This page is the members page. It will consist of personal stories of our individual members. Your cooperation in participating will be appreciated by all, especially those young Americans that have never heard of the many incidents that took place in the Korean War.
This from Don Hirschberg:
During the last months of the shooting the 2nd Platoon of the 388th operated separately making smoke during the day down in Artillery Valley while the 2nd Platoon of the 86th Field Artillery (Search Lights) illuminated likely enemy patrol approaches during the night. The Red Legs and assigned Katusa's lived with us. Our Platoon fed almost a hundred troops as our mess was just in defilade south of the directly observable entrance to Artillery Valley and a good place to stop. Company Hqs was about a half day's drive back in Chunchon. A courier would come up one day and go back the next. Lt Anthony Simpkus and I were the Chemical Corps officers and Lt Hand was the platoon leader of the artillery men.
This from Gerald Johnson:
Our messhall was south of the airstrip The mess hall was full and we were not supposed to feed anyone after mess hour. I made a special treat and it was finished before the commanding officer got his, that was the reason he had asked me about feeding guys. A few days later I made another treat and long before mess time the C.O. was there for his.
This from Richard Broderick:
I was at 5th Airforce Headquarters on Sept. 15 at Inchon in 1950. Seoul was to be cleaned out for our move by the 8th Army. We were then at the University of Korea when I came across an old wind up phonograph. It played the 78 rpm records and traditional Korean music as well as Pop Music from the USA comprised the record collection. There was also the American song, You are My Sunshine, I often wondered when listening to the Korean music if their instruments were in tune. How would anyone know? On Jan 2 of 1951 we were ordered to move out because the Chinese were advancing. I put my name and address in the music box but to this day have not heard anything from anyone.
This from Chuck Dawson:
I wasmade a jeep driver late in my stay in Korea., carrying messages Etc. from one unit to the other. One day I spotted a pile of junk along the road. Further investigation led to an old victrola. It worked. We played old Japanese records and use safety pins from our bandoliers for needles. The mainspring was weak and at times it took several windings of the crank to hear one song. When I left Korea I told the new driver to keep the record player.
This from Joe Sheehan:
We were in Chorwon North Korea and my buddy and I were on the way back from kumwa area after picking up 5 gal. water cans. We traveled one of those winding narrow trails that were called roads and came to a fork in the road and it was snowing hard. we made the mistake of taking the right hand fork. We traveled a short distance and gunfire erupted so following my buddy Sgt. Myers, we dove out of the jeep for the ground. I wore my fingernails off trying to get into better cover to little avail as the ground was frozen on DEC. 23rd in north Korea. Mortar shells and bullets were flying. We were caught in a firefight, right in the middle. This is the 2nd time Myers and I were caught in an ambush. Myers was the coolest man I ever met under fire. After a life time period all was quiet again so Myers said what we need now while still prone on the ground is a drink. he then pulled a midget bottle of Suntories whiskey out of his back pocket. He took a swig and then offered the bottle to me which I proceeded to spill half the swig outside my mouth and on the ground..we then ran for the jeep hoping it would still run...it did ...and hauled ass back from where we came from. When returning we were stopped and asked what the hell we were doing out there. Our reply was we were from Chorwan area and took the wrong turn in the snow. it was not normal to run into air force personnel in the MLR area but that was our assignment with the 45th div. Even after all these years back in the Z / I..... I will be eternally grateful to my buddy Sgt. Myers but in 55 years I have not been able to find him. It's like he fell off the end of the earth never to be located again. Thanks again Myers...
This from Joan Arcand:
Returning to the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia in January 1951, from a weekend liberty, I had to ride the local subway and transfer to a bus at center city to get back to the Hospital.
I noticed six sailors who got on the subway as I did and sat at the opposite end of the car. I know they noticed me as much banter and laughter was going on. They had to be aware that I was an Ensign, Nurse Corps, as we had to wear our dress uniforms on liberty.
We all got off the subway at City Hall in center city and I felt relieved as the sailors went up one stairway and I another.
When I got to street level in City Hall Plaza, there they were: perfectly lined up to give and receive an individual salute. Feeling so green and
the butt of their joke, I returned each salute and headed for my bus.
Once aboard the bus, I noticed the "Fleet's Finest" on the street corner. As they spotted me again,-this time I smiled and waved - as the bus pulled away.
These was probably my first salutes! but many more were to follow.
This from Harold Macking:
Greenland:
Replacements straight out of Basic came in slowly and there was usually a new kid in the barracks. During one inspection the Lt. made his way down one side of the barracks just casually looking at things. Coming up the other side he stopped in front of a new PFC and looked at him eyeball to eyeball. The poor kid was shaking like a blender hitting a hard nut. Did you shine those shoes he asked. PFC, "Ya ya yah yah yessir", the world was closing in on him and many of us in the barracks felt sorry for the kid. "What kind of polish did you use?" "Gr grr grrif Griffin Sir". Lt. Looked him square in the eye and said, "Next time use KIWI, it's easier to say." The Lt. Was okay for an OCS 2nd Lt.
More :
In Greenland at our base everyone helped remove snow when a bunch of jets were on their way to Korea by way of us and Iceland. You might be shoveling snow from around the tower and there's a Major doing the same thing. The one of three men excused were the truck drivers carrying oil to the mess halls and barracks. These guys worked all the time as we only had two of the refueling trucks suited for this job. This one driver we called Diesel. He smelled like diesel fuel no matter where he was or whatever the occasion. He had been from Pvt. To Staff Sgt. more times then buttons on his field jacket. Revenge on any officer dominated his thinking.
