Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [26]
My second day on the job, I was following a tank down a dirt road when my right tire hit a mine, tipping us over. The lieutenant who was riding with me was thrown from the jeep and severely mangled his foot. Lucky for me, I was uninjured.
On the 8th of July, I was informed that I would be rotating home—Otto had already gone home. The company commander said if I would stay he would promote me to sergeant, and after sixty days to master sergeant. My reply was thanks, but no thanks.
There were only two original members of D Company left, me and another guy. The following day we left for Inchon. Here we boarded the Weigel and sailed to Sasebo, Japan.
We boarded the USS Woodward for our journey home. Eleven days later we docked in San Francisco, where we were greeted by a military band, hundreds of waving and cheering civilians, and a banner that read, “Welcome home. Heroes.”
* * * * * *
At Fort Custer, Michigan, I received orders to report to Fort Meade, Maryland, where I stayed until the first of November. On the fifth, another guy and I reported to Fort Hayes, in Columbus, Ohio. He was sent to Lexington, Kentucky and I went to Toledo, Ohio—to be recruiters.
On the 10th of June, 1951, I received orders to report to Fort Hayes. Two days later, after serving three years, eight months, and six days of active duty, I was honorably discharged from the United States Army.[2]
~~Eight~~
Fred Connolly
31st Infantry Regiment
7th Infantry Division
U.S. Army
I was born on June 11, 1931, in Bronx, New York—one of fourteen children born to Michael and Mary Connolly.
I entered the first grade at PS-160 in South Jamaica, Queens. Needless to say, times were hard in those days. One day the rent was due, so we moved to Saint Albans, Queens—here I enrolled in school at PS-36. I was in the sixth grade, and one day my father came to school. He told me to gather my hat and coat, he had found a job for me; this was the end of my schooling. After working for three or four months at a drugstore in Queens, I went to work on a farm. Here we planted, watered, and harvested vegetables to sale. Being that there were fourteen of us children, we all had to help out at home.
After turning seventeen I enlisted in the U.S. Army. I was sent to Fort Dix, New Jersey for my basic training. In the summer of 1949 I headed for Occupational Duty in Hokkaido, Japan—as a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. I shall never forget the name of the ship I sailed on, the USS Patrick, because I was sick for twenty-two straight days.
* * * * * *
After being in Japan for fifteen months, I was hoping to go home soon. However, it was not to be; North Korea had invaded South Korea. All enlisted men whose time was about up were given an extra year of service by President Truman. Like a lot of other men I would be leaving Japan, but not for home—for Korea
* * * * * *
On September 15, 1950, along with the First Marine Division, the 7th Infantry Division made the Inchon Landing. We encountered a lot of sniper fire, but the fighting was light. The following morning as we headed towards Seoul, I had my first encounter with death; one of my men was killed. We covered his eighteen year old body with a poncho, so the “grave boys” would take him back to the rear.
The fighting at Seoul was extremely intense; it was door-to-door, house-to-house.
After Seoul had been secured, our lieutenant ordered me to take my squad out in front of the company, about three-hundred yards, and set up an outpost. On our way, we passed through a village where we met an elderly man, two women, two little boys who were about two or three years old, and a little girl who looked to be ten or eleven years old. The young girl had coal black hair that reached her waist. We gave the man some cigarettes, and for the women we all chipped in some C-rations and coffee packs; then we gave the kids some candy bars. Now we moved out to set up the outpost for the night.
The following morning, around 0600 hours, we headed back to the company.