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Kenneth J. Marrin was born in a working class neighborhood of Lynn, Massachusetts, in June 1932 at the height of the Great Depression. After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, he joined the National Guard at the age of 15, only to be released nine months later for being underage. Two years later, while working in the Lynn shoe factories, he and about 30 friends from his neighborhood signed on to fight the Forgotten War in Korea.
Ken spent three years and three months in the air force, his last year on a filthy, rat-infested Korean mountaintop lacking basic refrigeration and sanitation facilities. Following his discharge in December of 1953, he spent the next three years battling tuberculosis, a nearly fatal condition that left him a disabled veteran.
Ken went on to earn his GED and graduate from the Salem Commercial School with a business diploma in 1958. From there he entered the civil service, retiring after 30 years in the computer field. Ken was a member of the former Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #507 in Lynn, Massachusetts, was post commander from 1993 – 1994, and marched proudly with his fellow veterans in the Memorial Day parade every May through the streets of Lynn.
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Kenneth J. Marrin, 1953 Taegu, Mars Radio Relay guard duty
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