The Korean War began in July 1950 the summer before I got out of Yuba College. In January 1951, I received my draft notice to report on Monday, February 12, 195l, to Yuba City for transportation to Fort Ord. My friend, Tom Galbreath, took me to the bus. On Sunday, I went to Gridley to see a movie as my last civilian action before being drafted. It was a double feature at the Butte Theater of James Stewart in “Harvey” and John Wayne in “The Sands of Iwo Jima”.
I got to Fort Ord late in the afternoon and was issued my bedding. It was a fitful sleep not knowing what the next day would bring. We were awakened at 5:30, the earliest I had awakened in a long time. We were given a haircut down to the skin it seemed. Our uniforms were issued. They didn’t have my shoe size so I got to wear my civilian shoes for awhile.
Swearing in consisted stepping across a line and everyone did. We were given a physical examination for classification. I had weak eyes and, since I heard that the Army didn’t take guys with flat feet, I had been trying to make mine flatter by jumping off a chair with no shoes on for a while! It didn’t work. The guy ahead of me in line only had one hand and he got taken. I knew him from Yuba College and he was sent to clerk typist school!
I was assigned to Company L, First Regiment, Sixth Infantry Division with several other guys from my area. Some of the draftees were to get a seven week training schedule for light weapons, but I was assigned to heavy weapons for a 16 week period.
Training was pretty rough for me as I was overweight. I lost 35 pounds in 35 days, It was cold at Fort Bragg and we would have to wear our field jackets in the morning. In the afternoon on a training day it would get pretty warm but the sergeants wouldn’t let us take them off. One day on a double time march, I passed out and had to be supported by one of the sergeants just to get back to the barracks. That earned me the name of “Grandma”!
There was going to be a night problem that night and the barracks sergeant came by to see how I was. I groaned and he said I had better stay in bed. After they marched off, I put on my uniform and went to the movie! Sergeant Bilko would have approved that maneuver.
One of my favorite entertainers, Danny Kaye, was going to be at the Soldier’s across Highway 1 from the fort. Unfortunately, I was on KP that day. We had a mean mess sergeant and one of the guys couldn’t take it any longer and came after the sergeant with a butcher knife. He was subdued and was taken away. We heard later that he was given a Section 8 discharge. One of my work details there was to plant ice plant in the large sandy area south of the Soldier’s Club and I still see it when I drive by that area.
When we were well into the heavy weapons training, we were taken out into the field to try out the various weapons. The 75 mm recoilless was fitted with a .30 cal rifle barrel and we fired at a 27 yard target that simulated 1’000 yards, It would have been too expensive to fire the real ammunition. In hand grenade training, each of us went to a “bunker” surrounded by a low concrete wall with a 4 foot sump to roll the grenade into in case of a mistake. We were told to hold the pin against our palm, pull the pin and wait for the command to throw it. Then we were told to release the grenade, count to five and then throw it. Ten of us at a time were lined when we heard a “pop” indicating someone had his grenade facing the wrong way. It was the guy next to me. One of the training veterans, ran forward, knocked the guy down and brushed it into the sump. I could feel and hear the loud “whump” when it went off.
A bit of comedy relief was next. The sergeant conducting the demonstration told us we would be the first soldiers to see the brand new atomic .30 caliber bullet. An older soldier came out carrying a lead encased box, with a guard in front and back. Using tweezers, he placed .30 caliber bullet in the chamber and got in a prone firing position. About 300 yards out was an old tank hulk. He fired and there was an “atomic” cloud going up in the air. I felt debris hitting my steel helmet. I later thought that the veteran trainers in back had sprinkled us with sand.
We were warned not to tell anyone about this as it was top secret. Of course, I wrote home as did everyone else. After all, this was the weapon that would win the war1 About 3 weeks later, this “top secret” showed up in a Beetle Bailey comic strip!
In a more serious note, when I had to go through the infiltration course, I started out in the first wave and didn’t get through until the seventh wave. Machine gun bullets were going 30” over my head. I guess they were tired of me going so slow so just as I was going by a barbed wire enclosure, they set off a quarter pound block of TNT and my ears rang for days. About a week later, some guy was going through the course and a snake slithered by in front of him. He raised up and was cut in half by bullets
One day, I was assigned to clean out the field kitchens back in the company area. In the same type of weapons display, a short round of artillery hit about six feet behind out company commander, Captain Zilke who lived for six hours. Apparently the cause was the use of WWII ammo for training purposes. Our first sergeant, Melvin Daggs, was ten feet away and was peppered with shrapnel. He survived and was back training us in a week. A very tough soldier, he was the second highest decorated soldier in World War II behind Audie Murphy.
Each weekend, their was a “white glove” inspection and our barracks had to be squeaky clean. We had to pass inspection or we wouldn’t get a pass off base. George, in his Air Force uniform, came by to see me greatly impressing my barracks sergeant until George waved him off. He treated me very after that. I guess he thought I had higher connections. We went to Monterey to meet with Bill and Shirley, Dr. Bertha and Don, Helen, Richie and Donnie. We went to a golf driving range and went to the beautiful park in Monterey and later, had a nice seafood dinner on Fisherman’s Wharf. This was my last pass before getting ready to go overseas.
Almost all of my unit went overseas, but I was held back for two weeks to wait until my GI glasses got into the post optometrist. I guess they didn’t want me to miss when I had to shoot at a Commie! When my orders finally came through, it said I was going to destination “Bive”, which I found out later meant Okinawa. I had all my equipment together in a heavy backpack, with bedroll, overcoat, GI folding shovel and had on my steel helmet. I carried other items in my “butt” pack. We were awakened at 4:00 AM, put in a truck and taken to Camp Stoneman near Pittsburgh, CA. I sat down against a truck and dozed off until a sergeant came along and kicked my feet. I jumped up so fast I pulled my back muscles. I got seasick from the swells in the Bay on our way to Oakland Port of Embarkation. I stayed in my bunk for two days until my back started to feel better
I went overseas on the General E. D. Patrick a converted American President line cruise ship. I found out later that my mom’s cousin was the owner of the American President Line. I wish I would have known that before. Maybe I would have a stateroom and have dinner every night with the Captain!
Oh, well, I guess that is enough of my pre-Korean War ramblings. We were on the Pacific for 11 days. The only land we saw was a tiny island of Fuku-san which was the top of a very tall mountain, apparently. I heard later that Japanese fishing boats used it to get out of the wind after fighting the waves between there and Japan.
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