Some men are born lucky. It just seems that life has a way of turning out in their favor.

The hand they get dealt somehow always turns up aces. In Karl Cornwell’s case, it turned up with four queens. Karl was in the Army, stationed near West Point, NY. A group of GI’s were playing poker at a nearby table when one of them offered Karl his seat at the table.

The man was down to just a few dollars and let Karl take over. Karl sat down, a couple of dollars to play with, and proceeded to run the table with hand after hand after hand. His luck hit its peak on the last hand when Karl was dealt two queens, then added two more queens on the draw. He steadily raised the pot, then rolled his hand when the dealer called. He started with just a few dollars but ended up with well over $100.

With the cash in his lap, Karl knew exactly what he wanted to do. He was about to take the cash the four queens won him and find the one lady he wanted to hold onto for good, a young lady named Geraldine from Goshen, NY. Karl, who never had much money growing up in West Virginia or as a soldier, took the money and treated Miss Geraldine to a movie.

The rest as they say is history. To hear Karl tell the story, he sometimes adds the line, “I won my wife in a poker game.” Mrs. Geraldine doesn’t always laugh at that one.

Even lucky men, however, have their luck run out sometimes. Sergeant First Class Karl Cornwell pressed his luck numerous times as an M46 tank commander during the Korean War. His first few months in Korea were relatively inactive, but he saw the effects of war all around him. There was the time he found a pile of Korean bodies half-buried in a town where the Communists executed just about everyone. Then there was the day he was eating lunch by the road and a truck passed by with soldiers’ bodies piled so high, the sight and stench quenched his appetite. The sights, sounds, and smells of war were all around him.

Click here to read the rest of Karl Cornwell's story at www.40DaysofHonor.com.