Woodrow Frey Sr. may have enlisted in the Army nearly 70 years ago, but he stills hold onto a wealth of stories about his adventures during the time he served.

Frey, a resident of Long Run Road in Lehighton, is a veritable treasure trove of history and personal anecdotes. Take a seat in his kitchen, and don't be surprised when he regales you with tales of catching a doubleheader ballgame for 25 cents, or using his Pennsylvania Dutch roots to communicate with Germans in the 1950s.It was near the end of September in 1948 when Frey enlisted in the Army. He had been working with family, doing coal deliveries for $5 a trip at the time. Frey would be up at 3 in the morning, running coal deliveries between Hazleton and Allentown."I did that for a year and a half, then I said, that's it," he said. "Before I get drafted and end up in the military, in combat or something, I enlisted."After making a stop in Kentucky to retrieve his uniforms, Frey began his military career."They sent me to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. It was a big artillery camp. It had a lot of weapons, but all I fired was the carbine and the M1 on the rifle range."Following that, Frey went to Petersburg, Virginia, where he started specializing in baking."I was in the quartermaster corps," he said. "We set up a bakery, baked bread. I also drove a truck sometimes."Frey loves to recall a story from around this time about an offer to see an All-Star Game at Ebbets Field in New York, which cost him $5 for a box seat.After a quick trip to West Point, Frey got another offer for baseball tickets."It was a game for the National League, a doubleheader. And how much do you think that cost me? Twenty-five cents. So, I tell that to people, but I have to say, that's not today, that's 1949."A troop train took Frey and his fellow enlisted to California in 1950, and from there to the Marshall Islands.Frey spent time baking, diving for seashells, and surviving the brutal heat. He also got the opportunity to spend time in various aircraft, sitting up in the cockpit with the pilots. Following a holiday in Hawaii, where Frey saw Pearl Harbor, he returned to Enewetak."We got back, and we still didn't know why we were there," he said. "May of '51, about 8 o'clock in the morning, they gave us special glasses so we could actually see it. I didn't keep my eyes open when it came to the blast, I didn't want to be blind."What Frey had witnessed was an atomic bomb test, one of many that were performed near Enewetak."That thing hit me, much harder than if you go to the steel mill and open the door when the flame hits you. And then we heard the blast, and we hit the dirt."After another Hawaii trip, Frey took a five-day return voyage to California, where he was put on boat watch. He had been preparing to put in for a 45-day furlough, but then along came the Korean War."Well, guess what? I looked at the bulletin board. Cpl. Frey, this is Harry Truman, I'm going to send you for a year because of Korea."After some time in Korea, during which Frey unfortunately lost some friends, he ended up back at Fort Lewis, Washington."When the sun would set over the Pacific, only God could paint that rainbow," Frey said of the views.He attended school in Washington to work on cooking, after which he was reassigned to Germany."We got over there to Deggendorf in the wintertime," he said. The German trains are cold. They are they craziest trains I've ever ridden on."During his short time there, he would enjoy traveling, exploring mountains, and enjoying the country with friends."Every time there was a sightseeing trip, I went. Me and two or three other guys, we'd get some German beer. They have the best beer."Around September, Frey got the call - he was going home.Following his service, Frey spent 36 years as a truck driver. He met his wife, Helen, and had three children. Nowadays, he spends his time with Helen at the Lehighton home.Frey cannot emphasize enough how much his time in the service meant to him. More so, he respects the men and women who have served, and serve today. To Frey, it was a life-changing time, one that he values as much as those who were or are in the military today."I appreciate them a lot. I enlisted and served, and I'm not sorry I did. It worked out pretty well for me."