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| DuWayne G. Squire Sargent First Class, 213 Field Artillery |
All I can remember about the trip back was how sick I got when the bus was descending down the switchbacks along the Columbia River in Oregon. I remember how I felt quite smug as the driver had someone pass out pills to combat moving sickness. I had never been car sick, and so I didn’t take any medication. I smiled to myself for the first hour as I observed people getting sick with the swerving and swaying of the bus, but then I began to feel lightheaded and soon I was as sick as anyone. It seemed we would never get off that winding, steep road along the Columbia River. I know that I was as happy and relieved as anyone when the bus finally arrived to level and fairly straight roads.
For the next three or four weeks, I was so busy working 16 or 18 hour days (trying to make up for the time I had taken off) in getting us ready for the trip to Korea that I didn’t have time to feel sorry for myself or to mourn for Kirk.
We were finally loaded in buses and taken to a port at Seattle. While there, I tried to call Helen to let her know that we were boarding a ship the next day for Korea, but I had a terrible time getting through to her. I couldn’t convince the operator that there was a Hurricane, Utah (which I correctly pronounced “Hare-kahn” as southern Utahns do!). She kept coming back to report that she was unable to locate such a town in Utah. I told her I knew it was there as I had been there many times and that all calls for LaVerkin came through “Hurricane”. In desperation, she finally asked me to spell “Hurricane”. Feeling quite exasperated, I spelled “H-u-r-r-i-c-a-n-e,” to which she promptly replied, “Oh, you mean HURRICANE!” and I said, “That is what I have been trying to tell you for the past half hour.”
The next day, January 26, 1951, we loaded all of our equipment and men on a Henry J. Kaiser “Liberty” ship named “USS General M. C. Meigs” which had just been brought out of moth balls. We spent the next couple of days coming down the coast to a port between Oakland and San Francisco. It was a thrilling experience to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge and sail past Alcatraz in the bay. At this port, we loaded on some more troops and equipment and then headed for Korea.
Once we were out to sea and had time to relax a little and time to think and reflect: I was either heartsick or seasick. I was heartsick in the loss of Kirk and in leaving Helen and my family and, for that matter, in leaving everything that provided my feeling of security. We had heard the stories of the many troops who were slaughtered in Korea and of the many who had been frozen and suffered so greatly during this winter at the Yalu River area. When I wasn’t worried sick or heartsick, I was hanging over the rail heaving my guts out. The food they served was terrible. Every morning for breakfast we had powdered eggs which had a greenish, sick look. That started the day with a queasy stomach. I can’t remember much about what the other food was as I was too sick to try much of it. Needless to say, I lost quite a bit of weight during the 13 days it took us to reach Japan.
The time that I got the sickest was during a heavy storm when the ship was bouncing like a cork for 24 hours. We found out later that the screw or propeller shaft had broken during the storm, and we were out of control for most of the rough water. We heard later that another “Liberty” ship caught in the same storm had broken in two. During that time, the ship was heaving uncontrollably as was I. Not only that, but I suffered with diarrhea also. Once, when I went to the head (latrine) in the bow of the ship, water and sewage were shooting out of each of the toilets as the nose of the ship would descend in the waves and then water about six inches deep would come rushing back on the floor when the bow would ascend. It was a sick, humiliating experience to jump on a seat when the water had stopped geysering out of the toilet and then raise your feet to try to keep them out of the sewage rushing back on the floor. As I recall, I finally gave up in trying to keep out of the mess and took a saltwater shower to try to clean up afterwards. When you are sick enough, I found out that one can overlook six inches of sewage around ones feet.
I got to see my brother Phil a few times, and he told me that they had menus giving them several choices for each of their meals, with lots of steaks and all the milk they wanted to drink. Once, he sneaked me into his private shower for a freshwater shower. That was the nearest thing to heaven I had experienced on the trip.
