In March 1951, at the age of 21, U.S. soldier David Valley was ordered to immediately leave the Korean Peninsula -- where the war was raging -- and go to Tokyo to serve on the Honor Guard of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, supreme commander of the allied powers.

The unit, established in 1945, consisted of 200 select combat veterans who performed the formal honor guard functions for the general, his family, staff and visiting dignitaries during the Allied Occupation.

"I was very honored to join the unit, because it was the army's most elite unit at the time," Valley, 70, said in an interview.