Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

COMBAT STORIES FROM Korea

Andy Smith | unknown - Marines

2:56 | Colonel Andy Smith talks about his time in the Korean War as a Marine pilot. As a pilot of the AU-1 Corsair, Colonel Smith's job was to observe the movements of North Korean and Chinese soldiers crossing the border. Colonel Smith retired from the Marines after 30 years of service.

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Showing : Korea Videos

Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

As a courier, Ray Bohn had to deliver his messages no matter how much live fire was happening. This could get dangerous, like the time he negotiated a terrible mountain road that was right in the sights of the Chinese artillery. What was his secret that kept him alive?
GEN Ray Davis - Marines +11 Total Videos

1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment

Ray Davis had distinguished himself in the Pacific campaigns and when he returned stateside, he was assigned to Quantico and the Marine schools. When the next war started, his regiment didn't exist but it was quickly formed and dispatched to Korea. Once the Chinese entered the fray, his battalion trekked up to the Chosin Reservoir where there was nothing but trouble. Part 1 of 2.
Ron Clark - Marines +7 Total Videos

Mortarman, Baker Co., 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, 1st Marine Division

Ron Clark remembers when the Chinese would attack and how the strategies between American and Chinese differed. He also explains one detailed account of an American casualty during battle and his own major injury that permanently disabled his eyesight.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Ray Bohn made a decision in his life. He wasn't going to take a back step to anybody. This led to his leaving the Catholic school he attended after clashing with one of the brothers. His trouble continued in the working world and that was fine with him.
Bill Minnich - Army +2 Total Videos

C Company, 1st Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division

When it was time to act, Bill Minnich came through. On a night watch, as he caught sight of a Chinese patrol, the only question was, rifle or grenade? When the unit was pinned down and no one responded to the order to move out, he cussed them all out and charged forward. And when he fell wounded, it was a sure thing that he would get up and scramble through the bullets landing at his feet.
Ben Malcom - Army +12 Total Videos

8240th Army Unit, Special Forces

Ben Malcom recalls a mission to infiltrate and destroy a 76mm gun hidden inside a North Korean mountain. During the cover of night on July 14, 1952, Malcom managed to sneak 120 guerilla fighters onto the mountain and into the bunker, and describes the combat that ensued.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

His uncle was in the Army and had this piece of advice, don't volunteer for anything. Ray Bohn remembered that and never did, especially after he learned about his uncle's fate in New Guinea. The Korean War brought him into the Army and, after basic, he was trained in cryptography.
GEN Ray Davis - Marines +11 Total Videos

7th Marine Regiment

We had to give up a lot of real estate when the fighting in Korea became focused on the demarcation line. Some units were very far to the north and had to pull back. Ray Davis had commanded a battalion during some of the fiercest fighting but there was a rotation system, so he was back home when the stalemate started.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Ray Bohn describes the Korean War era cryptography machine he was trained to use. He never really got to use it because when he got to the front line, he was made the courier for Headquarters Company.
GEN Ray Davis - Marines +11 Total Videos

7th Marine Regiment

The Chinese and the North Koreans were difficult to face because of the sheer numbers, if nothing else. Ray Davis faced them and the Japanese before them. He would eventually face the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese but there is no question in his mind who the toughest foe was.
Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

28th Infantry Division

He was too young to be scared but there were a couple of times that Ed Fulghum thought he was going to die. Mortar fire will do that to you. The one thing that did affect him in Korea was seeing other guys get maimed. That will get to you.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

When asked if he met anyone during his service who inspired him, Ray Bohn responds with two stories that both speak well of race relations in the Army.
GEN Ray Davis - Marines +11 Total Videos

7th Marine Regiment

Based on his service in Korea and on his many trips back there, Ray Davis developed a great deal of admiration for the Korean people. It is nothing short of a miracle what they have done in their country since that war.
Allyn Johnson - Air Force +8 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Air Rescue pilot Allyn Johnson spent a lot of time in the air off the coast of Korea waiting for someone to ask for help. The brass disapproved an award when he successfully rescued some downed Navy airmen but the Navy presented him with a special gift.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

