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                                                                 11/18/2010
                                                       Emmett George [Pete] Dammon Jr. 
                                                                     FORWORD
                                                               
Since I first started to write this collection of data that pretty well describes the trail of my journey through life as well as a lot of memorable happenings, quite a number of years have elapsed. I have tried to recount the many happy events, and although some occasions (such as divorces), do not exurb happy feelings, they were part of my journey, and I must include them.  
 
                                                            To my children & theirs. 
To let you know a little more about me, where I came from, what it was like in those days of my growing up, where I`ve been, and some of my most memorable experiences. As you read this missive, it will become apparent that my brothers, Jimmy and Gene, and I, were very fortunate to have been raised by our loving parents Emmett and Hazel, whom have now gone to be with the most important person in their lives, Jesus Christ.
Also be aware that not all of the following memories are in chronological order.
   
                                                                    My Memoirs

  I began life as Emmett Jr. on July 14th, 1931 in Baptist hospital, Alexandria, La., across the Red River from Pineville La. where both sets of my grandparents lived. I was  the first born of Emmett and Hazel Dammon, and that’s where the stories start. Dad was Emmett sr., so they all asked mom while we were still in the hospital, what will we call him? Dads older brother nick named “Times”, had a son, my Cousin, whom the family calls Son, Nick named “Son” because he was a junior and establishing a pattern of not calling Juniors Jr.  Dads sister Lela, who was Mom`s friend long before Mom & Dad were married, said lets call him Pete. Mom said no, but the name stuck & there I was & here I am, Pete (Actually, I was Pete at Home and Emmett at work until about 1970, when a friend “Gus Gustafson” from work found out I was called Pete at home. He took it to the Office and it stuck. Only a few of my old acquaintances still call me Emmett). By the way, July 14th is also Bastille day, which causes the French to celebrate my birthday each year. (Maxine and I were in Paris for my Birthday circa 1985).   

 Dad had a job at the Icehouse in Pineville Louisiana delivering Ice to neighboring communities and rural customers. It  wasn`t long before Mom & I would accompany Dad on his Ice route. Later I would go with him, especially on the runs out in the Country where a lot of the people only had eggs or other food stuff they had grown, to barter (trade) for the ice, as this was during the great depression that started about the year I was born and lasted until the end of the 1930`s.  Quite often a group of men would be standing in the road with shotguns & dad would have to stop & let them make sure he wasn`t the law (Revenuers), before letting us through. They were protecting the only job they had, making bootleg whiskey. I guess Dad got a little of that to. Quite often we got eggs, chickens & vegetables. My brother Gene wrote about the Bootleggers in his weekly newspaper Editorial which, is copied at the end of this document 

 Mom and dad were married in 1930; at Mount Olive Episcopal church in Pineville La. Pineville is separated from Alexandria by the Red River. My Grandmother Dammon lived at 326 Main Street in Pineville, across the street from Mt Olive church and five cemeteries where my cousin and I spent a lot of time when I went there during summer vacations.  In later life, my wife Maxine and I were searching that part of the world for her Jewish Grandmother’s burial place  (My wife`s dad was Jewish). After a lot of looking, we went to the Jewish cemetery across the street from where my Grandmother had lived and walked directly to her Grandmothers grave. The head stone had valuable information on where she was born in Germany, etc. I had played near her grave many times, some 60 years before that day. 

 The Dammons (Damons) arrived soon after the Mayflower.(circa 1522, see book Plymouth Colony), and intermarried with people that were on the Mayflower. They came from Kent England and had been there at least one generation but I haven’t established where they came there from originally, maybe Germany. One ancestor was the only person to fall off the Mayflower. They had trailing ropes for people that fell off sailing vessels in those days and he was able to catch one and was pulled back aboard. Miles Standish was my great great --- Grandfather. The early Damons / Dammons in America lived in Scituate, Mass, near Plymouth and on into Maine. The name got changed about the time my great Grand father moved to Louisiana, adding an “m” to Damon. I gather that this may have been a result of getting away from his Brother Isreal, who had some troubles with the Law in Maine over his religious doings. See (The Isreal Damon affair) on the internet.

 Mom, Hazel Myrtle Lofton Dammon, was born in Ruby La., The fifth of 13 children of William Butler Lofton and Ollie Parisades “Corley”, Lofton, who were very poor sharecroppers. The Lofton`s go back to England, but settled in first in this country in South Carolina, then on to Mississippi and lastly to La. The Loftons arrived in South Carolina the 1700`s. Mom was a charming and beautiful girl. I remember that as a young mother, she often sat in on our classes when I was in grammar school. The kids always wanted to know when she was coming back because she was both pretty and nice. This very Christian lady never said a curse word and never had a bad word for any one; She passed away in 2006 at the age of 93. To learn more about her, see her Obit at the end of this document. She felt badly toward her Dad for the way he treated Grandma Lofton, and also the way he treated his children, until her later years, then mellowed to his memory. Mom told me stories of how her Dad made all of the kids work in the fields, and one year he promised that if they did well in picking cotton, he would buy them (the girls) a pair of new shoes. When he went to the mill with the cotton, he was gone a couple of days and returned with no shoes. As I recall, he was a pretty heavy drinker.  Grandma Lofton never had a bad thing to say about anyone. Grandma had five Sons in the military at one time in WW11, all in action, and they all came home alive. They were Johnny, Fred, Harvey, Aaron, and WB (William Butler Jr.). They had an older brother Herbert and --- girls, Ruth, Beatrice, Willie-Vay, Minnie, and Hazel. Two others, twins I believe, died at birth. Grandma and I suppose Grandpa to, lived and was married in Ruby La., and Grandma is buried there at the small Baptist Church Graveyard.

About that Icehouse where dad worked; Mom tells the story that when she was about 16, she was able to leave their place in the country & stay the summer with her aunt in Pineville, where she helped in the rooming house her aunt ran. She would go to the store for her aunt and passing the icehouse, she spotted this handsome guy: you guessed it, Dad. Mom really didn`t like being a “ poor country girl” who by then had six brothers & sisters [actually, mom was from a family of 13 kids & dad was from a family of eight. Children. Mom also said that when she was younger, they were riding [In their Buggy / Wagon] past an Orphanage one day & she lamented, how nice it would be to be an Orphan & have those nice clothes, a nice building to live in & always plenty to eat, they looked so happy

 The automobile, radio, electric light & telephone had been invented or at least perfected to a point that it was useable by the time I was born, but they were still in their infancy. In fact, the indoor toilet  was a luxury item to most people and many women still did the family wash on a rub board and always had to hang the wash out on a clothes line. Refrigerators were yet to come. In my younger years we (the family) would gather around the radio to listen to all kinds of shows that kept your attention so acute that you would always picture the cowboy on his horse, or The beautiful Kate Smith booming out a love song (Kate actually weighed in at about 300 lbs., but you could conjure up a lovely woman singing the song), Jack Doc and Reggie on Inner Sanctum with its squeaking door, Jack Benny, the Gene Autry show, Fiber McGee, and gobs of other Stars including the Saturday night hit parade. My first sight of a TV was in the window of a Sears department store in Atlanta Georgia, just prior to Christmas, 1948. My first car had no electric starter, each telephone had to be connected to a large battery, and several households were on each line. You could pick up the receiver quietly, and listen to the private conversations of neighbors.  One of Mom`s first jobs was a telephone operator. Her Dad would meet her on Saturday when she was paid, & take her check. Refrigerators were just catching on and most people were still putting a large Ice card out on the porch to let the Ice Man know how many pounds to bring into your house and put into the Icebox. Many people still had Kerosene stove, and if you went to my aunt Minnie`s or aunt Willie`s house in the country, you enjoyed food cooked on a wood stove. Incidentally, their lights in these country homes were Kerosene Lanterns. Not until the 1940`s were most homes lit by the Utility company systems.

We went to the traveling circuses after we moved to Port Arthur, and when I was about seven we would ride around to see the town on Sunday evening and Dad would stop at the Paragon Inn, a drive In Restaurant for us to get a coke and him a Beer and there was usually some kind of out door show to attract people to the Drive Inn. Many times the show was a Medicine man in his horse drawn buggy, selling everything from toothache cures to magic hair growers to God knows what. Those were fun times. Dad wanted to have a large garden and we always had a horse to plow with and ride also. Old Jug was one of our horses`; I went with Dad and uncle Ivy to buy him. Uncle Ivy was Mom`s sister Beatrice`s, husband and although he was an inexperienced rider, rode the horse the five miles or so to our house with no problem. After a few days it was apparent that Jug didn`t want anything to do with people. Gurnest Duplantis borrowed him to go catch his cow that was out in the far pasture near where the second levee interrupted the vast expanse of grazing land, harbored our favorite swimming hole, and bordered a marsh that we (my brother Jim and I) regularly waded to hunt any type of Duck that we might encounter. Jug threw Gurnest and rubbed our saddle off. About two months later Dad got someone to go rope and bring him in. Jim had gotten to where he could approach Jug and cur his mane and then decided he had Jugs trust enough to tackle curing his tail. I don`t need to tell you what happened, but Jim was severely crushed-“not his body but his ego”
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 A ways beyond this levee, along the abandoned Interurban rail road track, was Jim and my favorite fishing hole, on a trestle where on any good Saturday morning you could catch a string of perch (Brim) that Mom could fry for us. You could be especially lucky if you peed on your bait, that seemed to increase our luck, or did it. Our other favorite place to swim was the Texaco reservoir, a little farther from home and fenced, but if you were careful you could avoid the guards and take a dip or fish. I swan out a ways on one cold December day to get the first duck I had killed with the shotgun I got for Christmas. or was it a pouldou. It made good gumbo.
   
When I was born, Mom & Dad were living with Grandma Dammon. Mom often told me how Grandma Dammon took her in & the closeness that developed between them. Of course Mom had married Grandma`s baby boy.  Grandma`s was a big house on the main street in Pineville La., & fortunately Grandma had money from Grandpa`s businesses and had relatives who helped her keep the house when Grandpa Dammon died circa 1916. Grandpa had owned a River Boat (Partnership) that plied the Red River and hauled cotton to New Orleans, as well as the Ferry between Pineville and Alexandria, a Brick foundry in Pineville and I seem to remember reading that he had a Farm. He died of heart problems after a lengthy illness as reported in his obit. That left Grandma Dammon with a big house but with eight children, most of them married by the time the Great Depression came along. Grandma was a real Matriarch, & uncle Bootsie, her second son, lived at home & never married and worked for the La. Highway department He helped with the bills. My cousin Laura, her two older siblings Johnny & Carolyn, along with dads sister, their mother Aileen, & John their Dad, all lived there, & from time to time, other s of Grandma`s kids or grandkids would live there during the Great depression and during WW11
 
Grandma Dammon`s mother was Laura Houston Walker, related to General Sam Houston, President of the nation of Texas, Senator from Tennessee and other Political Office holdings. Cousin Carrie, as Mom and Dad referred to her, but who I believe was Grandma`s Aunt, lived in a big house overlooking the Red River. Cousin Carrie was married to a Gambler named Sollabellis. Grandma was named after her {my Grandma`s name was Carrie Walker Dammon]. Cousin Carrie left money and furniture, giant beds and prickly couches, a grand piano, amours etc. an antique pistol that I now have, & boxes of Sam Houston land Grants, personal papers, etc., most of which [the papers] was lost later because Dad trusted a Professor at the University of Ga. who advertised that he could authenticate the papers. Supposedly the papers were mailed back, but they never arrived.
 
After we moved to Port Arthur circa 1936, I went back to Grandma`s practically every summer for a visit. My cousin Laura, who lives in Gretna La. now [another story], & I were Grandmas favorites. I was Laura`s mom’s favorite, a Women who everyone in the family thought was possessed  & who enjoyed tormenting others, except me. Laura & I always played together, & especially enjoyed roaming the cemeteries that were directly across the street from Grandma`s house.

Dad, Mom, my younger brother Jim who was born in January 1933 and I, moved from Alexandria (Pineville) La. to Port Arthur, Texas circa 1936. My only other sibling, a brother named Robert Gene, was born in 1941. Mama`s favorite movie star in 1941 was Robert Taylor, thus Genes name “Robert Gene” If the baby would have been a girl, I`m sure her name would have been Dorothy, after Dorothy Lamour, Dads favorite at that time. Dorothy always had on a Sarong for the South Seas movies she starred in.. The 1930`s were deep depression years and jobs were scarce, but my uncle Herbert worked for the Texaco refinery in Port Arthur and helped Dad get a job there. I was raised in a suburb of Port Arthur named Pear Ridge, a community of families that arrived for the same reason we had, but mostly they were Cajun people from southwest Louisiana who spoke a mixture of English And Cajun French. I learned to speak some Cajun French, mostly curse words. I remember one little guy that always said with his Cajun Accent “Let me go “tell” my Mama if I can come play “wit” chew”

I was an advantaged kid, even though I didn`t realize it at the time; and from an early age of Six years or so, and mostly with Jimmy at my side, I was able to explore my world during those years of childhood that were filled with adventures worth telling, and then some that can`t be told. There was Bunkie Stevens, Howard Skiles, Jim West , Richard Williamson, Bobby Woods and Gerald Stuats  -- Most of these friends started Kindergarten at Terrell School together, and were usually together playing at one of our houses on just about any afternoon. Jim West lived about two miles from me, but on the way home from School. A good stopping place- Incidentally, Jim and I were very close friends, Separated while in the Army, but worked together at Gulf Oil, Fished and hunted and started College together, and now he is gone, along with so many others, but I`m still kicking. Jim had a tree in his backyard that grew a pod that we lit and smoked for cigars. Jim also had a Garage apartment that was rented out to a family that had two young girls and a horse. I especially remember that one of the girls was Shirley, who loved to brag that her horse had three Gates. I would always laugh and say “ yeah, the three gates are Stumble, Stagger, and Fall.”

Bunkie, Jim West, Jim Dammon, Me and probably a couple of other kids came to our house on 40th street in Pear Ridge for a play together time. Mama always was there to assist us in making rubber guns, pop guns etc. to play Cowboys and Indians, and we climbed China berry trees and went across the street to get Persimmons from Grandpa Thibideauxs` garden (grandpa Thibideaux could hardly speak English but taught Dad about farm animals, gardening and so many basic rules of Nature) and then of course on this special day, the mail order baby Chicks Mom had ordered had arrived. They were so cute to a group of young Boys that they had to be played with. Then ( my brother Jim says I remember this part wrong) Bunkie decided that what better for a bunch of young Biddies than to give them a bath. Well, these Biddies were still in a heated box, as they have to stay warm for a few days after they were delivered. The bath didn`t help and when Mom found out She was some Mad—I think Jim must have helped him, because he now says it was me. Those years of Grammer School were a constant Adventure. There were two different ways to get to School, one by walking up 9th ave. and over toward Terrell School by way of 32nd st., or by taking the more thrilling route, which led from 32nd st. to 39th street by way of the Railroad and the Trestle, about at the midpoint of the shortcut. Between the Railroad and back toward Pear Ridge was an expanse of pastureland with some barbwire fences used to separate the cows. On hot summer days several of the guys would take this route, but continue to the second levee, where there was a canal we had selected for swimming—nice muddy water. But, back to the story at hand. That day it was only Jim and I walking home on the track. This was probably 1938, there were a lot of Hobos riding the freight trains, living under Trestles and you didn`t know what to expect, and of course kids always talked about them as murderers, and all sorts of bad things. WE WERE ON THE ALERT- as we approached the Trestle, we discussed the matter and each grabbed a handful of rocks to throw at the Hobo if one was under the Trestle. There was ‘’ we were probably just about above him at that point. We released our missiles at him through the Cross ties and ran back the way we had come from. After about a 500 ft., we Crossed the Pasture towards home at a fast rate of speed. The ground there is dead flat, but barbwire fences are always hard to negotiate when your`e  on the run. As we started across the pasture, we heard the crack of what was probably a pistol but sounded like a Bear gun to us. Jim made it through the fence OK, but my leg took a long deep gash from a barb. Our cure for such as this wound was to clean it with kerosene and if you stepped on a nail, do the same and put a piece of Fat meat on it. I still have that scar; the last time I looked it was across my knee about two inches from where it started.

My cousin Phillip Lofton was one grade ahead of me –his siblings were (from the oldest) Verna May, Franky Lee -Phillip- Dorothy Bea, Donald and Doyce June. Phillip got into a lot of fights on the way home in the afternoon, because of his Coca Cola bottle Glasses. Naturally, I would be dragged into the fight Our principal, old Lady “Young” solved the problem by making us sit on the front School Steps for 10 minutes after School, giving everyone a head start home. She, “Ms.Young”, was hated by all the kids; She made a rule that divided the playground in half, and if a boy was caught on the girls playground he had to wear a dress for the rest of the day. Poor Jimmy, he liked the Girls enough that he tried to get away with it. Ms Young had a big Strap in her office, fortunately I never tried it for size. When “old Lady” Young Died, we got a new and much more likeable Principal.

One warm Spring day,  my brother  Jim and I decided that it was too nice to go to School, and decided to Skip School and go for a boat ride and swim in Sabine lake. We walked the Railroad track to town and walked across the Intracoastal bridge to the Pleasure Pier, “a very nice Coney Island type of Amusement Park on the bank of Lake Sabine”, went to the Yacht Harbor, borrowed some ones row boat, had a great time swimming in the lake, and as I recall, didn`t get caught. You know, we did a lot of things and didn`t get caught-but sometimes we didn`t outsmart Mama.

There were other adventures such as when Clyde Drake and I were hunting and I shot into the water, the shot glancing and peppering his Jacket, and when Bud David and I were Rabbit hunting one rainy night and I accidentally shot my Dog. We carried him home and we nursed him back to health, but for some reason he must not have been appreciative, because he left home and never returned. 

