Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [121]
We were going along some rice paddies that had a small rock wall running along the edge. There was a small ditch, about three-to-four inches deep and twelve-to-eighteen inches wide, that had been formed by the water that ran down from the hills.
As we were walking along, suddenly we heard a whistling sound—then silence. We quickly ran for cover. I laid in the ditch as deep as I could get; then I heard a “thud.” I slowly looked around, and there about fifteen-to-twenty feet away was an artillery shell protruding from the ground. Not knowing if it was a dud or on a time delay, I quickly made a one-hundred eighty degree turn—on my stomach—and got out of there.
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Another one of the mortar squads forward observer had became ill and was evacuated. They were in need of a FO, so I volunteered. Their squad was about three-quarters of a mile away, but due to the terrain and enemy in the area it took me six-and-a-half hours to reach them. They were going to pull out the following morning, so I was able to get a nights rest.
When morning came, my radio was dead. The captain told me that I was no good to them without a radio, so I was to return to my squad. As I headed back, they took off down through a valley.
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We had corned beef in our C-rations, which was the nastiest tasting stuff I’ve ever eaten. So, everyone either threw it away or gave it to the locals. One of our guys gave his to an elderly lady and within twenty minutes of eating it—she was dead. It wasn’t known if the corned beef was to rich for her system, or what happened.
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One morning after everyone was up, and stirring around, the guy pulling last guard duty came walking down the trail. He had his weapon slung over his shoulder and was carrying another one as he had an enemy soldier in front of him. I told one of the other guys to take the prisoner back to company headquarters and let them take care of him. Another soldier came up to me and said, “Sarge, you might want to check Yum Yum’s weapon.”
So, I yelled for Yum Yum (Johnson) to come over to me and that I wanted to see his weapon. After handing it to me, I jammed back the bolt to find an empty chamber.
I asked, “Yum Yum how come there is no round in your chamber.” You could have knocked me down with a feather with his response.
He said, “Oh sarge, I couldn’t hurt nobody.”
I said, “No, but you could let them come in here and hurt us.”
Shortly afterwards he was transferred out of our unit.
* * * * * *
In school, I read about a soldier during the Civil War who was shot at by opposing soldiers as he rode by them on his horse; and no one hit him. Being a good shot with a rifle, this was too hard for me to comprehend until one day I witnessed it with my own eyes.
The colonels had their own guards, and one day a “gook” came out of the woods. His guards began shooting at him as he ran down a path, for about one-hundred yards, before he ran back into the woods. The colonel said, “Damn! I ought to send every one of you guys back to the States for more training.”
He was so close; I believe I could have hit him with a slingshot.
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When we were in reserve, we were always going through training and attending lectures. I would give a lecture on the importance of the M-10 Board, which was used by the mortar sections to calculate the range of their target, and for accuracy in firing.
The first two rounds were fired for adjustments; the third round was fired for effect.
* * * * * *
We were moving our position, when we noticed the enemy moving along a ridge line trying to circle behind us. I immediately started directing fire; right, left, up thirty, fire for effect; all by sight. We were successful in keeping them from coming in behind us—they withdrew.
I told the captain that I was sorry for using direct sight instead of normal calculations. He told me that I had done “a fine job” and not to worry about it.
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During the later part of July, four inches of rain fell in one day, thereby, causing the river to flood. Some units—including