Experiences in Korea--it wasn't all fun and games
by
James B Vanairsdale
THE TIME: Mid summer 1952
THE PLACE: Regimental reserve area south of the
Imjin.
PROLOG: Having duly served his time as platoon
leader, 1st Platoon,
Easy Company our Hero (me) had been offered the
choice of either legal
officer or liaison officer. He told the personnel
officer, "I've
always wanted to be a Liaison Officer!". He not
only did not know what
it meant, he couldn't even spell it. While in this
arduous assignment
he on occasion ran in to members of "The
Platoon". On each occasion he
was asked: "Hey Lieutenant, how do you get a pogue
job like that?".
Conscience probably has greater influence upon us
that does sex.
Following a couple martinis at LtCol Gregory's
birthday 'party' our
hero informed the Battalion Commander that if he
would just get him
back in a rifle company he would extend his tour for
three months.
They must have been real short on lieutenants--he
said "Done". (I
don't think I have had a martini since). Easy
Company was, obviously,
the company of choice.
IN RESERVE: Bill Barnes, who replaced me with the
1st Platoon, came to
my tent to bring me up to date on the
Platoon. Naturally I went in
search of and found a bottle of Scotch. The new
Easy Skipper, Captain
Rose, saw what was transpiring and came and told
Bill to get over to
the company and check on his platoon before getting
snockered. Rose
departed and Bill and I decided to have just one.
By the time Bill
left the bottle was empty and he was lucky to find
his platoon. Once
there he nearly knocked the tents down as he
staggered through his
'inspection'. To say that Rose was upset is a gross
understatement.
Now, he had every right to be mad but I figured that
old Bill was a big
boy and capable of making his own decisions and thus
responsible for
them. Captain Rose saw it differently,"No way is
that s.o.b. getting
into MY company", or words to that effect. I
consoled myself that Fox
(our traditional enemy) would have to do. I was
assigned as XO under
Captain Wilber Taylor.
I went over to the Fox lieutenants tent to introduce
myself. They were
all huddled on their knees in a circle and I was
pretty sure that they
were not praying. I introduced myself, was totally
ignored and
enquired as to what was going on. One turned to me
and said tersely,
"Crap game", then went back to ignoring me.
Enthralled, I watched and
got curiouser and curiouser. (ASIDE: I had been in
Korea considerably
longer than any of them and thus had a whole pocket
full of script and
had absolutely nothing to expend it on). "Hey
fellows, I have never
played Crap. Would you explain it to me and let me
play?". They were
real nice and said "Sure"--translated: fresh meat!
They explained the fundamentals and we got
started. When the dice
rotated around to me I made my first roll and got an
even number for my
point. Trying to sound like I knew what I was doing
I stated: "I'll
give you two to one that I make it the hard
way". With looks of total
disbelief (what an idiot) they jumped all over
it. They probably
hadn't moved so fast since the last 'incoming'. I
was very pleased
with the reaction to my statement and again rolled
the dice. Guess
what?. I did it the hard way. "Lucky
b-----d!! That won't happen
again". Well, guess what? It did.
Now these fellows eyed me warily and began getting a
bit restless.
Undaunted I continued to get an even point, give two
to one odds that I
would make it the hard way, and continued to make it
the hard way.
They cursed me, accused me of being a
ringer, jumped on the dice,
threw the dice and made me roll again. (Gee
fellows. It's just a
game) I asked them that if I really knew what I was
doing would I give
such foolish odds. They were unimpressed. They
were starting to get
nasty but I just kept on rolling and
winning. Honestly, in twenty
minutes I had every dollar in the tent.
CONCLUSIONS:
Besides the Chinese Army I now had several new
deadly enemies.
I was lucky that "fragging" had not yet been
invented.
Luck is often better than smarts.
I still didn't know crap about crap.
EPILOGUE:
Fox Company was a real good company and Captain
Taylor was an excellent
Skipper. I had experiences in and made friends in
Fox that I will
never forget. Having said that, my heart will
always be with Easy
company and (dare I say) my magnificent Marines of
1st Platoon, Easy
Company 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines.
