Korean War: Company on the Move

Another tale from my Father-in-law of his service in the Korean War. My notes in italics, all else in his own words.

All internet images have been removed from this post, sorry.

                In September 1952, I joined Company D, First Battalion, 23^rd Infantry Regiment of the Second Division. The Company Commander was a Reserve Captain. I was a shiny new Second Lieutenant. We were the only officers in the company. I was assigned a platoon but given nearly all of the other duties of running the company. One was Recon Officer, in charge of checking out our next assigned location ahead of the company move. 

                One winter day I was sent to reconnoiter  a reserve position a mile or two behind the lines. I found the position on my map and headed out with a detail of men to set up camp. It was extremely cold with a strong north wind. As usual, my jeep traveled with the top down and the windshield folded over the hood so it would not reflect the sun.  the dirt roads were in poor shape so my driver had to drive very carefully. He was from Kentucky, and drove moonshine for a living so he was a very good driver. (Side bar: he told me that in a shotgun wedding, he had to marry his girlfriend’s sister.)

 

                Our new bivouac location turned out to have been formerly occupied by a ROK (Republic of Korea) Army unit. There were three steel buildings with straw on the floor where they had been sleeping. The building was filthy inside. If the buildings were wood, I would have burned them down. My work detail had to rake out all the straw and burn it to kill lice and fleas, then disinfect the insides of the buildings.

 

                All the light fixtures had been removed by the ROK’s when they left, probably then resold on the black market. The tent area was left dirty and littered. That had to be cleaned up before I could stake out tent locations in neat rows.

 

                Worst of all, they had continued to use the latrine pits until they were overflowing and could not be bailed out. We had to dig new pits in another location. The ground was frozen over to a foot down so we had to “borrow” explosives from an Engineering unit and use ¼ pound blocks of TNT to get below the frost line.

 

                When the company arrived a few days later all was in order and a hot meal was ready to be served.

 

                I must add that the above was a very unusual way to find a temporary camp site, anywhere. American troops are taught from basic training on to “leave the place cleaner than you found it.” Cigarette butts were “field stripped”. In those days none had filters. A finished cigarette was put out with a boot heel, the butt opened, the tobacco dumped on the ground, and the paper rolled into a tiny ball.

As the drill Sergeant would tell his recruits, “If it’s on the ground, pick it up. If it’s too heavy, paint it. If it moves, salute it.”

 

Marshall Tharp Korean War 1952-1953

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