Our National Guard Unit, The 213 Field Artillery, was called into active duty and we boarded a troop ship on 1 January 1951 at Seattle, Washington. We went to San Francisco, California and picked up some more troops and then headed for Osaka, Japan. After a couple of days in the Japan Harbor where we picked up supplies we headed on over to Pusan, Korea. Pusan is on the Southern tip of Korea and at the time we arrived there the North Koreans had pushed the South Koreans all the way down to within 45 miles of pushing the South Koreans into the ocean. So that is where we joined the South Korean (ROK) Army along with the 24th U.S. Army infantry troops in trying to stop the North Koreans and start pushing them back into North Korea.
To make a long story a short one - We were having a hard time in digging the North Korean's out of their entrenchment and fortifications. That is when General MacArthur got the bright idea to make a landing at Inchon, which is up near the middle of Korea. So we were pulled out of the Pusan Harbor and we along with our heavy equipment were shipped up to Inchon. That put us right in the middle of the enemy with half of their army South of us and the other half North of us. It was a great tactical move which caught the North Korean Army off guard. Within a week we had retaken the Capital City of Seoul, and became strongly entrenched. We eventually were able to remove the enemy from the area South of Seoul and then concentrate on the enemy North of Seoul, which was in North Korea. For the next few months we were making some headway in pushing the enemy to the North above Seoul and then China dumped a multitude of soldiers (some estimates ranged from 200,000 to 300,000) across the Northern border. Each Chinese soldier had a pack sack on his back in which they carried a supply of rice and ammunition and they were armed with AK-47 automatic rifles. Needless to say, when they reached our front lines their vast numbers overwhelmed our forces in a hurry. We were pushed back to the North perimeter of Seoul.
At this point I will state that I was the Supply Sargent for our Unit and had been assigned a half track vehicle which had a fifty caliber machine gun mounted on a circular track so we could swing the gun around to be able to shoot anywhere on a 360 degree angle, either at aircraft or men and equipment on the ground. While we were setting up camp for the night I turned on the short wave radio in my half track and was listening to the U.S. pilots who were flying over and attacking the oncoming ground forces of the enemy. One of the pilots said the enemy were all on foot without any form of transportation. He went on to say the enemy were so numerous that all of the hills looked like ant hills covered with moving ants - and all were heading South toward us. If that wasn't enough to put the fear and trembling into me - I saw several truck loads of Marines going up to the front to fill in a gap where the South Korean (ROK) Army had all broken ranks and fled South. Then a couple of days later I saw 3 big trucks with high side racks all returning from the front with dead Marines stacked in the trucks like cord wood, 10 feet deep. As we were setting up camp on the north edge of Seoul our Commanding Officer came over to my half-track and told me that since I had the only 50 caliber machine gun I was to position my half-track on the North East corner of our encampment because that is the most likely place where the enemy would attack from. He then commanded me to remain awake and be on guard duty all night and that I was to shoot at anyone that came from the North - He said there will not be any "Friendlies" coming from the North so I was to shoot without a challenge!
I stood in the five foot diameter circular gun mount with my hands on the trigger guards and my thumbs on the two triggers. I was cold and miserable, and I might add very tired. But after listening to the pilot's warning concerning the numerous enemy coming our way I couldn't have slept if I had wanted to do so. The hours passed and just as the sky began to lighten up a bit indicating that morning would soon be coming - I heard the padding of several feet coming from the North directly toward my position. When they got about 30 feet away I began to see movement of several shadowy figures. I was ready to squeeze the triggers but was stopped by a voice telling my mind, "Don't Shoot." I answered in my mind that I must shoot because I was given a direct order to do so. So I was about to squeeze the triggers again and the voice told my mind in no uncertain terms that I should not shoot. I held off shooting and within a few seconds I could see about 20-30 people coming and I was able to discern that they were very old men and women and several children, some small children were even carrying babies on their backs. I discerned that they were poor refugees just trying to get out of the way of this cruel war. They walked within 2 or 3 feet of the side of my half-track.
How grateful I was that the Holy Ghost had so firmly warned me to not kill those poor innocent Old civilians and their Children! Had I done so, I doubt there is any way I could have ever forgiven myself.
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