7:22 | Bill describes being shot numerous times throughout a battle during the Korean War.
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.
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 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 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.
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.
When the Korean War broke out, Paul Deverick was in the active Marine Reserve and he got the call. He went with his unit, which was designated as an engineering company, but he didn't get to build anything. His first assignment was transporting prisoners from North to South.
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.
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.
The enemy in Korea were not very good fighters, according to Marine William Moncus. The Chinese never could deal with squad tactics and, instead, relied on mass force. The weather was also an enemy, living in the open in the frigid cold.
Sinclair Stickle shares his method for making sure his gun did not jam in a firefight. A little drop of oil. He barely noticed the weather since the winter of 1953 was nothing like the winter of 1950 in the mountains of Korea. Food was a big deal and everybody gathered around when someone got a package from home, hopefully with something nice to offset the WWII era rations.
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.
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.
Two interesting things happened to Jim Bolan in Korea. One night, after his shift in the command post ended, he was walking on a slippery steep hill when he lost his footing and down he went. What happened then was memorable. The other thing involved the failure to capture a Chinese soldier after two weeks of trying. He and his buddy decided to give it a try on their own. (Caution: rough language.)
It was eleven days retreating down that narrow dirt road from the Chosin Reservoir. William Moncus had two wounds and frozen feet and was airlifted to Japan after a runway was improvised. He began a long journey through several hospitals until he was able to walk again.
As a destroyer in a carrier group, the USS Cowell had to sometimes pick up pilots who had ditched in the ocean on their return from missions over Korea. Charles Kelly recalls those incidents as well as a couple of odd occurrences.
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.
T.J. Martin had already lost many men and the Chinese were taking even more prisoners. Thanks to some quick thinking and some good teachers back home, he was able to talk his way out of captivity, but he wasn’t out of the woods yet. Part 1 of 2
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.
When he rotated home from Korea, Lloyd Glasson asked to be assigned to 5th Army HQ in Chicago so he could be close to home. He missed the camaraderie he experienced with his buddies in Korea, but he did not miss the horrifying aspects of war and he reveals a grisly experience which changed his path in life.
What do you do in the personnel section? Ed Price answers that question and then describes some strange and funny incidents from his time in Korea, like the time half the country went on red alert because of a funeral.
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.
While walking past a recruiting office, Charles Vicari made a spur of the moment decision to join the Marine Corps. When the Korean War broke out, he volunteered for duty on the west coast to replace Marines that had been sent there. He was told the duty may be a little further than the west coast.
His father fought in WWI and he was too young for service in WWII. That may be why Fred Culbreth felt determined to attend a military school like the Citadel. He wanted the military experience but he didn't have a war. Then he got one in 1950.
William Alli had wanted to forget about the Korean War once he was out of it. Over time, however, he was called to write a book about it. Just one problem, how to pay tribute to the Marines in his division before him, the ones who went through Frozen Chosin.
Korean civilians were filtering back into areas which had recently seen combat. Engineering officer Fred Culbreth engaged in a strange interplay with one farmer. Every day, his men would have to move a homemade irrigation line to work on a bridge and, every night, the farmer would rebuild it.
During the Korean War, Bob Owen took on many responsibilities in the Navy. He joined Task Force 95 and helped the South Koreans intimidate the North during negotiation periods between the two. His team continued to help pilots that were shot down, but at one point there was an incident where they accidentally shot down a friendly pilot who had lost the ability to communicate that he wasn't a threat.
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.
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.
A Marine and a North Korean were both approaching the corner of a building from opposite directions. What could happen? Marty Letellier laughed when he saw it. He and a buddy liberated some swords from a factory in Inchon, just before they were sent into the demolished city of Seoul.
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.
