ZEBULON - Theodis Strickland was on Pork Chop Hill in the heat of the Korean conflict, mortar fire flying and shells so thick amid the mud from the monsoon rains that noone could dig out a place for safety in the sludge.

The stench of North Korean bodies' rotting was everywhere.

It was July 27, 1953 and he was running surveillance patrols in front of the main line of resistance.

"You had to be careful that nobody sneaked up on you and stabbed you from behind and killed you and then slipped back through MLR," he recalls ..."Those shells were falling so close, so close that the dirt was penetrating your skin. You would say a lot of prayers let me tell you that."

Strickland is a decorated Korean War veteran who says the distinction means nothing, but being alive means everything. At the end of that night on Pork Chop Hill, half of his battalion of 12 soldiers were dead.

Strickland will remember those fallen again on Veteran's day when he makes a bus trip from Zebulon with veterans from W.W. II, Vietnam, Korea and even Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Chad Ray and his mother Betty Ray, who build houses for a living, are hoping to build up the U.S. soldier who sacrificed for their country, says Chad.

They have chartered a bus and plan to take as many veterans as it will hold free of charge to visit the three war memorials in Washington, D.C.

They will visit the Korean, the Vietnam and the World War II memorial during a one-day sweep of the capital city.

Chad says the idea wasn't original. He read about towns that took their W.W. II veterans to see the W.W.II memorial.

But the Zebulon idea came to fruition from a V.A. hospital bed in Durham.

His uncle David Batton of Louisburg, who saw two tours of duty in Vietnam, was in the hospital due to complications from his service.

Chad said he came up with the trip as something to give his uncle to look forward to.

"I knew he would look forward to that," said Chad. "I just think it helped him through a difficult time. I thought those guys would enjoy being around one another...It's people like David and Theodis and guys and girls even younger than me now."

Strickland, a member of VFW Post 4147 of Bailey, has put the word out there. And Betty Ray has contacted American Legion posts in Zebulon, Middlesex and Wendell to find vets who want to go and to remember.

"It was a terrible war," says Strickland of the Korean conflict. "It's called the forgotten war."

Strickland's father died while his son was fighting. "The chaplain told me, 'Son, your dad has died and was buried three days ago and you can't go home,'" Strickland said.

Chad says he'll relish the trip for stories like those.

"This is what I look forward to, listening to those guys swap stories, some wonderful stories," he said.

If you want to go, call Olde Heritage Builders at 269-4555.