Re: A giant of a man

[<Jwscpd8@aol.com>]

In a message dated 07/13/2001 7:32:21 AM Mountain Daylight Time, 
Cfbernard@aol.com writes:

<< I do not know when we sent the 175mm artillery 
 piece there, but that enormous tube may have been what you saw. >>

This artillery piece had a tractor on the front end as well as the back end, 
the tube rested on a cradle and from our positions on the top of the hill, 
this was the biggest cannon I had ever laid eyes on, outside of what were on 
battle ships.   We called it the atomic cannon as we knew the military had 
built one or two and we figured that this was one of them.  When it was 
fired, the flash was so bright we could just about sit and read the stars and 
stripes for a short time.  We never learned as to what size shell it fired.  
In fact, after it was blown up, we were ordered to move out in the morning 
and no mention was made to us on the hill as to why that piece was were it 
was and what it was shooting at.   No one would talk about it, out side of 
our unit.

Many years later I was talking to a friend of mine about the Korean war when 
I learned he had been there at the same time I was and I brought up the story 
about the big gun.   He related to me, there were two of them in Korea in 51, 
one was destroyed (the one we saw) and the other he saw in the rear some 
place and it was mentioned by the military in the area as a small atomic 
cannon.  He believed that the one he saw was never fired.

    John Sonley  M Co. 1951 Korea