Dad worked for Texaco in their refinery until he retired at age 55 with emphysema. His essential job kept him out of WW11. On his off time he loved to build houses. We built several during my school years. Later, while in Korea I sent home most of my pay to buy a “Lot” near Dad and Moms home. When I got home from Korea, Dad, Mom and some neighbors had built a home on the lot for my future wife, Edna Gross and me. Edna and I had known each other since I worked for her Dad in his Grocery when I was about 12. When I first went to work for Mr. Gross, there was no A/C in homes or Stores, so the vegetables had to be cleansed of any over ripe leaves etc., every day. That was one of my jobs; I also looked after the Chickens he got every day for the customers to take home, ring their neck and cook it for (usually Sunday) Dinner. (More on Edna later)

Mom didn`t work out but always worked hard at home- there was plenty to do there. Mom also had five brothers in WW11, all saw action, and all came home in one piece. One uncle had lost his trigger finger in an Ice saw before the war, When he “WB” was drafted, they told him he was lucky, with no trigger finger he would never see action. He then was trained as a spotter, going in front of the lines and spotting enemy tanks and radioing back to the artillery. Moms oldest brother worked at Texaco and was essential, and didn`t go to war. W.B. (William Butler), was army, Harvey was Army, Fred was a Submariner, Aaron was Navy and Johnny, only 3 years older than me, was Coast Guard. Johnny had seen a movie while in high school that showed a coast Guardsman riding the beautiful California beaches on a horse, very quiet and serene. He would much rather do this than fight. Johnny loved horses and that was for him. He joined the Coast Guard and made major invasion in Europe and the Pacific theaters as a helmsman on a landing craft. Fred, the submariner, tells the story that they had landed at one of the Pacific islands to take on fresh water, etc., and all the native girls came out to meet them bare chested. Their chaplain found Tee shirts for all the girls, and the next day they showed up with the tee shirts on, but with big holes cut out for their boobs.

Our school system used a half grade (Low2nd, High 2nd etc.) system, and I started 1st grade in January. When Summer vacation came and OL Pete hadn`t learned to read to his Mothers satisfaction, she made a pronouncement that  “this summer you are going to learn to read, Pete Dammon”. Mom Ironed and I learned to read. By the way, there was no wrinkle free clothes, you had to wash in a wringer type machine if you were lucky enough to have one, starch and dry them on a clothes line, then iron them-a real all day chore. I helped Mama wash, getting my hand caught in the wringer one time- half way up my arm. Anyway, with Mama and her switch that she kept by the ironing board, I learned to read that summer. I also learned to iron and soon after was ironing a shirt to wear to school that day and tested it for the proper heat by applying the backside of my fingers to the hot iron. The blisters took several days to cure. Jim and I learned to embroidery, sew on buttons and did some sewing on the machine.  
Moms favorite saying was “just wait till your Dad gets home” but most of the time she forgot what Jim & I had done before he got home from work. Another was, I hope you have kids that are as mean to you as you are to me. One time when I was about 8, Mom made me help her catch a chicken that she was going to cook. The chicken was fast and I thought I had the answer. I picked up a stick and slammed it on the chickens neck. Only problem was that Mom had reached her hand out to grab the chicken and you can guess what that stick did. Poor Mom cried and I’m sure I did to. Jim and I did the evening dishes, and I devised that when I did the washing and he did the drying, and since I could see that Jim always left the silverware til last, I would wash the silverware first and be through long before him.

Someone once asked if my childhood had been rowdy. I would call my childhood rowdy behind Mama and Daddy`s backs. Mama used to pretend to want to kiss me when I came in, as much to see if I had been smoking as being the loving mother she was. Jim and I played with Clyde and Raymond Drake and sometimes others, a game we called Hare and Hound. It was a kind of glorified hide and seek, but the bounds was our whole Town of Pear Ridge, about 40 square blocks. Of course, along the way were Gardens with carrots, yards with Pear trees, etc. to nourish your body along the way. Since there was no fear of crime in those days, we played outside until long after dark, and our parents didn`t have to worry. 
Both Mom and Dad were very loving and attentive parents, blue collar, with no background to inspire my brothers and me to excel in academics, but inspired us to be hard workers, and a love of God, family and country. By the way, all three of us boys are college graduates. I am a Professional Engineer and own a respectable size Engineering and Architectural design firm, Jim is a retired Baptist Minister, and Gene has a degree in accounting and is retired.
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When I was in high school, Port Arthur had one of the best quadruple A football teams in the state and I went to many out of town games by hitch hiking, along with some of my friends.

We lived in a blue-collar neighborhood on the outskirts of town and enjoyed the expanse of a cattle range that was visible from our house. Jim and I had our chores but we had plenty of time to play and fish and hunt. We always had a milk cow, usually had one or more horses, chickens, rabbits, and of course the family dog. I squirted my brother with milk many times. Jim and I were very close, we did every thing together and fought some to.

WORLD WAR 11 began for me when Jim and I were at the Groves theater, about 5 miles from Pear Ridge, both being suburbs of Port Arthur Texas & where I lived until 17 years old, and again for about 8 years when I returned after the Korean War. My brother Jim & I (I was Ten & Jim was 18 months younger ) had double pumped to the movie, as we had many times on Sunday afternoon  , as Mama  had given up by this time trying to convince us that God didn`t want us to go to the movies on Sunday. We had no sooner spent our 9 cents  to get in , and a  few cents  for candy,  taken our seat & the Tarzan or Smiling Jack serial started, when the movie stopped & the manager came out & told every one  that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor & that we should go Home. Well, we flew home on the bike to find that no one new where Pearl Harbor was, & since Port Arthur was a major oil refining city, we may be attacked before the day was over. Well that didn`t come about, but before you knew it six of Mama`s brothers were in the service, all seeing action and they all came back alive at the end of the war. 

Melvin Trumble was a nice young man from our neighborhood who went off to war and never returned. He was the only person I actually new that was killed in the war. He was on a flight out of North Africa that never returned. Melvin liked to hang around our house and Daddy taught him how to work on his Bicycle, but I always thought he has a crush on Mom, whom was probably only five years his Senior. Melvin`s younger brother Gene, a pimply faced kid, was a friend of Jim and I. We were all into the war effort, buying war bond stamps for 10 cents to convert into war bonds when you had 18.75 worth. We saved every thing from rubber for tires to tin foil, & every thing was rationed, candy was scarce but delicious when you got it, & mama got extra sugar because she canned fruits & vegetables. Dad, being raised as a City boy, turned out to be very adept at farm and ranch duties, and we raised calves, butchered them and Mom canned the meat, and when Freezers came into vogue after the war, we had one of the first, to preserve the meat and vegetables from our Garden and the barn yard. 

WW11 made us grow up fast, and like a lot of others, I wanted desperately to be in the service, always dreaming of flying a fighter plane.  I worked at several different jobs after school and summer jobs
 We lived in Port Arthur until my Junior year in high school when I thought that I knew more than my teachers, was having a girlfriend problem that summer, and Dad was much stricter than I felt he should be, all of which led to him eagerly saying yes when I ask if he would sign for me to join the army.. Incidentally, when I was 60 ish, I contacted the English teacher (Ms Golman) that had said she was going to fail me if I didn’t go to summer school that summer of 1948. I told her that she had been right and that I had been wrong. It made her day, but she also said  “Oh, I remember you, you were very bright young man”, to which I said, that was my brother Jim. When I told Jim, he said he never had Ms Goldman for a teacher.

 Then there was the Village Theater in Port Arthur, working as an usher and enjoying the candy girls as much as the money. Other jobs were delivering milk to stores and In the auto mechanic shop of Mr. Borel, father of my girl friend at the time, Jeannette, that played a big part in my joining the army.(She broke up with me that Summer) That’s OK, she`s probably an old fat woman now, if here at all. By now its probably easy to see that I really liked the girls, and I did. We will explore that aspect of my life later. 

Gernest Duplantis, of whom I spoke earlier, was a neighbor that had quit school and joined the Merchant Marine service during the War. When he came home, he and several other guys went back to high school to get their diplomas. Gernest bought a flashy 1939 Chevrolet convertible with a Rumble seat. We had high times with that car. A few weeks before I joined the army, several of us guys (and maybe girls-I don`t remember) went to Galveston Texas one Saturday afternoon, where there was an amusement park that rivaled the one we had in Port Arthur. When I got home at 2:30 am, I took off my shoes outside and sneaked in the house. All of a sudden the lights came on and there sat Mom and Dad. Like I said, that was a few weeks before I joined the Army 

  I worked at a Dairy after school, and had various other jobs & with my good friend Clyde, went into business seining  bait  and selling it to a bait shop. When I was 12, I lied about my age to get a SS number and went to work for Inman Chevrolet in down town Port Arthur in the body and paint department for a whopping twenty five cents an hour. Our neighbor, Helen Ware, worked across the street from the Chevrolet company, at the Home Laundry. I was able to ride to work with Helen in the mornings, listening to the Buelly Mills “Chuck Wagon Gang” coming to you from Dallas Texas, in her auto. Helen, her Mother, Mrs. Ware who was a widow, her two younger Sisters May Belle and Ruth, and their brother Barney lived next door to from the time Dad built our house on 42nd. St. in Pear Ridge, until he built our 2nd house, a few blocks away.  The Mother, Mrs Ware, was always helpful to Jimmy and I when we needed Kite string, material for a kite tail, or just about anything little boys needed to play with in those days. Mom taught us how to build Kites and we were always in need of string, or material from which to make tails: We always got apple crates from the Grocery for our Kite sticks. Mrs Ware always came thru with the needed materials. She, Mrs Ware, liked to tell me how her Husband who always got up early and out in the yard as the Sun was coming up, to get that early morning fresh air, and it made him very healthy. “I don’t remember what he was said to have died from, but she wasn`t all that old and he had been dead for years”. I remember that the youngest Daughter “ May Belle, was beautiful and I had a crush on her, even if she was probably 15 years my senior.

 I must have been 13 that summer that I worked at the Chevrolet Place. When I first hired in, I told them I could drive. One of the first things they wanted me to do was to drive a 1941 pickup Truck somewhere. I went to the truck and behold, it had a gearshift on the steering column. I had only driven cars with the shift on the floor: I soon learned.  At lunch we would look out the second story windows where our shop was, at the ladies driving by with their skirts hiked up to catch some air in their non air-conditioned cars. I also went with the Bosses on some weekends to their camp on a lake in Louisiana, to help do maintenance. One of the Bosses, the bookkeeper, had a daughter in my class, and of course she had a crush on me. That was fun. At the body repair shop I learned the Auto repair Art of the time, welding, using Lead to fill dents, sanding, compounding and later I learned how to paint Autos. During the war you didn`t total a wrecked car, you repaired it, used Lacquer paint and compounded the finish. Enamel was used on Military Craft and not available. Valentine Dominques was my immediate boss. He had a Motorcycle and would ride me to my Home a couple of times a month, after we closed on Saturday. Mom would reward him with Ration Stamps, as we got extra stamps because we had a Garden and Mom canned produce from the garden and meat that we butchered.

At the end of the summer I was 13 [1943], & had saved up some money.  I told Dad that I had saved up the money & would like to buy a car. I don’t remember what I promised if this could happen, but he agreed & we ran an add in the auto section of the paper that said “I`ve got 60 dollars, what do you have?”  A man called the next week & said he had a 1929 Model A ford, four cylinder, hand crank & the wipers were manual. We went to see it and I drove it home. I owned it & used it to go to school & various & sundrie other things when I wasn`t working on it or fixing a flat tire, until 1945 when the war was over and I sold it to a returning GI for $300.00 dollars, minus the rear window kicked out by my friend (friend?) Andrew Mayfield while fooling around. Andrew was an ornery cuss.  I used the money to buy a 1937 Chevrolet coupe that had vacuum operated windshield wipers. & mohair seat covers that stuck you when you sat on them.[six cylinder]. In those days cars could go about 10 thousand miles without a ring job if you were lucky. By this time I was a pretty good mechanic, both Dad & I learning from a neighbor, Dutch Cunningham, who was a master mechanic .I remember asking him if he could build an engine from scratch & he said yes with no hesitation. That impressed me and it wasn`t long before I could tear them down & rebuild them to actually run. My brother Gene says that I taught him mechanics. .I was probably using him and it rubbed off. Later, I attended the U.S.  Army school for mechanics (WVAM) in Atlanta, Ga., where there was eight women to every man. I met a girl at a USO dance at the Base and we got to be very good friends. We dated for the time I was in Atlanta, but we lost contact after that. I still remember her as one of the nicest people I have ever met. Her name was Geneva Hamby, I wonder where fate led her. She wanted to come to El Paso to visit me on her vacation,but I discouraged that, as I had no intention of getting more involved with a Girl who wasn`t from Home.

Well, it`s time to talk about more of the girls; at least some of them. Well it all started in kindergarten, ahem--, there I was 6 years old and even though I had my eyes on the girls, I certainly wouldn`t let Mama know, or especially one of her neighborhood friends Annie Pearl Rozelle, the mother of one of my friends, Maxine Rozelle. As luck would have it, Maxines cousin was in my class-cute thing  & she had a thing for me. Every day on the way home  [if you lived where she did & I don`t remember why I would go that way down Sunken Court] but she had a habit of pulling me into the Cane Breaks that had grown up in the middle of the boulevard & had walking paths between them. She would tell Maxine and when it got to Annie Pearl it also got to Mama. I know I enjoyed Eleanor`s advances, but not the teasing from those old ladies [our Mamas] who were all of 24 or 25 years old. Another neighbor Ramona, Maxine and I liked to sit out in the back yard of their house during the spring when the clover was in bloom, and just talk. One evening Ramona brought up the birds and bees. Maxine listened intently, then when we all went home, she asked her mother if that was true? I think we were about six at the time. There were lots & lots more. That’s why I worked part time & bought my own clothes. When I was an usher at the Village theater, and when my girl at the moment wasn`t there, I would take the candy girls to the balcony and smooch. I actually had the nickname of smoochie. It would take a page or two to name them all, which I wont do, But I will say, I loved them all, and we smooched in those days but that’s as far as it went. I have seen some of the Girls since then, mostly at reunions, and you should see most of them now “Uhh”

We will go back at this point to when I was about 13 and wanted an after school job. Edna`s dad, Mr. Roland (Dick) Frank Gross and his wife Polly, both of Cajun decent and from South West La., satisfied his dream and bought out a small family grocery in my neighborhood. They had three children, the older of which was an eleven year old, Edna. I went to work at the store, as my brother Jimmy later did and I think Gene also, and some of my friends I think, from time to time. There was no A/C in those days and my biggest job was cleaning the bad leaves from the cabbage, lettuce and other vegetables, culling the bad fruit, and checking the chicken coops that held the chickens that were delivered daily to sell to customers, who would take the chicken home, wring it`s neck, pluck the feathers and prepare it for cooking; A culinary art that has been lost to prosperity
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 As part of the package deal to purchase the store, the Grosses` acquired the house that was connected to the store with a breezeway and therefore lived there, with Mrs. Gross working in the store as much as the house. Edna then, was in the store a lot after school and watched as I peeled the decaying leaves from the Cabbage She also learned to cook, as her Mother Polly worked in the Store. Besides this, Edna was expected to care for her younger sister and Brother. Edna had a nickname for me, this cute little girl 18 months my junior (18 months difference at 13 years is a big difference), the nickname of course was “Cabbage”. She also, unbeknownst to me, announced to her Mother that she was going to marry me; not then, but when it came time to do so.

 Of course I joined the Army at seventeen, but Edna and I were not really in touch until after I got to Ft Bliss and after a couple of times at home on leave and dating Geogie Fizer and my next door neighbor Maxine. We, Edna and I, started writing, and when I went home on leave I would see her and finally her dad consented to her dating me. (Through all my army life, I never even thought of marrying someone that wasn`t from my home town) that’s why I never allowed myself to get romantic with the girls I met, especially Geneva in Atlanta, but it would have been easy to do so.

Edna`s family were staunch Roman Catholic and Mr Gross, although he liked me very much, was dead set against Edna`s heading towards a romantic involvement with me and even tried to get her to go out with a young man he knew that was of the right persuasion ( He delivered “Tasty” bread to the store). It didn`t work, we stayed in contact by ear. Mr. Gross was convinced by Mrs. Gross and by Edna that it would work and it did for twenty two years, and five loving and healthy children.

 I was christened in the Episcopal church when I was a baby, but Mom was Baptist, and when we moved to Port Arthur the Episcopal church was downtown and miles away. Mom therefore took us to the Baptist Church that was within walking distance if the car didn1t happen to be available. I, therefore, was and am an Episcopalian raised with Baptist values mixed with a lot of Catholic notions and values picked up during my present marriage when attending church with Maxine, my wife of twenty five years at this writing (2009), but that’s all much later and a lot of water under the bridge.

 I liked school more than I would admit, but my study habits were such that in high school I didn`t do all that well (a lot of “C`s” but never failed a subject). As I said before, my mind was on other things; I wanted to be part of the war effort until it ended and still thought of the Services as being at a higher level, I loved working and having my own money, and I loved the girls. I grew up fast being the oldest child, WW11, and after the war associating with returning GI`s that went to school with me, and also I liked my teachers. I remember that our Physical Ed. coach and one of the teachers had something going and they got married (we were all aware of their situation and we followed their progress until they married). It wasn`t long after they married, that he died with cancer. The whole student body was in shock.

