Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [175]
On the 28th on January, the 223rd Regiment (of the 40th) took up positions west of the 5th RCT, which was on our left flank. The 5th would be replaced on the 3rd of February by another regiment of the 40th, the 224th. Over the next couple of months we engaged the Chinese; mainly in patrol type action along the MLR.
During this time, we experienced temperatures as cold as twenty below zero and not having been furnished proper gear, frostbite became a problem. On the 1st of April, the 40th was replaced by an ROK Division and we moved to our new position overlooking the Kumsong River valley—still in the Iron Triangle. Here too, we engaged the Chinese in patrol type action until late June, at which time we were replaced by an ROK unit. We then moved to a reserve area at Kapyong.
While there, our regiment observed the ruins of a city that earlier in the war had been occupied by the North Koreans. Thousands of the cities residents died from starvation, disease, or the bitter cold, as they fled south. We soldiers couldn’t help but notice the plight of the children, who had been without a schoolhouse for two years. Building them a new school became a division project. In just one payday, over $17,000 was contributed by guys of our unit.
Our engineer battalion, along with Korean civilians, built a new ten classroom high school on eight donated acres. The school was named for the first soldier of the 40th to have been killed—SFC Kenneth Kaiser. The school is still in existence today.
While at Kapyong, I accumulated enough points to rotate home. I left Korea in late August 1952.
~~Sixty-Three~~
Dick Thune
A Battery
300th Armored FA BN
U.S. Army
My father was with the 6th Engineers (now the 10th Engineers), of the 3rd Infantry Division, in the First World War. He strongly advised me to “let them draft you” and to this day, I believe that was very good advice. So, in early 1951, at the age of twenty-one, I was drafted from my hometown of Kenyon, Minnesota. Before I was sworn in, I learned that the Marine Corps was taking every odd number man on the roster—I had an even number.
I took my basic training at Camp Chaffee, then I went to Fort Sill for Advanced Artillery Training. It was here that we were informed that everyone was going to Korea. So, to help delay the inevitable, I applied for Leadership School. After completing artillery training, I was accepted to the school, and all the other draftees were sent to Alaska. Guess where I went upon completing Leadership School? Korea!
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Arriving in Korea in April 1952, I was assigned to A Battery, 300th Armored FA BN; I was on the number three gun. An artillery battalion consists of three batteries, each with six guns. During my time in Korea, I was a cannoneer, gunner, and Chief of Howitzer section on a 105mm M-7 self-propelled artillery piece. The M-7 was built on an M-4 tank chassis, but minus the turret and heavy armor. It was equipped with a 650hp, nine cylinder radial engine.
The 105mm had a range of approximately 6.9 miles.
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During the middle of May, there was a lot of ground and air action. The FO team for A Battery was literally blown off Hill 710, and had to be quickly replaced. We were firing a lot of flak suppression missions, as UN planes were seeking out targets in front of our battalion. One of those missions was being flown by four Marine, or Navy, F-4u Corsairs, which we watched as they dove on their targets. After they had made several passes, they climbed to a higher altitude. Then suddenly, one of them dove down making a high speed flyover on one of the targets; probably a photo reconnaissance. The pilot pulled up at a sharp angle, and when he passed over A Battery, we heard what sounded like an AAA gun. I was watching the Corsair when a round exploded underneath its engine and it began to smoke.
The pilot banked to the right, looking for a place to crash. He then disappeared over the ridge to our left front. The remaining Corsairs made strafing runs to keep