Australian soldiers skating on the Imjin River
Much is said about how both World War I and II affected the skating world, but in the United States in particular, the impact of The Korean War on figure skating is something that has been long overlooked. As a result of the Selective Service Act Of 1948, men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six were required to sign up for a military draft, which meant that they could be required to serve for twenty-one months of active duty and five years of reserve duty with the U.S. military, whether they wanted to or not. Between the outbreak of The Korean War in 1950 and the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, one and a half million Americans were conscripted and over a million others volunteered to serve in the military effort. The impact on the American figure skating community was significant.
Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine
Vera Ruth Elliott and Rex Cook
Anne Davies and Carleton Hoffner, medallists in both pairs and ice dance at the U.S. and North American Championships, also ended their partnership when the pressures of trying to balance training and Hoffner's military duties became too much. 1951 U.S. Silver (junior) Dance Champion Jack B. Jost split with partner Caryl Johns and served overseas, where he won the Japanese men's title and performed in shows in Osaka. Both Caryl Johns and Vera Ruth Elliott went on to coaching careers as a result of losing their partners to military service.
Lois Waring's partner Michael McGean lucked out when he was stationed overseas in Germany instead of Korea. The duo managed to practice sporadically and incredibly won the International Ice Dancing Competition at the 1950 World Championships in London, despite missed training time. Danny Ryan, who placed second the following year with Carol Ann Peters at the 'unofficial' ice dance competition held in conjunction with the 1951 World Championships in Milan, was drafted afterward. After completing basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky, his military service was rearranged so that he could continue skating with Peters while he was stationed at Camp Drum in Watertown, New York. Four times a week, Ryan drove from the base to St. Lawrence's Appleton Arena to train. Patricia Shelley Bushman's wonderful book "Indelible Tracings" noted, "They also made periodic visits to Lake Placid; Danny, who had a pilot's license, sometimes flew them there in a small, four-passenger plane on skis. When Danny and Carol participated in skating exhibitions, carnivals or competitions, he wore his U.S. Army uniform." Ryan was never sent to Korea but sadly, he was among those who later perished in the 1961 Sabena Crash.
1950 U.S. Junior Champion Don Laws put his skating career on hold and served in Korea in 1952. In his book "Don Laws: The Life of an Olympic Figure Skating Coach", he recalled, "Korea had many effects on me, and I'm sure I grew up in many ways while I was there. But one thing it did not change was my desire to be involved in skating. While in the Army, I had the opportunity to look at the world of skating from the outside in. I knew then that it most likely would always be a part of my life." A Captain at Fort Devens (who just happened to be Maribel Vinson Owen's neighbour) helped arrange for Laws to bring his skates to Korea with him. In his military uniform, he practiced spins on a small section of a frozen Korean river.
Don Laws wasn't the only soldier to take advantage of subzero temperatures and take to the ice during The Korean War. Skating was a popular pastime for off-duty Australian soldiers stationed in Korea, who laced up and carved out edges on the frozen Imjin River and the Han River, near Paju in the Gyeonggi Province. Private Reginald Steel, who emigrated from England to Australia in 1946, relished in the opportunity, as he had regularly skated three miles to school every morning as a boy over the frozen fens in Norfolk. Australian speed skater and hockey player Private Trevor Harold Clark kept his skating up on the Imjin every chance he could get. Canadian soldiers even played impromptu games of hockey on a section of the Imjin, only miles from the front lines, that they dubbed 'Imjin Gardens' in 1952.
Though The Korean War may have ended or strained many partnerships and forced many to postpone or change the direction of their skating careers, there's something remarkable about the fact that even in the face of an uncertain fate, people still found a way to skate.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
Michael McGean
Lois Waring's partner Michael McGean lucked out when he was stationed overseas in Germany instead of Korea. The duo managed to practice sporadically and incredibly won the International Ice Dancing Competition at the 1950 World Championships in London, despite missed training time. Danny Ryan, who placed second the following year with Carol Ann Peters at the 'unofficial' ice dance competition held in conjunction with the 1951 World Championships in Milan, was drafted afterward. After completing basic training at Fort Knox in Kentucky, his military service was rearranged so that he could continue skating with Peters while he was stationed at Camp Drum in Watertown, New York. Four times a week, Ryan drove from the base to St. Lawrence's Appleton Arena to train. Patricia Shelley Bushman's wonderful book "Indelible Tracings" noted, "They also made periodic visits to Lake Placid; Danny, who had a pilot's license, sometimes flew them there in a small, four-passenger plane on skis. When Danny and Carol participated in skating exhibitions, carnivals or competitions, he wore his U.S. Army uniform." Ryan was never sent to Korea but sadly, he was among those who later perished in the 1961 Sabena Crash.
Don Laws. Photo courtesy "Skating" magazine.
1950 U.S. Junior Champion Don Laws put his skating career on hold and served in Korea in 1952. In his book "Don Laws: The Life of an Olympic Figure Skating Coach", he recalled, "Korea had many effects on me, and I'm sure I grew up in many ways while I was there. But one thing it did not change was my desire to be involved in skating. While in the Army, I had the opportunity to look at the world of skating from the outside in. I knew then that it most likely would always be a part of my life." A Captain at Fort Devens (who just happened to be Maribel Vinson Owen's neighbour) helped arrange for Laws to bring his skates to Korea with him. In his military uniform, he practiced spins on a small section of a frozen Korean river.
Private Reginald Steel
Don Laws wasn't the only soldier to take advantage of subzero temperatures and take to the ice during The Korean War. Skating was a popular pastime for off-duty Australian soldiers stationed in Korea, who laced up and carved out edges on the frozen Imjin River and the Han River, near Paju in the Gyeonggi Province. Private Reginald Steel, who emigrated from England to Australia in 1946, relished in the opportunity, as he had regularly skated three miles to school every morning as a boy over the frozen fens in Norfolk. Australian speed skater and hockey player Private Trevor Harold Clark kept his skating up on the Imjin every chance he could get. Canadian soldiers even played impromptu games of hockey on a section of the Imjin, only miles from the front lines, that they dubbed 'Imjin Gardens' in 1952.
Private Trevor Harold Clark
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.