Emmett Shelton Jr. grew up in Westlake Hills. He joined the Marine Corps Reserves and at 16 and right after graduation from Austin High in 1950, was called to duty. Within 6 months, he was a BAR rifleman in one of the cruelest battles of the Korean War, Chosin Reservoir. His buddy was shot within 10 minutes of his first battle. And it got tougher. Emmett suffered severe frostbite and received 100 percent disability.
Emmett recovered and became the Westlake Hills Marshall. He continued to fight as leader of the Austin American Legion Post 76, publisher of a Baker Bandits Newsletter, leader of an Americanism Speakers Program in Austin Schools and a cancer patient.
In 1986, on Thanksgiving Day, thirty-six years to the day after Chosin, Austin Radio station KVET interviewed Emmett Jr. and another Marine, Don Childs, in a call-in show about their experiences. (Part 1 of 5)
For maps and other info check out our Facebook page: Our Westlake
Stories told by Emmett Shelton / compiled and submitted by Cynthia Shelton.