 I actually worked for my science teacher (A Mr Stancil) in his dairy. Why he had a dairy I`ll never figure out, because he also did professional modeling for men`s soap commercials for “Ladies Home Journal”, ”Saturday Evening Post” and other magazines. He was one of those guys that looked like a 1920`s silent film star out of a film based on a Hemingway novel, with his black hair all slicked back. I`m sure the girls really liked him. Many of our female teachers in those days were so dedicated to teaching that they remained old maids all their life. They were devoted to their students. I played football, but I preferred to be in the bleachers where there was more going on. I played tackle and guard but on the second string. We went all over the State to football games, and when not part of the team, hitching rides with truckers etc. to many of the games. There was no problem in hitchhiking in those days, we hitched rides to a lot of places, even from school to home when the Bus wasn`t running. 
 
We lived in Port Arthur (Pear Ridge) until my Junior year in high school when I thought that I knew more than my teachers, was having a girlfriend problem that summer, and Dad was much stricter than I felt he should be; all of which led to him eagerly saying yes when I ask if he would sign for me to join the army. He thought it would be good for me, and I think he probably felt like pushing me out the door. Incidentally, when I was 60 ish, I contacted the English teacher ( Ms. Ara Golman) that had said she was going to fail me if I didn’t go to summer school that summer of 1948. I told her that she had been right and that I had been wrong. It made her day, but swore up and down that I was a good student and that she remembered me. I told her that was Jimmy, my brother, but he told me later that he never had Ms. Golman. Poor woman, she was probably only seven years older than us, and we had one girl in our Class that stood up in class and cursed Ms Golman out. Well, I was no goody/goody but that shocked me, I had never heard any one speak to a teacher like that. (Ara, Ms Golman was one of the teachers in those days that had gone to College to teach and that meant that was what she would do with her life, and there wouldn`t be time for Marrige, just her work with her students, We had several of those dedicated Ladies in our school, Texas Smith and her twin Sister-don`t remember her name, and others, but all dedicated to Education. I would have graduated from high school in January, 1950, if I had stayed the course, but I didn’t and in some ways I’m sorry, I missed a lot of fun, but by joining the Army, I did learn a lot, saw a lot, was able to go to college on the GI bill, and learned a lot about how to get along with people from all over the U.S., and the world. But I guess the Army made me grow up faster, and to learn to appreciate what I should do to make my way in the world.

So, in August of 1948, I held up my right hand in Houston Texas and headed for Fort Ord California for basic training.  There I met a group of guys who would be with me until I was discharged in 1952.  About twenty of us were sent to Atlanta Georgia on a troop train (it took a week to go from Fort Ord to Atlanta) to go to school and be Mechanics.  Fort Ord had two story wooden Barracks that were neatly lined in a row with wide wooden steps that the guys used to lounge on when we were not busy. There was one Platoon on each floor. The Fort sprawled for miles on the Rocky Coast of California, about 100 miles South of San Francisco. There were woods (a forest) in back of the fort that was used for training. The whole place was in a beautiful setting, and when I returned to the area circa 1990, the fort had been replaced with subdivisions and Towns... I have or had a photo of me (close up) taken at one of those machines where you put your money in and it took your photo. Well I look like I was some home sick. The photo was one that was probably destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and that story will come much later. While at Ft. Ord., we traveled to San Francisco by hitching a ride with a trucker. We spent the weekend sight seeing and at a dime a dance “Dance Hall”, a Famous place in those days. I remember Fishermans wharf, and the magnificaint view from the top of telegraph hill.

Our day started with a wake up announcement from our platoon leader who explained what we should “drop” and what we should grab in no uncertain words. We had to dress, make our bed and fall in outside in a definite time, which we learned fast, to keep the harmony. The barracks had to be scrubbed and as I recall, this was on Saturday morning with GI brushes and octagon soap. I seem to remember that we visited the Soldiers club on the weekends and drank the beer they sold that had a lower percentage of alcohol content than civilian beer, but it cost less and was good. The army used wool olive drab uniforms year round at Ord, the were nice to have on in the early morning and late afternoon, but hell to wear during the mid day heat. We did night marches into the woods on occasion, under full pack as I recall Some of these were initiated after we had just gotten to sleep after lights out when the PA system played someone’s version of taps 

I have very fond memories of the area; Salinas and of course there was the beautiful towns of Monterey, and Carmel by the sea. In Carmel, I recall Dutch doors that people left open during the day, and flowers everywhere you looked. By this time of the year, the weather back home had dried all the foliage and the grass had turned brown, but here everything was lush and looked just like the movies that were shot here. I still remember the wharfs at the docks in Monterey, they could have been in a nineteenth century setting. I have, or had, a photo of me (a close up) taken at one of those machines where you put your money in and it took your photo. Well. I look like I was some home sick. The photo was one that was probably destroyed in Hurricane Katrina and that story will come much later We spent much of our basic training at ft. Ord. fighting forest fires up near the capitol. Oh, by the way, you could walk into any Bar in California at that time, and when they saw you were in the Service, someone always paid for your drink.
I had made friends with a guy from Maine, who had driven his 1933 Plymouth all the way to California for basic training. Most of the Cadre were WW11 veterans and  our platoon Sergeant had just been released for duty after being in the hospital since he was liberated after the end of the War. He had been on the Bataan death march. He hadn`t been able to get an auto yet, and offered to give some extra passes to us, if he could use the car during the week. That worked out fine-we were assigned to operate the telephones while fighting forest fires and rode in the weapons carrier to protect the weapons during the 20 mile march. I really enjoyed Basic Training in this peace time Army that still had the drills, and especially the Marches with the Band playing and the Officers at attention, the Sergeant calling for eyes right and saluting the Flag. I wonder what the politicians of today, namely OBAMA, would feel if he had to march to good Patriotic music.
   
We, about 20 of us from basic, were sent from Ft. Ord. to Atlanta Ga., to go to WVAM (Wheel Vehicle Automotive Mechanics) school. We left Ft Ord about the beginning of October, 1948, and traveled east thru the mountains on a troop train that stopped at every side rail to let the freight trains pass. We went through Oklahoma and then down through several states, going through Birmingham ala., and on to Atlanta General Depot, where the most modern and extensive school in the U.s. was at that time, for Auto Mechanics. Back to Birmingham; I was terribly impressed by the sight of Birmingham from a Train, it was a gloomy day and smoke from a hundred factories made it even worse. That scene has stuck in my memory all these years as a place that was near to my  visions of what Hades might look like. Years later I went into a foundry where they were molding giant propellers for ships, (they were a subsidiary of Avondale ship yards , where I worked  as Engineer in charge of all of Avondale`s  Electrical systems) and I had that same feeling.

Atlanta General Depot served two main functions after WW11 ended. It was the last stop in an Army facility for thousands of WW11 GIs that were on their way home to be Buried by their families. The bodies were checked again for accuracy of identification and sent with an honor guard to their families. Since this chore was winding down in 1948, the buildings were converted to schools so that the Army could have continued use of their aging fleet of Vehicles of all types, in our Peace time Army. I really enjoyed the school, which not only taught how to work on these vehicles but  also taught the theory behind the combustion engine, Carburetion, Electronics, etc. I was in school from the fall of (1948) and through most of the winter at AGD, as it was called and still is known. Atlanta was at that time a very good city for 
GIs`; there were some eight women to every man in town. There were USO shows and Dances at the Post, and we had weekends off with passes to town, only about 30 minutes away, and a bus ran every hour. I went home for the thanksgiving Holidays, but spent Christmas at the Base.  I had met Geneva Hamby at one of the dances and saw her and her family regularly. When on my way home for Thanksgiving, I sat next to a pretty Girl between New Orleans and New Iberia, that tried to get me to spend the Holiday there. Many years later, Maxine`s friend Bobette claimed it was her.
 
On Mardi Gras day 1949 we spent the day in New Orleans on a one-day lay over as we headed for Fort Bliss at El Paso, Texas.  We had completed our schooling and were headed for our permanent base. When we arrived in New Orleans at the old train station which was located at the foot of Canal st. in those days, we had an 8 hr layover to use in seeing the parades etc. one of our bunch eyed a cute young looking girl in the depot and departed with her to see the sights. We all re-boarded the train that afternoon for our trip on to El Paso. The young soldier that had the sight seeing date barely made it on board, sporting some blood on his trousers and bragging about his adventure with this cute young maiden. Well, as you may guess, three days later the inevitable happened and he visited sick call on our arrival in El Paso.
Our train stopped briefly in Beaumont Texas {twenty miles from my home) where we were met by Mom and Dad and my brothers. It was a quick stop and the train was to make a layover in Houston, 80 miles away. We, my family and I, had lunch and then drove to Houston, where I rejoined the train for the trip on to El Paso.

 Upon arrival in El Paso, we became part of the 512th Ordinance Heavy Automotive Maintenance Company, which was being re-activated from the shut down after World War II in Europe.  Our officers, most of the non commissioned officers and some enlisted men were WW II vets.  We had a Sergeant who was a Medal of Honor winner; he had a choice, but he later elected to go to Korea with the rest of our company. We also had a Sergeant that had been on the Bataan death march.
 
El Paso was and is probably more so now, a Tex Mex city that sits on the Rio Grande river and stares at Juarez, a Mexican City that has any kind of entertainment you may desire; from Bull Fights to scores of Night Clubs with raw entertainment, and Whore Houses that lined the main streets and were approved by the Base Commander at Ft Bliss, since they had strict Sanitary rules to follow, or be put out of Business, as they were inspected by Ft Bliss medical personnel. Maxine Rozelle`s Dad came from home to El Paso on a two week assignment for Texaco, where he worked. I took him to Juarez and when we got back to El Paso he couldn`t wait to get rid of me so he could go back. He had seen all the Senoritas hanging out the windows of the whore Houses.

I especially enjoyed the Bullfights and eating at the Restaurants that served the Bull from last weeks fight, and of course the many shops that sell every thing from leather boots to blankets. I took Mom and Dad and my Brothers to Juarez, but not to the Hot spots. They came on Dads Vacation and we had a ball. We went to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, where Dads new Mexican shoes did a number on his toes while walking down the slope inside the cave. The Cave was a beautiful place to see, with all the Stalagmite and Stalactite.

  My parents weren’t the type to push music lessons or similar activities, but my friend Gerald Borel , an only child, took piano. I envied Gerald (I told him that a couple of years ago), and when I was stationed in El Paso, I located a Music teacher and arranged to start taking piano lessons. Since I took music in grammer school, I had some basis in reading music and felt that I might be able to get some training. Well, as things do usually, my plan didn`t include a what if, and that was a big what if. About three lessons into a musical career that could have led me into Stardom, The Company Commander, Captain Head, called a meeting and told us to straighten out our affairs, we were headed for KOREA. That was about a week after North Korea invaded South Korea 

The 512th ordinance HAM Company, as we were called, (The 512th had seen action in Europe in WW11 and was Deactivated after the War) and had been reactivated and in operation about 18 months, when North Korea invaded South Korea in july 1950.  After WW II, the U.S. occupied the country south of the 38th parallel and the communists occupied the North.  Our Government (U.S. and U.N.) feared the thriving South Koreans would invade North Korea, which was very poor, so the U.S. deprived the South of an  Army that could fight.  Needless to say, the North then, being supplied by Russia, invaded the South mistakenly thinking the U.S. and U.N. would not interfere. I doubt that I knew anything about Korea, except that after WW11, we must have heard about the atrocities committed by Japan in Korea and China,  
I joined a Peacetime Army with no thoughts of a war to come. When it did, I felt, as I should have, that my Country said go, so I went, no questions asked., besides, this Police action wasn`t going to take long.  Both the El Paso news and the Base newspaper kept us up on what was happening, but we were busy taking final leaves, getting our gear ready and sending it on before us, as the plan was to have our shops etc. waiting for us in Yokohama. Of course this didn`t happen, so we got to see some of Japan, this country that I first considered to be such a culture shock and later, after seeing Korea, felt that Japan was the next thing to being Stateside. In those days, people didn`t (most any way) have the attitudes that so many have today. We wouldn`t think of opposing the war. This of course was considered a Police action, and we would be home for Thanksgiving. We didn`t discuss among our selves whether it was right or wrong to go, it was duty and this was our job.

 I had sold my car, I don`t remember why, as I sold it to Eddie Beym and Eddie went with us. to Korea.
I went home to tell the folks and my girlfriend Edna Gross goodbye, and gave her a ring, which her dad forbid her to wear because she was still in school.
We had gone by troop train to Ft Louis Wash., where we got shots and did the things you did when going to a war zone; Insurance, allotments, etc. I remember a guy in line to get the shots. He passed out as they were getting ready to stick him. When he was out they gave him the shots. When he came to, he was ok until he found out what they had done. He passed out again.

We took a ship that was previously used as a Displaced Persons ship after WW11 , now Manned by the Army Transportation Service. On the first day out, with some 2300 guys on board a ship meant to carry much less, they fed us the customary greasy Pork Chops. There were some sick guys before we had cleared the Straits of Juan De Fuca. Half way across the Pacific we stopped dead in the water for two days. We were told that the ship had to make fresh water for the overload of GIs on board. We took salt water showers and used salt water soap which was not fun. One funny thing occurred on the ship. One of our guys had somehow been with a Woman shortly before we left the States, and came down with Gonorrhea  after about two weeks at Sea. The infestation time for gonorrhea is 7 days, and it appeared that he must have gotten it on the Ship. We did have a couple of Red Cross and a couple of Army nurses on board, so we all accused him of catching it from one of them.
As part of your rations in those days, the Army gave you cigarettes. On board the Ship, they handed out Chesterfields. After that, when I tried to smoke a chesterfield, it tasted of fuel oil from th stack of that ship.
The trip was an experience, and the start of a long non -intentional diet that left me 40 pounds lighter by the time I arrived back home nearly two years later. I volunteered for mess hall {KP} duty on the ship to get a better chance at something to eat.  We mostly slept on deck under the stars because of the crowded conditions below. We ran with no smoking on deck at night, but we had a couple of movies to watch.
We were to go to Atsugi Airbase in Japan, wait for our gear, trucks etc. to get there, then head for Pusan on an LST, though it wasn`t told to us at this time.

My first awakening to the difference in Culture was when we arrived at the dock in Yokahama. I was leaning on the rail as we docked. The street below was full of Japanese busy doing their duties of what ever they do, but this one guy was standing on the curb and urinating in the street. That was the first of many Cultural shocks I would receive in the next couple of years. The Japanese grew huge vegetables. They fertilized them from the honey buckets.  You could always see a couple of Japanese going down the street with a pole between their shoulders that held honey buckets for the farm.
I have a photo somewhere that shows me out in a Rice field, talking to an old Man , after giving him an American cigarette. I don’t remember if Cigarettes or chewing gum was the best item for use in Bartering.

Atsugi Air Base was close enough to Tokyo to take a taxi or catch a train for a one or two day sojourn in the giant city of Neon lights. (My cousin Son Dammon told me years later that he was one of a group of Airforce Pilots that landed at Atsugi Air Base just after the surrender of Japan, but before the treaty was signed. Son related that he didn`t know if they (Japanese soldiers) would shoot at them or not. 

 We hired a taxi once and found that the driver had to stop several times to get some dry wood to put in the burner on the trunk that converted the fumes into methane gas that the engine would successfully use as fuel. It worked! I was to see that type of energy used several times in autos and one lunger boats that put putted across the bays in a splendor that only can be seen in the far East. I rode in a boat (water Taxi) once in Japan that had the same type engine, gliding across the Bay while spitting out a burp of exhaust only about every 30 seconds.
 
The rate of exchange for currency in Japan was about the best any GI could ask for, and we all used that well. I went back to Tokyo and met up with the husband of my future wife (Edna)`s cousin, who was a mess sergeant in Tokyo and had been there for a couple of years.. He showed me the town and all the important things to a young GI. We went to a Bar where there was a pretty young Woman that I was told was a white Russian. I had never thought of Russians as white or black, but this encounter naturally led me to assume then that most Russians were Black or Asian and a white Russian was not something that you would be likely to run into. It was years before I found out better. I would later  (circa 1951) come back to Japan on R&R  (Rest and Recuperation)  to the city of Osaka for  two weeks. This seemed like State Side after about 15 months with out sleeping in a real bed, only the simplest of food, and not knowing what the next day might bring. In Osaka we enjoyed the Public Baths where the young Ladies would come into the water and bathe you, all kinds of entertainment and food, all either at Army expense or very reasonably priced. I remember that my favorite food was Frog Legs- Tasted like Chicken. I must also comment on the beautiful Gardens, Buda Temples and Cherry trees, they were all like you have seen in movies. By the way, the Japanese were already into American movies, they had American sound with Japanese Subtitles.
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We packed up again and went back to Yokohama to board a couple of LST`s that were already loaded with our gear, and headed for Korea. Of course we had been told that we were to be home by Thanksgiving. I don’t think we knew ahead of time where we would land. Of course Pusan was the only Port that South Korea had under their control at that time, but a nineteen year old kid wouldn`t know all that. I don`t recall the date we landed but it was about the time that our guys were ready to break out of the socalled Pusan perimeter. {I have three battle stars and as I recall, one is for the Pusan perimeter)

 Pusan was the worst shock I would ever receive, a city crowded with refugees from both enemy occupied South Korea and North Korea, and thousands arriving daily with little or no possessions, waifs in the streets naked and eating filthy scraps if they were lucky enough to find some, the stench of death and dying, and God only knows what else, as Korean food did not whet our appetites. The kids would beg for any scrap you could give them, while the older girls would do any thing to get allow them to get food for them and their family. This, I found later in life, was common in any country that was under these same conditions. People will do anything to survive

 We unloaded our trucks from the LST and went directly to Hialeah Compound, on the outskirts of Pusan, and towards the East, as best I can remember. I seem to remember the compound as one that had been there and used during the occupation  by the Americans after WW11. We had at least one guy that had been in Korea then, and his stories about how fraternization with GI`s meant being hung from a light pole, was the most of us knew about Korea. 

