By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
Earl Ferguson moved to Fayette in Fulton County as a child back in 1952. There he graduated from the Fayette High School in 1956, along with the girl that later became his wife, Dolores. Before marriage though, Earl participated in a voluntary draft that took him halfway across the world to Korea.
In 1956, the same year Earl graduated, he attended basic training at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas. Following his unit’s training, he, and some of the men he trained with were sent to the West Coast to board commercial flights to Korea.
Shortly after takeoff and right after making it over the ocean, the engine on Earl’s plane caught fire causing the plane to turn around. This led to the men staying put overnight so the engine could be fixed.
The next day, Earl’s plane took off with everyone on board, along with other planes car rying more soldiers to Korea. After stopping numerous times to take on more fuel, the group was finally on their way to Japan.
Earl’s plane was the first of the group to arrive before a storm started to roll in. The storm caused the next plane coming in to never be heard from again, along with the 67 soldiers on board. Following that very unfortunate incident, Earl arrived in Incheon, Korea.
On base, Earl performed his duties as a shipping clerk. He also operated as a driver whenever there was a worry the base needed to be evacuated. Earl served his time in the military and returned home towards the end of August 1958.
While he had come on a plane, this time he left on a ship. Upon his return, he met up with the girl he spent so much time with at school before the two were married in the middle of September.
More recently, Earl was able to serve on the Fulton County Honor Guard back in 2004. There he continued to serve up until a couple of years ago.
“I really enjoyed that quite a bit. It was an honor and a privilege to do that, and I hated to leave it,” said Earl Ferguson. Earl was also part of the Fayette Fire Department from 1962 and retired in 2007.