Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [100]
The road was frozen with patches of knee deep snow, and counting the wind chill, the temperature reached seventy-five degrees below zero. My spit would freeze before it hit the ground. The chill from the barrel of my BAR stabbed through three layers of gloves, through my palm, and shot out the back of my hand like a nail being driven through it.
As the trucks navigated the winding, downward hills, the infantrymen were having a hard time staying upright on the slippery surface. The journey south was a slow progress due to the enemy being so close to, and sometimes on, the road and shooting out the trucks radiators and gas tanks. They would also throw white phosphorus grenades onto the trucks carrying the wounded.
Don and I were finally separated; he in the convoy of wounded, and I back in action. I was part of Charlie Company, 7th Marines, led by Lt. Col. Ray Davis, who went to relieve the beleaguered Fox Company—who was holding Toktong Pass at all costs. It was necessary to hold the Pass, because if the Chinese captured it, the 1st Marine Division would have been annihilated.
Suffering from hypothermia, no water or food, and totally exhausted, we were eventually successful in reaching Fox Company. In doing so, we earned the name “Toktong Ridgerunners.”
I was flown out of Hagaru-ri on the last plane out. We were flown to the Air Force Hospital in Fukuoka, Japan. Even though the hospital was not crowded, the following morning I was put on a train headed for the Naval Hospital in Yokuska, Japan. This hospital was so crowded there wasn’t even enough room for my stretcher on the floor in the halls. I was put in a warehouse, then a chapel where the litters were laid across the tops of the pews. Finally, I was given the second bed in a large ward.
Lying there, I started to cry for my lost buddy. From the bed next to me, came a gruff voice, “Stop it! I lost my buddy and I can’t stand your sniveling.” It was Don! Suddenly my sadness for a lost friend became a jubilant celebration.
With all the hospital ships at sea, and all the hospitals in Japan, what was the chance of us being in the same ward—and next to each other? Don and I both knew it was Divine Guidance; from God; nothing is impossible.
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I am often asked, “What was the hardest part about fighting at the Chosin Reservoir?” That is a hard question to answer, because almost everything about it was difficult. We were told not to eat the snow, because it would drop our body’s core temperature—inviting hypothermia. Our C-rations would freeze solid. Even though it didn’t help our bodies core temperature, we carried a can next to our body so it would thaw out. However, if you didn’t eat it right away, it would freeze again. And if you ate, you got diarrhea. With all the layers of clothing we wore, it was nearly impossible to get out of them; we were the filthiest people on earth. Then there was the difficulty of staying awake, when every fiber of you body cried for sleep.
I lost sixty pounds in Korea. However, I don’t recommend combat as a way of losing weight.[5]
~~Thirty~~
Floyd E. “Gene” Combs
USS Begor – APD-127
U.S. Navy
Living on a farm in Mineral Wells, West Virginia, I had grown tired of getting out of bed every morning at 4:30 AM. So, upon turning seventeen I decided it was time to leave the farm—I joined the Navy in March of 1945.
During 1945 – 1946, I was assigned to CBMU-618 (Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit) at Yonobaru Naval Air Station on Okinawa. I arrived in 1945 just after the island had been declared secure. I was assigned stringing telephone lines and phones at the air station, along with being a teletype operator.
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In June of 1950, while sailing along the California coast, the USS Begor collided with a fishing boat, puncturing its hull. She underwent repairs at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, in San Francisco. I boarded the ship while she was in the shipyard.