{"id":73248,"date":"2017-09-02T16:55:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-02T16:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/09\/02\/car-accident-leads-to-reunion-with-korean-war-buddy\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T14:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T14:01:37","slug":"car-accident-leads-to-reunion-with-korean-war-buddy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/veterans\/2017\/09\/02\/car-accident-leads-to-reunion-with-korean-war-buddy\/","title":{"rendered":"Car accident leads to reunion with Korean War buddy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WARRENTON, Va. \u2014 If it weren\u2019t for the car accident earlier this summer, Korean War veterans Jim Cunningham and Don McIntyre would never have found each other again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGod was in it from the get-go,\u201d said Cunningham, 86, a Spotsylvania County resident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two met up for coffee last weekend at the Warrenton home of McIntyre\u2019s daughter. It was the first time they\u2019d seen each other in 63 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1953, Cunningham and McIntyre, who were 23 and 20 at the time, served together with Marine Aircraft Group 12 at airfield K-6 in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. They were in the motor transport pool \u2014 Cunningham was a dispatcher and McIntyre was a driver. Their job was to collect downed aircraft from all over the country and take the wreckage to Inchon, where it would be shipped to Japan to be rebuilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their tour lasted 14 months and when it was over they went their separate ways. They\u2019d talked about starting a trucking company together, but life got in the way. McIntyre got a job driving a truck, married the truck owner\u2019s daughter and then bought the business. Cunningham joined the Air Force, retired from the service in 1972 and became a Baptist preacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half a century passed. But Cunningham kept looking for his friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not computer-literate,\u201d he said. \u201cI knew he was in the moving business, so I kept looking for his trucks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day in July, he decided that he wanted to plant some sweet corn. He borrowed a corn planter from a friend and started to drive it home, but he unintentionally hit a car that was parked on the right side of State Route 208.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginia State Trooper Greg Finch responded to the accident. It was a hot day and he invited Cunningham to come and sit in his car while he wrote up the citation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe got to talking. It took him an hour and 15 minutes to write up the ticket,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the conversation, Cunningham mentioned that he\u2019d served in Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI told him I had a real good friend in Korea and I was still looking for him,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cI told him his name was Don McIntyre. He said, \u2018I know Don McIntyre!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finch told Cunningham that his father lived one mile down the road from a Don McIntyre in Bath, N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI said, \u2018It\u2019s probably not the same Don,\u2019 \u201d Cunningham said. \u201cHe said, \u2018Let me call my Dad.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finch called his father and his father called McIntyre to ask if he knew a Jim Cunningham. The first thing McIntyre said was, \u201cOf course I know Jim!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two talked on the phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI asked him, \u2018Do you still have blond hair and a crew cut?\u2019 \u201d McIntyre said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cunningham does still have the crew cut, but it\u2019s white now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marine Corps veterans Jim Cunningham, left, and Don McIntyre, talk on Aug. 19, 2017 in Warrenton, Va. Both served together in the Korean War and reunited for the first time in 63 years. (Adele Uphaus-Conner\/The Free Lance-Star via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So the two arranged to meet at the Warrenton home of McIntyre\u2019s daughter. McIntyre\u2019s wife accompanied him on the trip from their New York home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been on pins and needles since I got the word he was coming,\u201d said Cunningham, a widower and father of a daughter and two sons. \u201cMy family don\u2019t want me to drive, but I told them I was driving an hour to see Don.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIntyre said he was anxious to get to Virginia to see his old friend and worried that Cunningham wouldn\u2019t recognize him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I guess I haven\u2019t changed that much,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both the men enlisted in the Marine Corps as soon as they were old enough, because the Korean War was going on and they thought it was their duty to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe live in a country with a lot of problems, but it is the best country in the world,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWhatever we have to do to defend it, we should do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Korea, they were stationed 50 miles behind battle lines, so they didn\u2019t see any fighting, but they saw the results \u2014 aircraft blown apart by bombs with wings, tail sections and engines blasted in different directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe went up and gathered the pieces,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cWe were supporting the war effort and sometimes we were in great danger. One time we collected an airplane on the 38th parallel and the North Koreans were watching every move we made.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They hauled everything from cases of beer to the 20-ton International TD-24 bulldozer, navigating rough roads and treacherous mountain passes. One challenge McIntyre remembered was trying to transport aircraft down a road lined with Korean red pine trees, which hold a special status in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to jockey the wings in and out to not hit the trees,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a $100 fine if you hit those trees. Do you remember that, Jim?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh, Lord, yes,\u201d Cunningham replied.<\/p>\n\n\n\t