COMBAT STORIES FROM Korea

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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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  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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  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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  William Alli - Marines +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Seven months into his tour in Korea, William Alli was put in charge of the local unit of Korean laborers. The nineteen year old Marine was now an Asian despot, according to his friends. He didn't mind the ribbing. After all, he wasn't carrying that heavy machine gun ammo any more.

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  William Moncus - Marines +7 Total Videos

  1st Marine Division

  When North Korea invaded the South, a train pulled out of Brooklyn with William Moncus on board. It picked up more Marines as it traveled across the country, arriving finally in San Diego. After shipping across the Pacific, they landed at Pusan and went straight into battle. The tide was turned.

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  Fred Culbreth - Army +8 Total Videos

  36th Engineer Combat Group

  Combat engineer Fred Culbreth was on a train rolling through Seoul toward the front. He had a support role but, within days of arriving at his post, he thought he may have to engage in combat in the middle of the night.

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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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  T.J. Martin - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Infantry Division, 38th Infantry Regiment

  T.J. Martin was marched north to Camp 1 in NW North Korea, along the Yalu River. He recalls what he considered the mercy of his captors, and fellow prisoners’ comparison to their treatment as captives of the Japanese years prior.

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  Paul Deverick - Marines +6 Total Videos

  3rd Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  It was a pleasant surprise. After being relieved on the line in Korea, Paul Deverick was headed home. On the ship, they slept on those great Navy blankets and some of the guys tried to make souvenirs out of them. They didn't get away with it, but they did get discharged early.

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  William Alli - Marines +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  Marines in Korea had a special relationship with Tootsie Rolls. William Alli missed out on that but he does have something to say about the chow when he was up on the line. When you were opening up the boxes and pulling out the cans, you had what you called The Deadly Three.

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  T.J. Martin - Army +9 Total Videos

  2nd Infantry Division, 38th Infantry Regiment

  While in Camp 1, the North Koreans attempted to indoctrinate T.J. Martin and his squad. He tells the story of his attempt to resist this and his punishment.

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  Robert Martin - Army

  38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division

  Shortly after high school, Robert Martin enlisted in the Army. He became a cook and when the Korean war broke out, he joined the 2nd Infantry Division there. While he was deployed, the order from the White House came that the troops could not fire unless they were fired upon. This was very bad, in his estimation.

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  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.

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  Ed Price - Army +8 Total Videos

  68th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (90MM)

  Ed Price was stuck in Seattle. While other troops boarded ships for Korea, he and several others had to wait for records to catch up with them. After a couple of false starts, he was finally headed across the Pacific. When he got to his anti-aircraft unit, he was asked a fateful question. Can you type?

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  Lloyd Glasson - Army +6 Total Videos

  5th Regimental Combat Team

  Because he had some college and could type, Lloyd Glasson was assigned to headquarters company. He became the Awards and Decorations Section Chief and it was his job to write up the awards and interview soldiers who were recommended for them.

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  Ed Price - Army +8 Total Videos

  68th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (90MM)

  He was fortunate that his time in Korea was relatively uneventful. Ed Price remembers a couple of big air attacks, but most were on the level of hand grenades lobbed out of a small plane. Since he was in headquarters company, which had a small amount of privates, he was in for a lot of guard duty.

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  Jim Bolan - Army +13 Total Videos

  82nd Airborne Division

  Jim Bolan was attached to the Marines for a while as a sniper. He used an M-1 for the closer stuff but for anything really distant, he used his own rifle that his father had sent to him. Then a general got a look at it. Son, that's an illegal weapon.

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  Charles Vicari - Marines +11 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  The Marines had to take a large ridge line and it was a tough one. They started taking rifle fire and then mortar fire. Charles Vicari heard a loud crack and then felt like someone hit him in the back with a hot poker.

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  Ed Price - Army +8 Total Videos

  68th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (90MM)

  Ed Price thought he made a pretty slick move. By becoming a clerk in the personnel section, he wouldn't have to be out in that cold Korean weather. Somehow, he still found himself manning a .50 caliber machine gun from time to time.

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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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  Lloyd Glasson - Army +6 Total Videos

  5th Regimental Combat Team

  On his first day in the Army, Lloyd Glasson picked up athlete's foot in the shower. A few days later he asked to go on sick call for treatment. No one paid him any heed until he was a medical oddity. When he was finally through with training, he had a plum assignment to guided missile school, but he had to get a security clearance.

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  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.

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  William Alli - Marines +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  He didn't get seasick crossing the Pacific, but William Alli disliked the sea, nonetheless. It's too big. He finally arrived in Korea and he wasn't too thrilled with that, either. What was that smell?

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  Don Wussler - Army +4 Total Videos

  17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division

  It took a while for Dan Wussler to talk to anyone about the war. After the crazy dreams had stopped and his kids were asking questions, he began to open up about his experience in Korea. He joined the family business for a few years, then he found a good career in banking.

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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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  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.

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  William Alli - Marines +9 Total Videos

  2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  The whole division was pulled off the line and in reserve when William Alli read a letter from a cousin in Turkey. Why don't you go visit the Turkish troops serving in Korea, tell them your father is from Turkey and you are all brothers fighting Communism together? Great idea, until he got there.

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  Marty Letellier - Marines +17 Total Videos

  5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division

  It had been a hard battle and the Marines were stripping down to get in the Miryang River for a much needed bath. That's when a lady journalist happened along. After a short rest, they were sent right back to the place on the Pusan Perimeter they'd just left. Another hill to take.

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  Fred Culbreth - Army +8 Total Videos

  36th Engineer Combat Group

  A bridge was washed out on his route, but Fred Culbreth didn't want to waste hours on the detour. He knew that there were rocks and a hand cable at a certain point, so he plotted a route on the map and headed for the spot. When he saw that the ford was flooded, he decided to go for it, anyway.

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  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.