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Veteran ponders invitation Continued from page 10 11 · Thursday, July 15, 2010 OAKVILLE BEAVER · www.oakvillebeaver.com pass a North Korean patrol, though none of them ever opened fire while I was out there." Enemy soldiers were not the only hazard. On one rainy night, Weedle was leading a patrol when suddenly someone noticed a piece of wire on the ground. Weedle soon realized the wire had once been used to mark a minefield, but at some point it had fallen to the ground, allowing himself and several of his men to actually walk into the minefield. After ordering his men to stay where they were, Weedle began prodding the ground with his bayonet to make sure there were no mines in front of him. Weedle then ordered his men to step where he stepped and successfully led them out of the minefield. "I think the mines were old because none of them went off," he said. The Canadians also rebuilt a school, destroyed during the war, in a nearby village. Weedle also came to understand how desperate the war had left these civilians when a large amount of army supplies suddenly went missing. Weedle said one of the South Korean soldiers in his unit offered to resolve the situation, which the soldier did, Weedle later found out, by taking two civilians aside and firing several rounds near their feet. The stolen supplies were soon deposited right back where they had been taken from. Weedle's time in Korea came to an end in November of 1954, but his military service would continue with Weedle being deployed to Germany, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (in 1968) during his career. He and his wife Maxine settled in Oakville in 1971. They have had three children and five grandchildren. While Weedle appreciates being recognized by the president of South Korea for his actions, he has mixed feelings about it. "It seems like a lot to me," said Weedle. "I don't feel like I deserve anything like this." Weedle has yet to decide if he will go to South Korea as it would be an expensive undertaking. This was not the only thank you letter Weedle received this summer. The Department of National Defence also sent him a thank you letter and a cheque for his role in cleaning up nuclear contamination at Chalk River in 1958. My Oakville