7:22 | Bill describes being shot numerous times throughout a battle during the Korean War.
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.
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.
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.
Fighter pilot Charles Cleveland was flying cover high over an air-to-ground operation below when three MiG-15's flew right through his formation. He maneuvered until he was behind the leader and let him have it until the MiG crashed into a hillside.
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.
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.
When Ed Price went for his first guard duty in Korea, he was surprised that some men had nicely pressed uniforms at the inspection. Why? This was a war zone. Then he found out that, each night, one man was selected to be the supernumerary, who got to stay inside where it was warm. He now had a new goal.
Every Marine knows about inspections. Bob Brockish prepared well and got duty at the front gate as a reward. That did not last but he got other duty which he liked, something which was preferable to guard duty in the cold desert lookout towers.
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.
The 155 mm rounds were coming. You could hear them. Paul Deverick and his buddy dove for a hole by the stream on a cold Koren mountainside. He was in the hole first, and that saved him from getting hit, but it was his friend who was really lucky.
It was his job to determine which award a soldier recommended for decoration should apply to receive. There was one young soldier who should have got a higher award and there was one captain who demanded a Silver Star for basically nothing.
Marty Letellier was at Camp Pendleton for two years after basic training and actually got to fire his mortar up in the hills. The rattlesnakes were not pleased. Suddenly, there was a war to fight. North Korea had invaded the South. What did he know about Korea? Nothing.
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.
The guards heard something. The giant lights were switched on to light up the Korean night and everyone was on the line. Paul Deverick was surprised and relieved when he saw what caused the ruckus. In another incident, the noise he heard turned out to be an enemy.
The trip over to Korea was just a trip on a troop ship. No big deal, but while Norman Kling was docked in Japan, a huge typhoon hit the harbor and ships were coming unmoored and banging into each other.
The Navy said he had mechanical aptitude, so Charles Kelly worked in the engine room on the destroyer. When he deployed to Korea, he first stopped in Japan, a country and a culture which he grew to love.
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?
Nearly everyone in his unit had frostbite to some degree, Marty Letellier had been very careful to take care of his feet, so he avoided the misery that many were feeling. As the Marines withdrew to the coast after the retreat from Chosin, they were followed by thousands of refugees, who were also evacuated to the South.
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.
For seventeen year old Jim Larkin, what he found after he came ashore at Inchon was fascinating. The novelty of Asia soon wore off since there was a war to fight, but he discovered that the Koreans are a humble and polite people. It's not a bad way to be.
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.
After discovering that his own brother's army unit was located quite near his own, Urban Rump spends a bit of time in their division. As he tries to transfer over to permanently be with his brother, he learns that it's not as easy as it seems.
Fighter pilot Charles Cleveland had two probable kills to go with four confirmed kills in Korea. He describes one of the probables, during which he had to break off pursuit at the last minute just as it looked like the enemy MiG was going down. Fifty years later, a friend of his set the record straight.
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.
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.
His flight home had to circle around after an aborted landing and Bob Brockish thought for a moment, am I going to survive Korea and then die here? He was on his way home for Christmas and then on to Quantico, where hoped to become a commissioned Marine officer.
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.
After the push to get to the Punch Bowl area, Bob Brockish went into reserve with his battalion and it was around this time that he became squad leader. The Marine was nineteen years old and suddenly he was responsible for twelve men.
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.