In crossing the Pacific, we crossed over the International Date Line (February 5, 1951), passed close by Midway Islands, Okinawa, and other islands, and finally arrived in the Sasebo Harbor in Japan. It took 14 days to cross the Pacific Ocean to Japan. We sat out in the harbor for a day while they picked up supplies. One thing that irritated us more than anything was when they drained the ship’s milk tanks and literally made the water white for a mile around us. Milk was one of the things many of us craved the most, and on the trip over, they only served it to the crew and the officers.
We finally got underway down through the Yellow Sea to Pusan, Korea. We could readily see why it was called the Yellow Sea since the water was tinted a light yellow color. They explained the color was due to the yellow mud on the ocean floor.
We had an uneventful trip, and when we reached the harbor at Pusan on February 15, 1951, we dropped anchor out in the middle of the harbor. We spent the evening standing at the rail gazing at the hill rising north of Pusan. The strange, oriental-type trees were silhouetted on the skyline as it was getting dark, and I remember the great empty feeling that filled my soul. I was lonely and frightened as I gazed at that strange scenery while my mind was reflecting on the gory stories I had read and heard about the war in Korea. I don’t know about the rest of the fellows, but I spent a restless night on the ship.
The following morning, we disembarked from the ship, and after unloading our equipment, we climbed in the back of some waiting trucks and took a dusty ride for about 30 miles up into the hills north of Pusan. We set up camp in a high valley where we waited for a month or so until our heavy equipment arrived from Ft. Lewis. We no more than set up our tents before the ladies of the night had set up makeshift quarters of cardboard and canvas down the road about 100 yards. Some from our unit, being of low moral character, soon paid the price and then the penalty for their actions by contracting venereal disease.
While waiting at this location, we were kept busy with maneuvers, teaching us how to use our pistols, rifles, machine guns, Browning automatic rifles, and how to safely (if that’s possible) throw hand grenades. One day, a piece of shrapnel came hissing toward me and hit a rock by my foot. We spent much of our time fighting brush fires on the hillsides which we started with tracer bullets from the machine guns. We also spent much time lined up at the four-holer since our inexperienced cooks served up a lot of dysentery. I don’t know if it had anything to do with it, but one of the cooks was trying to get a section eight discharge by wetting the bed several times a night. They assigned the guards to wake him up every two hours, but somehow he managed to wet the bed between times.
When our M5A1 self-propelled 105 MM Howitzers and other heavy equipment finally arrived, we spent some time packing and reloading our equipment on a ship bound for Inchon Bay. It took a day or two to circle around the coast of Korea taking an evasive course. Upon arrival at Inchon, we were appalled at the damage done on the docks and buildings of Inchon. Our troops had recently landed at Inchon and retook it and then Seoul. We landed at Inchon on April 16, 1951.
We loaded everything on our vehicles and set out for Seoul. It was a scary trip, especially in crossing the Han River into Seoul. The engineers had hastily put up a pontoon bridge to replace the bombed-out, permanent structure. The pontoons were heaving up and down and sideways as we rumbled across them. When we drove through Seoul, we observed that most of the buildings were either leveled or gutted out, and there were many tanks and trucks which had been pushed to the side of the road; some were still smoldering.
We were placed just above Seoul to the northeast just behind the infantry to give them artillery support. Since our Howitzers were mounted on tanks, thus making them very mobile, we were moved to the areas along the front line where there were weaknesses. We were moving mostly up through the valley of the Pukhan River below the Hwachon Reservoir.
Our drinking water came out of the Pukhan River which flowed out of the Hwachon Reservoir and which had many rice paddies draining into it polluting it with the human excrement used for fertilizer. The water was a muddy, brown color, and you could never see the bottom of the cup through it. Once a dead Chink floated into the side of the pump used to get our drinking water.
