712th Nostalgic Memories

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 8/14/2019 712th Nostalgic Memories

    1/2

    Nostalgic MemoriesOf AT&YongdungpowoHianof

    By FRANK BARTHOLOMEWUnited Press Vice PresidentABOARD THE PRESS TRAIN(UP )I can remember whenthis railroad was known as the"Pusan to Paris" and boasted

    U t a h G u a r d F A U n i tH o n o r e d B y S o l o n sBy CPL. KEITH M. WRIGHTWITH U.S. IX CORPS (Pac.S&S).The IX Corps 213thArmored Field Artillery Bat-

    talion, a national guard organi-zation from Utah, has been com-mended by the Utah state legis-lature for action against the Chi-nese, May 27.ATTACKED at close rangeduring the early morning hours,the 213th fought off the Chinesefrom their gun positions.- Asday broke, men from A Batteryand the battalion headquartersorganized a combat patrol andpushed three quarters of a miledown a canyon in which enemypositions were located, using oneof their self-propelled guns as atank.Once when the Chinese at*tempted to escape over a ridgeJJ""the artillerymen halted thenFmewith time fuze gunfire, progres-sively shortening the range tobring the enemy closer. At the. close of the action, the 213th hadinflicted at least 400 casualtieson the Chinese and captured 831

    prisoners without the loss'of aman.

    direct standard gauge' connec-tions across Manchuria andSiberia to all Europe.Now it disappears in whatthe railroaders call'"end xrt thetrack" in a bombed out bridgeacross the Imjin a few milesnorth'of here, and the northerndivision-'on the other side of thecrick is held by a group of mili-tary gentlemen under a Red flagand no conjunction whatsoeverto cooperate with our end.ONE OF THE things theyare sore about is that Maj .Robert H. McAffer ty and his

    f r i e n d s in the 712th RailwayOperating Battalion ran mostof their locomotives off thebombed bridge and into a riverbed, arid dynamited the rest ofthem, at the time of the retreatf rom North Korea last winter.The best the Communists can

    do by way of retaliation is tohang on to all the coal in Ko-rea and make our side importall their railroad fuel fromJapan.OUR PIECE OP track knownirreverently to the correspon-dents as the,Atchieon, Topekaand Yongdungpo, runs about200miles south and is operated by2th, a railway operatingbattalion sponsored by the Read-ing railroad. The 150 miles ofline .south of that Is run by the724th, which is sponsored by thePennsylvania railroad.

    "We have rebuilt about 300locomotives both here and inJapan, said McAfferty, Pueblo

    fapofco

    TnewaTa1520-SaairCofligwhboov

  • 8/14/2019 712th Nostalgic Memories

    2/2

    Wandering Ph. D. With Midwest Twang_ * . _- . , ? .... -S. Korean Jack-Of-H-TradesWITH 24TH IN3P.. BE5GT to the University of Michigan era U-S. and Alaska, he re- A 49-year old Korean whospent 23 years in the U.S. andspeaks English with a mid-western twang is working asa jack-of-all trades with theEagles Regiment Civil Assis-tance office.Samreal name P'yongtheson of Christian parents, cameto the U.S. in 1926 as a pre-medical student at the Univer-sity of Nebraska. After earn:ing an A.B. degree he went on

    to win 'a Ph.D. in chemistry.HE DISCONTINUED his med-ical studies, he said, becauseof lack of funds. Armed withthe Ph.D., in 1933 Sam wentback to Omaha, where he open-ed a hamburger stand, whichhe built into a restaurant inone and a half years, fee sub-sequently sold it for $5000. "Even a Ph.D., has to eat,"he philosophises.AFTER WANDERING, flushand broke by turns, over west-

    turned to Korea in 1948 as_aprofessor at the Women's Medi-cal college of Seoul university.When the war broke/ out,Sam. and thousands of otherswent south.Now a member of the CivilAssistance section, Sam has amultiplicity of duties.

    TIME OUTJack Benny and his troupe pause at entranceto the Al Jolson bowl in Korea to visit with members of theU . S . X Corps. (U.S. Army Photo)

    Nostalgic MemoriesOf AT&Yongdungpo

    Marine Really CivilianBy GEORGE MCAIiTHUR, SOMEWHERE IN KOREA (AP)Harold L. Hitchcock,Rockford, 11L, is a civilian but he had a hard time convincingthe Marine Corps.He is on his way home now after three months of fightingas a member of a bazooka team. AH the time he ,\vas a civilianrecalled to the Marines through a clerical error. !HE SERVED a two year hitch in the Marine reserve andshould have been discharged in December, 1949. He never gotthat vital elii of paper.He was recalled to duty and sent overseas as a protestingprivate first class.HE WROTE letters. His wife wrote letters. Finally, the

    word came down from Washingtonit was all a mistake,Hitchcock could go home."I knew I was a civilian," Hitchcocksaid, "but nobody paidany attention. I figured it would get straightened out soonerof later but I was beginning to sweat it out."

