POWERGRAMS

5 escalating its military aid to South Vietnam in the early 1960s)." Those cruises to the Far East were supposed to be Glover's final fling with the U.S. Navy. His time was done and he would soon return home to Alabama. "We were on our way back from China when the Korean War broke out," he said. "We were three days out of San Diego, went in for an engine overhaul, then we returned." For the next year, Glover would be among more than 300,000 Americans fighting in one of the most deadly wars in world history. An estimated 2.5 million people were killed or wounded in less than four years, including more than 37,000 U.S. soldiers who died, which marked the fifth-highest loss of life in American history. Seven- hundred soldiers from Alabama died in "The Forgotten War." The Korean War for Glover and his Navy counterparts was a series of dangerous – yet often monotonous – voyages in the seas around Korea, Japan and China. The Anderson escorted aircraft carriers that were launching strikes against North Korean and Chinese forces. Glover and the other 335 crewmen watched the straits for enemy ships, submarines and American planes that were shot down or stranded. "I never touched land in Korea," Glover said. "We would patrol the straits for four hours in one direction, then four hours in the other. You do that day after day and it gets pretty boring. No one ever shot at us." Glover said the 40-millimeter guns "were sorta useless" on patrol out far in the ocean. "I would aim at an airplane and it would hit 2 miles behind it. It couldn't keep up with a fighter plane. But we never had an airplane attack us." The Anderson was part of a fake invasion of Tanchon, North Korea, but still avoided enemy gunfire. Other than "having fun" during shore leave in Japan, Glover said his most memorable experience of the Korean War was the Anderson maneuvering around enemy mines floating in the sea. Off the east coast of Korea, in the South Sea, the sailors saw one mine floating 200- 300 feet away from the Anderson. Glover was ordered to fire his 40-millimeter weapon to sink the mine. "I shot at it but I couldn't hit it. The sea was rolling up and the ship was rolling down. I couldn't line it up – and I'm lucky I couldn't," he said. "They called a sharpshooter up and he hit it after we were farther away. The explosion lifted up the whole ship. Nobody realized it was that strong of a blast that was going to come." The Anderson sailed back to San Diego in September 1951. The ship would return to the Korean War without Glover. He ended his Navy career aboard the USS Stembel. In 1952, Glover completed college courses that would get him hired with Yelverton's Furniture and Appliance in Jasper, where he worked repairing televisions for the next two decades. He married Helen in 1953, and they would go on to raise a daughter, Gaye. In 1971, Glover began a 20-year career with Alabama Power, initially repairing appliances and eventually supervising repairmen in the Jasper Office. Gaye grew up and married Randy Tate and they raised the Glovers' two grandchildren: Ashley Boyd, who is a dentist in Jasper married to David Boyd; and Hunter Tate, a Huntsville attorney. Since retiring, the Glovers have been active in the Energizers, with Billy serving on the board of directors for more than 20 years. They happily anticipate celebrating their 63rd wedding anniversary on Dec. 26. "She hasn't run me off yet," Glover said. By Chuck Chandler Glover holding picture of himself, left, and brother, Hugh, during the Korean War. Photos by Billy Brown Glover with wife, Helen.

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