Veterans Magazine 2021 - The War in Korea

The Shaheen &
Kiefer families
would like to
recognize
and honor those
who unselfishly
served our
country
In memory of
Chuck Shaheen, Jr.
Arthur Kiefer
Tom Martinez
2 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

The
WAR in KOREA
PUBLISHED BY
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The WAR in KOREA
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Kendra Norman Holmes
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Tyler Meister
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Ashton A. Akins
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Joshua Miller
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Will Oliver
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Cover Credit:
Designed by Col. H. Avery Chenoweth,
USMCR Ret. (Perry, Ga) for the
Houston Home Journal 2021
Contents
5 The WAR in KOREA
6 Alfred Shepard
8 Anthony Colucci
10 Fred Gaultney
11 Gerald Williamson
12 Henry Dawkins
13 Jaudon Thompson
14 Lawrence Wright
15 Leonard Kinsley
16 Ralph McAtee
18 Tommy Davis
19 Willy Hampton
20 November 10 th
The U.S. Marine Corps’ 246 th Birthday
Will it be its last?
21 Col. Avery Chenoweth, Sr.
(USMCR RET.)
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
3

4 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com
3rd Div

The War in Korea
(1950 – 1953)
By: Col. H. Avery Chenoweth
USMCR Ret. (Perry)
Right after World War II, former ally, the Soviet Union,
dropped an “iron curtain” across Europe and challenged the
West to a “Cold War.” Five years later, to test the West’s will
to confront Soviet encroachment, it ordered its communist
puppet, North Korea, to invade free South Korea in a surprise
attack across the 38th Parallel on June 25, 1950.
Just freed from the Japanese, South Korea was a backward
country of reeking rice paddies, thatched-roof huts, and no
paved roads or two-story buildings, except in a few cities. Its
meager army, weak and untrained.
Tough President Harry Truman unhesitatingly ordered sparse
Pacific U.S. air components into battle and convinced
the United Nations Security Council to approve the U.N.’s
involvement to support the United States in saving the
vulnerable fledgling democratic country.
With worn out weapons from World War II, it took three
years of bloody fighting, mostly by seven American infantry
divisions supporting weaker South Korean divisions
at a cost of over 38,000 Americans killed with 8,000
still missing. Fighting ended 68-years in July 1953 in a
ceasefire (Armistice) with the South Korean army and a U.S.
mechanized division poised face-to-face on a Demilitarized
Zone (DMZ) against a million-man North Korean communist
army led by a crazed dictator—still today in an unresolved
“State of War”—with both North Korea and China!
Incredibly—thanks to America, with the United Nations’
token assistance—while North Korea still remains a dismal,
backward, enslaved and starving country—free and
democratic South Korea has grown into one of the richest
economies in Asia. Its capital city, Seoul—which has been
conquered and rendered into rubble three times by the
communist North—now leads one of the most impressively
modern, wealthy and technologically top countries,
in league with China, Japan, Russia, the U.S., Britain,
Germany—and unlike any other Asian nation, has a large
Christian population.
As a Marine infantry officer, I spent all of 1951 leading rifle,
machine gun, and recoilless rifle platoons in combat and
witnessed, and later wrote about, a lot of history that has
since been sanitized and revised.
The first part of the
Korean War was an
outright debacle. The U.S.
had downsized all of its
armed forces so quickly
immediately after the
end of WWII that in 1950,
only the 28,000-man 1st
Marine Division and its
Air Wing were capable of
combat. All six 10,000-
man U.S. Army divisions
thrown into combat got
clobbered and wiped
out as untrained, soft,
poorly led, draftee
replacements—some
never having even fired a
rifle!—were fed piecemeal
back into them.
1 st Lt. Avery Chenoweth USMCR, Korea 1951
After Korea, he remained active in the Reserves,
serving in Vietnam and Gulf wars, became
a noted military historian and combat artist,
retired at rank of colonel.
In the third month of the war, had the Marine division not
rescued the trapped remnants of the U.S. Eighth Army and
South Korean units driven into a final defense perimeter
at Pusan at the southern tip of the country—and then, on
September 15, pulled off the last amphibious invasion in
history behind the enemy lines and recaptured the capital,
Seoul—the North Koreans would have won the war hands
down. A month later, China entered the war, throwing the
American-UN forces into another panicked “bug-out” retreat.
Only the Marine division retained its unit integrity, saving
remnants of Army 7th and 3rd divisions while destroying 12
surrounding Chinese divisions as it withdrew in a two-weeklong
December battle in sub-freezing temperatures from
the frozen Chosin Reservoir in North Korea; one of the most
incredible feats in the annals of warfare.
The final two years were static WWI trench-type warfare at
the DMZ. Korea was the great General Douglas MacArthur’s
“Waterloo.” In 1951, President Truman relieved him of his
command due to misjudgment and insubordination to
Constitutional civil authority over the military.
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
5