The greatest news I received while in Korea was the word that Morris was born on April 8, 19--, and that he seemed healthy in every way as was Helen after his delivery. When I received this great news along with continued reports that Morris had no health problems, I found myself walking on the clouds nearly oblivious to the war going on around me. It wasn’t until I experienced such relief, that I realized just how concerned I had been about the threats and continued warnings by some relatives that because of our relationship we would never be able to have any healthy, normal children. How great it was to have a confirmation of our faith in that regard. From the day of this great news, I lived only for the day when I would be reunited with Helen and Morris.
We had some more good news in the form of Timothy Irons, and LDS Chaplain. He came to our unit and set us up to begin having Church services. I was asked to be our unit leader and was to help the other unit leaders in our battalion set up Sunday Schools and sacrament meetings. It really helped our morale and peace of mind when we began holding our meetings. (Through Helen and Bob Daley of our ward, I have been privileged to again meet Chaplain Irons. He is their relative and lives on his ranch in Nephi, Utah.)
We finally pushed the Chinks up above the 38 degree parallel past the Hwachon Reservoir. As we advanced up the river valley, I was horrified to see bloated mules lying in the river. They had been napalm bombed and had run into the river to put out the fire. I was sick to think that for the past two weeks I had been swimming in the river and drinking the water from it.
We passed many dead Chinks who had been burned by the napalm bombs, and I can still visualize one who was sitting up alongside the road with his face badly burned along with the rest of his body. He was wailing until someone came along and shot him. It appeared that the Chinks had an ammunition supply train made up of cars pulled by the mules and oxen when they were bombed and their ammunition exploded.
When we got to the Hwachon Reservoir, I observed from our vantage point that many dead soldiers were floating in its bays. Again, it made me sick to think I had been drinking and diving into the water a few miles downstream.
Things had settled down as the enemy had dug in and so had we. From time to time, I would get an afternoon when I could stop and climb to an outpost where my brother, Phil, was stationed as fire officer to call in artillery fire on the enemy. As we visited, we would watch the enemy on the next ridge where they had dug caves and bunkers. When one would come out to stretch or relieve himself, Phil would call in five artillery shots. I about died laughing at one who jumped up when the first shell landed a few feet away; he was trying to run and pull up his pants at the same time. He kept stumbling and falling, but he dived into his bunker without a scratch.
At this time, I was stationed with the supply unit, and our camp was next to a regiment of Canadian and British soldiers who were waiting to be rotated out as they had been in Korea for several months. One night a colonel came walking into my supply tent and asked me for a change of clothes. While he was changing, he told us that he was assigned as an American advisor to the ROK (Korean Army) which was just north of us about seven or eight miles. They had been hit by the enemy, and the ROK’s broke and ran in all directions. During the chaos, some of the retreating Koreans had stolen his jeep and he was left on his own. He was dirty, hot, and tired by the time he had walked back to our camp. He left us to get a radio and give his report to army headquarters.
That night we saw fires all over the mountains to the north, and they kept flaming up closer and closer to our camp, and there was small arms fire all around us. The British brigade stationed by us was called into action to fill the hole left by the South Korean Army. I heard a few days later that they were ambushed and some were killed by our own artillery fire. The report we heard was that out of the 3,000 or so in the regiment only 18 made it back. During this night, there was utter chaos in service battery, and soon we heard the rumor that Captain James (from Cedar City) had panicked and had his first sergeant get a jeep, and he took off in retreat to the south. The junior officers of the unit were so confused that it took some time until the second in command took some control and ordered us to pack up ready to move out in 15 minutes. My supply helper and I and another fellow who was spending the night with us loaded all of our equipment in the half-track and trailer and then dropped and rolled up the 20-man tent and had it loaded in the 15 minutes allotted.
