Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [166]
Off the coast of Pusan is Koje-do Island, where the UN had a POW compound. I was sent on TDY (temporary duty) there to correct some pay records. I don’t remember how many days it took to get there, but we traveled by a schooner equipped with a small motor. I was accompanied by two “gooks,” one sat in front and the other in the back—running the motor. Not knowing if they were friendly or the enemy didn’t matter. I was unarmed.
Upon my arrival, I checked into the orderly room and was asked where my weapon was. I told the sergeant that I was unarmed. He replied, “Hell fire. It is a fifty dollar fine to get caught outside the tent unarmed, because of the prison uprising!” So, for the time I was there, he loaned me his .45 pistol and shoulder holster.
While there, everyone had to pull guard one hour a night; supposedly guarding an ammo dump. This particular night was a bright moonlit night and I saw a “second John” approaching my position, but didn’t challenge him.
He blurted out, “Who’s on guard?”
To which I replied, “Rogers.”
When he asked me why I didn’t challenge him, I told him I could see his bars at twenty paces; he had just come over from West Point. He then proceeded to ask if I expected to leave Korea alive! I informed him that I had already left once; a year ago, from the front.
Before I knew it, I blurted out, “We don’t play that silly stuff over here!”
We were told by our CO, who took us to the front, not to waste our energy saluting.
I never did salute the lieutenant; he could have very easily had me court-martialed, but I took my chances. I guess I was a little cocky.
It was time to return to Pusan and there was a small plane taxiing out for take-off. I ran him down and asked for a lift back to Pusan. “Nope, against military orders,” he said.
So, it was back to the dock for another schooner ride.
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On March 5, 1953, I finally returned home to my lovely bride, Fay.
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Although it has been fifty-seven years, it seems just like yesterday. Some memories we like to remember: some memories we like to forget.
~~Fifty-Nine~~
Mark Pease
7th Infantry Regiment
3rd Infantry Division
U.S. Army
I was on my way to my mother’s apartment, in Rochester, New York, after a job interview and I had to stop at the street corner because of a red light. As I waited for the light to change, I noticed an Army Sergeant standing next to a card table with brochures on it. I walked over, looked at the brochures, and on the spur of the moment went inside and enlisted. Two weeks earlier, I had turned eighteen.
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I arrived in Korea in March of 1951, and was assigned to Company F, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.
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I remember the month of November 1951 very vividly. We were on Hill 355. It was located near Kowang-San, and our company was one of the few that weren’t kicked off the hill. The savage Chinese attack lasted four days, from the twenty-second to the twenty-sixth. Being surrounded and cut off for almost three days, we were running out of everything. We were just holding on until someone could get up the hill and help us. I will always be grateful to the brave men of the 15th Infantry Regiment who fought like hell to get us out of our predicament.
We arrived at Hill 355 not long before the start of the battle. We replaced a British Company, who left several boxes of grenades and C-rations. It was a good thing because we used all of them.
The nights were bitterly cold, with a devastating wind chill. I was wearing GI boxers and undershirt: longjohns, which were two-piece: fatigue shirt and pants: field jacket and a sweater: winter pants that were suppose to be windproof: winter parka, with a hood: bunny cap, which was a cap with a fur lined bill and ear flaps. We also had winter mittens, which had a slit for your trigger finger. Our boots were leather high-tops, which had a liner in them that you could change if your feet became wet.