Jan/Feb 2008 - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association

At that time, someone told me that was the station with the
clock missing from the round opening in the center of the building.
As far as I know, the information I am giving you is correct.
I was at Quijonbu, Korea at the 3rd LAS, I Corp.
John Barclay, ebarclay1@verizon.net
It was easy to wash the windows
Re your article on the railroad station in Seoul, here is a picture
of the railroad station in September, 1950 and also a picture
of the bridge over the river in September, 1950.
You will note that there are no windows in the main part of the
railroad station.
J. Tilford Jones, 25th Division
35th Regiment, George Co., tilj@flash.net
Camp Drake by bus caravan. After “early chow” – it was one in the
morning—they slept in Building 405. It was a gray Friday morning
...with the threat of rain. Who knew that the ‘rainy season’ was in
progress [in Japan]?
Anthony J. DeBlasi, tonyjdb@psouth.net
Whatever happened to the 822nd Engineering
Aviation Battalion? (p 74, Sept.-Oct., 2007)
When I left Korea in October 1953, the 822nd Engineering
Aviation Battalion was alive and well. Co. C was still working
hard to maintain the F-84 Airbase, Taegue, Korea. We had just
finished building a huge Butler hangar, which was big enough to
handle a bomber. When I moved to Delaware I heard the name
Butler again. Our church was also a Butler building.
LEFT: A Butler
building at Taegue
BELOW: An F-84
on ptp (metal
plank)
66
ABOVE: The
Seoul railroad station
(email)
LEFT: Ice “floes”
under the Han
River bridge
Riding on the Globemaster
I just checked out the responses in The Graybeards to the
“mystery photos.” The building in Seoul was a familiar sight for
people shortly after entering Seoul from the west, on the extension
of MSR #2—correctly placed on the left from this direction
by one of the contributors. We knew it as the RTO Building
(RTO: Railroad Terminal Office.) I have pictures of it, but by
now you must have enough of them. As for the Globe-Master (C-
124), let me quote from my autobiography:
At K-16 [Kimpo Airfield, just north of Inchon] a “Globe-Master”
swallowed its cargo of men through hinged jaws below the cockpit.
DeBlasi and Claypool flew sideways on OD [olive drab] canvas
seats running parallel to the sides of the ship. Peep-hole windows
told the eyes only that the monster was in motion, as its four grinding
motors hauled some two hundred R&R candidates to Tokyo.
From Tachikawa airfield the weary lambs were transported to
The 822nd did it all.
We built water towers,
Quonset huts, poured
concrete, laid psp
(metal plank for runways),
and anything
else the Air Force wanted.
We were attached to the 5th Air Force. We were Army in
every sense of the word, but under the command of the Air Force.
We even had airmen who lived and worked with us everyday.
Our camp was not on the airbase, but just outside of the base.
If you have watched “MASH” on television, you have seen the
tents we lived in.
I don’t think there is much written about the F-84. This was
truly the workhorse of the Korean War. They took off everyday
with two 500-pound bombs to be dropped on the enemy up north.
I am sure the pilots who flew these planes could tell us some
interesting stories. I watched one land on his belly when we had
ten inches of snow on the ground. Neatest landing I’ve ever seen.
Harry E. Dice, Jr., 12 Winchester Drive
Ocean View, DE 19970
The importance of Air Observers in Korea
Most of your articles relate to ground troops. I see very little
about Army Aviation. Consequently, I am sending a few pictures
taken during my time in Korea. (A good reference book would be
40th Division—Army Aviation in Korea, by Hugh Ketchum.)
During the period I served in Korea (Jan 1952 – July 1952), I
submit that the most damage inflicted on our enemy was by
artillery fire adjusted by Air Observers. We were in a stagnant
position, with both sides dug in along roughly the 38th Parallel.
Infantry, and armor activities were spasmodic, with no major
January-February 2008
The Graybeards