YAKIMA, Wash.- Calvin Anthony joined the U.S. Army in 1951. After basic training in Fort Ord, California, he was sent off in the 2nd Division of the 9th Infantry Regiment for the Korean War.
During the war, he was part of 33 missions as a foot soldier and sniper. In 1953, he was hit by shrapnel from a mortar.
“The shrapnel that hit me was about the size of my finger,” says Anthony over 70 years later. “It was like getting hit with a 20-pound sledgehammer.”
He broke seven vertebrae in his lower back. Stuck in a Japanese hospital for months, Anthony was told he would never walk again.
“I would get out of the bed and storm myself out,” says Anthony. “They got pretty mad at me; they were ready to tie me up to the bed. Pretty soon, I said to myself “I’m going to walk.’ And I did.”
Murphy was only one of 100,000 wounded in Korean War action. But one of the 40,000 killed in Korea hit too close to home.
He and his best friend were on the battlefield when Anthony went to fill their canteens. After hearing gunfire, he asked nearby allies about his partner.
“So, I went down, and I said, ‘Where’s Freeman?’ And the guy says, ‘You hear? he just got killed,'” recalls Anthony through tears. “My best friend…From then on, I never made friends with anybody.”
His daughter says the war left Anthony with severe Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and thanked the Department of Veterans Affairs for its part in supporting him
After his time in the war, he was stationed in Washington at what is now known as Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It was that Universal Studios called the barracks and asked his unit to be part of a movie filmed in Yakima.
You won’t be able to catch Anthony’s face if you rewatch the movie, but for two weeks, he was dressed as a German solider as an extra. He was able to interact with the decorated combat soldier turned actor, but movie magic kept them from interacting on screen.
“We did our combat scene and after it was all over with, they took us off,” says Anthony. “We were on the sideline when Murphy shows up, supposedly shooting out there at us. Then they switch the pictures around, so it looks like he’s shooting at us. They got ways of doing things like that.”
The movie’s directors opted for a more realistic feel in the movie, choosing to fire real guns and tanks at the Firing Center instead of the props.
Being used to the real deals, Anthony quickly broke one of his first props but still made the following scenes work.
“I remember the uniform they gave me there was a bayonet there and I pulled it out,” says Anthony. “I looked at this tree and threw the thing to stick it into the tree and broke the damn blade off! So, I stuck it back in the scabbard and never pulled it out.”
Murphy, touted as one of the most decorated American soldiers in World War II, was surprisingly quiet on set.
“He comes up in his limo and he’s all dressed up in his combat outfit,” says Anthony. “I said hi and he was a very shy person, really very shy. He dropped the car in neutral and climbed up on the tank and started blasting.”
Despite all life has put him through, Anthony was still chipper and laughing as he toured his old training base and set.
“Despite everything, my father perseveres,” says his daughter in a biography provided to media. “He enjoys his friends and traveling in his RV. He has two grown grandsons and two cats.”
The pain of war continues in Anthony. Back pain lingers, ears still ringing, but he’s still proud of his duty to his country.
“”I got frostbite on my feet, my fingers,” says the 92-year-old. “I really screwed myself up. I just wouldn’t want to do it over again.