We pulled out in convoy and headed south. We had gone about ten miles when it began to get light, and so we were told to circle like the old pioneers circled their wagons. The officers were disorganized, and so we just milled around for an hour or so and then action seemed to break out all around us. A navy corsair airplane coming back from a bombing run dropped its wing tanks just before it got to us, and when they hit, they exploded into flame. A ROK antiaircraft battery was about two hundred yards from us, and they opened fire on the plane. Then one of our officers pulled out his pistol and ran to the top of the ditch bank and wildly waved his pistol in the air saying, “Fire! Fire!” I could see the marking on the plane very clearly as it was only about 100 feet in the air above us and so I held my fire but many of the unit opened fire with small arms and the machine guns mounted on their trucks.
Sometime later, the unit received a scorching letter of reprimand for shooting at one of our own planes. Someone had hit an oil line and the pilot had to crash land the plane just out of Seoul.
We finally got regrouped. At about noon, the first sergeant had talked Captain James into returning to find us. We then took inventory of what had transpired and determined that many of the service battery personnel had left their rifles, their tents, all of the food supply for our battalion for the week, and even one jeep was abandoned. Later, we heard that one of our allied groups, the Turks I believe, picked up the food and jeep and other abandoned equipment. In fact, we saw them driving the jeep the next day and they hollered “Thanks!” as they drove past.
Captain James was tried by a military court, and he lied his way out of a court martial by saying that he had retreated to find a safe place for the unit to move back to. The first sergeant testified against him, and he was the loser and was transferred from the unit. I understand that justice has taken its toll on Captain James. Those that have seen him since the war say he is a skeleton of a man and is practically a recluse. He knows the truth and he knows that all of us know the truth.
The North Koreans and Chinks pushed our unit all the way back to the outskirts of Seoul. The first night service battery set up camp just east of Seoul. I was assigned the northeast corner of the perimeter with my half-track since I had a 50-caliber machine gun mounted on a turret. I was assigned all-night guard duty and was told to shoot at anyone that came into the perimeter of our camp. Earlier in the evening as we were traveling, I listened to the radio and picked up some of the air force pilots’ transmissions as they were flying over the area just north of Seoul. They said the hills looked like ant hills because the North Koreans and Chinks were so thick as they were advancing toward Seoul. Needless to say, I was very nervous at my outpost, especially as fires began flaming up all over the hills and kept coming closer and closer to our encampment.
Just before daybreak, I was startled to hear many oriental voices and the padding of many feet coming towards my outpost. My hands were gripping the machine gun handles, and my fingers were on the triggers. I was ready to begin firing, but something told me to hold my fire. I held off until the group was within 20 to 30 feet from me. By then it was starting to get light enough that I could see that they were refugees—old men and women and many little children. I was so relieved that I hadn’t followed my orders to shoot at anyone coming into our perimeter.
We were able to stop the enemy from retaking Seoul, and after a few weeks, we began to advance back to the north, pushing the enemy before us.
One of the highlights of the 213th F. A. Battalion happened as we were advancing north at this time. On May 27, 1951, our firing units rambled into a little valley, Kapyons, and set up camp for the night. The next morning, as some of the men went out behind the bushes to relieve themselves, they found Chinks huddled behind every bush and they began to fire upon them. Soon the whole valley and hillside was moving with the enemy. Our 105 Howitzers were firing point blank at the hillsides, and a short time after it started, the Chinks began to surrender. Our unit took about 800 prisoners as I recall. The Citation stated 830 prisoners taken and another 350 were either killed or seriously injured. The miracle of it all was that we didn’t suffer one fatality in the battle.
Another miracle was revealed as our Intelligence Division began to interrogate the captives they found many totally confused and they kept mumbling that they fired their burp machine guns at close range and our soldiers didn’t fall. It was though they were firing blanks, or that our men were behind a shield.
Our unit was commended and given a Citation by General Van Fleet and President Harry S. Truman, along with papers back home that had big write-ups concerning the battle and the taking of prisoners.
