Certainly anything is possible. But no Marine that I know who was a
participant in that war, would abandon their dead , not a few died recovering
dead or in the attempt. I have Marine friends who, individually, were in
every phase of that war, and such a scenario of trucks recovering Marine
dead in no mans land simply would not be done. An APC where a day light
recovery was done.....indeed, but trucks? And graves registration in front
of the MLR never happened on my watch.
It could only have happened after the cease fire, and it wouldn't be
koreans loading Marine dead. We took care of our own. So if they were Koreans
they were not recovering Marine dead.
Appreciate your input.
I must believe John is confused about when it occurred, and who the
dead were. He mentioned Tok-san Artillery the night before, which may have
been the night of 26 July,
when both sides fired to reduce the stockpile they had, since when
the cease fire took affect, all ordnance had to be moved two miles to the
rear. What he may have witnessed was probably the morning of the 27th,
when a general policing of the battlefield was begun.
Robert
Ed Evanhoe wrote:
Robert,I don't know about that time frame but in previous years 8th Army Graves
Registration would pick up the dead following a battle, sometimes going
into no-man's land to recover the bodies. It could be this 2-1/2 ton GMC
belonged to them since it sounds like something they might do. (just a thought)Ed
At 02:44 PM 7/24/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>John,
>
>I referred to a "supposed" deuce and a half because I cannot conceive of
>Marines using a truck in front of the MLR to recover dead. It just doesn't
>jive. Perhaps after the cease fire, but certainly not during the war.
>Searching the "Marine Operations in Korea Vol.5" I could find no reference
>to Marine casualties in that sector in such proportion to require a truck
>to recover them.
>There were Korean Marines also in that sector, but still no mention of
>such an occurrence. If you knew the hill # or name, or the month I might
>be able to help. If you happen to remember I'd be pleased to help you put
>it together.