Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association

Feedback/Return Fire
This section of The Graybeards is designed to provide feedback—and generate more feedback. It gives readers the opportunity to respond
to printed stories, letters, points of view, etc., without having to write long-winded replies. Feel free to respond to whatever you see in the
magazine. As long as it’s tasteful and non-political, we will be happy to include it. If you want to submit ideas, criticisms, etc. that you prefer
not to see in print— with your name attached to it—then we will honor that. Make sure to let us know, though.
Mail your “Return Fire” to the “Feedback Editor” at 152 Sky View Drive, Rocky Hill, CT 06067-2859. E-mail it to:
sharp_arthur_g@sbcglobal.net, or phone it in to (860) 563-6149. Whatever the medium you choose, we welcome your input.
62
Were the Chinese soldiers in Korea formerly
Nationalist troops?
I would like to talk to the Chinese you refer to in the May/June
issue re “volunteers” in Korea. Our info about the “volunteers” at
the time was that they were formerly Nationalist army troops
who were forced into the first waves to be killed off for Mao and
his fellow gangsters.
I have a good friend here who was one of the first U.S. troops
in Korea. He said the first Chinese POWs told him that. Some
were taught by American Missionaries and spoke good English.
Davis Newman
Editor’s Note: We would like to learn more about Mr. Newman’s
theory. Is there any truth to it? Anyone who would like to comment
on the subject is invited to send their ideas to Graybeards
Editor, 152 Sky View Drive, Rocky Hill, CT 06067. And, just for
clarification purposes, the young man was talking about today’s
Chinese military, not about the Korean War version. I should
have made that point clearer in my editorial comments.
A fishing boat should have fish aboard
I’d like to find some of my buddies from 1961-62 at K6/Camp
Humphries. I was in the HQ Battery of the 4th Missile Battalion,
44th Air Defense Artillery, 38th Artillery Brigade. We had
nuclear Nike/Hercules in six batteries, which were in turn protected
by Hawk missile batteries.
When I was there, our unit was near the west gate at K6. One
night, a fishing boat with four NK guerillas aboard sailed into the
bay a couple miles west of K6, on the Yellow Sea. A Korean
working at our major radar site on a hill adjacent to the bay saw
the boat on radar and alerted the OIC that the boat shouldn’t be
there.
When the OIC asked why not, the Korean said a fishing boat
would be full when returning, and with the tide out, as it was,
there wasn’t enough water depth to accommodate a returning
fishing boat.
The OIC alerted the Security and Military Police. A firefight
ensued when the boat reached the shore near the radar site. One
guerilla went back into the water and was not found, two were
captured, and one was killed, as I recall.
Roger Digel-Barrett, Battalion Supply clerk/driver,
533 Ballman Rd., Reynoldsburg, OH 43068-1429,
740-927-6083, Digbar1@yahoo.com
Three bridges named
On p. 29 of the May/June issue there was an article about the
A sign outside “C” Co.,
1st Tank Bn., 1st Mar
Div’s CP in Korea
Freedom Gate Bridge. It was a railroad bridge which we used to
run our tanks over. The Libby Bridge, also mentioned, was new.
The pontoon bridge used to cross the Imjin River was the
Spoonbill Bridge. I crossed it many times.
Tom O’Halloran, 1st Tank Bn., 1st Mar Div, 1952-53,
P. O. Box 69, Phelps, WI 54554
White Sands Proving Ground Signal Corps
Activities
The Korean War and the “Broomstick Scientists” article by
George N. Gianopulos in the March-April 2007 Graybeards
Magazine, p. 52, caught my attention, as I, with 10 other enlisted
men, occupied the first floor of the first barracks in the 1st
Ordinance Guided Missile Support Battalion at this base.
Our initial assignment was TDY from Evans Lab at Fort
Monmouth, NJ to modify the WWII Signal Corps Radar System
584 to support future Missile Programs at White Sands, New
Mexico. During 1948-1949, we were the Signal Corps
Engineering Labs Field Station No.1. In late 1949 we became the
9577th Technical Service Unit under the Command of Col David
R. Guy.
All our efforts in this technical field where controlled by Dr.
Ozzie Covington and technicians from Draftees (Broomstick
Scientists) and contracting Electronic Industries personal.
Initially, our unit headquarters operated out of Holloman Air
Force Base near Alamogordo, New Mexico. Modifications to
tracking and plotting resulted in the NASA programs in later
years. We had satellite tracking stations in the mountains of the
missile range to trackV-2s and other rocket systems.
I was the original general draftsman assigned in February
1948, and I worked at numerous jobs at Holloman Air Force Base
prior to being assigned to Dr. Covington at White Sands. I start-
September – October 2010
The Graybeards