CAMDEN — Maynard Tolman is heading to Washington. The 90 year old lifelong resident of Rockport who now resides at Quarry Hill has been invited to participate in the annual Maine Honor Flight, visiting the World War II, Korea, and Vietnam memorials on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023.

No checked bags for this party, which will log an estimated five walking miles on Saturday for the caregivers pushing wheelchairs. Instead, the descendant of Isaiah Tolman, dedicated honoree of the 2019 Town Report, and son of the man who built the Legion Hall in Camden, has packed a single backpack – his medications and a change of clothes just in case. One of his sons will be at his side.

Honor Flight’s Mission

To celebrate America’s veterans by inviting them to share in a day of honor at the nation’s memorials. It is built with a vision of a nation where all of America’s veterans experience the honor, gratitude, and community of support they deserve.

Like many returning veterans, Tolman rarely talked about the Korean War, of which he served while in the Army from 1952-55. The belief of many in that generation was that when you return home, you keep your mouth shut – because nobody wants to hear about it. The ears that did listen, however, heard a unique perspective of the war. For Tolman, the story is about war preparations at home, and picking up the pieces afterwards, overseas.

Leaving the University of Maine after a year and entering the military in hopes of a free college education in engineering, Tolman was instead placed as a military police officer. After walking the beat in New York City and Coney Island for a couple of months, he was transferred to Buffalo and assigned as one of four MPs who traveled 13 northern counties as criminal investigators. The goal, he would learn, was to arrest criminal offenders and then hand them over to the military to be sent to war. The team averaged about 30 guys a month.

Some offenders knew what was about to happen, according to Tolman. Some tried to run and some accepted their fate. Wives also knew, such as one wife in particular whose husband had been picked up. The husband escaped and when he arrived home, the wife called the military and informed on his location.

And then, his own papers came. In December he was sent to Fort Lewis, in Washington state, and boarded a ship headed for Seoul.

“It was a terrible trip,” he said. “The weather was awful.”

At their destination, there were no docks. The troops had to go over the side in the net.

“The net’s moving back and forth,” he said. “You’ve got your full duffle bag over your shoulder.”

For Tolman, the landing was even worse because he wasn’t a swimmer.

Before him was a city in ruins. The armistice had already been signed, but American troops were still on the ground.

“It wasn’t easy,” said Tolman. “The war was over, but it wasn’t.”

Tolman has many stories from his time as military police in the U.S. encampment in Seoul. There was the theft of clothing from the supply shop, prompting Tolman’s team to wait up all night in the bushes, watching for more activity. In the end, it was another team that spotted the offenders – GIs stealing and selling parkas.

There was the time that a soldier was driving a truck and towing a trailer through town. The trailer was much wider than the truck, and when the soldier arrived back on base, the trailer had blood on it. Completely unknowing, the driver had struck and killed a man walking on the street. Tolman was tasked with arresting that soldier, though he felt bad about doing so.

And, the man who built a house on top of a major fuel pipeline. Once the house was built, that man tapped into the pipe and began selling fuel for his own profit.

By the end of his three years in the military, Tolman was ready to return to Rockport – a town that he’d previously never left, aside from a class trip. He returned to working for his father, and then another veteran.

Because of this post-war work, 110 houses in the coastal area have been built with Tolman’s assistance, though, had he had his way, he would have worked on a farm. But, like his path through the military – wanting to go to an engineering college, not having interest in being a police officer, being assigned other jobs that weren’t of his choosing – he just had to let life happen.

One day, the rung of a wooden ladder broke while the other veteran was on it. The veteran tumbled to the ground.

“It was a hell of a mess,” said Tolman. “But both of us had to keep laughing.”

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com