Guard Duty in Korea

Jul 21, 2017, 10:14 PM

I'm jumping from WW2 to the Korean War.

The general situation in Korea was vastly different from that in Europe during WW2. In Europe, the enemy was easily identified by his uniform. In Korea, the enemy was often among us wearing civilian clothes. We always had to be on alert. And it always seemed that every civilian, whether friend or foe, had a gun and took great delight in firing off a few rounds when the notion struck. Being constantly on the move, most of equipment remained in our trucks. This was a great enticement for thieves so extra precautions to protect our supplies.

We were stationed in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Our trucks were parked inside a fenced compound. Being a small outfit, everyone had to pull guard duty. It was a cold night, probably around 15F. - 20F. and it became my turn to report for guard duty at 2200. I was in charge of this tour of duty. We were fortunate in that we were able to have a small fire to keep some of the chill from soaking to our bones.

About 2300, the four of us on duty were sitting by the fire drinking coffee and chatting. All of a sudden it sounds as if we are in the middle of war zone with rifle fire erupted from every direction. Naturally we dove for cover under the trucks. Firing continued for several minutes and then it stopped. I didn't hear any bullets striking the area where I was and the other guards did not hear any where they were so I suggested they return to the fire.

We had no sooner returned to the fire when the officer on duty came running out and yelled for us to put out the fire. I told him to calm down and explained no one had heard any bullets striking our area. Besides, it was so cold the men could not sit there and freeze. Furthermore, if those firing the shots could not hit anything in our area with the fire going we should be pretty safe. Each of us had an M-1 and tons of ammo plus two machine guns. He thought for a moment and then said, "Carry on".

At other times at night. "Bed Check Charlie" flew over in a plane similar to a Piper Cub. We could have shot him down with our rifle but we didn't want to give our position away.

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I was in the Signal Corp, not the Infantry so no CIB, In Korea, our company consisted of five teams of about 25 men each. Each team was assigned to a division or other Army unit so we had the opportunity to come under fire at times. We lost some men in the other teams. Our team was lucky.

I was in the Inactive Reserve after WW2. Was living and working in Mississippi when I received a registered letter on a Tuesday afternoon in early Sept. 1950, to report to Fort Hood, TX, the next Monday AM. I called and asked for a two week delay. The response, "It is imperative that you report as ordered". The orders also stated my recall was for 14 months or less. After reporting for duty, in less than one month I was in Korea. When I arrived at Fort Hood, I was offered a direct commission as 1st. Lt. but declined because I had to commit to a three year enlistment and I was not interested in a military career.

I received my degree from Univ. of Florida in 1949. Came to Clemson in 1955 as a research engineer with the Southeastern Cotton Ginning Research Lab. Wanted another degree so, while working full time, I was also going to school. Received my degree from Clemson in 1963. That was rough going because I was also doing a lot of work related travel.

Guard Duty in Korea

Re: Guard Duty in Korea

Joe, did you re-up for Korea...or were you a career soldier?***

My dad recently told me almost that exact story

Korea is pretty small...............***

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