Korea :: The Patriot Files :: Dedicated to the preservation of military history

There I was on the port side of a mighty Destroyer the U.S.S. O'Brien, DD725, sailing into the east coast waters of a place called Korea. Seemed to me the place was pretty hilly. As we got closer I noticed a flash of light. Not long after, another. I asked the nearest Chief I could see what that was all about. His reply was " Count to seven, kinda slow "

Note: by Louis "Digger" O'Dell 8761 Reads

Taejon, Korea, 1950

Dear Mom: Well, I suppose you wonder where I am, and where I have been. I will start at the beginning. We left for Korea the 1st of July. We were the first regiment to hit there and fight. The North Koreans had about ten divisions to our one regiment. About all we could do was hit them and back up and they would get us surrounded all the time.

Note: letter from PFC Donald Luedtke, U.S. Army 24th Division. 8969 Reads

Search and Destroy

It was 15 May 1951 and I was a 1st Lt. assigned to the 12th Sqdn, 18th FBW flying F-51Ds. This was my 44th mission. Assigned as element lead (no. 3) in a flight of four. Flight commander was Capt. AE Rice. His wingman was Lt. Forrest Strange. My wingman was Lt. Luther A. Webb.

Note: by Richard T. Gruber, LtCol (ret), 12th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 18th FBW. 8914 Reads

13th Bomb Squadron

I spent only a short time in Korea but my Korean service stands as an important part of my life. I well remember there were times near sunrise when my crew on the west coast and another crew from the 17th Bb Gp on the east coast were the northernmost Americans and stood symbolically alone between Communism and Democracy.

Note: by Charles Hinton 11106 Reads

Fuel Run

Herb and I always had the 2 1/2 ton 6x6 loaded with 18 drums of gasoline. We took it to where they told us to. We'd hang around the CP. When we heard there was a fire fight up front we knew that the medics would need the gas for the meat wagons. So that's where we'd go. We called our truck a mobile POL dump. I guess that described it pretty well. We were on the spearhead towards Pyongyang.

Note: by George Wegener 9493 Reads

Blind over North Korea

March 22, 1952. I was just 22 years old. Dawn found me on the flight deck of the USS Valley Forge in the Sea of Japan, warming up my Skyraider. As a pilot in Fighter Squadron 194, the "Yellow Devils," I was the standby in case one of the 8 planes scheduled for the morning's flight became inoperative.

Note: by Ken Schecter 9957 Reads

An Afternoon Near Twin Tunnels

It was January 28, 1951. I had been with my platoon for five days. The platoon leader, Lieutenant Mitchell, called us into his hut and informed us that we would be going on a motorized patrol the next day. He emphasized that it would be dangerous since a patrol had gone into the same region on the 28th without finding the enemy.

Note: by Richard C Fockler, 23rd lnf., C Co. 12186 Reads

War Diary

The flights to our new station at K-2 (Taegu) consumed one day and within several days more the squadron was in full operation. While we unpacked and positioned our main equipment, hundreds of cans of exposed aerial film began to backlog in our holding area.

Note: by Sgt. Jack Morris, 363rd Recon Tech Squadron Korea. 9161 Reads

Mission 87

On my 87th mission, I flew a reconnaissance mission deep into North Korea. My primary target was an area of troop emplacements just north of the front lines and consisted of a requirement to photograph the area with vertical camera coverage in what is known as "mosaic photography".

Note: by Norman E. Duquette, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF 9445 Reads

Memoirs of James D Moran

In June 1948, when I reached the age of 16, I enlisted in the Iowa National Guard. When I turned 17, I signed on with the United States Army. I took my basic training at Ft Riley, Kansas. In basic, some liked it, some hated it. I didn’t like KP, GI parties or inspections, but I figured the rest was just great. After basic I was sent to Leadership School.

Note: James D Moran served with the 9th Inf Regt/Hq 1 Bn. 9603 Reads

Memoirs of a Chosin veteran

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began. I listened to the news every day and when I heard my old outfit, Baker Company Fifth Marines, was in Korea fighting hard, I decided to re-enlist. Traveling to Kansas City, Missouri, to the Marine recruiting office I hoped to re-up as a sergeant. I was disappointed, for I had been involved in a car wreck and still had some cuts not fully healed.

Note: by PFC Charlie Carmin, 1st Marine Division 23690 Reads

The Hook

On the 14 November 1952, the Commonwealth Div's sector was moved sideways to the west, one battalion position. The 1st Bn, The Black Watch relieved the 7th US Marines on the infamous Hook feature. The Marine Commanding Officer who was totally disillusioned with the position's vulnerability gave the Scots 24 hours before being pushed off. Four nights later at 2100hrs 18 November, the Chinese struck. The Black Watch held with the assistance of the New Zealand gunners.

Note: by Bruce Matthews, 16th Field Regiment 12819 Reads

John Rademacher, April 27, 1951

Korea
April 27th
Hello All,

Haven't had much time to write as we have been on the move pretty much lately. We had pushed up twelve miles north of the 38th parallel. Got hit up there by the gooks about four days ago. I guess our lines held pretty strong, but the ROK's caved in on our right flank and the army pulled out on our left.

9718 Reads

Moving From Tent City to Barracks

For the last four months we were living at a camp in Japan called Camp McNair . It was located at the base of Mt. Fuji. It consisted of 440 twelve-man squad tents and several Quonset buildings as mess halls. The streets were bulldozed into the mountainside. They looked like steps.

Note: by Bill Arnold, 143d FA 40th ID 11187 Reads

Life of an FO

I entered active duty with the 47th Infantry Division from Minnesota. At the time I arrived in Korea, I was originally assigned to A Battery 143rd FA as Recon & Survey Officer on August 16, 1952. I was 1st Lt at that time. All of us, except the battery commander and executive officer, pulled tours as forward observer with the Korean infantry units we were supporting at that time.

Note: by William R Hendrickson 11739 Reads

War Stories: Korea

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