Alfred Shepard
U.S. Army
By: Will Oliver
Shepard said he finished his basic training at what is now
Fort Gordon, leaving from there and reporting to Fort Devens
in Massachusetts.
When he began his work with ASA, Shepard was stationed
just outside Washington, D.C., before leaving for Alaska. On
his way across the country, he stopped at Fort Lewis near
Tacoma, Washington.
Shepard shared that he spent three years in Alaska, finishing
his enlistment in July 1957. He mentioned it was quite the
sight to see when ice remained on the beaches of Alaska at
that point in the summertime.
One of Shepard’s superiors tried to convince him to re-enlist,
where he offered him a proposition:
“I’m going to go back home, find me a pretty girl and get
married,” Shepard said. “If I do that in 90 days, I’ll re-enlist.”
He returned home, working a position at a local cotton mill
for five years.
Alfred Shepard was born in Lanett, Alabama, but graduated
high school in Thomaston, Georgia, in May of 1954. He
said he originally planned to serve in the Air Force but
ended up enlisting in the Army, going on to work classified
assignments within the Army Security Agency (ASA).
In 1965, Shepard moved to the Warner Robins area and
received a job offer to work in electronics at Robins Air Force
Base. He retired from that position after 30 years.
Shepard and his wife are happily married and avid travelers.
He noted they have been to every state with the exception
of Hawaii.
He recalled that at the beginning of his enlistment, he
reported to Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia, then left for
processing at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.
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Anthony Colucci
U.S. Army
By: Tyler Meister
Anthony Colucci was 17 when he enlisted in the Army while
living in New York City. Even in 1950, when he enlisted, that
was illegal.
“I lied,” Colucci said, laughing. “Let’s leave it at that.”
Shortly after Colucci enlisted, he was sent to Fort Dicks in
New Jersey, as well as Fort Paris in South Carolina for basic
training. For the next three years straight, Colucci was sent
to Korea on a single deployment. He was armed with a 30.
caliber machine gun and sent on the task of fighting on the
ground in the Korean War.
Colucci prefers not to tell stories of what he experienced.
“The stories are notable,” he said, grim. “Me and my
buddies, we all got shot up pretty good.” Colucci did share
that he received some injuries, major ones to his back. “I did
what I had to,” he explained. “I did it because it was my job.”
For his service, Colucci was awarded a Purple Heart, a
Medal of Valor, and a slew of others. When the war was over
and the dust finally settled, he held the rank of Sergeant.
Colucci left Korea at the war’s end, and was sent to Germany.
After he retired from the military, he returned to New York
and took up construction. Colucci took part in erecting vast
buildings in New York until he moved to Florida where he
married his wife, and raised two daughters. Colucci built
the first 20-story building on Daytona Beach and eventually
moved to Warner Robins where he settled, building condos
and homes. He went into full retirement, according to his
wife, about 10 years ago.
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November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
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Fred Gaultney
U.S. Air Force
By: Will Oliver
Although Fred Gaultney had two brothers who served in the
Army and Marines in World War II and the Korean conflict, he
went on to serve with a different military branch.
Gaultney, a resident of Warner Robins, said he grew up
making paper airplanes and toy versions out of wood
and cardboard.
He joined the U.S. Air Force in April 1953 at 22 years old,
finishing his basic training in San Antonio, Texas. Following
this, he attended technical school in Amarillo, Texas, from
April until November of that year.
From there, he was sent out to what is now McConnell Air
Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, where he remained until his
discharge in August 1957.
His primary position was serving as chief clerk of the
orderly room, maintaining what he called “the nuts and
bolts” of the base’s daily operations. These duties included
communicating with correspondents and running an
organized mailroom.
Gaultney said the beauty in the military is all in what you
make of it, saying there’s “plenty of action” to be found in the
Air Force.
Following his discharge from the service, he received a job
offer to work as a computer operator at Robins Air Force
Base, where he remained until his retirement in 1993.
10 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

