July-August - Air Defense Artillery

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Silver Star
SERGEANT FIRST CLASS EIRVIN BAILEY,
a member of Battery D, 82nd AAA AW Bn.
(SPI, 2nd Infantry Division, displayed gallantry
in action against on armed enemy on 11
and 12 February 1951 in the vicinity of Chang.
bong-ni-Hoengsong crea, Korea. On the
night of 11 February 1951, his battery was
attacked by a numerically superior enemy
force and was ordered to withdraw. When
tne convoy moved out he was in command
of lead vehicle. The motorized column hod
moved about one half mile when it was subjected
to heavy enemy mortar fire. Sergeant
Boiley's vehicle was destroyed and he was
forced to seek cover along the side of the
rood. At down on 12 February 1951 he found
no officers present, so he organized a crew
for an ontioircraft firing vehicle and led the
convoy to Hoktom-ni. There, he was put in
command of another firing vehicle, obtained
another crew and voluntarily led a convoy of
unarmored vehicles loaded with wounded
toward Hoengsong. At five points along the
rood enemy positions were encountered. He
continuously maintained on exposed position
in order to most effectively direct fire of his
guns and on each occasion neutralized the
enemy emplacements. The gallantry displayed
by Sergeant Bailey reflects great credit
upon himself and the military service. x x x
Arkansas.
16 April: An OP of 2d Reconnaissance
Company observed a boat on the
Hwachon Reservoir about 1,000 yards
away. A light artillery battalion fired on
target, sunk boat.
20 April: The town of Yanggu was
illuminated to the extent that buildings
and roads were visible and movement
was detected.
22 April: Lights illuminated area for a
division artillery TOT. Results excellent.
23 April: A forward observer of a light
battalion adjusted fire on an enemy
group. Could not see bursts of HE but
when \tVP was used, he could make
proper adjustment. Results excellent.
24 April: Battlefield illumination provided
for infantry. Excellent results.
The results speak for themselves! Now
for the problems which had to be solved
to attain this success.
By this time, everyone has heard about
the pitiable conditions of Korean roads.
They did effectively limit movement of
searchlight and generator trailers. To
offset that difficulty, trailers were eliminated
by mounting the lights on 2lh-ton
trucks and the generators were mounted
on four wheels and towed by the searchlight
trucks.
The problem of providing battlefield
illumination on cloudy, hazy, smoky or
o\'ercast nights caused some trouble. Of
JULY-AUGUST, 1951
course. the time-proven theory of reHecting
light from low-hanging cloud masses
proved successful.
In order to determine the angle of elevation
required to provide reHected light
(Fig. I) on a given target the formula:
Alt of clouds in yards-Alt of SL in yards
, ,
Range in thousands of yards
= Elevation of SL in mils
was used. The l\letro Section, 2d Infantry
Division Artillery, provided the altitude
of the clouds. The altitude of the
lights and the range to the target were
available from maps. Of course the mil
elevation had to be com'erted to degrees
in order to operate the lights.
Extremely dry weather, fires set by
friendly artillery, Communist efforts to
put up a smoke screen, and the almost
complete lack of low-hanging cloud
cover, combined to require us to depend
on diffused light. Diffused light is made
by the diffusion of the beam caused by
dust and smoke. This type lighting
(Fig, 2) proved successful enough for
forward observers to adjust fire and for
friendly observation posts to detect
enemy movement.
Direct lighting, the shining of the
searchlights directly on a given area,
usually from a high point down a corridor,
was used only once due to the adverse
atmospheric conditions (Fig. 3).
\tVhen it was used, however, it produced
such a brilliant effect on the southwest
side of the Hwachon Reservoir that
Commandant Michele of the French
Battalion reported the area lit up like
Coney Island.
Silver Star
MASTER SERGEANT ROBERT L CRAWFORD,
a member of Battery D, 82nd AAA AW Bn_
(SP). 2nd Infantry Division, displayed gallantry
in action against the enemy on 30
November 1950 in the vicinity of Kunu-ri,
Korea. On the night of that date, he was
riding in a convoy composed of the command
group of the Division which was attempting
to break through on enemy roadblock that
was approximately five miles in depth. He
rode the lost combat vehicle to clear the
roadblock and directed the fire of his guns
against all targets of opportunity. He rallied
other units to proceed through the roadblock,
even though it was necessary for him to dismount
and expose himself to the intense
enemy fire. Despite the heavy enemy fire, he
stopped his vehicle on numerous occasions
to pick up the wounded lying along the road
who otherwise would not have been evacuated.
After negotiating the roadblock Ser.
geant Crawford voluntarily returned to the
area to assist other personnel to safety. The
outstanding leadership and complete disregard
for his personal safety displayed by
Sergeant Crawford on this occasion reflect
great credit upon himself and the military
service. x x x Alabama.
It was anticipated that control, adjustment
and communications would be
difficult problems. However, the placing
of the lights in the general vicinity of
the artillery battalions which required
those units to lay wire lines to the lights
minimized those problems. A forward
observer, with an infantry unit, could
call his battalion fire direction center bv
telephone or radio, request an adjus;ment
of the lights and the FOC could
then relay the instructions to the lights.
\Vhen wire lines were used, the relay at
FDC was not necessary, On several occasions,
SCR 50S's were placed at the
light position and radio adjustments
were made directly from aerial observers.
Later experience proved this use of radio
necessary.
As.a result of the experiences gained
by this unit using searchlights in Korea,
it can be concluded that: they can be
used to provide adequate battlefield illumination
under nearly all conditions,
they can be used to illuminate artillery
targets at night, they can be attached t~
and coordinated by the organic AAA
AW battalion.
(\Ve IUlve withheld earlier stories
from other AM battnlions in Korea
about searchlight operations for reasons
which appeared cogent. Anyway, llOW it
mn be told. And we do hope thnt our
good friend, Col. Sandy Goodman, a pioneer
in this field in Italy, may 1lOte the
results with great satisfaction from his
present dugout in the Canal Zone.-ED.)
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