By Stewart White
ONE THING I DON’T NEED IS A “FLAT TIRE”. I DON’T THINK YOU CAN DO IT BUT I DON’T BELIEVE IN TAKING CHANCES. SO, THE FOLLOWING ARE SOME OF MY KOREAN EXPERIENCES.
IN AUGUST OF 1952, THE 23RD DRAFT LANDED AT A DOCK IN INCHON KOREA. I WAS AN 18 YEAR OLD GUNG HO MARINE. YOU PROBALLY KNOW HOW I FELT WHEN I WAS HANDED ONE CLIP AND SENT UP THE LADDER TO MEET A NAVY BAND, HEAD ON. PLAYING THE MARINE CORPS HYMN, IT WASN’T THE EXPERIENCE I WAS EXPECTING.
WE LOADED INTO BOX CARS AND RODE FOR HOURS THINKING ABOUT: IF WE GET AMBUSHED, WHAT WE WOULD DO WHEN WE RAN OUT OF AMMO?
THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN. THE SEVENTH MARINES WERE IN RESERVE AND WE WERE PUT INTO THE REGIMENT. I ENDED UP IN E-2-7. I’M NOT SURE BUT I THINK I WAS IN THE 2ND PLATOON. MY FIRST EXPERIENCE WAS WAKING UP WITH A SWOLLEN LIP, NOSE AND EYE. I GUESS SOME INSECTS HAD A DINNER ON MY FACE. THE NEXT THING I REMEMBER IS COMING BACK FROM O.P. DUTY AND HEARING MY NAME CALLED TO GO OUT AGAIN. THEY ONLY USED MY LAST NAME AND DESPITE MY PROTESTATIONS, I HAD TO GO. IT SEEMS THE GUY WHO HAD THE SAME LAST NAME WAS TAKING A CRAP.
WE FINALLY WENT UP TO THE MLR AND RELIEVED THE PEOPLE WHO WERE THERE. THIS IS WHERE MY BOON DOCKERS STARTED FALLING APART AND TOOK A WEEK TO FIND ME A NEW PAIR. I GUESS 13EEE WERE HARD TO COME BY. I ALSO DEVELOPED A TERRIBLE INGROWN TOENAIL. IT WAS MUCH MORE PAINFUL THAN ANY OF THE WOUNDS I RECEIVED AND ALMOST AS HARD TO CURE.
ON MY FIRST PATROL I BECAME VERY EMBARRASSED WHEN ANOTHER SQUAD PASSED US BECAUSE MY SQUAD LEADER REFUSED TO LEAD US THROUGH A CUT. OUR SQUAD LEADER WAS RELIEVED AND BECAME THE COMPANY BARBER.
WHEN WE TOOK OUR TURN ON O.P. CARSON, I WAS AN ASSISTANT BAR MAN. ONE NIGHT A MARINE WHO WAS DOWN THE TRENCH LINE FROM US, WAS WOUNDED. I WENT TO THE CP AND BROUGHT BACK THE CORPSMAN. I HELPED HIM GET THE WOUNDED TO A PLACE OF RELATIVE SAFETY AND MY BARMAN, WHO WAS ALSO WOUNDED, FOUND US. I HAD TO GO BACK AND MAN THE BAR. SOME OTHER MARINES HELPED THEM BACK TO THE CP. MY BARMAN SURVIVED AND SPENT THE REST OF HIS TIME AT CAMP FISHER IN JAPAN. THE OTHER WOUNDED MAN DIED.
WHEN OUR TIME ON CARSON WAS OVER, WE WENT BACK TO THE MLR. BY THAT TIME THE 24TH DRAFT HAD COME IN. WE RECEIVED A NEW SQUAD LEADER AND A COUPLE OF OTHER MARINES. WE WERE PERSONNEL HEAVY SO I WAS APPOINTED ASSISTANT SQUAD LEADER.
AFTER A FEW MORE PATROLS, IT BECAME OUR TURN TO GO TO RENO. ON RENO, WE LOST A MAN TO SNIPER FIRE AND A PLATOON LEADER TO MORTAR FIRE. I HELPED CARRY THE P.L. BACK TO THE MLR. I NEVER WORKED SO HARD IN MY LIFE. WHEN I GOT BACK I VOLUNTEERED TO GO TO THE FORWARD SLOPE TO COVER THE KSCS’ WHILE THEY TRIED TO DIG OUT SOME MARINES WHO WERE SEMI BURIED IN THE BUNKERS THEY WERE KILLED IN. THE KSCS’ FILLED THE PONCHOS WITH DIRT AND NO ONE WANTED TO LOOK INSIDE (INCLUDING ME) SO THEY SENT THE DIRT FILLED PONCHOS BACK TO THE MLR. THE PEOPLE BACK THERE WERE A LITTLE DISAPPOINTED.