Gerald
Williamson
U.S. Air Force
By: Will Oliver
“Any flight coming in or going out, we had a hold on it,”
Williamson said.
From there, he was sent to Germany until August 1951,
working some aerial radar from the plane itself. He noted
they flew 32 missions in 32 days.
Williamson mentioned he had plenty of sports experience
since he played football, baseball and basketball during
high school. At some point, he was offered a position on the
baseball and basketball teams in the 20th Air Force League,
competing against other military teams throughout England,
Spain and Germany.
“The best part of the Air Force was the guys you met, you
know what I mean?” Williamson said. “You lived and died
with them.”
Following his time in the Air Force, he went to school at the
University of Notre Dame to study physical education.
Gerald Williamson, a native of Cortland, New York, said he
comes from a broad military lineage.
Following his high school graduation, he shared that he
played professional baseball for one season with a team in
the Braves farm system and could have gone further in the
sport, but he chose to serve his country.
Williamson said he was always interested in the Air Force
more so than the other military branches. He served a
four-year enlistment, beginning in December 1950 until his
discharge in December of 1954.
His first deployment location was Lackland Air Force Base in
San Antonio, Texas, and at some point following, he attended
school in Biloxi, Mississippi, to become a radar observer.
From there, he went on to become the coach of a New
York private school, teaching football, basketball, baseball,
wrestling and golf. Later, he went on to coach at a North
Carolina school until his retirement in 1996.
Williamson said a few of his children ended up serving and
being deployed in Warner Robins so he and his wife made
their way down to middle Georgia post-retirement.
His dad was a World War I veteran and four of his uncles
served in World War II in Belgium and at Midway to name
some places.
His brother-in-law fought at the Battle of the Bulge, and
including Williamson, he’s one of over 20 veterans coming
before and after him. Military veterans in his family include
sons, daughters, grandchildren and even his recently
graduated 17-year-old great-granddaughter who is going
into the Coast Guard.
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
11

