The Navy Came Through

Jun 23, 2018, 4:06 PM

Most wars involve every branch of service, each one providing specific expertise. There always has been and will always, no doubt, be friendly banter between members of each branch, but in the end, we work together to achieve victory. This story involves the Navy and is a shout out and salute to all the Navy veterans sailing along on TigerNet. (This is a condensed version of a story in my files).

Inchon, South Korea, is located on the Eastern shore of the China Sea and this area is well known for it's tides and treacherous currents. When the troop ship I was on arrived in late October 1950, the temperature was already below freezing. All of the docks at Inchon had been destroyed so that meant we would have to go in by landing craft (LC).

Dropping anchor about one-half mile or so off shore, the sea was too rough for us to safely debark on Day One. Day Two was no better but the powers that be decided to drop the nets just before the sun was disappearing over on the China side of the sea. When they dropped the nets over the side of the ship, the temperature began to drop. The LCs came along side the ship and when we looked down, the LCs looked like little tin cans bobbing up and down on six foot waves. At the crest of the wave, the LCs were close to the ship and at the bottom of the wave the LCs were several feet away. Letting go of the net and "falling" into the LC was critical. It had to be when the LC was close to the ship.

Everything we had was on our back, attached to our body, attached to or hanging from our ammo belt or being held in out hands. Climbing down that net was no easy task and the though of missing the LC and landing in the icy water was a scary thought. Lucky me, I made the transition from the net to the LC with no problem. My next worry to scramble to a spot on the LC so the next guy down didn't fall on me.

When our LC was full, we headed for the shore. Nary personnel were operating the LCs. The landing target was a small area and the only place where we could debark without having to wade ashore. It was now totally dark and a slight breeze was blowing ice cold spray over us. The only light at the intended landing spot were the headlights from the trucks awaiting our arrival.

The operator of the LC had a difficult time attempting to hit the intended landing spot. The tide and currents were so treacherous, each time we came close to the landing spot, we were swept away. We made several attempts and, finally, on about the sixth or seventh attemp, we hit the landing spot. During our many attemps, we were giving the Navy guy a hard time but when we finally made it we gave him a rousing ovation.

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I was lucky. When I was recalled to active duty I received a pair of "Arctic Pak" boots., one of the first to receive the new issue. These were fur lined. Most men were like me, if we could keep our feet warm and dry we could handle fairly cold weather, but there was hardly any way we could dress warmly at 35 F. below zero. I was not on the front line so don't know how those guys fared but we did have several cases of frostbite. The winter wear for troops from some of the other countries were not up to the standards of ours. The only foreign troops with us were from Turkey and there were several with frostbite when the temperature was about 0 F to +10 F.

I also had a new fur lined jacket and "wind proof" trousers that were a big help. Don't recall if I posted earlier the clothing I wore in winter. This current streak of hot days makes me laugh when I think about all the clothing I put on during the winter of 1950-51.

The Navy Came Through

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NAVY here JoE!

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