"Did you ever hear of the park, Knoebel's Grove," Wayne Knoebel, 82, asks. He pauses for a moment, then adds with a smile, "I don't own it."
He goes on to add, however, that the founder of the park and his grandfather were first cousins.
Sitting with the pastor of the Haneyville Baptist Church, it's hard to imagine that he once fought in the deadly battles of a war this country calls 'Forgotten'; Korea. Knoebel is proud of his service, however, and states that his time in Korea played a part in his becoming a minister.
"You're kind of backed into a corner when you're on your way to Korea in a troopship," Knoebel says. "I came away from there thankful to be alive. It brought me to the Lord."
Herbert Wayne Knoebel was born on Sept. 5, 1928. He attended Ralpho Township High School in Elysburg, where he enjoyed playing soccer when not in classes. He left school at 16 and went with one of his friends to Philadelphia, in an attempt to join the Merchant Marine, however he was too young to sign the papers himself and his parents would not sign for him.
Rather than return to school, Knoebel started working. He took a job driving a dump truck, hauling coal and black top. When he was 17, he tried to enlist again, this time in the Navy reserve. He was refused because he was color blind.
Finally, he tried to enlist in the Pennsylvania National Guard at the Sunbury Armory in February of 1949.
"The Navy wouldn't take me because I was color blind, but the Army didn't say anything about that," Knoebel, recalls.
Seven months after he enlisted, the unit Knoebel was assigned to, the 176th Armored Field Artillery, was called to active duty.
Knoebel and the rest of the unit were sent to Camp Carson, Colo. For training. Knoebel was sent on to Fort Sill, Okla.for Wheel and Track School before being called back in late December to prepare to leave for Korea.
"He wanted to join the guards. We didn't expect he'd end up in Korea," said Knoebel's wife, Louella, 80. "I thought the guards were to protect the homeland."
The unit left out of San Francisco, landing at Pusan in February in bitter cold weather. They set up camp at Kumhae for extensive field training before being shipped out again in early April of 1951, this time for Inchon. There the 176th was attached to the 25th Infantry Division in support of their operations.
The 25th Infantry Division commanders expressed their surprise at the accuracy of fire the 176th was able to provide. At that time, many of the National Guard units were looked down on. However, Knoebel's unit was well regarded for its professionalism.
Barely two weeks after the 176th arrived at the front, Chinese and North Korean troops launched a major offensive. At that time, Knoebel's unit was the northern most artillery unit in Korea. Though his unit fought bravely and held their section of the battle line, other areas were over run and the unit withdrew to avoid being outflanked.
The 176th was attached to the 11th ROK (Republic of Korea) - American Regimental combat team, a unit with both South Korean and American soldiers. The Americans and Koreans fought well side by side, with Knoebel's unit assisting the Korean forces in breaking contact with the enemy so they could withdraw. The 176th pulled back to Seoul, where the second half of the Chinese and North Korean attack was aimed.
Knoebel's unit stopped the drive with concentrated artillery fire, inflicting a large number of casualties on the enemy forces.
For nearly a month, the 176th was engaged in various missions to drive the North Korean and Chinese troops back north. At the end of that time, the unit had returned almost to the spot it had left from at the start of the North Korean attacks.
On Dec. 21, 1951, Knoebel left Korea for Japan, and then back to the United States, arriving in January of 1952. He was granted a 30 day furlough, which was the first one he had ever received, then assigned to the 1st Armored division at Fort Hood, Texas. He was discharged from the military on May 19, 1952.
Some memories stand out with Knoebel about his time in the military.
"We hit a mine with a halftrack," he recalls. "And it just took everything clean off that side ... fender, wheel everything."
After his time in the service, Knoebel returned home to Pennsylvania and went back to driving trucks, initially for his father. In 1953, Knoebel entered the Philadelphia Bible Institute, which is now the Philadelphia Biblical Institute. He was ordained in 1956 and went on to minister the Faith Baptist Church in Newton, N.J. He continued to work on the side, still driving trucks.
"We lived on an old dairy farm," Knoebel says about the first church he ministered. "It had it all ... a snake in the cellar, bats in the attic and flying squirrels in the partitions."
Knoebel was transferred to a different church, Grace Chapel in Shamokin. During this time, in 1967, he began working for Penn DOT as a road and bridge inspector.
In 1970, Knoebel took over as minister of the Haneyville Baptist Church, eventually moving up to the mountain where the church was located after his youngest son graduated. He stayed at this position until 2000, when he retired. He also retired from PennDOT in 1989.
Knoebel was recently asked back to Haneyville Baptist Church to be a minister again, and he has accepted, coming out of retirement after 10 years.
Knoebel enjoys gardening and hunting when he isn't working at the church. He explains that farming has always been part of his life.
"I've always had a garden, since I was a boy," he says. "Though not this year. I'm too busy and tired with the church."
He has a son and two grandsons who farm nearly 600 acres of land.
"When I was a teenager, I worked on a farm," Knoebel laughs. "I made a dollar and a quarter a day, plus two meals."
"I also used to do a bit of hunting," he comments with regards to his hobbies. "I still have a license, but I seldom use it anymore."
Knoebel still keeps in touch with some of the soldiers he served with in Korea.
"We meet in Lewisburg about three times a year for breakfast," he says. "In fact we just met on the 14th (of July). There weren't as many as there used to be. Some have passed away and some, their health is going. There was only about a dozen this time, and that includes wives."
Being overseas had an impact for Knoebel that he still thinks about today.
"It made me appreciate this country after seeing people fleeing from the Communist offensive, carrying their belongings, everything they had." He says, "Children were happy to have the scraps from our mess kits because they wanted something to eat."
He went on to state that the income level of South Korea is 13 times that of North Korea and most of the population there is literate. The amounts might be higher today, as this was based in information from 2000.
With regards to the Hometown Heroes program, Knoebel said, "I think it's great. It recognizes all the men and women who served. It's a great program."
"Was it worth it?" Knoebel says about Korea. "To save and preserve the freedom of men and women in South Korea so they can live and prosper for God and good upon the world? Yes, it was worth it."