We sat up camp at Hialeah compound, and began repairing vehicles. We were not trained to repair Tanks, but that was what was needed desperately. I found myself doing just that, and taking the tanks out in the surrounding country side to test drive them. That was fun, life was relatively bearable, we had been promised that we would be home for Thanksgiving, the Red Cross had sent some girls to set up a station that served coffee and donuts at the compound, and it was OK. We slept in our sleeping bags on cots in the old buildings and we could survive.

Hialeah compound, according to information recently gathered, was originally built as a Horserace Track after WW11. Somehow during the American occupation of South Korea during the pre Korean War period, it was converted to a US Army garrison. It was located very close to the Harbor and being used as a replacement Depot when we arrived. Although I don’t remember much detail after fifty eight years, I do remember that we set up Shop there and got to work right away. At first we had to also pull Guard duty in addition to our other work, and most of us from time to time were sent on special assignment to support other operations, such as the trip up North to evacuate first Ordnance from Ascom City, which will be addressed later. Later on, a ROK battalion was assigned to us and they pulled the guard duty. We would be gone for a few days or a few weeks on these details, using our heavy equipment to recover tanks etc., from the field. 
  I seem to remember that Hialeah Compound was to the East of the main city and on the main road leading to Tagu,Taegon and then on to Seoul, Inchon, Ascom city and just beyond Seoul was the 38th parallel; the dividing line between North and South Korea.  We hadn`t been at Hialeah for long, perhaps no longer than six weeks, when the Red Cross opened a Cantina right next to our company area at Hialeah, serving coffee and doughnuts for everyone that was passing through. With little or nothing to do with any spare time we had, we drank a lot of coffee and ate doughnuts served by American Women (USO) at the canteen. As food wasn`t that available nor appetizing, we feasted on the doughnuts for a while, and the coffee. When I started to walk around in a stupor, I blamed it on the cream used in the coffee and quit using cream (I still drink my coffee black), but come to think of it, I wonder if they were putting Salt Peter in the cream? Or, maybe that was the story going around and every one swore off of cream! Food was very hard to come by for the first few months in Korea and what did get there was sent to the guys on the front lines as a first priority; America had sold off or junked it`s fleet of ships, had junked it`s weapons after WW11 and had a peacetime Army capable of marching in Parades only. As I look back, I can see that the U.S. was fast returning to being Isolationist. When the Korean war broke out, the US had to buy junk LST`s from Japanese cattle haulers to get men with weapons and ammo that didn`t work, to Pusan to try and stem the tide of the advance of the invading North Korean Army. The US was using ships like I crossed on, the D.P. ship that was still equipped with facilities to spray DDT to kill the lice on the Displaced persons they had been hauling from Europe. When there were supplies and food available, and it just wasn`t getting there,(not on time anyway),the  supplies had to go to the front lines first and Rightfully so. Our Army mostly paid the Korean help with Sardines, which there seemed to be plenty of, Some of the guys ate them (Sardines) but I didn`t and would later buy eggs and rice from the Koreans on Kojedo and cook and eat an egg/rice mix that was palatable.

   After all these years, I need to get the sequence of our events straight, before going on.

  Landed at Pusan circa August-September 1950
  Inchon Landing was on Sept 25 1950 (We were at Hialeah most of the winter 1950) 
  Chinese enter War Nov. 1950
Convoy north to Ascom City { near Inchon) to evacuate 1st Ordnance Co. when Chinese invaded End of November or early December, 1950.           Assigned to unload vehicles from ships at harbor in Pusan after returning from trip North
Assigned to Kojedo  January 1951
Move to Seoul -Spring of 1951. 
R&R to Osaka –Fall of 1951
Rotated to USA April 1952 
Discharged May 12th 1952

   Working on the Tanks` drive mechanism which isn`t really that different than a truck, once you get the Armor plate out of the way, not in those days anyway as the tanks were not that sophisticated like the later models. Actually, we worked on anything that had problems, from Ducks to jeeps, trucks, etc. We had two Tank retrievers, which were large wreckers with long beds and many wheels to spread the load. The main problem was the bitter cold and working on these cold monsters (also trucks and jeeps) in below zero weather where your bare hands would stick to the steel if you weren`t careful.
   We had heaters (usually a 55 gallon drum w/wood coal) going in the shop and every once in a while we just had to go and warm our hands. We were working under a Warrant Officer that had not been with our company before we arrived in Pusan. He didn`t understand that we couldn`t work continuously and threatened us every time we tried to warm our hands. He said that the ROK company that had been assigned to us and was pulling Guard duty had the same MOS as we , and if we didn`t do as he said he would let them come in and do our  work and we would have to pull the Guard duty. We had seen them pulling Guard duty, standing around a fire and telling jokes or what ever. And figured this would be a good switch-of course they were not mechanics but young kids they had grabbed off the streets and pressed into service. 
After talking it over with the guys, I put together a letter saying that we would like to make the switch. We all signed the letter and I took it to the Warrant Officer. He didn`t know what to say at first, but then threatened to Court Martial me for inciting a riot. Needless to say, I shut up, but he lightened up on us some after that. It wasn`t that we didn`t want to do our job, the cold wasn`t something you could take
General Mac Arthur had sent a force to Inchon, made a landing there half way up the peninsula and cut off the North Koreans, letting our troops in the Pusan perimeter break loose. Mac Arthur then made a big mistake in sending a force to make a landing on the east coast, up near North Korea and spearheaded the troops all the way to the Yalu River.  It was way below zero, November I think, and before they could attack, a couple of hundred thousand Chinese decided to get in the war.  They crossed the river and practically annihilated our forces.  Most of these that weren’t killed outright froze to death.

 Several of us, under the command of a Major, went north with our tractors to evacuate the 1at Ordinance company that was about to be overrun by the Chinese in Ascom City, just outside of Inchon. The Chinese had just entered the war. I had my worst experience with the cold, although it was nothing compared with the front line troops that were actually freezing to death, in addition to being shot. 
We left Pusan in our Tractors, mostly International soft top cabs with only cloth tops and no side curtains. We were two men to a tractor with no trailer, as we were on our way to get the 1st Ordinance trailers and bring them back to Pusan. We inched along the road from Pusan to Tagu that first day, parting the evacuees on the high mountain roads as they tried to make their way south to Pusan in the snow covered and Icy mountain roads that were beautiful in summer and frightfully dangerous in winter. These people were families that had babies in their Mothers arm, a basket of clothes or other belongings on her head, young children in their native rubber shoes that didn`t help keep out the cold, parents and grand parents that were determined to stay ahead of the onslaught of the Chinese peoples Army. on an ancient highway with only one very narrow lane in each direction They were carrying all they owned on their back or head, or if a little more wealthy, an Oxen pulling a cart loaded with what they could carry of their life`s possessions. We faced this mass of refugees from the start of our trip in Pusan, to Ascom city, a trip of some 400 miles. There were probably 12 of us with six tractors and a Major who, as I recall, was our battalion Commander. When we reached Tagu , we came upon an MP check point where we were forced to stop. There were little kids all over the place wanting anything you could give them. There were also some that were trying to sell trinkets, etc. They stormed the trucks, to our enjoyment, as we wanted to be friendly. After we were cleared through the checkpoint we headed on to Taejon. This was “No Mans Land” from Tagu on, but we didn`t run into Enemy patrols. We headed for an abandoned air strip in Taejon that we were to use as our stopping place that night.. We were late on arriving, having been driving the crowded mountain roads and after dark using our blackout lights in driving snow. I guess we had munched on our c rations on the way, so we immediately wanted to sleep.  
One tremendous problem; the truck had two spare tires on racks that were mounted on the back of the Cab. Before we left our encampment at Hialeah, I had tied my sleeping bag inside one tire, to make more room in the cab. It was gone- one of those “not so cute now” little kids at the Check Point in Tagu was probably enjoying it`s warmth right now. My partner still had his sleeping bag, and we had two blankets. I took off my shoes and socks and wrapped my feet and socks in one blanket, wrapped the other blanket around me, and sat in the cab to get as much engine heat as possible, for as long as it would last. I was so tired that I think that I did go to sleep. Of course at a time such as this, Nature called about three am and I had to reverse my undressing mode and get a few feet from the truck to let Nature do its thing. It just happened there was some guy sleeping in the snow, almost completely covered. I moved away, did my duty and reversed my efforts in the truck again. The temperature was way below zero, and I was some cold. I prayed to God that if he would see me through this, that I would never bitch about the heat again. He did get me through that night, and I have never gripped about the heat since, even though as one grows older, the heat does become a problem. I have probably told that story a thousand times over the years. 
We moved on to Ascom city and Inchon the next morning. Elements of the Chinese Army were reported to be in the area, and the town was more like a ghost town in the civilian areas. I was able to get myself another sleeping bag & never tied it inside the spare tire again. On the way back to Pusan, we stopped the first night and stayed in a Quonset hut that was I think on the same airstrip we had stopped at on the way north. I was at the very rear of the building, my feet aiming towards the door, and a 50 caliber machine gun at my feet, so that all I had to do was sit up and squeeze the trigger. Luckily it was not needed and we had a successful trip back to Pusan, hauling several trailers with small arms and small arms equipment for repair, as that was the business of the 1st Ordinance company. During one stop, I was able to get me an Army 45 caliber pistol from the trailer we were pulling. While in Ascom city I came across a couple of Chinese Rifles that I had until I was ready to come home in 1952.( When we headed for the ship to come home, we were told that any weapons would be confiscated, which turned out to be untrue

  Following that trip, where I had come about the Chinese weapons, I stayed in a Korean Spa that had been commandeered, for two weeks, while unloading and driving tanks, ducks etc. from ships.  It had a very hot pool in the basement, from natural Hot Springs.  The water was so hot you had to inch your way into it, and when you got out, you had to crawl up the stairs because you were to weak to walk..  One night I did this and plopped across the bed naked.  I woke up the next morning with a high fever and spent several days in the hospital with pneumonia. When I returned, someone had stolen my cache of guns, including two 45 caliber Army Pistols.

 Sometime later, probably January 1951, I spent some time attached to a Pennsylvania trucking company, on an island off the coast of Korea (KOJEDO) where we were setting up Prisoner of War camps.  There was also a cadre of young American doctors who were getting their surgical training at the camp.  I heard that if a prisoner complained of  a cold, they would take his appendix out or whatever they needed to practice.  The Red Cross sent two females (nice looking) to give us a small party.  I had cold cuts and bread and a couple of gin and tonic.  I got sick and had the dry heaves for the first time in my life.  Spent all night at the toilet trying to get my guts to stop trying to come out of my throat We lived in 9 man squad tents.  Whoever woke up first had to light the diesel oil heaters.  They would get so hot that the stack would glow in the dark.  We didn’t get much food as the supply lines weren’t fully set up, and I would buy eggs and rice from the Koreans, and cook on our heaters.  Folks at home would also send food. One favorite of my friends was smashed Pecan pie. Mama would make two Pecan Pies & put the Tin Pans together face to face & wrap it up for some protection & mail it to me. After about 6 weeks of traveling in the hold of some cargo ship, the pies were still delicious but of course smashed..  The mail did get through.  

We had all the sardines we could eat. I never ate one!!  That’s what we paid off the Korean help with, and the prisoners ate them, (the sardines).

The prisoners were mostly used to carry rocks up an incline and drop them into a rock crusher, so they could be used to build roads.  They (prisoners) would deliberately miss the chute and hit the engine, breaking off things like generators, relays etc.  It kept us busy keeping these and the trucks going. The road building went on around the clock, and many a night at 3am I found myself repairing a rock crusher.  We also had a Typhoon hit us on the Island.  I have photo`s of the mess it caused with our equipment. Most of my photos were lost in the Hurricane Katrina flood, which is another story. I got the Idea to cut a 55 gallon drum in half long ways and make a bath tub from it. I have a photo of Jim Maynard and I, in the tub. Jim and I were friends back in El Paso. He had gone to church and met this nice girl from Las Cruises NM.,  who was going to College in El Paso. Her mom, a Professor at a collage in Las Cruises, invited Jim and me, and a friend of her Daughter, a full blooded Apache girl, to Sunday dinner. Jim Maynar was his usual talkative, jovial Florida Country Boy self, and every thing was going very nicely at Dinner at the Widow and her Daughters house- That is until I asked someone to pass the Peas. I had no sooner grasped the bowl than it slipped out of my fingers and made a tremendous mess on that table that had been so nicely set. I was totally embarrassed, but the gracious hostess made me recover. That evening I visited an Indian Burial ground with the young Lady they had invited for me to meet. (a very interesting part of the country). We also went to White Sands NM. The Sand was so white that it seemed to glow after dark. Jim Maynard was a very good friend, and years later when I was using the Search ability of the Computer to get in touch with my old Army friends, I came up with a number in Florida for him. I called and got his stepdaughter. She told me that Jim was in a nursing home and that he had a stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to speak, that her Mother had passed away, and it was only she and Jim left, the only father she had ever known. We kept in touch by email, she said Jim had not responded to any thing for some time, but when she told him that I had called, she swore that he had responded to my name. I later got an email saying Jim had passed away. I was happy to have heard what a wonderful Dad Jim was.

 In early spring 1951, our company again boarded an LST and went to Inchon, then on to a location NE of Seoul, the Capital and about 10-15 miles behind the enemy lines at that time.  We set up our company in an abandoned and bombed out University.  We stayed there until most of us were rotated in April 1952.
Some of our guys (We had a bomb detonation squad) were assigned to unloading bombs from Bombers at ( I believe it was K12), an Airbase nearby. The Air force was part of the Army then and known as the Army Airforce. When the planes would return from a mission with ordnance (Bombs) that were not used, these guys would remove them from the Planes. One day, while John Baker, a friend since Basic training was working on the detail, a saber jet came in and overshot the runway, landing in a shallow creek.  John crawled up on the wing and evidently got into the cockpit and pushed the wrong button..  The eject mechanism went off and he flew into the air for about 50 feet. I was told that he lived but broke just about every bone in his body. They sent him home to recover, and I’ve tried my best to locate him.  He was from Olympia Washington.
My main job at this new station near Seoul was to oversee the work of several GIs`, and a contingent of about 15 Koreans that worked as Mechanics in my shop, rebuilding Jeeps that had been in battle or just dying from old age. I had my good and bad times, and at one point when I had been there over a year, I gave up all hope of ever seeing the U.S., my Family, Edna or my friends again. We still had to pull Guard duty, and I recall one very cold night when I was guarding one of the entrances that was secluded from our Buildings and from the main road and was down right scary and lonesome, I got to thinking about home and being in this God forsaken place and feeling that the world I had known was nothing but a fantasy and this was reality, that I would never get Home again, and I broke down and cried my guts out. I guess that was a relief mechanism, as I did get through it.
 
                                             The Korean People and their Country 
They were an unusual lot, these Koreans who mostly wore nothing but white, the women walking around with baskets on their heads and all of them etching out an existence in a time of great turmoil and uncertainty. In just one year many of them had walked the entire length of their Country not once but twice, leaving home each time the Invaders came and returning for a short while in the late fall, only to be invaded  by the Chinese again in winter.

I was told by a Korean friend that they mourned the death of an Emperor for a hundred years. This meant you would always be in mourning, that is, until the last Emperor had been dead for that long, as the Country was now a Democracy. I don`t remember if I ever found out the truth about a Korean funeral, but the funeral Procession usually included two different boxes that appeared to have the head in one box and the rest of the body in the second carrier, trailing the first all in a walking procession and heading for a burial site that would be a pile of rocks on the mountain side. Flat ground in this country was so  in demand for  growing food  to come that burial sites were always on a hillside and as I recall the body was surrounded (covered) by stones, with the departed in a sitting position. They terraced the mountain sides that were adaptable to doing so, so burying sites were probably hard to come about.

Many Koreans were well educated, most having been taught to read and write English in school, but as would be with an American taking a foreign language in school and trying to use it in the Country of its origin, especially an Asian country, the language barrier was great, except that we were very fast to pick up enough of a mixture of Korean and Japanese to handle the essential communications ( mostly social} Since the Japanese had occupied Korea for many years  prior to the end of WW11, they knew Japanese and had been forced to lean it.

I had about 15 Koreans and 5 American GIs` working under me in the shop I ran in the Seoul area, including an old Gentleman that was my interpreter, and had been an a professor in electronics before the war. I can still conjure up in my mind an image of him. He was proud thru it all, and not only was he my helper, but he was a staunch believer in the old customs; and thru it all, didn`t take to these foreign troops who came to his country to help, but also helped themselves to the young women that were more than anxious to be friendly with the Americans, many of whom {Americans} after many months of living in these squalid conditions had decided that they would never make it home to America, and so to speak, Live as though it wasn`t ever going to happen.

We had a houseboy while on Kojedo, my friend Ferris had found him hungry and with no family in Pusan, I think. His name was Hon E. Suk, about fourteen at the time, but about the size of a ten year old American child . Hon was loyal to all of us, did our bargaining with the locals and was kind of like a younger brother to us. I hope he made it to the US, as Ferris had planned to do every thing in his power after he returned, to make it so.  

