The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association
The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association
The Graybeards - KWVA - Korean War Veterans Association
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
INTER-SERVICE APPRECIATION<br />
During the early days of the <strong>Korean</strong><br />
<strong>War</strong>, the holding actions of the 8th<br />
Army and Marines had failed to<br />
sufficiently slow Red troop advances and,<br />
despite the heavy pounding by our fighter<br />
planes on all three fronts circling Taegu, and<br />
a mass saturation raid by B-29s near<br />
Waegwan, we could not keep the enemy<br />
from crossing the Naktong River.<br />
As the battle lines drew closer ... the<br />
noose tightened around Taegu, there were<br />
actually fewer Red supplies being intercepted<br />
because the Reds were ‘holing-up’ during<br />
daylight hours, and making their long<br />
moves at night, when our fighter planes<br />
were on the ground. It took them longer, but<br />
the supplies were still reaching the front.<br />
And, secondly, we were having to expend<br />
much more of our aerial resources at the<br />
front lines, supporting our troops. We didn’t<br />
have time to go searching behind the lines<br />
on interdiction missions.<br />
But as the lines closed in on Taegu ...<br />
from the west and from the north, our<br />
ground forces had to back steadily into an<br />
ever-shrinking defensive perimeter; we<br />
found it necessary to direct almost all of our<br />
mission effort to close tactical support of the<br />
frontlines, reducing the sorties we could<br />
send north to interdict their supplies. It was<br />
a “Catch 22” ... we couldn’t afford to slack<br />
off on our interdiction attacks because the<br />
armor coming onto the line would jeopardize<br />
our fragile hold on the perimeter’s front<br />
lines ...but if we didn’t help our troops on<br />
… a Twenty on the Bar<br />
Fall, 1950<br />
Unsung Heroes of the <strong>Korean</strong> Air <strong>War</strong><br />
by<br />
Duane E. ‘Bud’ Biteman,<br />
Lt Col, USAF, Ret<br />
the front, their wouldn’t be any perimeter<br />
left to defend!<br />
It is not possible to adequately describe<br />
the intense feeling of gratification we pilots<br />
felt when we could hit the Reds attacking<br />
our front-line troops. By August there were<br />
enough radio jeeps operating on our frequencies,<br />
and airborne T-6 Mosquito spotter<br />
planes, that we could work with reasonable<br />
safety within just a few hundred yards of<br />
our own troops. When the verbal orders of<br />
the man on the ground were insufficient to<br />
tell us precisely where to strike, we’d ask<br />
the spotter to fire a smoke rocket, or the<br />
ground artillery to place a white phosphorus<br />
shell onto the target.<br />
With positive target identification like<br />
that, we could work over the Red’s dug-in<br />
positions with a vengeance. It was doubly<br />
gratifying because we were not only taking<br />
the enemy pressure off of our troops, but<br />
they would often stand right up in plain<br />
sight to cheer us on.<br />
We knew that our close-support efforts<br />
were deeply appreciated, so we would<br />
inevitably press our attacks a little harder ...<br />
a little closer, or a little lower than was prudent<br />
for the safety of our own hides. But we<br />
knew, too, that when we finally ran out of<br />
ammunition and had to head back over the<br />
hill to our base at Taegu, those poor characters<br />
below had to stay in their foxholes all<br />
night to protect our position and our lives.<br />
Too often they didn’t make it through the<br />
night, for that was when the Reds liked to<br />
attack ... at night, when our planes weren’t<br />
around to break up their thrusts.<br />
But as the battle fronts closed in around<br />
our Taegu base, we soon had a steady flow<br />
of casualties passing through for medical air<br />
evacuation to hospitals in Japan, and for the<br />
first time we pilots had a chance to talk<br />
face-to-face with some of the Army people<br />
we’d been supporting during those close<br />
ground support missions along the front<br />
lines.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y had nothing but praise for the job<br />
we had been doing, and told us of the hundreds<br />
of ‘kills’ which we had been unable to<br />
see because we were moving too fast.<br />
Little did they realize that it wasn’t really<br />
our ‘bravery’ when we’d fly into those<br />
heavy concentrations of ground fire ... it<br />
was our ignorance! We just couldn’t see all<br />
the people who were busily shooting at us.<br />
As the front lines neared Taegu airstrip,<br />
the stream of casualties increased proportionately.<br />
Seeing the maimed bodies of<br />
those youngsters quickly dispelled any<br />
remaining thoughts we might possibly have<br />
had about the war being a “game... a test of<br />
skills” among pilots<br />
I was especially touched one evening,<br />
after we’d been having some especially<br />
rough close support missions just a short<br />
distance from Taegu, resulting in several<br />
severely damaged Mustangs and a couple of<br />
wounded pilots.<br />
A young Army Captain hobbled into our<br />
little tent which we used for an ‘Officer’s<br />
Club,’ he was bandaged from head to waist,<br />
had one arm in a sling and one bandaged<br />
foot, but he was managing. He made his<br />
way slowly and silently, with the aid of a<br />
makeshift cane over to our packing-crate<br />
‘Bar,’ as the few of us patrons moved aside<br />
to make room for him.<br />
But instead of ordering a drink, he<br />
looked to both sides, laid a twenty dollar bill<br />
on the bar, then said: “Thanks, men,” turned<br />
around and hobbled out without another<br />
word.<br />
My morale went up a thousand points<br />
upon hearing of his appreciation for our<br />
risks.<br />
Duane E. ‘Bud’ Biteman, Lt Col, USAF, Ret<br />
“...one of those OLD, Bold Fighter Pilots...”<br />
Next Issue: Rocky Return.<br />
“As long as you can walk away from it, it’s a<br />
good landing”.<br />
Page 66<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Graybeards</strong>