July 30, 1963 - A corporal who knew there was “a bullet marked for me,” a private who urged his family to “pray for peace,” and a paratrooper who liked the army but hated Korea — these were the three Americans who died from North Korean snipers’ bullets along the demilitarized zone (pictured) this week. The latest victim, Cpl. George F. Larion Jr., was brought down yesterday by a bullet in the head as he searched with other Americans and South Korean troops for snipers who had already taken the lives of Charles Dessart III and David A. Seiler. The 24-year-old Larion quit high school to join the Marines at 17, was discharged after 6 years, then enlisted in the Army last March and volunteered for overseas service. Before leaving his home in Davison, Mich., for the last time, Larion told his family: “Somewhere there is a bullet marked for me.” Private Seiler, also 24, joined the Army last December. At his farm near Theresa, Wis., Seiler’s father, Erich, talked bitterly about “those damn Commies” but the youth’s mother admonished: “You can’t blame those North Korean boys. They only do what they’re told — just like our boys.” Dessart, a 19-year-old who was so anxious to get into the armed forces he left high school at 17 to enlist, went to Korea last November and was trained there as a paratrooper. Three hours after Dessart’s parents at Drexel Hill, Pa., learned he had been killed, they received a letter from the boy. In it, he said he was fond of the Army — but not of Korea.
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