Hilltop Doc

A Marine corpsman transports readers to the bloody hills of the Korean War with his vivid, personal and thoughtful memories.

“This book is an engaging and fascinating first-hand account from a Korean War veteran who remained silent for more than 60 years about his experiences.”  —Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton of Washington University in St. Louis

“I was inspired reading Hilltop Doc. As a former Marine machine gunner, I could feel the esprit de corps that flows through every engrossing combat chapter of the book.”  —Rick Glassman, 4th Marine Division, 1964-1970

“I found Hilltop Doc to be a gripping account of a Navy corpsman’s experience on the ground and in the foxholes of the bloody, almost forgotten, Korean War."  —John Gillis, 2nd Marine Division, 1959-1963

As a Marine corpsman, Leonard Adreon saw some of the worst of the Korean War’s carnage and the best of its humanity. His gripping description brings to life the war between the Chinese army and the U.S. Marines as they battled to take the high ground. You will feel the anguish, the frustration and the terror endured by Marines on the hillsides of Korea, and how U.S. troops fought with valor and esprit de corps under adverse conditions and against massive Chinese forces. As a corpsman, Adreon tells the story from the unique perspective of a young man from St. Louis, with no medical background, thrown into the role of saving lives amid the war’s violence. He leavens the grim, emotional, and sometimes ironic battlefield scenes with his background story – of how his own mistakes and the military’s bumbling landed him at Korea’s 38th Parallel.

After returning from Korea, Leonard Adreon spent 36 years as the executive vice president of The Siteman Organization, a real estate management and development company, based in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton, Mo. In 1979, he was elected president of the Building Owners and Managers Association International in Washington D. C., which represents the office building industry in the United States and across the globe. He represented the industry before a number of Senate and House committees, and earned a citation from the General Services Administration for advice on leasing and managing facilities throughout the world. A highlight was meeting President Ronald Reagan and working with his chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Murray Weidenbaum. St. Louis city and county leaders appointed Adreon to numerous committees and commissions serving his community. Adreon also took a leadership role in several major charities devoted to the welfare of children. Today, Adreon volunteers as a facilitator of writing classes at the Lifelong Learning Institute of Washington University in St. Louis. It is that work that encouraged him to tell his own story. Adreon met his wife, Audrey, a year after his return from Korea. They have three daughters and six grandchildren.