 Although Korea was miserable to us it was, and I suspect still is, a beautiful mountainous country with flat areas etched out on the mountain sides to grow their rice and leafy vegetables that, when mixed in a pungent dish of fish and spices, had no appeal to us what so ever. As we would walk through their market places, many different aromas would surface that we had never smelled before, such as fish drying in a display that you had to duck under, if you dare trust your sense of smell enter the shop There were shops where you could get batteries etc., and get film developed, as long as you could use it without enlarging, They sold a brand of what we called International Brandy that would either ruin your insides or kill you. Most of us wouldn`t touch it. Private Reed, the left over from WW11 that had tried to hock the Captains dog back in Ft Bliss, woke me from my sleep on the trip from Pusan to Inchon as I lay in one of the hammocks that lined the below deck sleeping quarters on the port side of our LST. Hammocks lined each side of the compartment that ran most of the length of the ship. I heard Reed coming before he passed me, stumbling down the isle and screaming at the top of his lungs ‘Don`t throw me overboard Captain, I`ll jump”. Some of us followed to make sure he didn`t jump. Reed had  pulled a similar stunt in El Paso when he came in at 3am, carrying a quart of Oysters, pulled back the covers on his bed, poured the Oysters in the middle relieved himself and climbed in. He wqs a basket case, but never mean , just one of the guys the Army had to take care of after WW11.   
 Every time you saw a stream, you saw Korean women doing laundry by laying the article of clothing on a flat rock and pounding it with another rock. Having your laundry done by these artisans was cheap, and we always used their service.  As I said earlier, all Koreans wore white. The women who had babies to feed wore a blouse that was cut short in front and hung loosely open,with their breast nipples hanging so (I suspect) their baby could nurse more readily without the mother having to touch herself with her hands, especially if she was working in a rice paddy or other menial and dirty task.  

                                                                    Back to the story
After moving to Seoul and setting up in an abandoned university, we no longer had a ROK unit to pull guard duty, and so we were assigned that task on a rotating basis, meaning probably once a month you had guard duty. I distinctly remember one very cold night during the winter of 1951; I was standing Guard at a very lonely entrance to the Compound. As I stood there at about 3am, shivering and thinking of home and here I was half way around the world from my family and civilization, it all came down on me. I cried like a baby and came to the realization (albeit wrong) that after being promised so many times by the Military that we would be home soon, I would never make it back. I had been in Korea about 15 months, had had a Truman year tacked on to my enlistment, and it was looking like I would get another, as the UN wasn`t making any progress. 

We (about nine of us, lived in a big class room, and as I recall we had three beds along each of three walls,, the other wall having the door that led to the hall and a table . We had our generators to provide power, home made toilets we had fashioned in one downstairs room that was like an eight hole out house with fifty five gallon drums below to catch the next days fertilizer for some Koreans garden. We had a separate room where we had showers built that were nice to use when it wasn`t cold. By this time, we had bargained with the Air force (when you wanted some favor from them, they always needed another jeep) to fly someone to Tokyo to buy booze and had set up a club in one of the buildings on the hill just above our barracks and office building. The next night we headed for the club after supper, where my usual  modus operandi was to stay sober and make sure that my buddies got back to our sleeping quarters safely. Well this night was different I exclaimed to all of them, I was going to get drunk and they better stay sober and take care of me. I told the Korean bar tender to line up thirty whiskey sours. (it takes twenty eight shots of alcohol to make a fifth and a standard mixed drink has one shot glass of alcohol) I don`t know if the bar tender recognized what I was asking for could be fatal and cut the drinks to save my life, but I downed thirty glasses in a row, not even giving the others a chance to get drunk. The guys told me later that as soon as I opened the door to head back to the room and the cold air hit me, I went berserk. They said that when we got to the room I was jumping from bed to bed like a monkey. 

One funny incident happened one night as I was taking a shower. One of the guys had been out to visit one of the local houses and the merchandise within, and upon leaving had accidentally fell in a honey bucket when, he walked out the wrong door. He burst into the shower room stinking to high heaven, and I made a quick exit to avoid the stench. 

We had a chaplain, a Major who came from Battalion on Sundays to hold services. I believe he was Lutheran, Usually there were about 10 of us who attended. My upbringing dictated that I get involved and I assisted him in bringing in the hymnals and helping in the other duties that that needed my support.  
  
)                     
  After moving to our new quarters out side Seoul, one of the first things that was accomplished had to be Air raid trenches with some cover for any bombing we might endure. The North Korean s had a single engine airplane that would come over the area practically every night about midnight, sometimes gliding and power on again when very close and pretty low. At first the air raid siren would go off and we would get out of bed and head for the trenches. At first he dropped grenades or something, but after that we got complacent and we just stayed in bed for his performance. I never actually went to the front to fight with my rifle, but there were always Gorillas that we had to watch for –Great, I`m still here 
The Korean People and their Country 
  
After Korea
  In April 1952, I had enough points to be rotated from Korea (Sent Home). I had several Chinese and Russian made rifles that I had acquired after losing the first ones I had in  Pusan and had planned to take these home, but was told that they would be confiscated on the Ship. I left them behind, only to other guys taking all kinds of stuff. We never were checked. 
  We left Korea and went to Sazabo Japan to catch the Ship we traveled to San Francisco on, the USS General Mitchell, considerably larger and nicer than the one we had crossed the Pacific on, while going the other way. We arrived in San Francisco on May 3rd, 1952. There was a large band and a pretty girl that sang some Patriotic songs. We were treated to a steak and baked potato dinner. It was my first big and heavy meal in a couple of years and before I knew it, I thought I was dying. I was scheduled to fly out that night to Fort Sam Houston for discharge, and didn’t want to do anything that would cancel that flight, so I suffered through the cramps and stomachache. We flew out in the wee hours on the 4th of May.
----------ATLANTA   As far as I remember, most of the group of about 20 guys that I had gone thru Basic Training or at least to school in Atlanta with, and were together all thru our stay in Korea, came home Jensen on that ship with me. I only saw Truman Arrendale (Bell, Mo.) once after that; Bill ( Woerster, Ma.) once (but we called each other often and later communicated by email until he passed away); Bill Howell ( Lucedale Ms.), once and need to contact him again; Tony Inocencio (El Paso Tex.) retired from the Army after a stint in Viet Nam and one in Desert Storm, came to see me a few years back),while attending a Reunion in New Orleans; I spoke to Frank LaDuke (Spokane Wash., once but I think he had Alzheimer’s, as he didn,t remember me; to Jim Manor’s Daughter in Florida, he had had a stroke and was in a nursing home until he died in about 2003; Eddie Beym had been reassigned to the Front Line and got his rotation points faster, came home and married my cousin Laura before I got back. (Eddie is another story-later)
 When I got to Fort Sam the next day, I was told that it would be the 12th  of May before I could get discharged because of paper work, etc. I was assigned a bed in a barracks for temporary assignment, and was given a pass so that I could go home and return on the 12th to pick up my papers. 
  A soldier that had the bunk next to me was very kind and loaned me a pair of civilian pants and I was off to Port Arthur ( I think by Bus) as the returning Hero.
It was a wonderful reunion. I had never guessed when I left home, how much Mom, Dad, Jim and Gene would mean to me during the four years (Actually 3 yrs, 9 months and 11 days) that I would be away. My memory fails me at this point, but I’m sure that my sweetheart and future wife Edna Gross, had accompanied my family to meet me at the bus station. I don’t recall the Bus trip either. I wish that I would have kept a journal during those times, I have lost so much of the details, dates, etc.
   When I arrived at Mom and Dad’s house, There stood across the street my new Home that was 98% complete. Dad and some of the neighbors had built the house for me. I had been sending most of my money home every month, and dad had written and offered to build me a house. He, along with some help from a couple of neighbors, and I’m sure, my brothers and even my Mom and Edna doing painting, furnished the labor to build this very nice home for Edna and me. What a wonderful homecoming.
  Back to the borrowed civilian pants- The next day after arriving home, I began to itch around my crotch, and on further inspection, found Crabs crawling on me. Here I had spent my entire enlistment in the Army with no problem such as this, and to bring home these crabs. I burned those pants and got DDT powder from the Druggist to kill them. When I told my Dad, he acted like anyone from the old school would have, exclaiming “ Don’t Tell Anyone”. To him, I think that crabs Was like a venereal disease.
  I had left the U.S. weighing about 195 lbs and when I arrived home, I weighed 162. It was years before I would be over 170 again, and I could eat with the best of them, consuming lots of Cajun food, rice and gravy and gumbo.
  Oil was king in Port Arthur, and upon arrival back home, the Refineries were on strike.
I acquired a job with a Mr. Johnson at his Automotive repair shop. There were two bays, I worked one and Fish Ferguson, worked the other. I think that most of the time Mr. Johnson worked on the bottle. Any way, on a good week, I took home $25.00. Edna made $28.00 a week as the manager’s Secretary at Sears, so we set the date of August 1st. to be married. Fish Fergurson said he wanted to take me to lunch as my bachelor party at work. We went in his pickup to Houston avenue, where I thought it odd to be going to lunch, as Port Arthur being a somewhat major Sea Coast Town, had been known for years for it’s “Red Light District” on Houston avenue. We had no sooner sat down than the girls started coming around, and he of course had to tell them I was getting married the next day. They teased me, but we had lunch and left.
  I married Edna Merle Gross on August 1st 1952. It started out bad. She had wanted to go to Galveston and I wanted to go North of Beaumont to I think somewhere above Woodville for our Honeymoon. We should have gone to Galveston for more than one reason. Just before we got to Kountze. we had a blowout on a rear tire while on a raised section of highway that had a serious slope on the shoulder. I would jack and the car would slide. This took us until nearly dark, forcing us to stay the night in a pretty bad motel in Kountze. This was near the end of the days when they were called Tourist Courts.    James Kirt was born on August 1st 1953, then Dale Lynn 1 year and ten days later on August 10th 1954. We took a short child break after that, and David Paul wasn’t born until April 23rd, 1956, over a year and a half having elapsed. Then Jennifer Ann was born on August 24, 1959, while I was in College. Chuck (Charles Kevin), the caboose, was born on September 3rd 1962, soon after our arrival in New Orleans. 
  But we go back to Port Arthur, 1952. Edna’s Dad, Dick Gross (Roland Frank Gross) had a friend who helped me get a job with Texaco, as a helper in the Bull Gang, making about $1.50 an hour. This was actually janitor or any dirty work. Some one had to do it. Well, I had also applied to Gulf Oil and three days later I quit Texaco and went to Gulf Oil (both Refineries), for a dollar more an hour, starting out at $3.00 an hour as a pipe fitters helper. This was good money and we lived well.
  In 1955, Jim West, my friend since kindergarten, Robert King, another Vet that worked with us and a couple of other guys decided to go to Lamar Tech (Now Lamar University) at night and take a couple of easy courses to make some of that easy GI bill money. I graduated in may 1952 with my BS in Electrical Engineering. During this time we (Edna and I) built a home in Nederland, lived in it awhile, sold it and bought a small house in Central Gardens for us to live in while I completed my last year at College. I had to attend full time the last year, as it was a requirement then. 
 We had bought a nice Buick automobile, expecting to have it for the Sr. year. About half way through the year, we were getting hard up for funds to complete the year. It just happened that the County was working on the ditches and I had to leave the car on the street that night. A drunk came along and saved the day for me, as he creamed my car making it junk but saving his life. Had he missed my car, he would have hit a concrete- above ground lift station. I got enough insurance money to buy a cheap car and finish College, while feeding the family. During all this time, the Kids were growing like weeds, Kirt started school and Jennifer was born. I made myself a study room in the garage; a non air conditioned room and had a metal roof and sides.
  Only Robert King (of our original group) and I finished College. Robert went on to become Superintendent of schools in his home (Bay Minette) County, of Alabama. I spoke with him earlier this year.). ( It is several years later as I make this change to my memory of Robert. Yesterday, April 14, 2008, Roberts wife Elaine called about 7pm to let me know that Robert had passed away last week, of a stroke.) Now I remember passing within 35 miles of his house when we went back and fourth to our home in North Carolina last year, and each time saying we should detour to see Robert and Elaine. Robert had gone thru a bad divorce in Port Arthur and went back to Alabama to finish school, where he earned his Masters and was appointed Superintendent of schools in his district. He found a nice girl named Elaine and married, having three sons with her. Now that my old friends are mostly gone, I think of how nice it would have been to see or just talk to them one more time. 
  I accepted an offer from the Boeing Co. to go to Seattle Washington as an Engineer in their Facilities department, designing facilities for their aircraft; at this time the first of their 700 series aircraft, the 707, was just released or about to be released. We lived in Kent Wa., and spent our weekends sight seeing- a beautiful place. We could see Mt. Rainier from our kitchen window, and we traveled to the top of the mountain to let the kids slide in the snow. 

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08/09/08 Additions
I`m seventy seven years old now(2008), and as I go back and re read my life, I think of all kinds of stories that I think would be interesting , and I had a couple saved up to write about tonight, but dammit, I can`t think of what they were.

I think of my Original Family children, born to Edna and me. Kirt, Dale, David, Jennifer, and Chuck the caboose. Kirt started life at Saint Marys Hospital in Port Arthur- By the way, Dale, David and Jennifer took their first breath of air in St. Marys also,- Chuck came later, born at Turo in New Orleans. Any way, The Nurse brought Kirt into the waiting room almost immediately after he was born, held him by his feet so that his talliwanker stood out, and announced, it’s a Boy. Being the first Grandchild on either side of the family, he was quickly spoiled by his Grandmothers:  that is not to say that the rest of the kids weren`t also spoiled. We had great times living in Nederland Texas when all of them were under seven years old and I worked for Gulf Oil and went to College at night. There were lots of kids Parties with their Cousins, and lots of attention by Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles. There were incidents like Dale thinking he could fly with Superman’s cape, Kirt getting chased by our Rooster, and our generous neighbor that made his pilgrimage to the local Dump each day on his way home from work, and often trying to give one of the kids the good clothing he had found that Day. We moved to Seattle in June 1961 when Jennifer was nearly two. A friend of ours from college had made a hole in the floorboard of his car so his kids could urinate on the move: well we bought a new Car to drive to Seattle and I didn`t want to mess up the floorboard like that, but it would have been handy with Jen. We didn`t let that bother us too much though, as we would stop out in the Country side and Edna would take her behind a tree to Pee Pee. When we got to Seattle Jen wanted to continue this and when she needed to go, she would say “I WANT TO Pee Pee under the trees.
Several times as the kids were growing up, I lamented to myself how much better they were as young Kids and as teenagers, than I was at that age. Now in later years they tell me this was not so, that I just didn`t hear about the things they did.

I need to talk about Dale, who came into this world one year and ten days after Kirt, on August 10th 1954. He started life with a broken Collarbone that was broken while the Doctor was turning him so he could be delivered.  Poor Dale cried constantly for the first two weeks and we later found that the collar bone was broken, when my Mothers sister Minnie, who had come to help Edna, saw the extra lump of calcium that had formed while the break was  healing. Dale was a talented youngster and if one Child was given any preferential treatment in the arts, mainly music, I would say it was Dale, because he showed interest. Among other things, Dale was our Organist at Christ Episcopal Church for several years, while being a young teenager. During Junior high and high school, Dale started to show some weird leanings and I think that at that point he wanted to become estranged from the Family. Later he did exactly that and went for some fifteen years while living in North Texas where he taught music in College and in Private life. He didn`t return or answer mail or answer birthday and Christmas cards or presents from me, and I don`t think from his Mom. When I got a call from one of his friends that he was very sick, Maxine and I (  and later that day Bob and Edna) got to the Hospital in Dallas the next morning, to see him. It was probably the next day that we found that he had AIDS. We went to see him several times in the next year, and after we new he was Gay, he changed his attitude toward me, and I understand, his Mother too, during that last year of his life. He died a painful death, but it was somewhat cushioned by David, who got the Air force to transfer him to Ft worth, so that he could help take care of Dale. 
I have spent many hours since then, trying to think of what I, or we (Edna and I) could have done differently, So that this horrible thing wouldn`t have happened to Dale. 
 
                                                           Mama`s Obituarie

                                                             Attachment #1

HAZEL LOFTON DAMMON
AUGUST 4, 1912 – JANUARY 21, 2006
Hazel was born on August 4, 1912, at Ruby, Louisiana.  She was the fifth child born to Ollie and William B. Lofton, a family that eventually included six boys and five girls.  Like other farm families, the children worked in the fields, and Hazel did her share of chopping and picking cotton.  It wasn’t something she particularly enjoyed.
She met the love of her life, Emmett Dammon, in Pineville, Louisiana, and they were married on December 27, 1930.  Dad drove an ice truck and supported his family on the pennies per day he earned there and at a part-time job in the local movie theater.  Over the next two years, Emmett, Jr. (Pete) and Jim Dammon were born to Emmett and Hazel, and like many young families, they looked West – to Texas – and the promise o f good-paying jobs in the Port Arthur refinery industry.  They moved to Port Arthur in 1937.
When relatives came to visit and they commented on the odor from the refineries, Mom and Dad would tell them, “That’s the smell of money!”  While Dad worked his shifts as an operator at The Texas Company, Hazel kept their house, raised a garden, milked the cows and fed the chickens, and had their third son, Gene, in 1940.
Mama didn’t work outside the home, but she was a thrifty homemaker, like so many women of that era, and also found other ways to help family finances.  Her delicious homemade dinner rolls were famous among friend and family alike, and when Texaco was out on strike in 1952 for many long months, she packaged and sold the frozen rolls to stores and restaurants.  Then after Hazel and Emmett moved to their beloved home in the Big Thicket, after retirement, she gathered sphagnum moss to sell to area florists.  She also helped acquaint three generations of Dammons with the wonders of the piney woods; Mama knew the names of trees, where to dig for sassafras roots, and how to make a berry cobbler on top of the stove in the length of time it took to clear the plates off the table.  
Hazel’s life was one of service and fidelity, to God, to her husband and children, and to her friends.  Her deep and abiding faith was an inspiration to those around her, and she was not shy about sharing her faith.  When she met someone, she seldom asked their occupation but always asked if they knew Jesus. She was active in several area Churches, and with her husband Emmett, obtained a charter from the Southern Baptist Convention for a new Church, which they founded in Hardin County.  
Mama died on January 21, 2006, at the age of 93 in Cypress Glen nursing home in
Port Arthur.  We will miss her dearly, but her passing was gentle, like her life and spirit, and she was ready to go home.
Emmett died four years to the day before Hazel, after 72 years of marriage, and it seemed that part of her left then as well.  Also preceding her in death were a grandson, Dale Lynn Dammon; brothers Herbert, W.B., and Aaron; sisters Minnie, Willie Vay, Bea, and Ruth. 
She is survived by her three sons and the ir wives: Emmett G. “Pete” Dammon, Jr., and Maxine of Slidell, LA, Rev. James Warren Dammon and Patsy of Port Arthur, Robert Gene Dammon and Sue of Port Neches; brothers:  Johnny Lofton and Jannise of Groves, Fred Lofton of Port Arthur, and Harvey Lofton and Doris of Houston.
Also twelve grandchildren and their spouses:  Kirt Dammon and Dorothy of Slidell, Jimmy Dammon, MD, and Cindy, in East Asia, David Dammon and Debby of Slidell, Beth Wilson and Joey of Mauriceville, Dr. Johnny Dammon and Kathy of Nacogdoches, Jennifer Rigdon of Slidell, Debby Addison and Nathan of Port Neches, Dr. Tim Dammon and Lisa of Midlothian, Chuck Dammon of Slidell, Danny Dammon and Kristen of Sugarland, Becky Dammon of Nederland , Tricia Hudson and Dan of Magnolia, TX; 32 great-grandchildren, and 3 great-great-grandchildren.
The funeral service will be held at Clayton-Thompson Funeral Directors, Inc, in Groves, at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, January 24.  Hazel’s sons and other family members will lead the service.  Her grandsons will serve as pallbearers. 

