When it came to living life, Joe Mickelsen was on the front lines.
Mickelsen’s long epic story came to an end on Sunday morning, when the Vallejoan and veteran of the Korean War and longtime advocate for veterans’ benefits died in front of loved ones in Vallejo. He was 95.
“He was my hero,” his adopted daughter Taunya Brookshire told the Times-Herald on Monday morning. “I’m really going to miss him.”
Mickelsen leaves behind his wife, Barbara, and four sons — Joseph Jr. (“Cameron” as friends called him), Jeffrey, Joel and Jules.
Nestor Aliga, another longtime veterans advocate in Vallejo, said Mickelsen will be missed.
“He was very opinionated, but he was all about veterans and very passionate about them,” Aliga said. “He was on the front lines in the Korean War and had issues himself getting veteran benefits.”
Mickelsen saw heavy fighting and suffered injuries while fighting in the Korean War in the U.S. Army 45th Infantry, and as a member of a Regimental Combat Team. Until the day Mickelsen died, he did his best to educate the public on the war, saying the often-called “Forgotten War” was a real war where many people died.
The Korean War ended with 33,686 American soldier deaths, another 2,830 non-battle deaths, and 8,176 troops missing in action. While Korea had fewer casualties than Vietnam, the numbers came within a far shorter time span.
Mickelsen often spoke at events about his two years serving as both a rifleman and a medic, fighting in combat and in other battles, tending to the wounded. He recalls fierce fighting when 20 or more men were all yelling at once for medical help and he was trying to stay alive himself.
Mickelsen recalls setting up perimeters to bolster South Korean forces and fending off “human waves” of North Korean and Chinese Communists during many battles. He recalls constant nighttime shelling and also setting up targets for U.S. Air Force pilots to drop bombs.
On May 15, two new plaques were installed at the Vallejo Warriors’ Memorial on 3 Capitol St. by decorated Korean War Veteran Joe Mickelsen (center) and his sons Joel and Jules (right). The plaques – honoring the 22 Medal of Honor recipients tied to Vallejo and the city’s 25 World War One casualties – will be “unveiled” on May 26 at 11 a.m. during the Memorial Day ceremony hosted by the US Submarine Veterans – Mare Island Base, Vallejo Veterans Memorial Building Council, and City of Vallejo. (Courtesy of Nestor Aliga)
After decades of suffering nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, Mickelson finally got on medication around 2010. In the 1950s, when Korean War soldiers returned home, they and others didn’t talk about those kinds of things, leaving so many veterans to suffer needlessly.
Joining the U.S. Army at 25 from Oakland, Mickelsen said a great deal of the fighting involved trench warfare in which troops tried to take a few feet or yards, many dying and getting injured under horrific conditions. He recalls carrying men off the field, administering morphine and other medical care and trying to stay alive amid a barrage of bullets and bombs.
“There is nothing like running up a hill with your feet dodging the bullets,” Mickelsen said in 2013.
Heavy fighting often raged at the 38th parallel, which became the post-war latitude border between the two countries. Mickelsen said he was often part of crews that transported dead soldiers from the battlefields to morgues, including Chinese fighters who wore “dog (identification) tags” made from bamboo.
“War is horrible. One of the worst things of war is the smell — the dead bodies, the blood, the dead animals, gun powder and smoke. Just all the blood,” he said in 2013.
Mickelsen never stopped educating people on war and was one of the main people behind Vallejo’s plaques honoring the 22 Medal of Honor recipients tied to Vallejo and the city’s 25 World War I casualties.
Mickelsen was often seen at Vallejo Veterans Day and Memorial Day events. He had a nine-minute speech at the last Memorial Day event, earning a standing ovation. Mickelsen often told attendees he appreciates being thanked for his service on any day, especially Memorial Day.
“I was drafted and I said, ‘Now you got me, so I’m going to serve my country.’ And I did that very diligently and with a lot of honor,” Mickelson told the Times-Herald in 2023. “When people thank me it lets me know that they still care. That they’re honest people and they have the ability to give you the feelings of their heart.”
Brookshire said that Mickelsen was getting a pacemaker in the hospital when his body began to give way. She had once told her dad she would never let him die in a hospital, so he was driven back to Vallejo, where in front of friends, family and loved ones, he was given a haircut, washed up and then cared for when he died. Services are not known at this time for Mickelsen.
“I’m going to miss how he always told everyone how to do everything,” Brookshire said, with a laugh. “I’ll miss his compassion, even if it meant he was a hard ass at times.
“But he loved talking,” Brookshire continued. “Especially about himself. He was a talker and he was really proud of his life, which was very full.”
Former Times-Herald writer Sarah Rohrs contributed to this article.