to the Boise Veterans Affairs Medical Center for treatment of his asthma and his post-traumatic stress disorder, he noticed a sandstone plaque engraved with an eagle and the words, “Freedom is not free.”

The message resonated with him.

Fix sought out the artist who made the plaque and commissioned a smaller replica for his own home in Pocatello.

It now sits on the corner of Country Club Drive and Mountain Shadows Lane.

Looking at the plaque and the American flag snapping in the breeze above it, he apologizes for becoming slightly emotional.

The plaque’s words clearly move him.

He speaks obliquely about parts of his military stint.

“Some of the things I saw in the service were not meant for a fair-haired child from Iowa,” he said.

Although Fix spares his listeners the more violent tales of his service, he remembers the details vividly.

In one incident during extremely high seas, a depth charge came free from its tether and began rolling back and forth in the hull in the heavy sea pitch.

The charge was live and would have sunk the ship had it detonated.

Fix said a Texan rodeo cowboy who’d been all talk up to that point volunteered to corral it.

Perched precariously above it, he jury-rigged a rope to bulldog the ordnance.

“God and behold, he lassoed that thing,” Fix said.

After being honorably discharged, Fix went on to work successfully in the electronics field. But his combat experience had changed him.

“Everybody said I was an angry person,” he said. “When I came home, I’d have liked to have gotten help.”

The loss of his VA medical records in a fire complicated his treatment, but he finally got it when his PTSD was diagnosed.

“The therapist at the VA really brought me out of my shell,” he said.

Fix still worries about other vets getting the proper attention.

“We’ve still got a lot of people running around here today with bugs in their head,” Fix said.

He is equally worried about current combatants and hopes their needs are addressed.

“They deserve help,” he said.

Despite the psychological harm it caused him, Fix is clearly proud of his service and wishes people would better comprehend the necessity of sacrifice during times of war.

“Too many Americans have gotten complacent,” he said. “People think freedom’s an entitlement.

“You have to be the horse in the harness to understand it.”

As for his plaque, he hopes that people will see it and give a thought to those who served in the Korean conflict.

“We’re the forgotten war,” he said. “We’re a dying generation.”

BY JOHN BULGER

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