This summer marks 75 years since the start of the Korean War. After years of simmering tensions, the North Korean People’s Army invaded the Republic of Korea (ROK) on June 25, 1950, in a coordinated general attack at several strategic points across the 38th parallel, the line dividing the northern communist state from the south.
U.S. President Harry S. Truman immediately committed American forces to the combined United Nations force, assisting the ROK in its defense. That brutal three-year war cost over 36,000 US servicemen, including nine young men from Kearny.
n Lt. George J. Buckley Jr., was born in Perth Amboy, but the family eventually relocated to Kearny, residing at 134 Seeley Ave. Lt. Buckley served as a Marine for almost four years during World War II in the South Pacific. After graduating from Rutgers-Newark University in 1949, he accepted a regular commission with the US Army.
In November 1950, he rallied his ROK platoon against an overwhelming attack, personally directing mortar fire to silence two machine guns, consistently exposing himself to fire while moving among his men to replenish ammunition and provide encouragement and personally carrying a wounded man to safety. Lt. Buckley died in December 1950, near Un Gang Bu, South Korea, and was posthumously awarded a Silver Star medal for his gallantry against the enemy.
n Cpl. Alexander “Sandy” MacMillan was a US Marine reservist called up for duty in Korea. Born in Newark, Sandy grew up in Kearny and graduated from Kearny High School in June 1945, when the family resided at 111 Davis Ave. Sandy’s parents immigrated from Scotland, and he went on to attend Montclair State Teachers College, where he wrote for the school newspaper.
Sandy served with distinction within the acclaimed Marine First Division and fought in the historic Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, where he contracted a case of frostbite in the artic-like conditions. Sandy, the older brother of the late Kearny Councilman Robert MacMillan, was tragically killed by small arms fire while on patrol in March 1951.
n Cpl. John Lutz, of 146 Johnston Ave., was the youngest of six children and departed KHS early to join the US Army in 1946. Cpl. Lutz served with the elite First Airborne Ranger Company, 2nd Infantry Division in Korea. Wounded in the neck from an earlier UN action against a fortified hill in February 1951, Lutz wrote his mother from a hospital bed in Japan that he had killed five enemy with his bayonet in the action.
“I was lucky, but I knew I couldn’t always be lucky,” he wrote in the letter.
Taken prisoner in May 1951 during the Chinese Spring Offensive, Cpl. Lutz tragically died of malnutrition in a North Korean prisoner-of-war camp in July 1951, aged 21. Government confirmation of the identification of his returned remains occurred decades later — in 2011, 60 years after his death.
n PFC James G. Davidson, “Sonny” as he was known to his family, lived at 8 Maple St. PFC Davidson enlisted in the Army in April 1951 and deployed to Korea with the 45th Infantry Division in October 1951. On the night of May 29, 1952, in an outlying position, PFC Davidson was the first to detect an enemy attack. He began firing his machine gun at the closing enemy and refused to withdraw to a safer position, firing into the enemy ranks in defense of the other members of the patrol.
He stayed with his machine gun until he was surrounded by the Chinese and even then, continued his heroic one-man stand, inflicting heavy losses on the enemy. Aged 20, PFC Davidson gave his life in that action. His father accepted his son’s posthumous Silver Star medal from the First Army Commander at Governors Island, New York, in November 1951.
n The other local soldiers who gave their lives were PFC John B. Dougan, 19, then of 65 Davis Ave.; PFC Dallas Sellers, 22, of 44 Johnston Ave.; MSgt. James D. Green, 30, of 97 Belgrove Drive; Pvt. Peter E. Washington, 22, of 18 Ann St.; and Pvt. Alexander Deans, 21, of Riverview Gardens, North Arlington.
MSgt. Green actually entered the Army in 1941, serving as an artilleryman with the 77th Division in both the Philippines and Okinawa during World War II, earning a Bronze Star for his actions on Leyte.
Both Cpls. MacMillan and Lutz rest in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.
The names of each of these men are listed on the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. They are also listed on the Korean War panel at Kearny’s Memorial Park.
May God bless each of them for their service and sacrifice on this 75th anniversary.
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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.