I shot this portrait of Earl Goodall to promote the April 2021 release of “When Earl Went to War,” my short documentary on his Korean War service and Earl’s sweet character.
Earl Goodall, my neighbor, friend, and an amiable human being, passed away at age 93 on July 5, 2024, in Huntington, WV. His funeral service took place recently in Proctorville, Ohio, near where he entered this world. Earl was the subject of my 2021 16-minute documentary, “When Earl Went to War,” about his Korean War service, while also portraying the man’s sweet, down-home character. The film is a homage to an unostentatious rural American life, yet with a left turn to the front lines of one of America’s big wars, whose fault lines are so often manned and defended by the country’s rural population. The documentary was Runner Up for Best Short Documentary and News Story in the 2021 NewsFest — True Stories International Film and Writers Festival.
The documentary is evidence of a life well lived by an unassuming man who spent the bulk of his life in West Virginia. In the film, Earl shares his stories and photos of a notable, extremely dangerous time in his life, as he was assigned to Christmas Hill, a significant Korean War battleground. The documentary is also a short, pungent history of that brutal ‘Forgotten War’ and its terrible impact on the Korean people and the soldiers who fought in it. View the short film below. Plus, I am re-posting a small photo-essay below I published a year ago. The post is about the day Earl rolled over to my porch for a visit, which I always welcomed (although he could go on and on and tell the same story for the fifth time). Yet it was always an occasion when my salt-of-the-earth neighbor trundled over to my end of the cul-de-sac. After all, one of the quintessential experiences of life in old-school rural America is when neighbors come to call or we go to call on them.
Earl was the kind of guy who never gets lifted up into the spotlight. Wars heap into the line of fire the bodies of young men like Earl. Yet this young man survived. I count myself blessed to have been his friend in his latter years, and to have been able to lift into view the life and times of one of the few remaining veterans left in the American outback of the Korean War. Peace outwards and onwards, my dear Earl. ~ Douglas John Imbrogno
‘WHEN EARL WENT TO WAR’ | Click to view video or watch on Youtube
‘WHEN EARL WENT TO WAR’ is an AmpMediaProject.com original video production.
THE DAY EARL ROLLED OVER FOR A VISIT
Text & Photos by Douglas John Imbrogno | july22.2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.com
Earl spots me from his porch and comes to mine with photobooks to peruse. | july2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.com photography
NOTE: I published this front porch dispatch on Facebook last week and it got quite the response. Part of the reason, I think, is it portrays old-school neighborliness when every time we pop onto our social media timelines we’re confronted with video of shockingly hostile people, Trump-unleashed angry bozos living their worst lives, and Karens on the warpath (with apologies to the several dear Karens/Karins I admire and adore.)
So, I’m on my front porch yesterday, taking a Nicaraguan cigar break, as one does. I look up and there’s my 92-year-old neighbor Earl, trundling my way with his black wheeled walker, three small photo books stacked on the seat. He lives maybe a hundred yards opposite my house in a little one-story home shaded by a great old tree which I admire greatly and he dearly loves. I retire my cigar as Earl steps gingerly onto the porch. He can still walk, but has to be careful. “I ever shown you these pictures?” he says, taking the porch chair opposite me. He begins flipping through the books, which memorialize his retirement party 27 years ago from the BASF chemical plant in Huntington, where he worked 35 years mixing paints and pigments.
Earl worked the midnight shift at the BASF plant in Huntington WV. At his retirement party in 1997, colleagues honored him with a shiny jacket and rap-star worthy hat | july2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.com photography
Earl was a member of Local 3180, the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union. Judging by the numbers of smiling folk who showed up for his send-off at the nearby Gino’s restaurant, he was a well-liked fellow. “May your retirement years be the best years of your life ~ Love, your Brothers & Sisters of Local 3180,” says one farewell in a photobook of solo shots of all his co-workers. An Elvis impersonator showed for the farewell, plus they gifted him with a snazzy, shiny white bombadier jacket emblazoned with his name and the midnight shift he worked, which he tells me he liked because he made more money. “You still wear that jacket, Earl?” He smiles his curly grin. “I sure do, sometimes.”
FREE SUBSCRIBE to this site’s Substack newsletter for updates on new postings.
Even Elvis showed for Earl’s retirement part in 1997, at the local Gino’s restaurant down from the BASF plant in Huntington WV. | july2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.com photography
Now, a thing to know about Earl. Years ago, when I didn’t know him and passed his house I judged him a surly old coot for whatever snap judgment reasons I made, jetting by his place and him too quickly. Then, I got to know him. And then I learned he was one of those West Virginia boys who got drafted to serve in the Korean War and found himself dodging bullets to save his life on Christmas Hill.
So, I did this video about him in 2021, “When Earl Went to War.” You can see it below (or at this story link when I first posted the 16-minute video.) It’s a good little film that may teach you something about a conflict sometimes dubbed “The Forgotten War,” since you don’t hear too much about that deadly little quagmire which killed a significant portion of the Korean population. But it will also introduce you better to Earl. He’s a laconic fellow, who will repeat his questions and points to you: “You ever seen anything like that? What do you think about those pictures?”
Earl’s a real sweetheart. “I saw you sitting here and thought I’d come over and show you these books. Did I ever show you them? I hope I’m not annoying you.” I wave him off. “You’re not annoying me,” I say as he hands me the next photobook.
Earl’s union co-workers at the Huntington plant let him just how they felt about him as retired in 1997. | july2023 | TheStoryIsTheThing.com photography
I walk him back to his house, carrying the photobooks to make his walker stroll a little easier. I eye a coming storm in the skies overhead, hoping to get him home before it hits. The great old tree shades his porch so well that it’s maybe 5 degrees cooler there. “Hey,” I say as he plops down onto his porch swing, a favorite landing spot. “That tree really cools down your porch!”
He grins.
“I know it!”
FREE SUBSCRIBE
For updates on new essays, poems, diatribes, photo essays, experimental videos & sorta memoir excerpts, subscribe to this site’s free e-mail newsletter: TheStoryIsTheThing.substack.com
