Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [42]
North Korea
October 27, 1950
I finally got off the ship about 2 PM and what a time we had! The landing boat couldn’t go all the way to the beach so we had to drive our jeep through the water and we didn’t quite make it. The water was a little too deep and we sank. There we sat with our heads above water. I got out of the jeep and hooked a cable on the jeep to an amtrak and he pulled us out. I practically froze as it was about 32 degrees and I had to stay in the wet clothes for a couple of hours...I had to stand guard by myself last night. Now I have a good cold. Worse than that we’re moving 90 miles north earlier this afternoon or tomorrow, so it’ll be colder yet...
November 2, 1950
...We’re getting into the mountains now and colder all the time...Since we’re just a few miles from the front (60 miles from the Manchurian border) we can’t have any lights or fires after dusk...
November 6, 1950,
...The enemy had our CP zeroed in with mortar and artillery all night long and really raised hell around here. We lost two jeeps and three trucks but luckily no men were hurt...
November 9, 1950,
...The 7th Regiment is getting ready for a big push in the next few days, eighteen trucks and a lot of heavy artillery are coming up today. Our object is to take a large reservoir about 10 miles from where we are now and being in the mountains we need a little support since the Chinese are a lot better equipped than the North Koreans...
November 16, 1950,
It’s been so cold it’s been impossible to write, 20 degrees below zero at night and never warmer than 20 degrees above during the day. The fellows were so cold they were crying. About 200 cases of frostbite turned into sickbay...are now at the southern tip of the reservoir...
During our withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir to Hungnam, I didn’t write Arlee any letters. Due to the daily, intense fighting there wasn’t any time to write, let alone get any mail. Even if there had been time to write, it would have been impossible to hold a pin in the thirty below zero weather.
Evacuation
December 12, 1950,
…Right now we are at the seaport of Hungnam, about 20 miles from Hamhung. We are going aboard ships, I guess headed for Pusan...I got some sleep last night, the first in a long time, so now all I want is a shower and a change of clothes...It was worse than hell up there.
Pusan, Korea
December 14, 1950,
We arrived in Pusan early this morning...
Masan, Korea
December 17, 1950,
...Right now the 1st Division is so small they fed all of us in one mess hall...Maybe the 2nd Division will relieve us, they are in North Carolina, or at they least they were.
They say there’s 80,000 Marines there. 20,000 would take our place and still leave plenty. “Dug out Doug” seems to want us to stay here tough.
Masan, Korea
January 2, 1951,
It looks like we are going to move up in a few days, about 150 miles...
Masan, Korea
January 17, 1951,
...This “police action” is like a football game. First one side pushes the other back, then the tide turns...Where we’re going the showers are just across the street and boy am I heading for that as soon as we get settled! I haven’t had a chance for a shower since we disembarked from the ship in Pusan. Taking a bath in a helmet is quite an ordeal...
January 20, 1951,
We heard today that everyone serving in Korea might get a fifty dollar a month bonus retroactive to when they arrived over here...
February 14, 1951,
...We may be moving north in a short time either to Pusan or Pyongyang...
February 17, 1951,
Just finished filling out my 1950 tax return...
March 23, 1951,
...Last night one of the larger buildings here in camp burned and we were ordered to get up before three AM and standby in case it spread to other buildings as a bush wind was blowing and the gasoline dump is right beside