	

                                                            Attachment #2

Dad died when he was 89

                                                           Attachment # 3
 The Korean War had a tremendous affect on my life and as such, I have attached the following   article that describes why this War that took so many lives- the US lost 33,000 men and 7000 MIA`s in just three years. South Korea lost some 272,000 in the same three years. This is compared to 47,000 lost in Vietnam in ten years. This article describes the condition of our fighting forces when War broke out, and the Politics that caused it to happen. We cannot allow our young men to ever have to go into battle again, using such decreped equipment.                                             
                                                 THE KOREAN WAR                                                                                                                                                                             
                                                  By : Jack D Walker
The booming of artillery awakened Captain Joseph R. Darrigo. Soon shell fragments and small arms fire were striking his house on the northeast edge of Kaesong. It was 5:00 a.m. June 25, 1950. As he headed south in a jeep to give the alarm, he could see the railroad station a half a mile away where two or three battalions of troops were off-loading. Previously, the track had been taken up by North Koreans to seal off their border with South Korea at the 38th parallel. Evidently it had been re-laid during the night, and an all-out invasion had been launched by the North
In 1987, military strategist Colonel Harry G. Summers, Jr., proclaimed that, "The Korean War will be the model for America’s future wars." The truth of this statement became apparent in the Persian Gulf, where a coalition of nations fought a limited war to stop aggression.
The booming of artillery awakened Captain Joseph R. Darrigo. Soon shell fragments and small arms fire were striking his house on the northeast edge of Kaesong. It was 5:00 a.m. June 25, 1950. As he headed south in a jeep to give the alarm, he could see the railroad station a half a mile away where two or three battalions of troops were off-loading. Previously, the track had been taken up by North Koreans to seal off their border with South Korea at the 38th parallel. Evidently it had been re-laid during the night, and an all-out invasion had been launched by the North.
Captain Darrigo, a member of the Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG, pronounced Kay-Mag) assigned to the 1st Division of the Republic of Korea (ROK), was the only American officer on the parallel that morning. The attack was not expected because it was still the rainy season.
Jack James, a prize winning journalist with United Press in South Korea at the time, says many expected an invasion but thought it would come only after the rainy season. The North Korean build-up of forces on the border had been reported, but U.S. officials had questioned the report. There had been hundreds of border clashes in the past and the ROKs had a tendency to enlarge the number and severity of these instances to justify more military aid.
The North Koreans fielded a highly capable, Russian-trained, Russian-equipped army of 135,000 of whom almost one-third were veterans who had fought with the Chinese Communists. These forces had defeated the Nationalist Chinese, who fled to Formosa (Taiwan) in October the previous year and made China a Communist country.
Fearing the South would attempt to invade the North, the U.S. had only lightly armed the ROK army of 65,000 and had supplied 500 American advisors (KMAG). The ROKs also had 45,000 policemen, but they were neither armed nor trained for combat.
The North Korean Peoples Army (NKPA) was spearheaded by Russian-made T-34 tanks, believed by many to be the best tank of World War II. Without adequate anti-tank weapons, brave ROK soldiers attacked these steel monsters with satchel charges. But after losing ninety men without much results, this practice was stopped.
The ROK defenses crumbled under the heavy weight of the NKPA attack. About one-third of the South Korean soldiers were on leave. Refugees fled the panic stricken capital of Seoul. Unfortunately, the bridge over the Han River was blown prematurely, which prevented ROK troops from withdrawing south with what little heavy equipment they possessed. Many of their good officers and NCOs were lost north of the Han. The NKPA occupied Seoul June 28th. Political opponents by the thousands were rounded up and executed. Later, when in North Korea, the ROKs wanted to reply in kind, but close supervision by U.N. officials kept these reprisals on a smaller scale.
Colonel Paik Sun Yup did manage to get two of the three regiments of the 1st ROK Division south of the river. Shocked and dismayed by this initially overwhelming defeat, the staff officers repeatedly voiced the question, "Will the Americans help us?" "Will the Americans help us?" Some time later, American fighter-bombers came in low and mistakenly strafed these ROK troops. Although saddened by this loss to "friendly fire," Colonel Paik did turn to his staff and state, "See there, the Americans will help us."
Why had war erupted on the Korean Peninsula? Why was the United States getting involved?
United Nations and American Involvement
Washington got word of the invasion from Jack James’ UPI dispatch, which arrived before the official cable to the State Department. President Harry Truman and the United Nations, which had supervised the elections in South Korea, were notified. Trygve Lie, Secretary General of the U.N., declared, "This is war against the United Nations." President Truman ordered Five-Star General Douglas MacArthur, U.S. Commander in the Far East, headquartered in Tokyo, to provide logistical support for the ROKs while the U.N. called for withdrawal of North Korean troops. When this appeal was ignored, the U.N. called for its members to ". . . furnish such assistance to the Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack and to restore international peace and security to the area." Truman ordered U.S. naval and air forces to assist the ROKs. After a personal reconnaissance revealed the plight of the ROK troops, General MacArthur advised that only U.S. ground troops could halt the invasion. These were ordered to Korea on June 30th by the President, his most difficult decision while in office.
Although excluded from the American perimeter of defense, the National Security Council had noted in 1948 that some moral obligation did exist since the Republic of Korea was an American creation. One possible way to save South Korea, should it be invaded, would be by a United Nations "police action."
The bulk of the U.N. forces to serve in Korea would be American, whose peak strength reached 348,000. Altogether 5.7 million were in uniform during the period, while 1.5 million were rotated in and out of Korea. Battle deaths for the three-year period numbered 33,627 as compared to 47,367 for the ten-year Vietnam War. Combat deaths in Korea by service were: Army 27,704; Marines 4,267; Air Force 1,198; Navy 458.
Other countries to furnish combat units, with their peak strength, were: Australia (2,282), Belgium/Luxembourg (944), Canada (6,146), Colombia (1,068), Ethiopia (1,271), France (1,119), Greece (1,263), Netherlands (819), New Zealand (1,389), Philippines (1,496), Republic of South Africa (826), Thailand (1,294), Turkey (5,455), and the United Kingdom (Great Britain 14,198). Medical units were furnished by Denmark, India, Italy, Norway, and Sweden.
The Republic of Korea’s armed forces reached a strength of 590,911 and suffered 272,975 casualties—killed, wounded, missing. Korean civilian deaths, both North and South, have been estimated to have been over 2 million. Both the U.N. and ROK troops were placed under command of General MacArthur. For the first time in history, a world organization would use force to stop military aggression.
During World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt had asked the leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, to enter the war against Japan. Stalin said he would two or three months after Germany’s surrender. He could hardly refuse. The U.S. and Great Britain had shipped, free of charge, huge quantities of war supplies, including almost 500,000 American-made trucks and jeeps to the Soviets, which enabled them to stave off a defeat by the Germans during the early part of the war. 
The Germans surrendered in May 1945. By August, the Soviets were trying to obtain more concessions and incentives for entering the war against Japan. The U.S. refused because Japan was on the verge of collapse and Russian help was not needed. The first atomic bomb was dropped on August 6 and the second bomb was dropped on August 9, the same day the Soviets declared war on Japan. The Japanese surrendered on August 14, 1945, five days later. 
The Soviet failure to conduct free and open elections, in accordance with the Yalta agreements, in Poland and other eastern European countries, which they had overrun, had aroused U.S. suspicion and had sown the seeds for the cold war. As their troops moved into Korea, which the Japanese had annexed in 1910 and harshly occupied, the U.S. contacted Moscow and asked them to accept surrender of the enemy troops above the 38th parallel, while the U.S. would do so south of that line. The Soviets agreed. Japan traditionally had regarded the Korean Peninsula as a dagger pointing at their country. 
1945 to 1950
Korea may well be called the "Belgium of the East" because being located between the great powers of China, Russia, and Japan, it has been caught up in their conflicts such as the Sino-Japanese War 1894-1895 and the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905. 
The Koreans are an ancient, hardy, and talented people who developed movable metal type, devised a 26-letter alphabet (although it failed to gain wide usage), a submarine, an ironclad ship, and produced a body of skilled workers. Their peninsula was a pathway for cultural, educational, religious, scientific, and industrial exchanges between Japan and continental Asia. Twice in the late sixteenth century, Japan invaded Korea, causing appalling levels of brutality, death, and destruction, and took many of the Korean skilled artisans back to Japan. Unfortunately for the Korean people, foreigners once again would bring war, misery, and suffering to their country on an unprecedented scale. 
However, U.S. troops landing in the south in 1945 brought much needed assistance in the form of Government Aid and Relief in Occupied Areas (GARIOA). Because of Soviet intransigence in eastern Europe, President Truman set aside a previously agreed plan for a trusteeship, which included the Soviets, to oversee Korea until self-rule could be established. 
Feeling fully capable of governing themselves, most Koreans initially were against the trusteeship. But when the Soviets called for the trusteeship, those factions with communist sympathies sided with the Soviet Union. No agreement could be reached on free elections since the Russians wanted to deny the vote to those who were against the trusteeship and those accused of collaboration with the Japanese, while the U.S., of course, felt everyone should have a vote. 
The U.S. sought to dissolve the barrier at the 38th parallel between North and South, but the Soviets refused to do so until a united Korean government had been established. Also, the industrial North (population 9 million) added to the chaos in the agricultural South (population 21 million) by greatly curtailing the supply of coal, electricity, and other goods, such as fertilizer, to the ROKs. Additional hardships had to be borne because approximately two million people fled to the South to escape the atrocities and plunder of Russian troops, and to avoid persecution because of their opposition to Soviet occupation policies. These refugees had to be fed and housed in the South. A few thousand crossed over from South to North. 
The U.S. measured each action in its sector so as not to offend the North; allowed political dissent, which was mostly restricted in the North; and refused to recognize any political faction until free elections could be held, although these groups continued to multiply causing political confusion and instability. Syngman Rhee, an exile who had lived in the U.S., arrived against State Department wishes. 
Unable to reach an agreement with the Soviets, the U.S. turned the problem over to the United Nations in September 1947. Elections, under the auspices of the U.N., were held in May 1948, but North Korea refused to participate. A National Assembly of 198 members was elected. One hundred seats were left vacant for North Korea to fill, but without response. 
Syngman Rhee was elected president, while in the North a Soviet style election was held which chose a Korean exile who had lived in the Soviet Union, Kim Il Sung, as premier. Both leaders advocated unification, by force if necessary. The North became a closed society. A British minister, who was a well experienced Asian hand, visited the South and declared the ROK government the most encouraging he had seen. It did have flaws, however, but democracy had no tradition in the Orient. 
The Russians trained and equipped an army in the North, withdrew, and challenged the U.S. to do likewise. The South Koreans and the U.S. State Department wanted the American troops to stay, but the GAROA funds expired on June 20, 1949, and the U.S. Army had no funds to keep the troops there. They were withdrawn. Most everyone agrees that had the U.S. troops remained, there would have been no war. U.S. troops remained in West Germany and Communist East Germany did not invade. Clearly, the Korean War could have been prevented by an adequate peacetime defense budget. 
Hearts were saddened in the North, as well as in the South, over the division of their country. Kim Il Sung pointed out how his Communist comrades had fought with the Chinese to help defeat the hated Japanese. They now would fight to unite Korea. The youth developed a zeal for this reasonable, desirable goal and great crusade. 
According to Nikita Khrushchev’s memoirs, which were published in 1970, Kim went to Moscow for Stalin’s approval. Russian staff officers planned the details, but Stalin, fearing Americans would detect Soviet involvement, withdrew most of the 7,000 Russian advisors in Korea. Khrushchev believed that had they remained, the North would have succeeded. Kim had promised that the war would last only a short time because the South Koreans would rise up against Rhee’s oppressive government and overthrow it. This never occurred. For the most part, South Koreans remained loyal to their government. 
Task Force Smith
On July 4, 1950, two rifle companies, B and C, one-half of Headquarters Company, one section of 75mm recoilless rifles, and two 4.2 inch mortars, under their battalion commander Lt. Colonel Charles "Brad" Smith, were air-lifted from Japan to Pusan, Korea. They were from the 2lst Infantry Regiment, 24th Division, on Japanese occupation duty. A train took them north where they were deployed near Osan, about 35 miles south of Seoul. They were joined by a battery from the 52nd Field Artillery Battalion. Riflemen had 120 rounds of ammunition and each man had two days of "C" rations. They stood 508 men strong. 
Their mission: make an arrogant display of force and delay the main advance of the NKPA until more U.S. troops arrive. Brad Smith was 34. Most of his men were twenty years old or younger. About one in six had combat experience. Many were draftees, while others had volunteered for the draft in order to get their service obligation behind them. Some had joined to "see the world." Fighting? Why should there be any fighting? We beat the Germans and Japanese, didn’t we? 
From a soft life in Japan, with servants to wash their clothes and shine their boots, these American youth were suddenly uprooted and flung into harm’s way. There was no "Remember Pearl Harbor." Why were they there? Some bandits had crossed the border and would flee as soon as they saw American uniforms, was the circulating story.
The next morning at 7:00 a.m., NKPA troops appeared in the distance. They were elements of two regiments, about 5,000 men with thirty-three T-34 tanks. Artillery and recoilless rifle fire had no effect on the advancing tanks. The 105mm howitzer was not an anti-tank weapon; however, a special HEAT (high explosive anti-tank) round had been developed for emergency purposes. One field piece had been deployed well forward for direct fire down the road. The crew only had six HEAT rounds, which was 50% of the allotment for the Far East. The rest had been shipped to Europe, which had priority. 
These teenagers were able to destroy two tanks before running out of HEAT rounds. The next tank knocked them out. As the remainder of enemy armor ran through their position, Lt. Ollie Connor fired 22 rounds from a 2.36 inch rocket launcher into the rear of the tanks at very close range, with little appreciable effect. The ammunition was old and many rounds failed to explode. The weapon had been found to be ineffective against German armor in 1943. The T-34s shot up the Americans’ vehicles parked in the rear as they continued southward down the road. 
The NKPA infantry with three tanks now approached. Heavy fire from Task Force Smith halted their frontal attack. While continuing a steady fire into the defender’s position, the North Koreans began moving large forces around each flank. As the ammunition supply dwindled, LTC Smith gave the order to withdraw at 2:30 p.m. It didn’t reach one platoon and the task force suffered most of its casualties during this phase. Panic seized some as they fled to the rear, weaponless but careful to skirt the village where the enemy tanks were. 
These American youngsters had held up the enemy for almost a day and inflicted 130 casualties while losing 185 of their own. Brad Smith reported that the fighting qualities of the NKPA had been greatly underestimated by U.S. intelligence. 
The 34th Infantry Regiment, 24th Division was the next unit to engage the invaders. The equipment furnished the regiment was a national disgrace, according to the operations officer (S-3), Major John J. Dunn, who claimed that between 25% and 50% of the small arms were unserviceable. Sergeant Roy F. Collins found in their first combat that twelve of the thirty-one rifles in his platoon were defective. Mortar ammunition was so old that, in some cases, eight out of ten rounds failed to explode. Few radios worked. 
In order to get to Korea, the rest of Task Force Smith’s regiment had to commandeer three rusty Japanese freighters and a couple of war surplus LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) before they could embark. One GI said, "It was a hell of a way to go to war." 
American Defense Policy
Again and again, U.S. forces committed piecemeal to battle were outnumbered, outgunned, and outflanked by the highly motivated NKPA. The greatest nation on the face of the earth had committed its youth to battle, under-strength, under-trained, ill-equipped, and ill-supplied. Experienced field grade officers lamented that, "It was just criminal to commit our troops to battle, manned and equipped the way they were." In peacetime, Army units stood at two-thirds strength, meaning that infantry regiments had only two rifle battalions instead of the usual three, around which battlefield tactics were formulated. In practice, rifle companies were mostly 50% or more below their authorized strength of 200 men. 
At the end of World War II, the United States had the greatest armed force the world had ever seen. But now, five years later, she was hard pressed to stop a fourth-rate power, North Korea. Why? Why? 
Traditionally, America had never been prepared for a war. It was a dispute over a peacetime defense budget that initiated the events which led to the Revolutionary War. The colonists wanted the protection of the British troops during the French and Indian War. With the Crown’s treasury depleted when the fighting ended, the King’s minister asked the Americans to pay one-third of the cost of the twenty battalions of redcoats stationed in the colonies. They refused, fearful that large standing armies could support oppressive governments or military strongmen who would arise. Determined to collect some funds, the sugar tax was rigorously enforced and when that didn’t work, there was the Stamp act, and then the tax on tea, all of which brought forth "taxation without representation" which, of course, led to the revolution. 
While teaching a class at the Army War College, which involved a crisis in American history, Colonel Harry Summers, Jr., was asked by an officer from a third world country – many of whom were in attendance – "What was the chance of a military coup?" The American officers just laughed. The principle of civil control is so ingrained in the military that never, never has such an act been possible in this country, although it has happened throughout the world. 