He was inland but still close enough to the coast to feel the effects of a devastating typhoon. Ray Bohn tells how his unit prepared for the storm and what happened when they had to build a rope bridge to their outhouse. It was on the other side of a stream that had become a raging torrent.
Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

28th Infantry Division

He had to weigh 120 pounds but he only weighed 116. Ed Fulghum's induction physical was the next day and, as usual, he came up with a plan. It was knee deep snow where he did his basic training. When some joker didn't turn in his pistol at the range, the recruits were sent outside to stand in the snowy Indiana weather.
Allyn Johnson - Air Force +8 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Allyn Johnson graduated high school in 1948 and went into the Air Force, figuring it would provide a secure future. He became an aircraft mechanic and then an instructor in rotary wing maintenance.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

The Chinese had no air power but the Russians would send MiG's down into Korea to engage American fighters. Ray Bohn was glad that they weren't using one of the most effective weapons our side had, napalm.
Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

28th Infantry Division

When Ed Fulghum got to Korea, he found out that the Inchon invasion was well underway. The notorious Inchon tide had gone out, so he had to slog a couple of hundreds yards through the mud flats to get to the shore. Was he scared? Not in the least.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Besides being the company courier, Ray Bohn had other tasks. Once, while escorting some newly captured Chinese prisoners, he was ambushed by their comrades. Before it was over, he had earned the nickname Headhunter.
Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

Multiple Units

One day, after three hours of picking cotton, Ed Fulghum announced to his father that he was going to join the Army. Well, you can't. You're only sixteen. I will prove I'm seventeen and join up. He went straight to the recruiter and found out what document he needed. Now he had a plan of action.
Allyn Johnson - Air Force +8 Total Videos

Multiple Units

Allyn Johnson was an Air Force mechanic and instructor when he found out that he could apply for flight training. Now that was exciting. He had a phobia about acrobatics but he wanted to fly multi-engine aircraft so they let him slide on that part of the training. He went into Air Rescue because they had B-17's and he really wanted to fly one.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Ray Bohn never really left the front line while he was in Korea. He never saw the cities, ate a lot of C-rations and took up smoking. As the company courier, he had to visit a lot of different locations and it was at one of these near the coast that he was treated to a display of naval gunfire.
Clayton Byrd - Army +11 Total Videos

4th Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Division

Following post-war duty in Czechoslovakia, Clayton Byrd had a few years of civilian life before returning to the service during the Korean War. He served in Germany with an engineer battalion and when some land was cleared for a baseball field, he got a rude reminder of the last war.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

Although he was trained in cryptography, when Ray Bohn got to Korea, he was designated infantry and sent to a heavy weapons company. He immediately had a run-in with the 1st Sgt. there and, just like in his private life, he got himself into trouble. Fortunately, an officer brought him over to Headquarters Company to try and make use of his skills.
Ed Fulghum - Army +14 Total Videos

28th Infantry Division

Ed Fulghum had conned his way into the Army at sixteen and gone to war in Korea. He got a little nervous when another soldier was shipped home for the same reason. He had a talent for talking his way into things and, when his section chief was due to go home, he set about getting his job.
Marty Letellier - Marines +17 Total Videos

5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

He had fought at the Pusan Perimeter, Inchon, and the Chosin Reservoir and was nearly ready to board the ship home. Marty Letellier asked a Red Cross worker for some coffee and was told it would cost a dime. You've got to be kidding.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

When it came time for Ray Bohn to come home from Korea, some of the guys were sore because, as a draftee, he was eligible and they were not. When he got home, he went to work with his father at a hardware firm where he started out sweeping floors and then rose to be president of the company.
Marty Letellier - Marines +17 Total Videos

5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

The USS Henrico was an old tub that ferried Marty Letellier and the 7th Marines to Korea. The nights were beautiful on the way, ablaze with stars. He thought the country was beautiful, too, when he got to Pusan, but there was one problem.
Ray Bohn - Army +11 Total Videos

27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division

At the Korean front, Ray Bohn's HQ company was camped on two sides of a valley. His side was subject to Chinese artillery fire while the other side, where the officers were camped, was sheltered by the hill on that side. During a fierce barrage, they tried to time the reloading and sprint to the other side. Who would make it?