Henry Dawkins
U.S. Navy
By: Tyler Meister
Henry Dawkins, now 91 years old, was born in South Carolina
in the early 1930s. Only 19 years later, he would enlist in the
United States Navy and head off for basic training in San
Diego, California, where he would go through extensive
training. After three deployments in Korea, running rescue
missions, avoiding explosive shells from the enemy and even
spending three consecutive Christmases on the bomb line,
Dawkins left the Navy with the rank of Petty Officer Second
Class and moved from California to Georgia.
Dawkins remembers several stories from his time in the
Navy, but one that has stuck with him all this time happened
during his time on the USS Halsey Powell, a Fletcherclass
destroyer. The crew of the Halsey Powell was called
to rescue the survivors of a crashed plane. The military
aircraft had crashed into a shallow bay, and the five surviving
members of the craft were left there, trapped.
The crew of the Halsey Powell made its way through the
shallow waters of the bay as it attempted to reach the
survivors; all the while, Korean soldiers fired shells at them.
“We had a hard time maneuvering in that shallow water,”
Dawkins said. Even through the shallow waters and reefs, the
crew was able to extract the remaining survivors, and rescue
survivors of another crash – a couple a crewmembers of a
downed plane that had been attempting to reach the first
crash. “We had to get out of there ’cause we were getting
fired on pretty heavy. Of course, we were firing our guns
too, ya’ know,” Dawkins said with a laugh. “We weren’t just
sitting there.”
Dawkins can remember other missions. He recalled working
the bomb line each Christmas, shelling the enemy to hold the
line. He remembered when an anchor snagged their ship to
a halt – just as a shell crashed into the water right in front of
them. But Dawkins also remembers coming home to his wife
after three tours in Korea, after the war had finally ended,
and deciding with her to move back to the East Coast, where
he has lived a long life and seen himself to be a prosperous
91 years old.
12 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

Jaudon Thompson
U.S. Army
By: Ashton A. Akins
“The military definitely played an impact in my life early on.
After I was discharged, I went back to working for Robins Air
Force Base,” mentioned Thompson.
He served two years in the United States military, but he
worked at Robins Air Force Base for 51 years. “In my 51
years at the Air Force Base, I never took advantage of using
my sick days. I received two years of sick leave credit,
which was a total of 4,910 hours. I took the sick days in
chronological order, which gave me 53 years at Robins Air
Force Base. I recorded the most years of service and the
most sick leave hours of any Air Force Base employee ever,”
said Thompson.
After being active in the military and serving his community,
Thompson would go on to tour Vietnam twice, tour Africa
three times and lastly, Kenya and Jordan as a civilian. He did
not have any children and he would later receive a medal for
his commitment and service.
Now 89 years old, Jaudon Thompson was an employee at
Robins Air Force Base when drafted into the United States
Army in December of 1952.
“Looking back at it, I missed two years of my life, but I do not
regret it,” he said.
Thompson was sworn in at Fort McPherson before
graduating basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
After graduating basic training, Thompson was deployed to
Daegu, Korea.
While serving as an active duty member of the armed forces,
Thompson was appointed as a member of SCARWAF, which
is an acronym for Special Category Army Reassigned With
Air Force. The goal of SCARWAF was to help assist the Air
Force while maintaining the ability to complete U.S. Army
assignments. SCARWAF built bridges, runways, etc to help
assist the Air Force.
Thompson turned 21 on July 22, 1953. The Korean War
ended five days after his 21st birthday, so Thompson
spent his final few months of service at Camp Gordon (Fort
Gordon), until he was discharged. The Treutlen County
(Soperton, Georgia) native spent time at home before going
back to work at Robins AFB.
“At a young age, I loved to travel and to work,”
remarked Thompson.
Continuing to serve his community, Thompson has become
a voice for the veterans in the Houston County area. Jaudon
Thompson says, “The Georgia Department of Veteran
Service has released the State benefits for Georgia Veterans
pamphlet, which contains valuable information that is not
brought to many veterans’ attention. This pamphlet is a
great way to educate war vets on all uninformed rights and
advantages. The book is about 35 pages and is intended for
informational purposes only, and no assurance of benefits
is implied. To verify eligibility, please contact a GDVS field
office near you.”
Many war vets who are disabled or endured combat
related injuries are entitled to a lot of free and discounted
items. According to Thompson, this list can range
from free car tags to not paying ad valorem taxes. “I
recommend all vets apply for pension and let those behind
the desk make the decision on how much you receive,”
Thompson advised.
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
13