    Washington, D.C., Civil Assis-tance officer, uses the Korean,as his ''main interpreter be-cause of his excellent commandof English.'Knowing more about Amer-can food than any Koreancooks employed by the CAC,he can frequently be foundat mealtime, supervising prep-aration of the food.W H E N " THE CAC has anoverload of refugees, he isn'tabove puting his medicalknowledge to work helping thedoctor examine, administerDD T and inoculate the home-less wanderers.Although his fortunes arecurrently at ebb, Sam is opti-mistic about the future, butsays he is waiting for the war

    to end before he tries to makea comeback."Right now things are toounstable," he says, "to buildfo r the future."

    By FRANK BARTHOLOMEWUnited Press Vice President

    ABOARD THE PRESS TRAIN( U P ) I can remember whenthis railroad was known as the"Pusan to Paris" and boasted

    U t a h G u a r d F A U n i tH o n o r e d B y S o l o n sBy CPL. KEITH M. WRIGHTWITH U.S. IX CORPS (Pac.S&S).The IX Corps 213thArmored Field Artillery Bat-talion, a national guard organi-zation f rom Utah, has been com-mended by the Utah state legis-lature for action against theChi-nese, May 27.ATTACKED at close rangeduring the early morning hours,the 213th fought off the Chinesefrom their gun positions.- Asday broke, men f rom A Batteryand the battalion headquartersorganized a combat patrol andpushed three quarters of a miledown a canyon in which enemypositions were located, using oneof their self-propelled guns as atank.Once when the Chinese at*

    tempted to escape over a ridgeJJ""the artillerymen halted thenFmewith time fuze gunfire, progres-sively shortening the range tobring the enemy closer. At the. close of the action, the 213th hadinflicted at least 400 casualtieson the Chinese and captured 831prisoners without the loss'of aman.Upon receipt of the news theUtah legislature passed a jointresolution in special session"acknowledging the great ac-complishments" of the unit.

    direct standard gauge' connec-tions across Manchuria andSiberia to all Europe.Now it disappears in whatthe railroaders call'"end xrt thetrack" in a bombed out bridgeacross the Imjin a few milesnorth'of here, and the northerndivision-'on the other side of thecrick is held by a group of mili-tary gentlemen under a Red flagand no conjunction whatsoeverto cooperate with our end.ON E OF THE things theyare sore about is that Maj.Robert H. McAf f e r t y and hisf r i e n d s in the 712th RailwayOperating Battalion ran mostof their locomotives off thebombed bridge and into a riverbed, arid dynamited the rest ofthem, at the time of the retreatf rom North Korea last winter.The best the Communists cando by way of retaliation is tohang on to all the coal in Ko -rea and make our side importall their railroad fuel fromJapan.OU R PIECE OP track knownirreverently to the correspon-dents as the,Atchieon, Topekaand Yongdungpo, runs about200miles south and is operated by2th, a railway operatingbattalion sponsored by the Read-ing railroad. The 150 miles ofline .south of that Is run by the724th, which is sponsored by thePennsylvania railroad."We have rebuilt about 300locomotives both here and inJapan, said McAfferty, PuebloColo., who in civilian life ismechanical formeman for theDenver and Rio Frande. "We hadabout 10,000 cars destroyed butweare building and rebuilding."

    COMBAT REPORTMajor Lu kin -(left), OC "D" Coy, hisface covered with sweat after his return from leading a com-pany patrol into enemy territory, reports to his commandingofficer, Lt. Col. F. O. Hassett OBE, who recently ,took overcommand of the 3d Battalion, RAR. (BCOF Photo)

    Pilot Nets 4th JetTOKYO (Pac. S&S)~rPossiblenew jet air ace of the Koreanwar is Capt. Milton E. Nelson,Tarrant City, CalifJNelson added the fourth MIG-15 to his list Wednesday in the20-minute air duel between 34Sabrejets and 30 of the Redaircraft in "MIG alley." TheCommunist jets had jumped aflight of 20 F-80 Shooting Starswho had just completed abombing and napalming runover an ammunition factory inSinuiju.IN REPORTING his fourthkill, Nelson said, "The MIGsstarted firing at 25,000 feet. Ipulled in behind one and fired

    one burst. He went into adive and I followed, closing in -to 25 feet, and then I held thetrigger until the MIG burst in -to flamesV'Hewent into a spinand the pilot bailed out."Now leading air-to-air combatpilots in Korea, Nelson is second only to Capt. JamesJabara, Wichita, Kan., who shotdown six MIGs before returning to the States in June,THE SECOND MIG destroyedwas claimed by, 1st Li*. RalphD. Gibson, Carm'el, 111 Gibsonis second to Nelson as top je 1pilot In Korea with three ~ofthe swept back wing fightersto his credit.

