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.

Sergeant Medford's first years of duty are briefly recounted in letters from fellow soldiers that went through boot camp with him. According to them, Sergeant Medford was an extremely popular soldier at Fort Hood, and he was sorely missed when the Army sent him overseas. In his day job, Sergeant Medford was a clerk who meticulously processed papers pertaining to fellow soldiers' military status, as well as cataloguing base-wide supplies and inventories, and any other vital operations necessary for his unit. By all accounts, he was excellent at his job, receiving commendations for his ability to streamline processes and save money.

Off duty, Sergeant Medford became the ring leader of a small group of young men who regularly socialized together, going to bars, seeing movies and trying to meet girls. Part of the ritualistic joking amongst these soldiers included giving each other coded nicknames of famous female movie stars. There was 'Sophie' (Sofia Loren), 'Betty' (Betty Grable), and 'Lana' (Lana Turner), amongst others.

As a single woman in the 1950's, Jewell Thompson's life mirrored that of mini Doris Day, as Thompson held a job and lived on Henderson Street in Dallas with two other working girls, Vera and Sara. The trio's social lives consisted of shopping, going to movies and plays, swimming, vacationing, sewing their own clothes and taking turns cooking the weekly meals for the household. Dating was non-existent for Thompson due to her engagement to Medford.

In 1953, Sergeant Medford married Jewell Thompson and moved back to Fort Worth. That same year, Medford was honorably discharged and eventually entered graduate school. In 1955, he was close to graduating and hoping to become a college professor. The couple was living comfortably, but had recently suffered the tragedy of a miscarriage. Thompson was not well and Medford seemed pensive. The letter depicting this part of his life is the most somber document in the entire archive and does not seem to be written by the same soldier who first wrote so boldly to Jewell Thompson. In this sense, it almost appears the reality of life back in Fort Worth was heavier than the war he survived in the Far East. The Medford Korean War Correspondence collection ends on a surreal note, as the whimsical voices dreaming of Sergeant Medford's safe return home thoughout 1952 were silenced by the reality of everyday life in Cowtown in 1955.

From the guide to the Medford Korean War Correspondence Collection MA11-3., 1948-1955, (Texas/Dallas History & Archives, Dallas Public Library)