Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [33]
I was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor for that action, but I would much rather have had my friend back. It took me several years to find out, but Trumansville, New York is the final resting place for Leo W. Maguire—my friend.
During the month of April, and up until I rotated home in late May, we were in the hills of Chorwon Valley. All headquarter elements were down in the valley and caught hell when the Chinese opened the flood gates on the dam located at the upper end of the valley. If flooding them wasn’t enough, they also bombarded them with mortar fire.
One morning around 0200 hours, the shepherds horns started blowing, green tracers filled the air, and screams of “Banzai, Banzai” echoed in the darkness; a definite sign of a human-wave attack. It had been awhile since we had one, but one is never prepared for it. Some of the Chinese were on Mongolian ponies pushing the foot soldiers that were in front of them. The 23rd Infantry Regiment was on our left flank and they were attacked the same time as us. At daylight we found bodies within twenty yard of us, explaining the number of hand grenades we had experienced during the night.
This was the last human wave attack I was involved in.
Toward the end of May I had earned the thirty-six points required to rotate home. Of the original guys, there were only four or five of us left. You had to be examined by the battalion surgeon to determine if you had any lice; hell everyone had lice. The doc said there was no way he was going to keep anyone in Korea because of lice.
I traveled by train to Pusan where I boarded a louse infested Japanese passenger ship to Sasebo, Japan. From here we took buses to the processing area. We went in one end of a long building, were told to strip naked, given a small draw string bag for what few valuables we had, given “about face,” and sent out the same door we came in. Up an embankment from this building was a hospital. Its windows were filled with American and Japanese nurses, shouting and whistling at us. Here we received an honest-to-goodness hot shower, and a thorough dusting with DDT.
My time in Korea was over.
~~Ten~~
Jack Anderson
38th Infantry Regiment
2nd Infantry Division
U.S. Army
I was born on June 16, 1923, in Saco, Montana. Our family lived on a cattle ranch forty-nine miles south of Saco. However, after attending school by riding twelve miles on horseback, and spending the week away from home in a dormitory, the family moved to a farm four miles outside of Glasgow, Montana. Here I entered the seventh grade, and Bill—my older brother—started high school.
It was in Glasgow that an Army recruiter—a lean old sergeant who repelled a stack of silver dollars in his hand—made me want to be a soldier. I was too young to join, and mother wouldn’t lie for me. He let me join the National Guard, so on December 8, 1938—at the age of fifteen—I enlisted in Company G, 163rd Infantry Regiment, 41st Infantry Division.
On September 16, 1940 we were inducted into Federal Service, and went through training until March 19, 1942 when we boarded the Queen Elizabeth—in San Francisco. We docked at Sydney, Australia on the 6th of April, because Melbourne, our original destination, could not accommodate our ship. After disembarking, we were taken to Camp Seymour, which was a deserted World War I camp.
From January 1943 until September 2, 1945—V.J. Day—the 163rd was involved in the following campaigns: Port Moresby, New Guinea; Sananada-Kamusi; Aitape: Wakde Island; Biak Island; and the Philippines.
On August 15, 1944, I was given a Battlefield Commission to Second Lieutenant, and transferred to Company I, 186th Infantry Regiment, also of the 41st. Later,