Lawrence
Wright
U.S. Air Force
By: Kendra Norman Holmes
Although Lawrence Wright didn’t serve on the frontline of
battle during the Korean War, the 89-year-old did play a vital
role in making sure that those who did were well equipped
to do so, and do so safely. He was among those military
personnel who worked on the electronic end of things,
setting up what was needed for planes carrying U.S. Airmen
to safely travel in and out of the area of war.
“I was in communications installations in the Air Force,” he
recalled, seemingly with ease. “We traveled all over the far
east. We went from one end of Japan to the other, and I was
in the Philippines four times.”
It was in March of 1954 that Wright’s expertise was required
in Korea during the war. He and others were called to put
their hands to work there, and Wright remained for a total of
about four weeks to fulfill his assigned duties.
“In that month, we set up at Kusan Air Base. We set up a
transmitter site, and we did some work in the control tower,”
he recalled. “We had to go in an empty building and install all
these transmitters for their communication at Kusan.”
Wright’s principal job was to get the big transmitter working
that the airplanes coming into Kusan could tune in to and
home in on.
“They said that it was so hot after I set it up that they could
get on it in Japan without having to use any other relays,”
said Wright. “They could pick it up in Japan and fly straight
into Kusan. That was pretty darn good, if I say so myself,” he
added with a laugh.
In total with the United States Air Force, Wright served four
years of active duty and four years of reserve obligations
with a year and a half of that being in active reserves. At the
time that he ended his military service, Wright’s ranking was
that of Staff Sergeant.
14 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

Leonard Kinsley
U.S. Navy
By: Will Oliver
Kinsley said he initially deployed with the USS Tarawa out
of Norfolk, Virginia, proceeding to see many different parts
of the world during his three-and-a-half year deployment,
including: the Mediterranean Sea, the Suez Canal, Japan,
Korea, Hawaii, San Francisco and Newport, Rhode Island.
He said he went on to transfer to the USS Midway, floating
back through the Mediterranean, as well as Cape Town,
South Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, Australia and New
Zealand. He mentioned crossing the equator on both of the
ships was a unique experience for him.
While the French were in what is now Vietnam, Kinsley’s
carrier floated just off its coast for some time before returning
to Hawaii, then on to Bremerton, Washington.
Kinsley was discharged in 1955, and he had no problems
fitting back into society as a civilian since the military taught
him valuable lessons like working well with others and
being responsible.
Following Kinsley’s discharge from the service, an air
intelligence officer spoke with him about continuing
his education.
Kinsley enrolled in Louisiana State University where he
studied forestry and also met his future wife. Following his
graduation, he traveled to his home state of Pennsylvania,
where he attended graduate school within Pennsylvania
State University’s forest management program. Kinsley and
his wife married in 1960.
Leonard Kinsley, originally a resident of Dushore,
Pennsylvania, enlisted in the Navy following his high school
graduation at the age of 17 years old.
He served on two different aircraft carriers for 10 months
each during the conflict with Korea, with his main duties
involving air intelligence and air navigation. Some of his
daily tasks included providing target information for pilots
deploying from their ship.
He received a job offer back in middle Georgia where he
worked with a woodlands company. He went on to become
a manager for a few years before he went into the business
for himself as a consultant forester for nearly three decades.
Kinsley said he has enjoyed his life and wanted to dedicate
some of it to serving his country.
“I’ll tell you,” he said, “I’m well-blessed.”
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
15