The 2nd Lt. Called us out one day and said that some brass from the Northeast Air Command (NEAC) were coming to inspect our defenses. They said the Chinese might try an attack over the ice cap. This was ridiculous to us but we were told everyone and he meant everyone would be stationed on guard duty in the mock attack. If you were given a place to guard no one, not even the man sleeping next to you in your barracks were to pass. Diesel was assigned to the tank farm where all fuels were housed on a hillside.
This part was told us by our First Sgt: "Diesel was on duty when a Lt. Colonel came up to him and said he wanted to inspect the inside perimeter. Diesel said ,"no Sir, I can't let you in." The officer then said he was from NEAC and he could go anywhere in Greenland he dammn well wanted to. Diesel told him that may be but he is not coming in here while he is on duty. The officer advanced and diesel said if he moved another foot he would shoot. (Our guns had no ammo in them) The officer left talking to himself and his aide.
Being a small base it was easy to find the idiot that denied the NEAC Officer entrance. Diesel was called to the orderly room smelling like diesel and wearing oil soaked clothing. The First Sgt. took him in to report to the Adjutant. When asked if he really would have shot the Lt. Col. Diesel said he knew he had an empty gun so he just would have knocked the Col. On his ass and called the MP's. He said he had just made PFC and didn't want to lose it by disobeying a Direct Order. The CO in his office heard it all.
Two weeks later Diesel made Corporal again. The 2nd Lt. Was okay by now. When I left Greenland Diesel was a Buck Sgt. Again.
This from Joe Slatton:
I was told to stand guard one night at 3 A.M. (3rd night in a row for 3 A.M.). After reporting I grabbed a Grease Gun (45 cal. Automatic machine gun) and went to my post. It was quiet, too quiet. I heard a noise and said, "Advance and be recognized", no answer. A second and third time, no answer. I let go with some rounds and called the Sgt. of the guard. By then sirens all over the place began wailing. When questioned by the Lt. He said I did right. The next day the scene was investigated to find absolutely nothing, living or dead. That was the last time I was assigned to guard duty.
This from friend of Joe Sheehan:
When the ROK army was stationed around us in 1951 you may recall that I scaled the Mountain West of us on a fine warm day to see what was on the top. I found a scene of devastation, all the trees and bushes were mowed down with a large bomb crater in the center of it all. In that crater was a dead chinese soldier who had probably taken shelter there but was probably killed by one of our aircraft. He had probably been there a couple of months and was surprisinly well preserved. A Springfield rifle lay at is side and he had two bandoliers accross his shoulders and side. I confiscated the gun and ammo and brought it back down the mountain. Those bandoliers were full of ammo, .30-6, with tracer shells and magnesium shells. We used to shoot accross the valley between our hill and the west mountain using the tracers which was a kick to watch the bullet wing accross. The gun had a really long range. Our carbines had about a 300 yard range and the Springfield had a range of 1000 yard accuracy. I never did find out what ever happened to the rifle as I left for Kimpo A.B. in 1952.
The strangest thing happened recently when my son who is in a care center now and has little use for his rifle collection asked me to sell his Ruger Riffle, His Amedeo Rossi shotgun, and of all things, a Springfield rifle that was the exact same rifle I took off of the chinese soldier. It is a 1903a3 made by Smith-Corona. Only 242,000 were made by SC and supposedly has value to collectors. I have seen prices ranging from $200 to $1400. I sold the rRuger and shotgun but am still hanging on to the Springfield maybe to keep as a memento of my find in Korea or find a collector. Anyway my eyes popped open when I saw that old Springfield and brought back my vision of that unfortunate Chinaman.
I don't recall if you were there when all this happened.
Your comrade in arms....Dick
From Alessandro Magno:
One evening while in a foxhole on the line, I heard the noise of someone approaching. I seen it was a friendly and he jumped into my foxhole. He was talking incessantly in Turkish and I, being American, understood not a word. His bayonet looked like a sword and I didn't know what his problem was and yes, I was scared. Soon more noise came from the rear and it was a Turkish squad. The gooks had stolen their supply truck loaded with rations Etc. but foremost, their food. They quickly banded together and took off triple time down the road. I should not have feared the outcome, soon they had recaptured their truck and its contents all intact. There were no gooks left to tell their side of the story.
This from Ray Hemann :
Received this Email from KVet who seen our site, from Passadena CA.
Harold,
Good to hear from you.
Seems like those of us who served in Greenland, Iceland, Labrador, BWI and BWII, etc. are, indeed, forgotten.
I don’t think the DoD has even come up with any official patches, ribbons, awards, etc. for service in these areas. Yet, we were a part of NATO forces, overseas, Korean service, etc.
We went to Thule in June 1951 in Operation Blue Jay. Arrived in July. We worked 12-hour shifts on shore, seven days a week.
Stayed aboard ship (the Casa Grande in my case) and were shuttled ashore and back every day.
24 hours of daylight, so it got to the place where when we looked at our watches and saw 2:00, we didn’t know if that was AM or PM. The Navy treated us well, however.
Good food and they even packed lunches for us to take ashore so we wouldn’t have to eat C-rations.
While we lived aboard the Casa Grande (an LSD) while we were at Thule, we shipped out to Thule on the General Stewart Heintzelmann, a captured German troop ship that was run by the Merchant Marine Service, in a convoy that left Norfolk Naval Base June 6, 1951.
We were not SCARWAF in Thule, but we were the next two years we spent in Goose Bay, Labrador.
We were an Medium Automotive Maintenance company. Our job was to keep vehicles of all kinds repaired and operating.
I was our company clerk and a supply clerk when we were in Thule. I was Supply Sergeant when we were in Goose Bay.
Our company, the 3641st Ordnance M.A.M. Company, was an Ohio National Guard unit out of the Cleveland area. We were “federalized” in June 1950 (about two weeks after the North Koreans invaded South Korea), and sent to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, where our TO&E was filled by draftees from Michigan for basic training.