Paul Leon Ford was born on February 6, 1932 to Ralph and Betty Hoopes Ford, of Rock Run, near Coatesville, Pennsylvania.  This young marine attended the Rock Run chapel and Scott High School.  He worked for a short time at the local Producers’ Cooperative Exchange and Chertok’s furniture store before enlisting at age 17.

Pvt. Ford was attached to the First Division of Marines and had been in service since January 27, 1950.  He left the United States on September 2.  Members of his family said his last letter home was written while aboard ship on which he said he suspected the outfit was being sent to Korea.  Word was received from the U. S. War Department on November 13, 1950 that Pfc. Paul Leon Ford, 18 years of age, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ralph H. Ford, Sr., died of wounds suffered in fighting in Korea.  His death was listed as November 6, 1950.  This hero was the youngest of a family of 10 children.  The tragedy of war has struck his family a second time since his brother, Walter L. Ford, was killed while fighting in Italy in October 1944 during World War II.

The surviving members of this young hero’s family included: Ada, wife of Phillip Haldeman of Rock Run; Grace, wife of Harry Troupe, of Fisherville; Ralph Ford Jr., of Rock Run; Helen, wife of Lloyd Reynolds, of Rock Run; Verna, wife of Frank Slaymaker, of Mt. Airy, and Donald Ford, of Rock Run. Four years after his death his body was shipped to this country on November 29, 1954, from the Military Mortuary at Kokura, Japan.  The funeral, with full military honors, was held at the Roberts funeral home, 1030 East Lincoln highway, with interment at the Fairview cemetery.

This young hero’s military record shows Private First Class Ford as a member of the Reconnaissance Company, Headquarters Battalion, 1^st Marine Division.  He was awarded the Purple Heart, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.