Ralph
McAtee
U.S. Air Force
By: Kendra Norman Holmes
At the age of 92, Ralph McAtee considers himself a blessed
man. Many brave soldiers that traveled his same course in
life unfortunately lost their lives long ago—some of them at
the hands of the Korean War. McAtee shared his journey of
working as a radar technician during that troubled time of
our history.
“In early March of 1953, I was stationed at Robins Air Force
Base here, and I got orders for an assignment,” he stated.
“I never did get the order, though; they told me they were
classified orders. I thought I was going to Korea, but when
I got on the ship and traveled the 14 days, the ship docked
in Japan.”
Once docked, McAtee said that a range of numbers was
announced, and the direction given was for all of those
whose assigned number fell within that range were to
disembark the next morning at 0400 hours.
“Well, when I looked at my number, I was included in that,”
McAtee said.
This meant that instead of going to Korea as he expected,
McAtee would play his part in the war from Japan. There,
he was assigned to the 548 Reconnaissance Technical
Squadron at Yokota Air Force Base in Western Tokyo. The
unit to which he was assigned was staffed by the Air Force
with other military service personnel involved including SAC
(Strategic Air Command).
“Our duty there involved critical analysis and reporting on
North Korean radar capabilities to include all distinctive
characteristics such as type of radar, frequencies, range,
etc.,” McAtee explained. “And this was done by what we
now call the advance of the JSTARS. They would go in under
the worse weather conditions to penetrate North Korea in
order for them to turn on the radar systems. The further the
penetration, of course,” he added, “the more radars they
turned on.”
United States suspected that they might have had “lock-on
radars” given to them by the Russians or Chinese.
Lock-on is a feature of many radar systems that allow for
the automatic following of a selected target. According to
McAtee, these radars, at that time, were considered to be
the latest radar technology, but in most cases, they were not
turned on.
However, he went on to share that, “On one occasion, when
we came back from one mission, we went to work on it and
found that they had employed lock-on radar on one of our
aircraft. This would affect all of our flying missions including
our bomber missions,” McAtee said.
He further explained that once an enemy locked on, it was
almost impossible to get away from them. Locking on gave
them a much higher opportunity to be successful at shooting
down a U.S. aircraft.
So, while McAtee did not directly participate in the war with
the Koreans, what he did in Japan in his role as a radar
technician was of great assistance in keeping the U.S. troops
safe and well informed in the battle.
McAtee went on to spend 26 years in active military,
during which time he held various ranks. At the time of his
discharge, he was a Sr. Master Sergeant.
At that time, McAtee said that they were looking to see what
capabilities the North Koreans had in the way of radar. The
16 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

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The WAR in KOREA
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Tommy Davis
U.S. Air Force
By: Joshua Miller
Tommy Davis was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
and was on active duty in the Air Force from December 1951
to 1955. Through his time in the service, Davis had obtained
the rank of sergeant before his discharge.
While serving in the Air Force, Davis was stationed in
different states across the nation until being stationed in
North Africa for an international assignment, where he
continued to travel to various places that he never would
have seen if he weren’t in the Air Force. Though Davis flew
to many places, his actual work assignments kept him on
the ground as he gathered information for the security of
our nation.
“My work was classified so I can’t discuss it,” reflected
Davis. “But I enjoyed my four years; it was a good life. I
should’ve stayed in there more, but I felt like there was
something else I needed to do.”
Upon his return from the Air Force, Davis attended college
and went on to “work in the secular world.” Now, Davis
resides in Perry with his wife. Family brought him to the
Houston County area as his son currently works at Robins
Air Force Base. Davis’ son is a retired airman that flew
combat and rescue helicopters for over 30 years.
Even though Davis has been removed from the line of duty
for over half a century, he still treasures his experiences in
the Air Force, and according to him, it is a part of his life’s
history that he would not change.
“I enjoyed my service time very much,” said Davis. “If I was
asked to do it again, I would go back in today.”
18 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