Soon after this, I was given a four day rest and recuperation (R & R) leave. They flew us to Japan in C-45 transport planes. I must say that I was disappointed in many of my friends from our unit who showed a complete lack of morality. It is true there were many temptations as the Japanese girls flocked around every G.I. offering every service from a bath in a geisha house to being partners for the entire leave or until the money ran out, whichever came first. To some that happened on the first night as the girls would get up and take the money and things of value and skip out.
On the first morning that I left the army barracks in Japan, I was surrounded by girls all vying for my money and attention. I finally got rid of all but one who I told I was only interested in finding a good place to buy a camera. She grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a rickshaw, and said, “Get in. I know best place to buy camera.” She told the rickshaw driver something, and he took off on a trot. After about 15 minutes, we started going down narrow streets and alley ways where no one was on the sidewalks or streets; I began to get sick to my stomach as I realized that this girl and the rickshaw driver were probably in cahoots and were taking me someplace where some compatriots would probably slash my throat and take my wallet. About the time I began to get panicky, we pulled up in a narrow alley and stopped. The girl said, “Here is best camera shop.” I looked over at some dumpy cow-barn type shacks lining the street and saw a small window in one that had a camera behind it. I got out and went to a door that was cut about eight inches above the dirt floor and entered. At that point, I was nearly scared out of my britches as a big rat came scurrying from under another door. It nearly ran over me before making a hurried retreat. It was as large as an average sized cat. I was still shaken when a Japanese man came through another door and bowed and asked something in Japanese. I indicated I wanted to see a good camera. He handed me the one from the window, and it wasn’t what I had in mind, and so I handed it back and made a hurried retreat.
Since I didn’t know the way back to the barracks, I had to trust the girl again. I told her that I wanted to go back to the base and that I would buy a camera from the P/X. I was very relieved when we pulled up in front of the base, and I got out and paid the rickshaw driver and tried to give some money to the girl so I could retreat. The girl said no to the offer but insisted that I go across the street with her to a cabaret and buy her a drink. I reluctantly did so, feeling some security in that I was in sight of the base. When we sat down at the booth, about five more girls came screaming and plopped in beside us. Each one was making a bid for my company. I tried to explain to them that I didn’t do those things as I was a Mormon. They were not convinced as they didn’t know what a Mormon was, and they had never heard of Utah. They finally became discouraged and all left except one. She wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. I finally said that I didn’t do those things because I was married. She only laughed at that and countered that married men like it best! When she was convinced I was not going to go with her, she began to tell me her life’s story. She had been living with a soldier from the 25th Infantry Division while he was stationed in Japan. When the Korean War flared up, they called the 25th Infantry Division in and sent them to Korea. She explained that they had a baby and the G.I. sent her money to keep her in their apartment and take care of the baby. Finally, she didn’t hear from him for a while, and so she put the baby in the orphanage and went back on the street. It was a sad tale.
My four day leave was up far too soon, and we were back on the plane headed for Korea. When we got to the landing strip, it was stormed in and so the plane circled the area for an hour or two. As it did so, it would bounce up and down like a feather. I soon found myself lying on the floor heaving my guts up. I wasn’t alone, but that gave me little consolation. What a day—shades of the trip over on the ship.
After my R & R trip to Kokura, Japan, it seemed that things progressed along much more rapidly. We pushed the Chinks and North Koreans up above the magic 38 degree parallel which had separated North and South Korea before the intrusion of North Korea into South Korea. At that point, the fighting slowed down with only minor skirmishes along the established line. Peace talks began at Panmunjom, and after a few weeks, we began to hear rumors of rotation back home.
Finally, the first rotation orders came out and I was not listed on them. The next day or two a supplemental list came out with my name on it, but our C.O., Captain Ford, told me that he would not let me go without a replacement. I was crushed. The next day when I went up to the unit, my brother, Phil, was visiting with Captain Ford. I found out that Captain Ford had sent word to him that if he wanted to see me, he had better come over. He was teasing me about not letting me go home.
