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I was not in Korean War but I was in WW2 and was
one of first Americans to go to Taegu,Korea
in Sept. 1945 . The Japanese soldiers were still
there at their guard posts as we occupation force arrived
Art
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 10:12
AM
Subject: Meredith Victory, Hungnam,
etc.
Thanks for the replies to my queries about
Hungnam, refugees, etc. Tom Hickcox, thanks for offering to send the
USAA article. I actually have it, courtesy of J. Robert Lunney, one of
the Meredith Victory officers featured in the story -- well-done, I
thought. As I mentioned in an earlier posting, I've interviewed Lunney
and one of his shipmates and they've been quite helpful. I also am
tracking down crewmen from other craft that carried refugees or
soldiers.
Sam Kim asked if I can read Korean. If only!
However, I'm going to need a translator for some Korean-language
materials I've already been promised, so leads to other accounts in Korean are
always welcome. (I expect to find language help at one of the local
universities.)
In hopes of jogging memories, here are
some musings and questions some of you might want to address, or pass on to
fellow vets.
Koreans' survival
There are
many references to the persistent refugee tail hindering our convoys down the
Chosin/Changjin MSR and in the 8th Army zone, but few details. I was
wondering about the particulars of how they followed the troops, and whether
their numbers grew as the troops moved south. Aside from the question of
infiltrators, were they a tactical hazard and why?
How did the refugees survive the cold and privations? If our boots
and snow gear were inadequate, what were theirs like? When the soldiers
rested at night, where were the Koreans? Our rations were frozen; what
were they eating? Was there any interaction between them and the
troops?
Because the U.S. situation was dire, did we try to
drive them away or outrun them? Did we cover them from enemy fire?
Did they use our equipment, like the bridge at Funchilin? (I
guess that bridge was needed expressly for vehicles, as there was some
kind of footpath there ...)
What was left in Korean
towns and villages as we passed through? I haven't yet determined to any
degree of satisfaction whether any villagers remained -- and, if so, how they
managed -- in the towns at the heart of the fighting: Hagaru, Koto,
Chinhung-ni, and so on. From all the accounts of demolition, it sounds
like our policy was "scorched earth," leaving nothing for the Communists but
nothing for the home folks, either. Did the Chinese and NKPA pursue the
same policy? Appleman describes the occasional warm Korean hut east of
Chosin during the Faith fight there -- were they stragglers left behind after
villages had emptied out? What were they living on?
Can you recall any vignettes of civilian existence up north, on
the way to the coast, or elsewhere in Korea during that period of the
war?
A-Frames, Korean food ...
How does an
A-frame work? Did UN troops ever adopt this time-honored Korean device?
Did our ROKs or KATUSAs use them? Did U.S. soldiers ever eat
Korean food? Liquor? Anyone remember any Koreans' encounters with
C-rations and other U.S. vittles? I gather our cigarettes were a valued
commodity.
Shoepacs
Finally, and this is
rather in the way of a "poll," I want to hear opinions of the renowned
Shoepacs. I'm looking into L.L.Bean's role in their possible design and
supply, and the shoes' apparent relation to the famed Bean "duck boots" which,
for reasons never clear to me, were VERY popular in the carpeted hallways of a
prep school I attended in the late '70s in "rugged" central New Jersey.
George Rasula gives the Shoepac high marks at Chosin
but, of course, he's a Minnesotan descended from Finns and almost alone in his
praise for the singular footwear. Even some army historians say the
rubber bottoms caused the wearer to sweat, and then allowed the sweat to
freeze.
That said, the alternative -- thin,
leather (?) combat boots with rubber overshoes -- may have been just as sweaty
and colder, at least, as Rasula would have it. Was there a better
alternative? What were the warmest boots on the civilian market at the
time? In other words, what would you have been wearing in the snow at
home?
[I don't even want to think about the
glove situation. In D.C. this week, the temperature dipped
unaccustomedly merely to the 20s and every time I stepped outside in my nice,
wool-lined leather mitts and still felt chilled, I thought about those leather
"shells" and other inadequate gloves the men were stuck with as they marched
north toward the Yalu and Siberia. And the field jackets. And the
summer weight pants (cotton? wool?). And the cold metal of the weapons
and equipment ... Do you still think about it in the
cold?]
Thanks, as usual, for all the good stuff on
this exchange.
--Mandy Katz
Tom Hickcox wrote:
At 22:33 12/11/02, Mandy Katz wrote:
Well, OK, since this list needs some
action, I'll stop lurking and jump in with both feet.
I'm
writing a history for children and another for adults of the evacuation of
Hungnam, December 1950. The children's book will cover the civilian
experience, with particular attention to the semi-miraculous transport of
some 14,000 Korean refugees aboard a single cargo ship, the Meredith
Victory. The adult book will describe the entire
evacuation.
As I live in Washington, DC, just a few subway stops
from the Library of Congress, I've had no trouble finding published
material on my subject. And I've done a fair job (I think) of
scouring the web for related info. For instance, the "kimsoft" site
run by this group's own YSK, is invaluable, as is his memoir. The
Changjin Journal, edited by George Rasula, is another great
source.
Nevertheless, finding details and recollections about the
evacuation itself is a challenge. There's so much out there about
Chosin and the long fight down the MSR that material on the evacuation
seems paltry by comparison. (I've read Cowart, Miracle at
Hungnam.) It seems after the ordeal of the MSR, many survivors
just passed out the minute they hit the safety of a truck or cot in
Hamhung or Hungnam, and remember very little of their time there.
Mandy,
The current issue of USAA Magazine has an
article on the voyage of the Meredith Victory.
USAA, United
Services Automobile Association, is an insurance company that caters to
armed services members. It used to be mainly commissioned officers,
but I think that has changed.
I can mail you the article if you sent
me your snail mail
address.
Tommy
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