Being true to form, post-war defense budgets were small. Thinking to get more bang-for-the-buck from the Air Force, who would drop A-bombs on any enemy and win a quick victory, the Truman administration gave that branch the largest portion. The Navy was out some, but the biggest reduction was handed to the Army. Everyone knew the next war would be fought with push-buttons, rockets, missiles, etc….and there would be little need for foot-slogging riflemen. This proved to be a grave mistake, costing the country numerous unnecessary casualties and some humiliating defeats. 
In August 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb. The U.S. no longer had a nuclear monopoly. By October of the same year, the Red Chinese controlled the mainland, China became a Communist country. Due to these changes in the international scene, the National Security Council recommended to the President (NSC-68) that U.S. ground forces would have to be built up to an unprecedented peacetime level in order to counter the threat of the huge conventional forces of the Soviet Union. Although favorable to the idea, Truman knew that neither the Congress nor the American people would approve of spending the 50 billion dollars the plan called for, for peacetime defense. The present budget was 13 billion. NSC-68 remained on the shelf until the North Korean attack, at which time it was approved. 
Withdrawal Continues
The NKPA main thrust was along the Seoul, Taejon, Taegu, Pusan axis. The U.S. 25th Infantry Division (Tropical Lightning) began arriving July 10. It was positioned to back ROK troops in the central sector and prevent an enemy drive on Taegu. But the ROK troops were able to hold in this better defensive, mountainous area where few T-34 tanks were employed. So well, in fact, that the NKPA corps commander was relieved because of his slow progress. 
On July 19, the town of Yechon, an important road junction, fell but was retaken by the all black 24th Infantry Regiment of the 25th Division. War correspondent Tom Lambert reported it as the "…first sizeable American ground victory of the Korean War." Captain Charles Bussey, a black fighter pilot during World War II, won a Silver Star as a combat engineer. Back in the U.S., blacks began appearing at the recruiting offices, asking to get in that 24th Regiment. 
On the morning of July 18, General Walton Walker, commander of the U.S. Eighth Army, which included all American and ROK forces in Korea, arrived at Taejon and asked General William Dean, the 24th Division Commanding Officer (CO), if he could hold the city until the 20th when units just landing from the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division would be in position to reinforce him. (It was "cavalry" in name only.) Although he had intended to evacuate Taejon, Dean told Walker he could hold.  It was the biggest mistake of his life. Attacked, outflanked, and overrun by the NKPA 3rd and 4th Divisions, the city fell. Dean was captured and spent three years in POW camps. 
American GIs fought bravely at times. At other times when confronted with overwhelming, numerically superior forces, they "bugged-out" to the rear, cursing their government for sending them to this stinking, God-forsaken place where human feces were used to fertilize the land. 
The battered U.S. 24th Division, which was relieved by the 1st Cavalry on July 22, stood at about one-half its strength 17 days earlier. It had lost enough equipment to field a full division, including thirty-one 105mm and five 155mm howitzers. There was a terrible toll on senior officers. Besides General Dean, three regimental COs were lost, one killed, one wounded, and one relieved. One regimental executive officer was wounded while two staff officers were captured. Five rifle battalion commanders were lost, including two killed, one captured, and two medically evacuated. Numerous other field-grade officers were killed, captured, wounded, or sacked, including two from the field artillery battalions (FAB). 
PFC Sheffield Clark, whose 63rd FAB entered combat on July 6, remembers it this way: "It was the frantic hit-and-run tactics—and the running war south. We were short on ammo and supplies. Tiger tanks (Russian T-34s) were our nightmare and we had no ammo for our rocket launchers (anti-tank weapons). At one time, our field artillery unit was 2,000 yards ahead of the 3rth Infantry we were supposed to be supporting. Infiltrators were picking us off—dressed up like old Korean women—with pistols held at real old Korean women to get past our outposts, posed as refugees moving south away from the fighting. Our position was overrun by infiltrators who came in behind us. The attack was so swift that our machine gunners were killed and our own machine guns were turned against us. They captured our 105s, then captured a trainload of ammo for them. There were only twelve of us left out of my battery by the time we got back to Taejon." 
The need for replacement in these front-line units was acute. Supply and service personnel in Japan were reclassified as infantry and sent to Korea. Reservists were quickly called to active duty. Master Sergeant Ralph Yelton, who saw combat in Europe during World War II, was re-called, given five days’ orientation, and sent to Korea where he participated in the heavy fighting during the first year. He was wounded for a second time and paralyzed from the waist down. 
Bewildered Korean youth were taken off the streets, given ten days training, and assigned to U.S. units. Thrown in with strangers with a strange language and strange customs, some performed remarkably well. But most were, not surprisingly, unable to do what was expected of them, so the KATUSA (Korean Augmentation To The U.S. Army) was gradually phased out. 
This extreme shortage of front line replacements was the "necessity" that became the "mother" of full integration in the Army. Although President Truman ordered such in 1948, in practice black soldiers were still assigned to all black units, such as the 24th Infantry Regiment. The 9th Infantry CO, Chin Sloane, would accept black fillers. Butch Barberis, one of his battalion commanders, remembers it this way: "I was very, very low on men—less than half strength—and raised hell to get more troops. The division G-1 (personnel officer) called and, knowing that I had previously commanded a battalion of black troops, said he had almost 200 from labor units in Pusan that had served in my battalion who would transfer to infantry if they could serve with me. I agreed. In fact, I was proud to have them. They were good fighting men." 
From this beginning in Korea, the Armed Services have become an outstanding equal opportunity employer. While blacks make up only 13% of the population, the services are well over 30% black. African-American General Colin Powell became a highly regarded and effective recent Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff. 
Jim Harris, a member of the 70th Tank Battalion serving as school troops at Fort Know, was scheduled to get out of the service soon. When war broke out, the 70th was given 96 hours to pack up for the move to Korea. A special appeal was made to the 13 men who did not have enough time left on their enlistment to be sent overseas: "American GIs were being shot to hell by Russian-made tanks. They need your help." All 13 re-enlisted except one, who later showed up in Korea with the 2nd Division. 
The battalion was so short of tanks that those on concrete pedestals as monuments around Fort Knox had to be taken down and made operational by installing engines, transmissions, and other equipment. Such parts had to be flown in from various areas of the country. The men worked straight through with almost no sleep, but the deadline was met. 
When these M-4 and M-26 medium tanks, which were equal to the enemy T-34s, roared up to the front lines on August 14, the haggard, combat-worn, and weary front-line troops, some openly sobbing, ran forward to meet them. They crowded around the ugly steel monsters and patted them as if they had been bloodied horses. It was then that Jim Harris knew that he had done the right thing to come to the aid of his countrymen. The emotion is still there as he tells the story today. 
Rusting hulks were collected from old Pacific World War II battlefields, refurbished in Japan and used to equip another, much needed tank battalion, the 70th. Its commander, a 34-year-old Tom Dolvin (West Point ’39), received verbal orders on a golf course in the United States on July 12 and was in combat in Korea on August 2. Whew! 
The 1st Cavalry Division, which relieved the luckless 24th Division, had only 11,000 of its authorized wartime strength of 18,900 men. Around 750 of its noncommissioned officers had been transferred to the 24th when it first went into action. The Cav made a strong stand on the Taejon/Taegu road and delayed the advance of the NKPA. During the heavy fighting, one battalion (the 2nd of the 8th regiment) was encircled and cut off. Artillery men found themselves fighting as infantry. They lowered their tubes for direct fire into the oncoming enemy. Repeated attempts to break through to the surrounded men failed, but cost 275 casualties. Finally, on the night of July 24/25, the battalion split up, leaving their vehicles and heavy equipment, and infiltrated back to friendly lines. 
The 27th Regiment (Wolfhounds) of the 25th Division was the first American regiment to completely defeat a full-scale NKPA attack. One of its two battalions was on line, with the other well to the rear in reserve. The initial assault was repulsed after heavy, close combat; however, six tanks penetrated to the battalion command post (CP). Three were destroyed by ground fire, while the other three were knocked out by Air Force F-80 jets.
Believing the enemy would remount the attack that night, Colonel Michaelis had the front-line unit pull back, quietly, along side the reserve battalion just after dark. The attack was renewed at dawn. The NKPA, seeking to double envelope the abandoned position, moved troops around both flanks which naturally passed in front of the two Wolfhound battalions. Their heavy fire was so devastating that it was quite awhile before the enemy could mount an offensive in that sector. Michaelis said, "The kids won a battle—won it big—and that was very important for the outfit. They developed that all-important confidence right away. In fact, they became so cocky they were almost intolerable." General Walker would use the Wolfhounds in the coming weeks as his fire brigade, sent to trouble spots around the perimeter.
The Pusan Perimeter
As the Eighth Army continued to reel under the withering blows of the NKPA, General Walker received a visit from General MacArthur, who promised, "Help is on the way." Walker would be reinforced by the 2nd Infantry Division, the 5th Marines and the Army’s 5th Regimental Combat Team (RCT). There were to be no more withdrawals. Walker had to hold for six weeks while a reserve force of two divisions was built up and landed behind enemy lines at the port of Inchon on the Yellow Sea. This would cut off supplies to the NKPA in the south and assure their defeat. Without question, the Eighth Army must hold. Walker issued to his troop commanders what the press dubbed as his "stand or die" order. There would be no more retreating. "We are going to hold this line. We are going to win."
The U.N. forces dug in along their meager toehold in southeastern Korea, which became known as the Pusan Perimeter. The western edge, manned by U.S. troops, ran from the Korea Strait north along the Naktong River for about 85 miles. Just north of Taegu, the line turned east and ran for about 50 miles to Pohang on the Sea of Japan. ROK troops defended in this mountainous sector. They had performed better than expected and inflicted severe casualties on the attackers. They had naval gunfire support from U.S. and British ships. Once retreating down the coast, the 3rd ROK Division was surrounded. The Navy took them off and landed them farther south.
Kim Il Sung ordered his North Korean troops to take Pusan by August 15 (Korean time), regardless of casualties. It was the anniversary of the Japanese surrender. Astrological reckoning, timing, and dates are important in the Orient. The fighting was furious. The NKPA suffered the casualties, but they did not take Pusan. It was a moment to be proud of American arms.
Undaunted by these losses, the North Koreans poured more troops into the area to continue the struggle. Time was against them. They must prevail now before the U.N. forces were built up to a level which would preclude a NKPA victory. Astonishingly, they were able to maintain a high morale and keep their troops supplied, in spite of the U.N. control of the air, by moving men and material at night. ROK Colonel Min Ki Sik had formed a scratch force of regimental size (Task Force Min), delayed their advance through the southwest, and added to their ration problem by confiscating much of the rice in the area and shipping it to Pusan. The NKPA was expected to live off the land.
The Pusan Perimeter was not a series of two-man foxholes every few yards—there were too few troops for this—but rather an offensive-defense. Observation posts were strung along the front and when the enemy movement was detected, troops located in strong points well to the rear would come forward to attack and push the NKPA back across the Naktong River. They were greatly aided by the Air Force and Navy performing observation and close ground support. Forty-four percent of these tactical missions were flown by the Navy and Marines from carrier decks stationed off shore. The Air Force operated at considerable disadvantage at this time, however, for there were only two strips in Korea suitable for use by F-51 and C-47 type of aircraft—K-2 at Taegu and K-3 at Yonil on the east coast. Both were dirt strips. Most of the tactical planes flew from Japan.
The fighting was fierce. U.N. forces were holding on by the skin of their teeth. New units arriving at Pusan were quickly thrown into the battle. Two battalions of the 29th Infantry from Okinawa were committed before they had cleaned all the cosmoline (packing grease) from their newly issued weapons.
The Wolfhounds, in Army reserve, were shifted here and there to the hot spots. Twice the First Marine Provisional Brigade was called to eject an enemy penetration at the Naktong Bulge. The Army troops of the 24th and 2nd Infantry Divisions had fought their hearts out for eleven days in this area and stopped the enemy advance, but were too weak to push the North Koreans back across the river. 
Lt. William R. Ellis, who experienced combat in World War II, says the 9th Infantry Regiment fought magnificently. "The original group of officers was gallant and far under-ranked. Most of the company commanders were (only) first lieutenants, which was a disgrace itself. They were forty-year-old, gray-haired World War II veterans (reserves called up) and still lieutenants in combat in 1950. I knew them all and have regretted at times that I did not join them (in death) for they by-and-large died unknown and unrewarded for their bravery." E Company had all its officers wiped out on five occasions. 
Enlisted man, Charles Payne of the 34th Infantry Regiment, remembers it this way: "Masses of gooks (enemies) poured over the hills and through the gaps like a flood. Our people were fighting like seasoned troopers, but were just being overpowered….Hour after hour we held the North Koreans off … time and time again gooks rushed us. Each time we would lose a man, they would lose many. The ground was covered with their dead. We stacked our dead around us for protection. The battle seemed to go on forever." 
Few Americans today, or even then, know of the desperate struggle, the pain and suffering, the utmost heroic effort and valor displayed to stop the North Korean assaults. The U.S. suffered its highest casualties of the entire war during these six weeks. If and when the public does become conscious of this all-important battle, it will, no doubt, be ranked alongside Bunker Hill, the Alamo, Bataan, and Corregidor. 
The Inchon Landing
This clever and risky operation of landing at Inchon far behind enemy lines was conceived by General MacArthur on his personal reconnaissance to Korea June 29, but it had to be postponed to commit the troops he planned to use in order to delay the NKPA steamroller pushing down the peninsula. 
The Navy and Marines, the country’s amphibious experts, as well as most Army people not on MacArthur’s staff, were against the operation. One admiral said, "We drew up a list of every natural and geographical handicap to a landing and Inchon had them all." The narrow channel to the landing site could easily be blocked, currents were as high as 8 knots, there were no beaches, only the easily defended city of Inchon �and many more. The worst of all were the 32 feet high tides which left nothing but mud flats at low tide, forcing a 12-hour wait for a second landing. 
At a Tokyo meeting on August 23, the Navy spent 85 minutes in a gloomy presentation of the obstacles, but concluded that while it would be a most difficult operation, it was not impossible. Present were chiefs of Navy, Army, Fifth Air Force, General MacArthur, and some of his staff. MacArthur then made a masterful presentation of the complex military operation. "Spellbinding" was how Navy Chief Admiral Forrest Sherman and Army Chief General J. Lawton Collins described it. Admiral James Doyle said that if MacArthur had gone on stage, the world would have never heard of John Barrymore (famous American actor of the 1920s and 1930s). 
The Inchon Landing became one of the most brilliant moves in American military history. The slaughter of slugging it out head-to-head and toe-to-toe around the Pusan Perimeter would cease; thousands of casualties would be prevented and a decisive victory would be won. No other nation in the world had the means and the knowledge to put together, on such short notice, over 200 ships to land 70,000 troops successfully in such a precarious place. "The Navy has never shone more brightly" were the words of the Far East Commander. 
The First Marine Division landed a battalion (3 BN, 5th Regiment) on Wolmi-do (the fortified island guarding the entrance to Inchon) at 6:33 a.m. on September 15, 1950. An hour later, the island was secure. Because of the high tides, the next 12 hours would be sweated out before the other landings at Inchon proper could take place. When they did, the 1st Marine Regiment and the remainder of the 5th reached their objectives with light opposition from the surprised enemy; Marine and Naval air ruled the skies. ROK Marines occupied Inchon while the U.S. Marines, with their 7th Regiment, moved out toward Seoul twenty miles away. The 7th U.S. Infantry Division landed and moved south of the city to protect the Marine flank, cut off NKPA personnel fleeing from the south, and link up with forces breaking out of the Pusan Perimeter. 
The landing troops were designated X Corps and under the command of Major General Ned Almond, a brusque, overbearing officer who had offended the 1st Marine Division Commander, Oliver Smith. Smith was suspicious and resentful of being under Army command. As the Marines attacked the heavily fortified area west of Seoul, General Almond suggested to Smith that he send one regiment to the south and cross the Han river right into the capital city. General Smith refused, saying that he wanted to keep his regiments together. As Marine casualties continued to mount, Almond sent the Army’s 32nd Regiment across without losing a man or piece of equipment. They were followed by the 17th ROK regiment. After a strong attack on the Army unit the major NKPA force withdrew, but their rear guard continued to offer stiff resistance to the Marines fighting into the heart of the city. 
North Korean Incursion
The Inchon Landing had changed the fortunes of war almost overnight, insuring a NKPA defeat. General Matthew Ridgway said if it had been suggested that MacArthur could walk on water, most would have believed it. But now the Far East Commander made a serious mistake. 
On September 27, he was ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to cross the 38th parallel without fanfare and with little publicity. The objective was to destroy the remaining NKPA forces and unite the North under the government of South Korea. With some reluctance, the U.N. approved this action. Some of the reasons given (NSC-81) were (1) 2,500 American and 25,000 ROK POWs were being held; (2) Red China, which had massive economic and social problems and with an Army lacking armor, heavy artillery, and air support, would probably not intervene; (3) taking North Korea away from Russian influence would increase U.S. chances of rapprochement with China; (4) if left intact, North Korea might invade again after it recovered; (5) Syngman Rhee was intent on unifying the country and would be difficult to hold in check; (6) Americans were outraged at the atrocities committed by the enemy against U.S. forces; and (7) with the total victory of World War II so recent, it would be hard for the Truman administration, accused of being soft on Communism, to settle for anything less. MacArthur was to engage any Chinese forces encountered in Korea "…as long as, in your judgment, action by forces now under your control offers a reasonable chance of success." 
