Voices from the Korean War - Douglas Rice [87]
The Missouri, during her tenure in Korea, was involved in nineteen bombardment missions. Of which, two were considered major battles, thereby earning battle stars for her engagements.
I believe that being a crew member aboard the “MO” (nickname for the Missouri) made me a better person. Aboard her, I made the first steps from boyhood to manhood.
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After being away for fifty-eight years, I have returned to my ship. I have always loved the battleship, and now I am part of the volunteer force working to keep her afloat at Pier Foxtrot 5 on Ford Island, Oahu, Hawaii.
~~Twenty-Five~~
Janice Feagin Britton
801st MEAS (Medical Air Evacuation Squadron)
5th Air Force
U.S. Air Force
I was teaching flight technicians and flight nurses at the School of Aviation Medicine, in Texas, when on September 15, 1950; I received orders to report to the 5th Air Force in Japan. From 1946 to 1948 I had served with the 801st MEAS in the Philippines and Occupied Japan.
My trip home, to Alabama, to visit my folks was quick and short. On the 19th of September, I left Brooklyn Air Base in Mobile, Alabama. It was a non-stop flight—nine hours and fifteen minutes—to Fairfield Susan Air Force Base [renamed to Travis Air Force Base in 1951] in California. Upon my arrival in San Francisco, I was taken to the Bachelor Officers Quarters—this is where the women stayed. There were twenty-one other flight nurses here, one of whom was my friend Kay MacDonald from Prince Edward Island; we had taught together at the School of Aviation Medicine. We all would be joining the 801st.
With stops in Hawaii, Wake and Midway Island’s, we landed at Haneda, Japan, on the 5th of October. After processing the following day, we were taken to Tachikawa (Tachi), where we checked in at the 801st Headquarters.
From Tachikawa I flew down to Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan, where I stayed in the small town of Ashyia. The town was near the Itazuke Air Force Base.
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In September of 1950, Major General William Tunner arrived in Japan. At that time, two out of three casualties were taken to Pusan by truck or rail. From there they were transported to Japan by ship. However, after Tunner’s aircraft delivered supplies to the troops in Korea, they frequently returned to Japan empty; this didn’t make any sense to him. So, he stressed the use of aircraft to evacuate the wounded to Japan—the 801st carried out this mission.
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My day started at 4:30 AM, and after breakfast I gathered supplies for the trip. I was picked up at 5:30 AM for a 6:00 AM take-off. We would hitch a ride to Kimpo, which was about twelve miles south of Seoul, with either the 6th or 22nd Troop Carrier Squadrons. Getting to Korea was no problem, since planes were flying to Kimpo twenty-four hours a day.
When we landed, Staff Sergeant Horace Waters—the medical technician—and I would walk to the Air Evac Quonset hut to check with the Medical Administrative Commander about the patients that we would be taking back to Japan.
After arriving in Japan, the patients were offloaded into ambulances and taken to the 118th Army Hospital, which was located about an hour’s drive from the airfield.
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Some days when we landed the injured would be waiting at the Quonset hut, and other days we would have to wait hours for their arrival. So, rather than wait one day, I wanted to go where these wounded men were coming from. I was able to hitch a ride in an empty ambulance, and the driver was more than happy to have someone riding with him. On our way to Inchon Harbor, we passed through “no man’s land.” This was an area considered extremely dangerous, and only those with a specific purpose were allowed in there. When we arrived at the harbor, patients were being lowered from the hospital ship Consolation; as I watched I was amazed how the Navy medics moved these wounded men. Like clockwork, the patients were lowered into small boats, where they were brought ashore to the waiting ambulances. On our trip back three of us rode in the front seat