Leatherhead in Korea by SSGT Norval E. Packwood Jr. (1952)

This booklet contains a collection of combat artist Norvel E. Packwood's cartoons of his experience in Korea, including a poignant final illustration showing how Korea became the 'forgotten' war...

SSGT Packwood was with the Marine Corps Gazette to Korea from 2 August 1950 to 22 April 1951 to document the actions in humor and script of the Marines as the fought their way to Chosin Reservoir and back to the DMZ.

This book is dedicated with respect to the memory of those Marines who fought so bravely in Korea ... Who shall never read it ...

When Staff Sergeant Norval E. Packwood, Jr. went to Korea in 1951 as a combat artist for the Marine Corps Gazette, his assignment was to portray the personal, human side of the war that so often escapes the lens of the camera. With the tired and war-begrimed - but still cocky and hell-for-leather - men of the First Marine Division, Packwood found what he was after. But in addition to the serious, grim, and often tragic nature of these men's business, Packwood also uncovered their inexhaustible store of humor, the peculiar brand of humor that is the trademark of American fighting men everywhere and particularly, in this case, of the United States Marines.

Humor among servicemen may be raucous, gentle, sarcastic, or profane, but it is always present on the battlefield. It may be directed at the enemy, at the situation "back home," at each other, or at life in general. But always it springs from that intense, close association of one man with another which is found only in combat.