A Flawed Legacy - 8

Back to Japan and the task of re-classifying our enlisted personnel, I was prepared for all of the "problems" we were supposed to discover.  With a few minor problems, we breezed through the effort, made possible by the assistance of our various unit commanders.  Of course, as my "boss" suggested, I also was responsible for maintaining their records, so they were committed to cooperate.  That was an interesting response but the truth of the matter is the fact that I saw how well a unit can function if everyone is committed to succeed.  Years later, I would long to be employed by a company who actually recognized such possibilities.

My three year tour in Japan was about to be completed, so I tool advantage of privileges I had earned and made a tour of the places I had visited.   First stop was our satellite base outside of Seoul, Kimpo Airdrome.  I had placed all of the enlisted personnel serving there and most of them agreed it was a good duty assignment.  Then, I ran into an "old" drinking buddy I had met in my travels throughout Japan.  He was in Korea assigned to an Army reconnaissance outfit, flying along the 32nd "parallel" to observe the North Koreans and their troop movements.  He invited me to fly along and it was quite an experience.  Everywhere we looked, as far North as we could see, there were preparations being made to move South.  Plenty of military of course, but what intrigued us was the numbers of supply vehicles to support a military invasion.  "Do you report on this?" I asked my buddy and his reply, "Yes, every time we fly over, we  keep track of additions or movements."  It was all hard for me to believe. 

Next stop, Tokyo, but as I was was walking through the airport, I saw a press conference underway and being curious, I walked over to hear what was being said.  There were reporters from all over and they were grilling what I heard were State Department representatives.  The gist of most of the questions had to do with the possibilities of North Korea invading the South.  "No, we are aware of their capabilities and have concluded, they are merely doing what most armies in the field do, move about so that their soldiers do not get bored with their assignments,"  What?  That was not what we saw.  It was not what was being reported, daily.  I wanted to raise my question, but the press conference ended and I got on my bus, wondering why I had just heard what I had actually heard.  Oh well, I was heading home and right then, I had places to go and people to see.

I took the train back to Kyushu, but got off in Kokura to take a bus up to say good-bye to my dear friend, the former Japanese Colonel with whom we had become close friends.  We spent three days, getting drunk and crying that we would not be seeing one another again.  He was the closest I had ever come to a man ad I used to think of him as my Father.  We visited his wife and daughter in the village where they lived and neighbors turned out to wish me a fond, Sayonara.

I had left my Jeep there as there was a good local mechanic who could fix "everything", so I paid him and left for Itazuke.  As I was approaching the guards at the gate, they were waving me down, "Guess what, Sarge,  the North Koreans have invaded the South."  It was June 30, 1950.  I had a feeling I would not be going home right away. 

I was right.   A couple of days later, I was asked to attend a conference where plans were being made to form an Air Force Unit that would move to South Korea and fly missions from there.  My job was to assemble a cadre of experienced enlisted technicians to support the mission at Itazuke and the date for their transition would be announced.  That was when knowing the guys who were doing my job at other bases in Japan became a God-send.  Within seventy-two hours, a full complement had arrived and were temporarily housed in our base gymnasium.  We were ready to go to war.  The Provost Marshall issued me a gun and I was instructed to make certain, no one left except when we went to the Mess hall.

As it turned out, I did not sleep for the seventy-two hours they were with us and so, I collapsed.  All I had ever dome was follow instructions and it went off like clock work.  For that, my over eager superior prepared a recommendation for a Bronze Star, but the authorities reduced the award to an USAF Commendation Medal.  I was very proud, but even more proud of the fifth stripe I was awarded for my efforts in that crisis.

I was surprised to learn that my "contact" at Fifth Air Force headquarters was impressed by that job and so, he had me on other assignments in and out of Korea.  I will never forget the first trip to Korea. All we had to do was report to the air strip, pick up a parachute, convince the load master we knew how to use it, and take a seat, making sure we buckled up.  Sitting next to me were three youngsters from the 24th Division (Army) who had missed the deployment of their regular outfit and would catch up with them when we got to Korea.  One kid was crying, at least I could see the tears in his eyes and asked, "What's wrong, soldier?"  Turns out that they only had 9 bullets between the three of them and they thought they would be asked to fight as soon as we landed.  I assured them that was not the case and I would help them to find their outfit.  That was easy.  The Division headquarters had assumed there would be instances like that and had personnel assigned to the Air base to get them where they needed to be going.  Just imagine.  Going into a combat zone with only a few pieces of ammunition.

That was more than enough to scare me and to realize that this war was now, very real to me.  On my way back to my base, that plane was loaded with wounded soldiers who would be treated at the hospital in Fukuoka.

On a later trip, I discovered there was a B-25 bomber scheduled to go where I was going and so I got aboard.  We had hardly cleared the air strip when I noticed the port engine was spilling oil all over the wing.  I hurried up to the pilots and discovered they were Greeks, who did not speak English, or so they said.  "No, problem" they indicated and they shut that engine down.  A few minutes later, I looked out of a starboard window and there were flames coming from that engine and we were about 500 feet above the Sea of Japan.  All they did was start the other engine and shut down the one with the fire.  I kept wondering what I would do when we went into the sea.  There were three other "passengers" aboard, but they were all asleep.  I decided to let them sleep as I kept my eyes on the port side engine. It was dark and as I looked out I saw lights, hopefully from Pusan which had to be the source of the lights.  It was, but now the pilots were starting to climb - on one engine.  I was not sure it could, but it did and a few minutes later, we were on the ground.