Fearing stubborn resistance at the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, MacArthur withdrew the X Corps and landed it on the east coast so that it would attack across the "narrow waist" of Korea toward Pyongyang from the east while the Eighth Army attacked from the south. This was a tragic mistake not only because of the delay it caused, which allowed some recovery against NKPA units and time for Chinese to deploy, unseen in Korea, but overloaded the transportation system—heavily damaged by U.N. bombing—to the extent that it was very difficult to keep the Eighth Army supplied for its incursion into North Korea. It happened that resistance was light and Pyongyang was taken by the 1st Cav and 1st ROK Division on October 19. The ROK troops advanced so rapidly up the east coast that they took the landing site of Wonsan before the X Corps arrived by sea. 
A perfectly executed air drop by the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team north of Pyongyang was too late to rescue a trainload of U.S. POWs, who were massacred before the paratroopers landed. A NKPA force of 500 was caught between the 187 and the Australian Battalion, 27th British Commonwealth Brigade advancing to link up with the troopers. Fearing their fire would hit the Americans, they fixed bayonets, charged the enemy, killed 270, and captured 200, while miraculously sustaining only seven wounded of their own. 
Chinese Intervention
By the 1860s, expansionist Russia, under the Czars, reached the Pacific at Vladivostok. Defeated in a conflict with Japan (1904-1905), Russia regarded that country as her natural enemy in the area. During the 1930s and during World War II, Joseph Stalin had supported the Nationalist Chinese under Chiang Kai-shek because, from a practical standpoint, they were the only force capable of opposing the Japanese at that time. 
Popular with the Chinese Communists was Mao Zedong, who, although not trained in Moscow as were other Chinese, would become the leader of the party in China. He was in a constant struggle to maintain his leadership within the party and to avoid destruction from his sworn enemy Chiang Kai-shek. Relations between Mao and Stalin were cool. When the Nationalists were defeated (October 1949) and the People’s Republic of China was established by the Communists, U.S. far eastern policy changed. Support for Chiang had ceased sometime before because his corrupt regime did not have popular support. 
In December of 1949, U.s. embassies were advised that should Formosa (Taiwan)—where the Nationalists had fled—fall to the Communists, it would not be considered a threat to U.S. security. A rapprochement would be made to the People’s Republic, showing that Russia, coveting Manchuria as she did, was China’s real enemy.
It appears that Stalin became aware of this change. McLean, Burgess, and Philby, working in British intelligence with access to U.S. information, were later discovered to be Soviet spies. (During the war MacArthur would sense that someone was reading his messages.) Continued success by Mao would make him a rival for the leadership of international Communism. As Stalin had promised to help the North Koreans, he had also offered aid to the Chinese who had massed 200,000 troops opposite Formosa for the invasion. Did Stalin coerce Kim Il Sung to invade first so that he would have an excuse to delay help to the Chinese? Was his support of the Korean invasion an effort to impede U.S./China rapprochement? 
When the Inchon Landing changed the whole course of the war in Korea, Stalin urged the Chinese to intervene, promising them air power. At an October 1st meeting, most Chinese leaders were against intervention, although 80% of Chinese heavy industry was in Manchuria and most dependent on electric power generated in North Korea. General Peng The-huai, who would command Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) in Korea, said that if the Americans reached the Yalu River (border between Korea and Manchuria), they would find an excuse to invade China. Mao felt that China should come to the aid of its neighbor. A decision was made to intervene, which appeared to be based on their own national interest and not Russian pressure.
Moving at night and using excellent camouflage, troops of the CCF Fourth Field Army (200,000) already in Manchuria crossed into Korea while troops of the Third Field Army (120,000) headed north to reinforce them. These forces were undetected by U.N. aerial reconnaissance which was mostly employed in a strategic role: location of targets and evaluation of bombing. Chairman Mao instructed his commanders in the field to first destroy two or three divisions of the "puppet, running-dog Sungman Rhee."[sic] And, if the U.S. Forces did not advance beyond the Pyongyang-Wonsan line, the CCF were to wait six months while being supplied with Russian artillery and air power and then expel all enemy forces from Korea.
U.N. forces continued their advance and, on October 25 at Unsan (oon-san), about 70 miles north of Pyongyang, the ROK 15th Regiment was stopped by Chinese, who had been deployed in the mountains since October 17. The U.S. 8th Cavalry Regiment sent to their aid was badly mauled, losing a whole battalion. A regiment from the 6th ROK Division made it to the Yalu, but was destroyed. Two other ROK regiments coming to its assistance were routed. Then the Chinese mysteriously withdrew. The same thing happened in the eastern sector where the Marines were stopped in their advance to the Chosin Reservoir, and then the enemy withdraw. Prisoners sent back to headquarters were confirmed to be Chinese. Intelligence estimated that there were no more than 27,000 (later upgraded to 70,000) Chinese in Korea. There were 320,000!
The advance of the Eighth Army (118,000) resumed on November 24, despite a shortage of supplies, including winter clothing. Some riflemen had as few as 16 rounds of ammunition. On the night of the 25th, the CCF struck the II ROK Corps on the Army’s right flank with a massive attack which disorganized the South Koreans and sent them reeling to the rear. To their left, the U.S. 2nd and 25th Divisions were also hit with furious assaults and penetrated in some spots, but were able to restore the situation and hold. The collapse of the ROKs exposed the flank of the 2nd Division and forced the U.N. forces to withdraw. Two regiments of the 2nd were almost destroyed at Kunu-ri, but the rest of the Army withdrew in good order, using their mobility to outdistance the slower moving CCF, who could maintain an offensive for only a few days. 
In the X Corps sector in the east, one regiment of the 7th Division reached the Yalu at Hyesanjin, but the Marines were stopped at the Chosin Reservoir. Oliver Smith, sensing more enemy in the area than being reported, moved more slowly than Ned Almond was urging him. He stockpiled ammunition and supplies along the way. His caution contributed greatly to saving his command. An Army task force of two mismatched battalions, artillery, and other supporting units were hurried into position to protect the Marine right flank.
The bulk of the 120,000 CCF in the area hit the Marines and the army Task Force. Winter had set in with temperatures of 24 degrees below zero. Flesh stuck to metal. Weapons and vehicles froze. In their fighting withdrawal, the Marines inflicted horrendous casualties on the enemy while sustaining 4,418 battle casualties and 7,313 non-battle casualties (mostly weather-related). For the first time in history, flying boxcars (C-119-type aircraft) dropped a treadway bridge which enabled them to get their heavy equipment out over Funchilin Pass, where a bridge had been destroyed. Paratrooper Fred Fishel said a practice drop in Japan had failed. By December 11, the last man reached the safety of the lodgment area of Hungnam, held by the U.S. 3rd Division. Plagued by the Katusa factor, low ammunition, and the loss of all four senior commanders, the ill-fated Army unit (Task Force MacLean/Faith) held out for five nights and four days to its own destruction. Of its original strength of 2,500, only 385 were fit for duty, but they did protect the Marine right flank and rendered combat-ineffective the CCF 80th Division. 
The CCF forced the U.N. out of North Korea, but at a tremendous cost. Sources favorable to the Communist side estimate that the U.N. inflicted casualties on their adversary at the rate of 20 to 1. It was reported that General Peng flew to Mao’s headquarters, dragging him out of bed to complain that the troops were exhausted and their clothing, equipment, and support was totally unsuited for such a campaign.
The X Corps was evacuated by sea with almost 100,000 civilians unwilling to live under Communism coming out with them. Because of its shattered right flank the Eighth Army retired to a more narrow portion of the peninsula about 45 miles south of the 38th parallel where they were joined by the X Corps. 
The U.N. asked for an armistice at the parallel, but the elated Chinese, who had gained world acclaim, refused to consider seriously the proposal. Pouring in more troops, their goal was the explusion of U.N. forces in South Korea. General Walker was killed in a jeep accident on December 24. General Matthew Ridgway was given command of the Eighth Army, which was plagued with defeat, disappointment, and low morale. Ridgway, who believed the plight of the withdrawal had been greatly exaggerated in the press, soon had his troops turned around and began pushing the CCF and NKPA back into North Korea. Five-star General Omar Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that his brilliant, driving, uncompromising leadership turned the tide of battle as no other general in American military history.
American Policy
One false concept which hampered American policy throughout the cold war that all Communists were directly controlled and every action dictated from Moscow. Although U.S. Russian experts, such as George Kennan, Chip Bolen, and Averell Harriman, believed that the Soviet Union was not ready for war, did not want war, Americans were ready to accept that the North Korean invasion might well be the beginning of World War III. Therefore, the U.S. 7th Fleet was sent to the Formosa Strait to prevent an invasion from the mainland of Nationalist china. This, of course, sent an entirely hostile signal to the People’s Republic to whom, in December 1949, the U.S. was seeking rapprochement. 
During World War II, victory in Europe was the first goal, while the Pacific was of secondary priority. After the turnaround in Inchon, the Joint Chiefs asked MacArthur how soon he could release a division or two for Europe. Here’s where the real concern was. The Chinese intervention heightened U.S. fears of World War III. It was in reference to widening the war to mainland China that General Bradley said we would be fighting the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time. During the fighting in Korea, six U.S. divisions were sent to Europe, while the most U.S. divisions on line at any one time in Korea was seven. That’s right, seven!
Fearing for Europe, President Truman wanted to cool down the war in Korea. The legendary hero of World War II in the Pacific, Douglas MacArthur wanted to expand the war, believing a victory in Asia would secure peace in Europe. Although warned, he continued to publicly express these views, so he was relieved of command in April 1951. A big uproar ensued, but soon died down in the public mind, as the war was to do also. 
Seoul had been retaken in March as U.N. forces continued to push northward. A CCF counteroffensive failed in April to recapture the capital and, in May in east central Korea, their attack became known as the May Massacre because of their heavy losses. When the war broke out the year before and action was taken by the U.N. to support South Korea, the Soviets were boycotting the meetings because Red China had not been admitted. In June 1951, Soviet delegate to the U.N., Jacob Malik, who had returned, proposed truce talks. [The Russian archives indicate that the North Koreans and Chinese persuaded Stalin to ask for peace talks. Pulitzer Prize Winner John Toland, the only American to examine the Chinese archives, maintains that both countries were not only surprised but somewhat dissatisfied with Stalin’s action.] The Chinese had suffered an unbelievable number of casualties, had shot their bolt, and were ready to talk peace. The Soviets had lost face in the Communist world. The U.S. had sent troops to aid its ally, South Korea, and Russia had not. Chinese influence in North Korea increased as Russia’s decreased. Mao gained stature as a world leader. Both Great Britain and the U.S. embarked on huge rearmament programs. NATO became a reality under the command of an American general. West Germany moved toward being a sovereign state, with its own military force. American defense spending in Japan—Toyota was almost bankrupt—propelled her toward being an economic super power. The Soviets had come up short everywhere. Their only success: U.S./China rapprochement was delayed until President Nixon’s time, 20 years later. 
Truce Tent and the Fighting Front
The talks began on July 10, 1951. Expecting the cease fire line to be exactly on the parallel, the communists balked when the U.N. refused to move back from their good defensive positions just north of the line to where none existed at the parallel. The CCF/NKPA delegates walked out. The U.N. renewed their offensive action, which had been curtailed to show sincerity during the peace talks. In hard, hard fighting, the U.S. 2nd Division, the French Battalion, and some ROK troops forced the NKPA from Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge. The North Koreans claimed it was their most difficult battle of the whole war. 
The pressure brought the Communists back to the peace table on November 27, 1951, and slow, slow progress was made, although they were most difficult in negotiations. The last item to be settled was the exchange of prisoners. A huge number of U.N.-held prisoners did not wish to be returned to the Communist side, while the Communists naturally argued that all should be returned. Disagreement on this point prolonged the fighting for 15 months and all the world could see that "… liberty and justice for all"… was not merely an empty phrase with the United States of America. 
During the lull in U.N. offensive action, the NKPA/CCF improved their position to an extent not possible for their less mobile forces during normal activity. They brought up artillery until they had more guns on line than the U.N. They prepared well dug-in positions in depth, some as far back as 20 miles. 
Static warfare developed. After November 1951, the U.N. forces staged no all-out offensives since the U.N. believed that peace was near at hand and ground gained would have to be relinquished. But, small actions were initiated by both sides to improve the positions they held. There were battles in the Punch Bowl and Iron Triangle areas, and names such as "Old Baldy," "White Horse," "Jackson Heights," "T-Bone," and "Pork Chop" became personal experiences where men were maimed, bled, and died while they struggled to be "king of the mountain," this mountain or that mountain. They fought the blistering heat, the stench, the rats and bugs, the rain, the extreme cold, the snow and ice, and life in the bunkers. They performed everlasting patrol duty to keep contact with the enemy. The 45th and 40th Divisions replaced the 1st CAV and 24th Divisions, which went back to Japan. 
Highly valued by the ground troops was the close support U.N. fighter-bombers provided. Initially, the Air Force encountered difficulty in establishing a uniform system of close support for ground troops—the most complex of its tactical missions—from the three different systems used in World War II; one from Europe, one from Central Pacific, and one from Southwest Pacific. Tactical Air Control Parties (TACP) were assigned to each infantry regiment which was expected to use its own artillery for any targets within 1,000 yards of its front line. The Marines provided controllers for each rifle battalion (three battalions per regiment at full strength) which expected to use air support as its artillery, based on the invasion of small islands during WWII where sufficient artillery was often not available. Controversy over the systems continued throughout the war. 
The heavy bombing of North Korea certainly hampered their war effort, but proved to be not as decisive as its advocates claimed. Early in the war, the U.N. Air Forces easily defeated the small North Korean Force. B-29 Superforts ranged over the North but by November 1950 were forced into mostly night operations as China entered the war. Russian pilots, disguised as Chinese, flew their MiG-15 fighters from air fields in Manchuria (off limits to U.N. planes) to attack bombers over the north. In the first aerial combat between jet aircraft, the MiGs outclassed the U.N. F-80s and F-84s. However, the superiority of U.N. pilots maintained air supremacy until the arrival of the F-86 Saberjet, a match for the Russian plane. A 10-to-1 kill ratio was achieved over the MiGs. Communist air was never used to support their effort on the ground. 
 The new Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (M*A*S*H), stationed up close to the fighting front, reduced the deaths due to battle wounds by 50% of World War II figures. Helicopters were first used to evacuate wounded, supply and transport troops. 
Most of the American POWs were captured during the first six months of the war. About 50% died due to wounds, disease, exposure, and malnutrition. Those that did survive in harsh, primitive, subhuman conditions were subjected to "brainwashing," a program to destroy faith in their country and convert them to Communism. Much publicity was given to the "turncoats," the 22 (one British) who stayed behind, while 3,766 Americans and 977 British returned to their homeland. The "brainwashing" could hardly be termed successful. 
Embarrassed that so many of their POWs were refusing repatriation, the Communists instigated their hard-liners in U.N. custody to riot. They captured a camp commandant and although he was later released, it was a very humiliating incident. About 22,000 Communist-POWs screened by troops from neutral India refused to return. Another 25,000 were released against U.N. wishes by President Syngman Rhee to fade into the countryside. 
In May and June of 1953, the NKPA/CCF launched some of the largest attacks of the war, mostly against ROK troops, in an effort to influence the peace talks. Rhee was refusing to sign an armistice that left his country divided. Now with experienced leadership, better equipment, and better trained personnel, the South Korean units were no longer the undependable force they had been at the beginning, but were able to hold and inflict heavy losses on the enemy. These greatly improved troops occupied two-thirds of the U.N. line. Rhee agreed not to invade the north, but never did sign the cease-fire agreement which the other belligerents did on July 27, 1953. Elected in 1952, President Eisenhower had let it be known in May ’53 that if a negotiated settlement could not be reached, he was prepared to seek a military solution, implying the use of atomic bombs and earlier measures advocated by MacArthur.
The Korean War was one of the most important events of the 20th Century because for the first time, force was used to contain communism.  So stated PBS News Hour historians.  Had North Korea succeeded in adding territory to the communist bloc of nations through a force of arms, they would have tried again and again.  A degree of stability came upon the world scene because COMMUNISTIC MILITARY AGGRESSION WAS DEFEATED IN KOREA.
A worldwide alarm had been sounded to aggressors that force would be met with counter force. A degree of stability came on the world scene which cannot be calculated. The U.S. had completely shed its traditionally isolationist shell and fully accepted the role of leadership of the free world thrust upon it by the results of World War II. Before Korea, America had only one commitment outside of the western hemisphere—NATO. By the mid-1950s, there were 450 military bases in 36 countries with links to 20 countries outside of Latin America, including Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. 
North Korea remains a closed, totalitarian state, widely regarded as a threat to world peace. South Korea is an economic miracle, America’s seventh largest trading partner and staunchest ally. By 1995, she had become the world’s eleventh strongest economy and the fifth largest producer of automobiles. For once, in their long history, able to act solely in their own national interest, they have produced an astounding level of prosperity, with the freedom to enjoy it. 
"It was a war in which we turned the tide against Communism for the first time. Our defense of freedom laid the foundation for the march of democracy we’re seeing today around the world." - President George W. Bush, May 1, 1990
The U.S. Army, with a strength of 591,000 in 1950, had to be tripled in order to meet international commitments and fight a war on a 150-mile wide peninsula. Today, with almost twice the population of then, plans are to reduce Army strength to below the 1950 level.