    M A J . CONWAY Jones,

    T S a y A r m o r E x p e r t sSOMEWHERE IN KOREAOfficials f r o m the ArmoredSchool recently visited the 64thHeavy Tank BaLtalion andlearned, a lesson in practicalradio communications."They looked over our tanks,"apt. Terrell ;D. Huddleston, bat-talion communications officer,

    said, "ai-d were impressed withsome innovations we've madewith radios."Huddleston said that a rep-resentative f r o m the commandand staff section of the ArmoredSchool was particularly inter-ested in -fhe way the tankershave installed a high frequencyradio in the armored vehicles."WE FOUND that with thisradio in the command tank, aswell as the regular radio, wecan control air support much,easier," Huddlestou said.He explained that this elimi-nates having to bring a radiojeep with air tactical officersalong on missions."WE'VE. ALSO had luck with,the infantryman's radio, theAngry Nine," Huddleston said."Our regular radios are FM 'lineof sight' sets, and we havetrouble whenever mountains orother obstacles come between.the tanks and the forward com-mand post."But by using the small AngryNine, an AM radio, he explained,the tankers are assured of com-munications all the time. "Thisis extremely important overhere," Huddleston said, "be-cause we go on so many longlask forces and wind in and out9f the mountain ranges,"

    Army Food Good, But Experts Are Working To Make It BetterBy RE L M A N MORINFORT KNOX, Ky. (AP)!

    Common U.S. soldier commentoft Army rations is that "a mancan fight on this chow, but hecouldnt live on it."Too often, that is true. In the:$eld, a-soldier is frequently too|iwsy to linger lovingly over his"can of C ration. He gulps itdown. He opens a can of fruitsalad, which Is thirst quenchingas well as sweet. And that'sit.SOMETIMES it has to be thatway. But if brains and hardwork can change that situation,the day may be near at handwhen a Yank in a foxhole willbe getting better food than hecould puy at his favorite hash10 Pacific stars fir SfrHpei

    house. That's the Army's pres-ent objective.Here's an example:The other day at Fort Knox,a company of infantry was farout In the field, on a trainingmaneuver. For dinner, the menate braised beef, mashed pota-toes, buttered lima beans, slicedtomatoes and chilled cantaloupe,With it, they were served bread,butter, lemonade and hot cof-f e e .THE MEAL was prepared inthe field under conditions thatwould simulate combat condi-tions. That is, all the instal-lations had to be set up in ahurry, the food brought in, thenprepared, and finally trans-ported. .Seven soldier cooks, with^ aninstructor,' Sgt. Lester R. John-

    s o n , Champaign, 111., did thework.These men are students at theArmy Food Service school. Theygo through an eight weekscourse. About 50 a week aregraduated.DURING THAT time, theylearn more about .food than theaverage housewife ever sus-pects. They are taught not onlythe rudiments of cooking asteak, but the facts of diet,nutrition, balancing and somemorale factors.In their first week, they don'tdo so much as light a match.Their first lessons are in per-sonal hygiene, insect control,mess sanitation and the care andstorage of rations. They are,also taught how to hold a knifeso thai they can slice* Vegetables

    with machinegun speed and,never lose a finger.THEY EVEN jearn how,when and why to l ift the lidfrom a stewing pan. Later, theyget into fancy cake baking andicing. Why would an infantryunit in the field need anythinglike that?"Morale," said Capt. Daniel O.Stoudemire, director of theschool. "Nine times out of tenwhen morale is bad in a unityou can trace it directly to thekind cf chow they're getting."He said the ideal Army cookis almost as concerned with themorale values of food as theway it tastes." F O R EXAMPLE, a good manwill, break his, neck to see thatftis 'men get !hot; soup, in .coSdweather, and something cold

    when it's hot. He has to thinkof that and plan for it, andmaybe scrounge. But if he's anygood, he gets it."The Army doesn't guess aboutcalories and food values. Dietexperts have- laid down theprinciples, and the traineeslearn it, even though they mayalways be following mastermenus, written elsewhere..MEANWHILE, they learn allthe tricks of cooking in the field,under tents, or with the mostprimitive equipment, if thatshould be necessary.In what the Army hopes willbe the common situation, rollingfield kitchens will approach thelines, and food will go forwardWhen that day comes, a manwill. $ > . ,able 'to ^jyej on < Army,chow as' well'as- fight on it.