COMBAT STORIES FROM Korea

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Showing : Korea Videos

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  John Kane couldn't believe it. A fellow Marine, Richard Riffenburg, had been hit by a sniper and was badly wounded but every bit of ground between the outpost and the aid station at the main line was zeroed in by the Chinese. Policy was no one goes out there in daylight. They were just going to put him in a bunker and let him bleed out and he couldn't let that happen. I'll take him.

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  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.

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  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.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  He does have a couple of small issues with the Marine Corps. John Kane was a squad leader in Korea, which is a sergeant's job but they barely promoted him to corporal. So they were stingy with rank and medals, as well. Nevertheless, he is proud that he had a hand in containing communism.

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  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.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  The attacking Chinese had been beaten back but artillery was still falling at Outpost Warsaw. It was our own and John Kane was frantically searching for a radio to tell them to cease fire. He finally found one and grabbed the mic, then, nothing. He couldn't speak because his throat was clogged with smoke and cordite dust. Part 2 of 2.

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  Hap Chandler - Air Force +16 Total Videos

  13th Bomb Squadron

  B-26 navigator Hap Chandler recalls observing the release of American POWs by the Chinese at Panmunjom. They were greeted by chaplains, mail, showers and new clothes. He did lose friends in that war including his roommate who volunteered to fly extra missions.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  The Black Watch was a Scottish unit that was fighting alongside the Marines in Korea. This began a lifelong love of bagpipe music for John Kane. The Chinese sent a horde of troops against his position and, during that fight, an artillery shell landed too close and he was knocked out and evacuated.

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  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.

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  Hap Chandler - Air Force +16 Total Videos

  13th Bomb Squadron

  He'd proven himself in the skies of Europe but Hap Chandler was not done. He flew as navigator on a B-26 in Korea in a type of warfare that was totally different. This time it was single plane missions, finding and disrupting the enemy at night.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  John Kane was on a train back to Jersey City after boot camp, along with some fellow Marines heading to the same area. When the train got to North Carolina, they were informed that certain Marines had to move to the back of the train. Someone reached up and pulled the emergency cable, stopping the train.

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  Bob Brockish - Marines +17 Total Videos

  C Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  It was like sandlot baseball. The replacement Marines were divvied up by the platoons and fire teams and Bob Brockish was the last guy to go. He had been driving an ambulance in the rear, but now he would be in a foxhole on the front line.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  His last two months in Korea were in a safe place, held back in reserve. John Kane almost volunteered to go back to the front but he figured he'd used up his quota of close calls. So, when his time was up he returned home, did guard duty for a while and then left the Marine Corps. His only regret was not using the intelligence training he'd received.

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  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.

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  Bob Brockish - Marines +17 Total Videos

  C Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Bob Brockish decided to become a Marine while he was still in grade school. After his older brother joined, he gave a speech at an assembly extolling the history of the Corps.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  Either they were gutsy or their officers didn't mind wasting them but the Chinese would come in under their own barrage. They were also well equipped with Czech and Russian weapons. But Marine John Kane enjoyed some advantages, like warming his hands to a nearby napalm drop. And he had good allies with the international forces that were there.

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  Marty Letellier - Marines +17 Total Videos

  5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  All they said was to get on the boat. Marine PFC Marty Letellier had no clue where he was going, as usual. It turned out to be Inchon, where Gen MacArthur planned to turn the war around. It wasn't a normal landing, but there was, thankfully, not much resistance.

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  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?

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  After completing two grueling months of training at Camp Pendleton, John Kane expected to be sent to Korea but, instead, he was sent to a new brigade with a new commander, the legendary Chesty Puller. Kane really wanted to go to Korea but the General wasn't letting anyone transfer out.

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  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.

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  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.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  What hazards did he face in Korea? Aside from all the different weaponry, John Kane had other things to deal with. From the extreme cold to the rats to the opportunistic Korean ladies, there was always something,

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  Fred Culbreth - Army +8 Total Videos

  4th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Regiment

  He never had to engage the enemy, but combat engineer Fred Culbreth did experience artillery barrages while working on gun emplacements in the Korean hills. He didn't know it at the time, but it damaged his hearing, as did his own rock blasting work.

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  Curtis James - Marines +5 Total Videos

  USS Princeton (CV-37)

  He was working as a staff officer at Camp Lejeune when he got a surprise assignment. Curtis James was to be one of two officers on a shipboard Marine detachment. The ship was the USS Princeton, an aircraft carrier supporting troops in the Korean War.

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  John Kane - Marines +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  As a child, John Kane had trouble with his eardrums. The Army didn't want him. The Navy didn't want him. The Air Force didn't want him. But there was a war on and the Marines said come on in.

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  Marty Letellier - Marines +17 Total Videos

  5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Marty Letellier describes the 60 mm mortar that he fired. He was assigned to a mortar crew after basic training and led the crew as the gunner. He would be set up just behind the line to fire at the enemy.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  John Kane had been through some fierce battles but now he was back in the rear putting out concertina wire. No bullets but it was well below zero and miserable. Then he got R&R in Japan. That was much better.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  There was the Main Line of Resistance, the MLR, and then there were outposts out in front of it. The North Koreans were gone, it was all Chinese, now. John Kane had just arrived there and, when moving to a trench position, he did something that was either very brave or very foolhardy. Either way, it earned him a Purple Heart.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  The Marines crept up to Outpost Warsaw in a bid to oust the Chinese but, when they got there, it was empty. They were relaxing with some coffee when the barrage began. It was devastating and John Kane scrambled for a hole to hide in. Then, the Chinese attacked. Part 1 of 2.

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  John Kane +13 Total Videos

  1st Battalion, 7th Marines

  There was no getting off the plane in Hawaii for John Kane. He was on his way to Korea but a previous bunch of Marines had busted up the place in a rowdy night of drunkenness. Then, when he arrived at Seoul, he was assigned to a company with the nickname Suicide Charlie, which was earned at Guadalcanal.