The pilots caught up to me as I was searching for a gate to get out of there and they threw their arms around me and drugged me over to a counter.  "Speak English," they shouted to no one in particular, but soon a guy came over to us from someplace - remember, it was the night time.  What they wanted others to know was that I had become their "navigator".   "Give him medal," they laughed and I broke away to get out of there.  I was thankful to be alive, 

A Flawed Legacy - 5

As we neared  Hawaii, it was raining - a Hawaiian mist as I have heard it called, and everyone was excited as we learned that we were going to be able to go ashore.  As a youngster, I had memorized the harbor and all I could recall was the sinking ships.  Now, we could see the hulks of some, but it was nothing like the scenes you see now.  If you are ever there, do not miss the Arizona memorial.

I went ashore with three other guys and followed them to the "trinket" stores and "hoochy-koochy bars and wished I hadn't.  We were too young to go in, but the doorman let us go in anyway.  The other guys were excited, but after seeing the girls in Margie Hart's group,  I was not impressed.  Of course, the weather was magnificent; that was the first of five visit and it has always been as nice as that first day. There have been many years when I dreamed of retiring there.

Now, we're headed West and there was good news for most of us, or "bad" news depending on one's point of view.  I was in the larger group and we were NOT going to the Philippines; we would debark at Yokohama in Japan.  That was pretty scary for most of us, but not nearly as scary as the typhoon that was headed our way.  Leaving Hawaii, we discovered a sister troop ship nearby, but the clouds that we were sailing into were far more threatening.  We were ordered below and as the ship began to be tossed by the winds and stormy seas, some guys learned that if you jumped up on one side of the latrine area, you could literally float to the other side.  Just be careful of the sudden stop.  For the first time in my life, I decided to try something scary and was thrilled that I was not hurt when I hit the other wall. It was great fun and we kept at it until we were exhausted.  I was lucky.  Some of the other would end up broken arms and legs.

As it happened, we would sail across the International Date Line and have two of the days involved, but no date.  It so happened that date was the one on which we typically  celebrate "Ground Hog's Day" and it was also the date I was assigned to KP duty.  Lucky me - April 2, 1947.

Back to the storm, I could not sleep until it seemed to subside.  When we went up top, the seas were calm and our sister ship was far behind.  Then we learned from one of the guys with binoculars that it was damaged and as it drew closer, there was a lot of damage.  We heard later that there were guys who stayed up top and were washed away.  No one ever heard of this again until I was interviewing men for job assignments on our base, months later, and if anyone was ever lost, they had not heard of it.

Now, Japan was looming ahead and many of us - me included, began to get nervous about serving in what had been an enemy nation.  I thought more and more about it as we were on a train headed for the Fourth Replacement Depot.  It seemed a though we we climbing an incline as the train slowed and you could look into the houses as we passed by.  Apparently, it was dinner time as most of the people were at a table or seated on mats, eating.  They looked like typical American families, but I started to wonder, are they the families of the murderers I had seen on our news reels?

It was snowing as we got off the train.  We were told that this had been the Japanese West Point, but we were going to sleep in tents.  When it was "chow" time, we acted as though we were starved and some of us were.  Our rations had been cut back severally after the storm.  Now, we were being served what I have described as "huge" turkey legs, mounds of mashed potatoes and all the vegetables you could get on your tray.  Need less to say, most of us "pigged" out - and, would pay the price.

It was really snowing when I realized I had to go to the bathroom, now!  Ha!  As I got to the end of our row of tents, I looked towards the line up outside of the latrines - the bathroom if you have never been in the Army, and there were a hundred guys, all squirming like I was beginning to.  It seemed like hours before we got to the door and looked in.  We still had a ways to go.  Then, came the riot.  In  the middle of the area, there was a guy sitting on a pail, doing what came naturally.  Then, a guy from our line headed for that guy and kicked it out from under him.  Obviously, others had used it and as the pail flew the air, the you-know-what went everywhere.  Fortunately for some of us, guys who had been occupying a stool jumped up and got into the melee.  That provided us with an opportunity to sit down, so while the fight kept on, I was relieved - you know what I mean?

Now, it was snowing harder outside, so I will never know how it turned out, except you could see lots of black eyes, patches, a few arms in slings and a couple of guys on crutches.  All of us sat at attention while a Colonel explained our mission.  First, we were to do the jobs that we would be assigned to do and second, we would treat the Japanese populace, wherever we met them, with the utmost courtesy and respect and if that meant we might meet them while at our work, the second rule would automatically become the first.  He reminded us that the ships that brought us sail both ways and if we did not behave as Americans are taught to behave, our trip home would not be nearly as comfortable. With that, he was on his way.  I came away believing this might be a better assignment than I had imagined.