Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [49]
December 4,
At sea,
Watched Leo Ihli bring his plane in on one wheel. I took off on a CAP and sprung an oil leak so it was difficult to see the LSO as I was coming aboard. In the 2nd plane, the heater didn’t work and I about froze my hands and face.
December 7,
At sea,
Hugh “Whiskey” Newell, one of AP’s was killed. A good pilot and well liked.
December 9,
At sea,
Worked about 10 miles south of the reservoir where the 1st Marine Division is still trying to fight their way out of the trap. Passed 200 combat hours.
December 11,
At sea,
The weather was good today so we took on lots of supplies. In the refueling area were the battleship Missouri, the Philippine Sea and the Navy’s latest anti-aircraft cruiser USS Juneau.
December 12,
At sea,
Took on ammunition today consisting of 2100 rockets, 90,000 rounds of 20mm ammo, 100 500# bombs and much more.
December 13,
At sea,
The war has turned into a big strategic withdrawal.
December 20,
At sea,
Flew afternoon strike 5 miles NE of Hamhung. The way ships are pulling out and moving in, that place looks like Grand Central.
December 25,
At sea,
This has been one of the weirdest Christmases I have ever spent because we worked all day. We left the operating area yesterday when the last evacuation ship pulled out of Hungnam and we spent the rest of the day replenishing. Right now we’re steaming for the Yellow Sea. Today 28 of us turned out 52,000 rounds in 9 ½ hours. The Navy with 30 men in 12 hours turns out 15,000 rounds. We broke ordnance expenditure record 81,800 in a week.
December 29,
At sea,
Today we worked up near Kunchow and I really got a beautiful hit right in the mouth of a tunnel with a 500# bomb and blew it all to bits.
December 30,
At sea,
It was so rough today that we were taking water over the flight deck, so of course no flying.
December 31,
At sea,
This finishes 1950 flying with 75 missions, 240 hours since I left home. 184 total carrier landings and 1855 total flight hours.
January 9,
Sasebo, Japan,
All three ships came into port together, the Badoeng Strait with VMF-323, the Sicily with 214, and the Bataan with 212, which of course warranted a party.
January 14,
Sasebo, Japan,
If we are to leave the “Bing Ding” tomorrow as reported, it will be our last day aboard this carrier and I guess we have to admit that it has been a good cruise and one we can look back on with pride. We broke all kinds of records, had a wonderful place to stay, made lots of friends (and lost 3) and altogether learned a lot, played a lot, and I hope, brought a little more credit to the Marine Corps.
January 16,
Itami, Japan,
At 0900 we had a big awards ceremony at which I received 2 air medals. The captain gave us a farewell message. We got all 24 planes off at 1300, buzzed the ship and landed here at 1430.
January 22,
Itami, Japan,
We move to Bofu, 60 miles SW of Hiroshima on the 26th and start flying missions on the 27th. As soon as they finish the second field at Pusan, we’ll move there.
January 26,
Bofu, Japan,
It is very cold here and we have to sleep in our sleeping bags.
February 3,
Bofu, Japan,
We took off at 0730 and had to battle our way through snow storms all the way across the channel. We worked for the 1st Marine Division north of Pohang where they are cleaning out some guerrillas.
February 5,
Bofu, Japan,
We flew from 0850 to 1320 – 4.4 hours – 15 miles straight north of Wonju where we worked with an Army controller. We had good targets and encountered some of the heaviest AA we’ve seen in a long time.
February 8,
Camp Besero, Pusan, Korea,
We took off on a 0940 strike today and worked on the east coast just south of Wonson. Landed here afterwards. We are living in a 16 x 32 (6 or 7 to a tent).
February 11,
Pusan, Korea,