It's been a dozen years since Donald R. Frush held office as the Mayor of Hagerstown, so recent arrivals can be forgiven for not knowing the man who died at age 67 last Thursday. But Frush deserves to be remembered as more than a city mayors, because his efforts truly changed life as we know it in Washington Countyfor the better.
Frush almost didn't survive to begin his career in public service, however. He enlisted in the Army in 1948 and was sent to Korea, where he won the bronze star for jumping off a tank and saving a lieutenant's life. In 1950, the temperature dipped to 22 degrees below zero, and in addition to other wounds, he was hospitalized with frost-bitten feet for seven months. He later returned to duty as a provost sergeant in Inchon, where he organized an effort to raise money for food and care for orphaned Korean children.