Willy Hampton
U.S. Army
By: Tyler Meister
After changing his mind, Hampton was drafted into the
Army, and served in active duty during the remainder of the
Korean War.
After receiving his notice, Hampton was processed in
Columbus, Georgia and was subsequently sent to Fort
Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina for his 14-week
infantry-training period. After training further in Albany,
Georgia, he was processed once again in Seattle, and then
sent to Japan as a member of the 1st Calvary Division.
Hampton arrived in Japan by plane, and upon arriving, was
reassigned to the Signal Corp. For the remainder of the war,
he provided essential telephone communications to the
ever-moving division rear, stringing wiring on high poles and
hooking in telephones. Hampton even took part in laying “the
Manchurian cable” and communications wire that stretches
from the United States over to Korea. For that, Hampton and
his crew received a special citation from Syngham Rhee, the
first president of South Korea.
As Hampton described it, he received three Bronze Service
Stars and a Korean Service Medal “for being where [he] was,
when [he] was.”
Willy Hampton didn’t originally intend to be in the United
States Army. He initially enlisted in the Navy; however, the
thought of being put in a submarine made him change his
mind before being sworn in.
“I got to thinking that at my height, they may put me in a
submarine. I changed my mind and they came out to pay me
a visit—two SPs did—and I said, ‘No I’m not going, I haven’t
been sworn in.’ they accepted that.” Only a week later,
Hampton received a draft notice for the Army. “I imagine the
Navy helped it along,” Hampton said with a laugh.
Hampton was born and raised in Pelham, Georgia. In
1951, at the age of 20, Hampton enlisted with the Navy.
Upon being discharged, Hampton took a ship back to the
United States that was hit by a typhoon, a boat ride he calls
a “trip from hell.” Finally, back in the states, Hampton took
a plane to further his trip home, but while over Montana,
the engine caught fire and the plane crash-landed in Miles
City. “I had a hell of a time getting back home,” Hampton
said, laughing.
But finally making it home made the travel worth its trouble.
Hampton stated, “I was glad to help out; there was a lot of
poor guys who didn’t make it back home.” Nearly 40,000
Americans died in action in Korea. Hampton added that
coming home made him “very appreciative of being in a
country that’s free.”
Hampton served two years on active duty. He retired from
active duty as a corporal and married soon after. The happy
couple moved to Atlanta where Hampton went to school,
and then eventually found a job. Now, at the healthy age of
92, with children and grandchildren all around, Hampton has
retired to Tallahassee, Florida and has been married to his
wife for 67 years.
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
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By Col H. Avery Chenoweth,
USMCR Ret.
“Soldiers-of-the-Sea” have
been integral to war ships for
millennia. All navies had them.
P r i o r t o t h e A m e r i c a n
Revolution, colonists served as
British Marines. After the
battles of Lexington and
Concord in April of 1775,
where American militiamen
first whipped the British and
ignited the Revolution, that
year the Second Continental
C o n g r e s s c r e a t e d t h e
Continental Army that June,
followed by the Continental
Navy in October, and two
battalions of Continental
Marines that 10 th of November.
Shipboard Marines had a
constabulary role to keep order
aboard ship, billeted amidship
in order to keep the often
mutinous sailors ‘hammocked’
forward from the officers
quartered aft, guard the ship’s
treasure, payroll and bounty,
and provide landing forces.
They took posts in the riggings
to fire down on enemy ships
when boarding.
After the U.S. gained its
freedom, those Continentals
became the United States
Army, Marines, and Navy, in
that order.
In the early 20 th Century the
U.S. Marines came of age. At
the outbreak of what became
World War 1, the 5 th and 6 th
Marine regiments were stood
up, comprising the 4 th Brigade,
and shortly attached to the
Army 2d Division and its 3 rd
Army brigade in the American
Expeditionary Force in France
in 1918. Marine Maj Gen John
Lejeune commanded
that Army division
following their bloody
victory at Belleau
Wood.
Hitting the Japanese
w i t h a r e f l e x i v e
uppercut immediately
after their attack on
Pearl Harbor, 450
Marines on tiny Wake
Island in the western Pacific
fought off two Japanese
invasion attempts, knocking
down 21 enemy aircraft,
sinking a submarine, 3
destroyers, one cruiser and
killing over 1,000 assault
troops—before the Navy
commander ordered them to
surrender!
The Marine Corps peaked in
WW2 with six 28,000-man
infantry divisions and five air
wings, that with Navy support,
conquered island after Pacific
island: Guadalcanal, Tarawa,
Saipan, Pelelieu, Iwo Jima, up
to Okinawa, prior to the two
Atomic bombs obviating the
necessity of invading Japan.
When communist North
Korea invaded South Korea in
June, 1950, only the 1 st Marine
Division was combat ready,
due to the Army’s rapid post
WW2 disbandment. That
Marine division’s incredible
stand at the “Frozen” Chosin
Reservoir and their utterly
destroying 10 Chines divisions
surrounding them, earned the
highest accolades and
permanency by Congress as
America’s “Force-in-
Readiness,” a unique,
invincible MarineAir-
GroundTaskForce: MAGTF.
As such, to a limited degree,
the Corps distinguished itself
in later wars in Vietnam, the
Persian Gulf, Iraq, and
Afghanistan.
Faced now, though, with
superior enemy offense/defense
systems and hypersonic, cyber,
electronic, EMP weaponry, it
has eliminated tanks, tube
artillery, amphibious landing
craft, and, modified MEF,
MEB, and MEU missions.
Strategy and tactics are now
returning to more sea and less
ground infantry. Littoral
Combat Ships with F-35Bs in
Expeditionary Advanced Base
Ops (EAOB)with drone,
missile, and cyber weaponry
facing larger threatening forces.
Incredibly, creeping Woke,
CRT, White racism, and social
engineering are usurping Kill
Chain training, and averse to
standing up for military
options, top brass tend to bend
to politics.
To the “Old Corps” we knew:
Good-bye to “Semper Fi”!
The author served in the Corps
from 1947 through 1992 in
infantry, combat art and historical
stints. Barnes & Noble published
his oversized, highly illustrated
Art of War: Eyewitness Combat
Art, etc. and Semper Fi: The
Illustrated History of the Marines.
20 The WAR in KOREA www.hhjonline.com