THEN, AFTER GOING BACK TO THE MLR, WE DID SOME MORE PATROLLING AND WERE SENT TO A BLOCKING POSITION IN THE RENO AREA. I HAD MY HELMET SHOT OFF, A SHORT BURP GUN BURST UP MY FLACK JACKET AND A BG BULLET THROUGH MY RIGHT SHOULDER, ANOTHER ALONG MY LEFT ILIAC AREA AND ONE THROUGH THE RIGHT THUMB. ALL THE ACTION ON THAT AREA HAPPENED AFTER THE SQUAD LEADER BUGGED OUT.
I WAS SENT TO A MED COMPANY AND OPERATED ON, THEN I WAS SENT TO THE HOSPITAL SHIP “REPOSE” TO START THE HEALING PROCESS. IN THE MEAN TIME MY WALLET WAS “LOST”.
I DID THE MAJORITY OF MY HEALING AT THE HOSPITAL IN YOKOSUKA, JAPAN. AFTER HEALING ENOUGH TO BE ALLOWED LIBERTY, I FOUND OUT ALL ABOUT “I AND I” AKA “INTERCOURSE AND INTOXICATION.” I PUT ON ABOUT 50 LBS. BECAUSE OF THE BEST CHOW HALL IN THE WORLD AND I DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO STOP. OH YES, ON LIBERTY ONE EVENING A SAILOR BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF ME. THE ONLY EXCUSE I HAD WAS HAVING ONLY ONE USEABLE ARM.
THEN TO CAMP FISHER AND MORE I AND I. HOWEVER, THANK GOODNESS, THE CHOW HALL WASN’T NEAR AS GOOD AS THE ONE IN YOKOSUKA.
THEN BACK TO KOREA AFTER A NIGHT WITH I. W. HARPER AND A RUM AND COKE CHASER AT A NICKEL NIGHT AT THE BEST EM CLUB IN THE UNIVERSE. I DON’T REMEMBER LEAVING THE CLUB BUT I WOKE UP IN KOREA.
THERE WASN’T MUCH ACTION IN THE AREA I WAS IN WHEN I BECAME A MEMBER OF E-2-7 AGAIN. I WAS WOUNDED BY A MORTAR ROUND THAT LANDED A COUPLE OF YARDS BEHIND ME. I WAS HIT WITH SMALL PIECES OF SHRAPNEL IN THE RIGHT HIP AND LEFT KNEE AND ANKLE. ITS MED CO. TIME AGAIN BUT, THIS TIME I HELD ON TO MY NEW WALLET.
BACK TO THE MLR WHERE I HAD MY SHOTGUN EXPERIENCE. A LT COL HANDED ME A SHOTGUN AND SOME SHELLS AND TOLD ME TO BE SURE TO SHOOT THEM IN THE LEGS BECAUSE WE NEEDED PRISONERS. WE WENT OUT AND SET UP OUR AMBUSH AND NO ONE CAME. ON THE WAY BACK, I HAD THE POINT AND WE WERE ON A TRAIL THAT RAN PARALLEL TO A KIND OF A FINGER HILL. AS WE APPROACHED WHERE THE TRAIL TURNED AND WENT PAST THE FINGER I THOUGHT I HEARD SOMEONE TALKING AND IT WASN’T ENGLISH. I STOPPED AND LISTENED AND WHEN I WAS SURE THERE WAS SOMEONE THERE I TOOK OFF RUNNING, PUMPED A ROUND INTO THE CHAMBER, AND WHEN I SAW THERE WERE TWO GOOKS THERE I THREW DOWN ON THEM AND PULLED THE TRIGGER. NOTHING HAPPENED, THE GOOKS STARTED MOVING AND I HAD ANOTHER ROUND IN AND NOTHING HAPPENED BY THIS TIME THE REST OF THE PATROL STARTED COMING ON THE SCENE AND AS I PULLED THE TRIGGER ON THE THIRD ROUND THEY WERE SPRINTING ACROSS AN AREA THAT WE HAD MARKED FOR MINES. WHEN THE REST OF THE PATROL GOT THERE AND I POINTED OUT WHERE THEY WERE, IT WAS TOO LATE.
THAT MORE OR LESS COMPLETES MY KOREAN EXPERIENCES.
LEAVE MY TIRES ALONE.
SEMPER FI,
STEWART WHITE
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