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Re: Book review: Red Wings Over the Yalu: China, the SovietUnion and the Ai...
Robert,
If you remember exact detail of your time in Korea I take my hat off to
you. Most of it was a blur to me, especially my time in a bunker on the MLR.
Frankly, it scared the hell out of me even though I didn't have to go out on
patrols or fight for an outpost. I didn't venture out of that listening bunker
often and for a very short time when I did. The ASA bunker was a Restricted Area
and we were ordered to stay inside except for potty breaks. After the cease
fire, I did sit out back of the bunker on several occasions, smoke and chat with
the troops that happened by. Some of the combat stories I put in my
novel (fiction) had a basis in those chats.
Now, I don't want to belabor this point but, I will tell you one more
time with finality, I saw a 2-1/2 ton truck down on the bottom of the hill
and bodies were being loaded onto it. It was daylight in the
morning and the night before had been filled with
heavy fighting. I cannot swear that the bodies were Marines. Maybe
they were Chinese that got through the barbwire line. I don't remember how the
bodies were dressed. It sticks in my mind that the men handling the
bodies were Korean, probably the service corp guys. There may have been a US
soldier or two involved. Frankly, I don't remember the detail, but the 2-1/2 ton
truck scene sticks in my mind because it had a heavy emotion on me. I went
quickly back into the bunker because I didn't want to watch it anymore. It
was the only time during my stay in Korea that I actually saw dead men. It
might have been when the 25th Infantry Division was on line and not the 1st
Marine Division. We manned that listening bunker regardless of which fighting
unit was on line at the time. It had to have occurred during May, June or
July of 1953 because that is the only time frame I was on line before the cease
fire. Even then I was on duty for 24 hours then off for two or three days before
going up the hill again. Also, sometime during late June I went to Tokyo
for a week of R & R. Tough duty, eh?
Although I was in the bunker the night of June 26, I don't think it was the
morning of June 27 when the cease fire took effect. I went outside the bunker
when the cease fire first took effect and looked across at the Chinese positions
with my binoculars. I had looked briefly before and never seen any activity.
This morning I could see hordes of them. Some were waving. I don't remember
seeing any activity at the base of the hill and out into No Man's Land.
You asked me what hill I was on. I don't know and none of my ASA contacts
have been able to tell me. I researched this heavily before writing my novel. As
I said previously, I think it was near the east side of the corridor
to Panmunjom. That corridor was 400 yard wide. Looking at a topog map I
previously obtained and upon which I have sketched the approximate MLR, it
appears that the ASA bunker might have been on hill 200. That hill is about 1000
yards NW of the village of Changdon. I wish I had take a photo looking north
from the bunker but I didn't. The only photo I have is looking down the back
side of the hill and showing some Korean Service Corp guys packing supplies up
the trail.
Anyway, it was nice chatting with you, Robert. Congratulation on surviving
that massive Chinese assault on the Berlin Complex during the final days of the
war. Good luck in your endeavors and thanks for keeping those Chinese from
overrunning my bunker.
John
Ed,
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.