Col. Avery
Chenoweth, Sr.
(USMCR Ret.)
Maintaining my Reserve status, I served in Reserve VMF-
144 squadron, CO of a rifle company and CO of the Reserve
Public Affairs Unit in NYC, an operational unit of HQMC.
During 30 years of Reserve duty, I volunteered twice in
Vietnam as Combat Artist and Cinematographer, did staff
studies for Commandants; at age 62, on active duty as
head of the Combat Art team for the History Division, drove
a Jeep Cherokee with the attacking Marine task force into
Kuwait City.
My combat art is in Marine, Navy and Army museums, the
Pentagon, etc.
I wrote two monumental, oversized, highly illustrated
histories published nationally by Barnes & Noble NYC: “ART
OF WAR: Eyewitness U.S. Combat Art from the Resolution
through the 20th Century” (2002) and “SEMPER FI: The
Definitive Illustrated History of the U.S. Marines” (2005/2010,
hailed as the best Marine Corps illustrated history). Both are
now out-of-print but can be found on Amazon.
In my 68-year association with the Marines, I also contributed
articles, cartoons and photos to Leatherneck, Marine Corps
Gazette, Navy Times, Washington Times, Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, Macon Telegraph, Houston Home Journal and
other periodicals and have also written 10 additional books
(available on Amazon KDP). One of special interest to military
buffs is “LEST WE FORGET: Extraordinary Episodes of Often
Forgotten U.S. Military History.” (See my ad in this issue.)
Never could I have imagined when I received my 2nd
Lieutenant’s commission, along with my art degree from
Princeton that peaceful June, 1950, that six months later, I
would be using that rank in the 1st Marine Division leading
rifle, machine gun, and recoilless rifle platoons in combat
in Korea!
Still able to get into my uniform at 94, I’m often invited as the
oldest Marine to annual birthday cake-cuttings, traditionally
receiving the first slice.
After a year in combat and another in HQMC, including two
atomic bomb tests, I married, started a family, and began a
career in NYC in television, advertising, publishing and art.
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
21

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A SALUTE TO
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OUR VETERANS
A special thanks to
local veterans for their
courage, sacrifice
and service.
from the staff of
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(478) 987.1823 | www.hhjonline.com
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
23