This Military Service Page was created/owned by
PFC David Gettman (Tacoma Dave)
to remember
Gettman, Henry (Hank), SGM USA(Ret).
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Contact Info
Last Address Walla Walla
Date of Passing May 24, 1983
Location of Interment Mountain View Memorial Park - Lakewood, Washington
Wall/Plot Coordinates 11-261-P PRE [Garden of Prayer Precast]
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Sitting at the dining room table, drinking a beer and working a crossword puzzle, when he had a massive heart attack. Dad, I'm so sorry I never got to know you better.
Henry Gettman was born in Walla Walla, Washington. He was the son of Conrad Gettman and Anna Maria Ditter. Henry married Dorothy Jean Wissen.
Henry was a retired U. S. Army Sergeant Major; he was a veteran of World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam War.
Other Comments:
Dad was awarded several of these during the 1930's among his scores of other shooting medals, but not knowing any better, several were destroyed or lost by my friends and I, wearing them while playing Army in the woods around my house when we were kids. For a time I had the most decorated unit in the Army!
Korean War/First UN Counteroffensive (1951)/Battle of the Twin Tunnels
From Month/Year
February / 1951
To Month/Year
February / 1951
Description The Battle of the Twin Tunnels (French: Bataille de Twin-Tunnels) took place during the Korean War. In which the 1st Battalion 23rd Infantry Regiment 3rd Brigade Combat Team 2nd Infantry Division and elements of the 21st Infantry Regiment 24th Infantry Division inflicted heavy casualties on the People's Volunteer Army.
The "Twin Tunnels" refer to a series of railroad tunnels at along the Central Line in eastern Jije-myeon, Yangpyeong County, Gyeonggi-do Province, South Korea.
A series of battles, including Twin Tunnels, the Battle of Chipyong-ni, and the Battle of Wonju between January and February 1951 marked a turning point in many ways for the entire Korea War. Importantly, these battles (especially Chipyong-ni on February 13–14, 1951) shaped the tactics that would replay throughout both Korea and Vietnam whereby well equipped isolated firebases, in communication by air and radio with regional divisional forces, held out against numerically superior light infantry formations. Eventually such tactics turned around the UN's disastrous retreat from the north into a stalemate that led to an Armistice two years later relatively close to the site of these important battles.