Korean War Veterans
It’s been a long time since the Korean war came to an end.
Waiting to ship out were Robert and Barbara Powers, but they never made it to Korea. They shipped to Pensacola, Florida where they met each other and later fell in love.
Barbara was 20 years old when she decided to enlist in the Navy. She had already had six months of nurse training.
“I had to go into boot camp first, and then from there I wanted to go to service school,” Barbara Powers said. “I already had nursing training before for the Hospital Corps. I had to go to school there for 20 weeks, and then when I got out, I was stationed in Pensacola Hospital.”
Robert was also working at Pensacola Hospital as a hospital corpsman. He and Barbara both worked night shifts and soon met each other.
Robert recalls the day he met Barbara and the adventures they had while stationed there.
“We had our own private beach at the hospital, so we went down to the beach, spent the day,” Robert says. “At night when we all lined up, the only two people with a sunburn were Barbara and me. So that’s how we got started. A few months later, we got married.”
The Powerses quickly learned that they were going to be shipped out to different places.
Barbara was to set sail for Europe, while Robert was to ship out to Great Lakes for training. They ended up getting married so they wouldn’t be separated.
“I miss the Navy in some respects,” Robert says. “But it was just not set up so that we could spend any more time in it.”
Last month, the Powers took part in the Central Valley Honor Flight. They joined dozens of other veterans and visited the monuments in Washington D.C. built in their honor.
In Washington, the Powerses reflected on their time in the Navy and reminisced about the time they spent together while stationed in Florida.
“ It was a change in our life, as far as what we want to do. We had a baby on the way. We were out of the service. We were going to go back school, and it was kind of fun. It was a lot of fun to grow up and have children,” Robert says.
