“F A T E”
Fate: an inevitable course of events.
“Destiny” refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.
TROY:
THE ABOVE EXPLANATIONS ARE PURE BULLSHIT - - and then again – they may mot be -
I had the incredible fortune – or misfortune to have been on an outpost that was overrun by a platoon of chinese infantrymen on the night of May 11th and early am of May 12th, 1952. On that fateful night, my life changed forever. During that event, while relocating the machine gun from one position to another, under heavy fire, and while jumping into a foxhole and handing the gun to my assistant gunner, the weapon discharged - - killing my squad leader, Cpl. Richard Schuckman instantly. Thousands of times and thousands of nights, I have re-lived those moments and died myself just as many times. One cannot help but wonder “what if”.
Many another night while on those front lines of Korea and hunkered down in foxholes or bunkers or on another patrol out in front of the lines, your buddies that you loved dearly would get killed and you would still be OK - - One cannot help but wonder, “what if”.
Here I am, nearly 75 years of age - - away from that hell-hole for over 56 years and still trying to reconcile the events that took place and those that did not take place. I’m not even close to getting close to the answers. One cannot help but wonder “what if”.
A few of us were awarded “R & R” in Japan (the ‘Fortune’ I mentioned above-maybe) - - I was chosen and when I was told that I was going to get to go - - you can’t even imagine my elation. I was going to get away from this hell-hole for a week and have the time of my life. I could not wait to get away - - I thought.
As it turned out, I was due to leave for Ascom City 6th of Sept. and then a military flight to Japan on the 7th. It just so happened that those were the exact dates we were to go back on the front lines. All went well until Easy Co. got to the front lines and truly ‘all hell’ broke loose. I was a Machine Gun squad leader and decided that I was not going to leave my men under those circumstances and told my Platoon Sgt. Gunny James Jaross of my decision. He told me that my ‘not going’ was not an option and got very upset with me. As a Marine, disobeying an order did not come easy for me and so I complied with the order and went back to a rear area to await transportation to ASCOM City.
While at the mess hall, a Sgt. Came in and asked for volunteers to help load and carry ammunition up to the front lines. I volunteered and we loaded ammo and delivered it to the lines. The war was at the highest peak since I had been in Korea. 11th Marines Artillery was blasting away all night and incoming chinese artillery was landing all over the damned place and the night sky was ablaze with light from the shells and the noise was deafening and truthfully, I was scared to death. On the 4th or 5th load at about 0400, we were delivering ammo to Easy Company and once again, I made up my mind that I was not going to Japan and was going to stay with my men. It never occurred to me that Gunny Sgt James Jaross would be up wandering around at that time of day. “What if” he had not have been?? That’s where “fate” comes into play – again. I ran into him again and told him, I was not going on R & R. He said “OK Watson, you do not have to go but if you do not, you will be court-martialed, busted and put into the brig for disobeying a direct order”. In other words, he loved me so much, he did not want me to be in harms way. (I figured that out much later). Again, I complied and went back to the rear.
Two of my brothers, Cpl Charles Phillips and PFC Charles Russell of my machine gun section were KIA in the next couple days and Paul Leviner was wounded and evacuated. I never saw them alive again. {Phillips had saved my life on July 4th during an assault on an enemy held outpost . I had been knocked unconcious by a concussion grenade and after the third platoon pulled off the hill, they realized I was missing and Charles came back up the hill, found me and carried me off} While my brothers were dying, I was getting drunk as a skunk, jealous as hell of and fighting rear-echelon soldiers in Japanese bars and shacking up with a beautiful Japanese girl and trying for forget the hell-hole called Korea – and to which I had to go back to for another four months. One cannot help but wonder “what if”. Would I have been killed?? Would I have been able to save my two brothers? Personally, I believe that if I had been there, they would be alive and attending our reunions - - I miss all of them terribly and I learned a long time ago – there just aint enough whiskey to blot the miserable memories but, day by day – Reunion after reunion – I survive with them.
Fate? Destiny? Pure Damned Luck? What if?? I don’t know - - -
Troy Watson
1201877
USMC
1951/1954
May 06, 2008