Steve Longsdon of Rotonda joined the Army at 17, shortly after graduating from high school — just in time for the start of the Korean War. He went from basic training to the front line, holding back advancing waves of North Korean infantry during the monumental battle of the Pusan Perimeter in the summer and fall of 1950.

Advancing hordes of North Korean soldiers marched into South Korea and pushed the unseasoned United Nations forces back to a tiny piece of real estate on the extreme south end of the Korean Peninsula. Troops from the north were about to eradicate the UN forces when, with the help of U.S. air and Naval power, the United States and its NATO allies began to stop the enemy advance and turn the tables on the North Koreans aggressors.