Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [202]
On their way back down, Father Walsh carried out two men then went back to help carry a litter back down. He even took the time to stop and give last rites to the fallen Chinese soldiers.
Luckily for the platoon, half of the ammo for the burp guns was defective. A lot of the Chinese grenades were duds. If it had not been for this, casualties would have been a lot higher.
Since Krilling said our tanks saved their lives, he presented me with one of the burp guns. After getting it back home, it now is in the 45th Infantry Division’s Museum in Oklahoma City.
I was ordered to attend a special awards ceremony at Regimental Headquarters sometime in early April. My jeep driver and I were the only ones invited from Tank Company. There were representatives from each company, and each battalion. During this ceremony, SFC Krilling was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and Father Walsh was awarded the Silver Star.
While attending a mini-reunion with some of my tankers in Traverse City, Michigan, I learned that after the war, Father Walsh served as chaplain at the Dannemore State Prison—in New York. On May 3, 1977, he died of a heart attack.
* * * * * *
A few days after the signing of the armistice, I was headed to Inchon to be processed home. Rumor was that the troopships had plenty of ice cream, gourmet meals, and even a midnight snack would be available.
The two day wait at Inchon was very unpleasant due to the stench of the mud flats that were exposed during low tide. The tidal range of thirty-two feet, at Inchon, is one of the largest in the world. Still visible at low tide were rusty LST’s, KCM’s, and DUKW’s.
There at Inchon is where I thought I would loose the burp gun presented to me by SFC Krilling. However, to my disappointment, before boarding the troopship Nelson W. Walker, I was given a new assignment; I was to be in charge of one-hundred six POW’s. There were two other officers who were given the same number of prisoners to watch. Needless to say, since I was my own security officer, this is how I was able to get stateside with the burp gun.
Finally, the blessed day order came down—board ship. I was going home.[12]
~~Seventy-Six~~
Donald Albert
279th Infantry Regiment
45th Infantry Division
U.S. Army
I was drafted on October 8, 1951. I reported to the draft board at the downtown post office in St. Louis, Missouri. There must have been one-hundred draftees present, with every fourth one in line being sent to the Navy. Since I never felt good aboard a ship in rough water, I was glad to have been third in line. So, off to the Army I went.
I boarded a train at the Union Station in St. Louis bound for Camp Clark, where I was inducted into the U.S. Army. Here I was given a uniform, a nice haircut, shots, and tests. Then again I was loaded onto a troop train headed for Camp Roberts, California; which was known for it’s worlds largest parade ground.
Camp Roberts, which was located in the desert, was hot in the day and cold at night. With the daily temperature changes and all the mountains, this was a good place to train recruits headed for Korea. After completing basic training as a rifleman, I was recruited to go to leadership school. I was more than happy to attend the school, because I had received orders for Korea after basic. I was not your typical gung-ho soldier.
After completing the eight weeks of leadership school, I again received orders for Korea. However, an airborne recruiter told me if I signed up for airborne school he could get my orders cut. He went on to tell me that since none of the airborne divisions were in Korea, I would probably be assigned to a stateside division.
So, off to Fort Benning, Georgia I went. I remember the first two weeks of tower jumping was worse than actually jumping from a plane. My last jump was with a parachute that I packed the night before. Needless to say, I worried all night if I had packed