It was hard to bid Phil goodbye as I had so hoped that he would be going home with us. Phil said that he had told his C.O. Captain Cox that he would take a step down in rank if he would let him go home with us but all to no avail.
Captain Ford took me aside later in the day and offered to make me a warrant officer if I would sign up for two more years. He said that they would only keep me in Korea for six more months and then I could serve out my time in Japan. I told him in no uncertain terms what he could do with that suggestion.
I found out that the reason I was added to the first rotation list was because I had a son who was seven months old that I hadn’t seen. Also, most of our unit was made up of single men, and so being married gave me a higher priority. The date I was told I was going home was November 15, 1951, which makes it one of the most memorable days in my life.
I sold my chrome-plated 45 pistol and a standard 45 that I had bought earlier hoping to take them home with me. I had heard a rumor that all guns and souvenirs were taken away from the men before they left Korea.
We packed our bags and were loaded on a truck bound for Hwachon. When we arrived there, we were put on a train which was leaving that night for Inchon. The train trip was really an experience. Korean trains were built and the tracks were installed by the Japanese while they occupied Korea. The rails were narrow-gauge tracks and so the freight cars are much narrower than the ones in the USA. The car I was assigned to had many holes in the floor and walls where cannon fire from strafing aircraft had penetrated. On each side they had placed three rows of wood slabs for bunk beds, and if you were lucky, you got one or two army blankets to sleep in. We traveled all night in temperatures well below freezing with the wind whistling through all the big holes in the walls and floor. I was so cold I think I may have given up and froze to death if I hadn’t been heading for home. We arrived in Inchon early the next morning but were kept locked in the rail cars until about 9:30 a.m.
When we were allowed to disembark from the train, we were herded into an old bombed-out schoolhouse where we were told to strip and stack all of our belongings in a single pile. My information about handguns and souvenirs was accurate. They took all guns, knives, weapons, etc., even those shipped from home, away from everyone.
We were then gang showered, and then they doused us all with a white powder to delouse us. We were then given new clothes to wear and never saw the old ones again. Rumor had it that this unit running the port of debarkation was the wealthiest in the service because they sold all the valuables taken from departing troops to other troops still in Korea or to the black market. Then they took it away from them as they came through.
After a time of waiting, we were loaded on a small ship bound for Japan. I remember we had a delicious turkey dinner to celebrate Thanksgiving while on the Yellow Sea. I couldn’t help but compare my feelings of relief and joy as we crossed the Yellow Sea this time as opposed to my feelings of despair and fear as we crossed the last time on our way to Korea and the unknown.
On the afternoon of Thanksgiving Day, we landed at Sasebo, Japan. We were assigned bunks in a brick barracks building and then allowed to have our first warm shower in many months. Again they deloused us and gave us new clothes.
We spent several days consigned to our barracks waiting for a ship to take us home. Finally, on December 1, 1951, we were loaded on the “USS General A. W. Brewster” ship. It was many hours before we pulled up anchor and headed out to sea. After we were on our way, we found that we were restricted to the lower deck as there were dependents on the upper deck who were being delivered to Manila in the Philippine Islands. We again passed near Okinawa which was exciting to see. On the fourth day of December, we pulled into Manila Bay and the dependents were unloaded, but then we took on some more headed for the USA, and so we still couldn’t use the upper deck. In the bay at Manila, it was interesting to see all of the superstructures of many, many ships that had been sunk. Some said that more ships were lost in Manila than in Pearl Harbor.
We had a very slow trip home with classes indoctrinating us back into civilization and getting shots to protect our families from us on our return home. We finally sailed under the San Francisco Bay Bridge and went several miles down the inland harbor between Oakland and San Francisco to an army base. From there, we were finally loaded on buses and ended up at Camp Roberts on the morning of December 24, 1951. We were told that it was too late to issue orders for leaves before Christmas. We all put up such a fuss that they finally made an exception, and we were soon on buses headed for our homes. I called Helen and told her I should be in St. George late Christmas Eve.
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