Eugene Reding, left, greets Don McDow, right, both of Lawrence, Monday at the Memorial Day service at the Veterans Plot at Oak Hill Cemetery. Reding lost 34 pounds since December to fit into his Korean War uniform.

The goal was simple for Eugene Reding, a U.S. Army veteran from the Korean War era.

The 75-year-old Lawrence man wanted to shed enough pounds before Memorial Day to fit into his original uniform – the one he trained recruits in at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri as a light weapons instructor.

“I’m sharing my goal with those who have been called to taps,” Reding said.

The retired Hallmark Cards employee since December had slimmed down from 267 pounds to 233 on Monday. He’s an avid walker, but he also adopted a stricter diet this year.

He still wants to get down to 200 pounds, but on Monday Reding achieved one goal. He strode into the 23rd Street McDonald’s to show his coffee buddies his red helmet and tan uniform. He left active duty in 1955 as a corporal.

Later Monday, he wore the uniform to Oak Hill Cemetery for the American Legion ceremony.

A friend, Marlena Gramly, helped alter the uniform to make sure it was in good shape.

He wants to be more active as a legionnaire again, but there’s one more reason he wanted to slip into uniform. Reding was not sent to Korea because his brother, Robert M. Baggs, who served in the Navy during World War II, was killed in a kamikaze attack of the USS Colorado on Nov. 27, 1944.

“I got to thinking. Maybe my brother gave his life for me,” he said.