James Medford

Sergeant James Albert Medford was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He was the only child of Opal and Abe Medford. A letter from one of his Aunts shows that Sergeant Medford either enlisted, or he was drafted into the United States Army Corp in 1948 and that he was stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

In September 1951, Sergeant Medford received orders that he would be deployed to active duty in Inchonon, Korea. He was shipped out to Japan in early 1952, before arriving at the Korean front shortly afterwards. That same month, Medford wrote his first letter to Jewell Thompson, of Dallas, Texas. In this introductory letter, Medford briefly described himself, saying that mutual friends had spoken highly of Jewell and he asked that she write him back and to send him a photo of herself. Ms. Thompson rapidly complied. They wrote each other almost daily and quickly fell in love.

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