Hampton veteran lands a spot on the cover of VFW Magazine

By: 
Nick Pedley

sites/default/files/VFW Front Cover019.jpeg

The chances were slim. Of the hundreds of thousands of photographs taken during the Korean War, who would think a national magazine would use this one 62 years later, and on the cover no less?

     “I was kind of dumbfounded, and my son went kind of crazy with it,” said Hampton resident and Korean War veteran Ralph Betts.

     Betts, 86, was shocked when he opened his mailbox to find the latest issue of VFW Magazine with a familiar face on the cover – his own. The photo was part of a front page collage titled “75 Years Celebrating Veterans,” which featured snapshots of soldiers from World War I to the Iraq War. Betts was pictured with a handful of his fellow army soldiers sometime in 1952 during their Korean tour.

     “It had to be from when we were in Korea, because I didn’t wear my helmet stateside,” he said. “I don’t even remember some of the guys I was pictured with. You go back 50 to 60 years, it’s hard to remember that.”

Read the full article in the Dec. 25 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.

Hampton Chronicle

9 Second Street NW
Hampton, IA 50441
Phone: 641-456-2585
Fax: 1-800-340-0805
Email: news@midamericapub.com

Mid-America Publishing

This newspaper is part of the Mid-America Publishing Family. Please visit www.midampublishing.com for more information.