Special KWVA "W in Your Dream Vacation Fund-Raiser" Information ...
Special KWVA "W in Your Dream Vacation Fund-Raiser" Information ...
Special KWVA "W in Your Dream Vacation Fund-Raiser" Information ...
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No soldier shall be left beh<strong>in</strong>d<br />
By Peter Busca<strong>in</strong>o<br />
Whether on the battlefield,<br />
beh<strong>in</strong>d the<br />
l<strong>in</strong>es, <strong>in</strong> the air or on<br />
the water, every military member<br />
has a unique story to tell.<br />
One such event took place at<br />
the Inchon Harbor <strong>in</strong> April<br />
1955.<br />
Dur<strong>in</strong>g the debarkation and<br />
embarkation process <strong>in</strong> the<br />
early part of April, I was <strong>in</strong> the<br />
very last group of GIs wait<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to board the USS General John<br />
Pope after hav<strong>in</strong>g served<br />
almost sixteen months <strong>in</strong><br />
Korea and Japan. My first<br />
eleven months were at the 38th<br />
Parallel with the 3rd Infantry<br />
Division. Then, I was transferred<br />
to the 24th Division and<br />
became part of an advanced<br />
party to Camp Otsu, Japan to<br />
replace a Mar<strong>in</strong>e Division that had been returned to the States.<br />
After two months <strong>in</strong> Japan, the redeployment was cancelled<br />
and I was sent back to South Korea for three additional months.<br />
On the Inchon dock, there were many groups of veterans, each<br />
consist<strong>in</strong>g of 150 or so, wait<strong>in</strong>g for the troops to disembark<br />
before load<strong>in</strong>g could beg<strong>in</strong>. After complet<strong>in</strong>g basic tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g at<br />
Fort Ord, CA, complete companies were shipped to South Korea<br />
to replace soldiers who were scheduled to return to the States.<br />
Upon arriv<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> South Korea, <strong>in</strong>dividuals were assigned to different<br />
organizations, many not to be seen together aga<strong>in</strong>.<br />
However, when l<strong>in</strong>ed up at the Inchon dock, many “old Basic<br />
Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g” buddies were there.<br />
As we were wait<strong>in</strong>g and watch<strong>in</strong>g the newly arriv<strong>in</strong>g troops<br />
walk<strong>in</strong>g by carry<strong>in</strong>g duffel bags, someone spotted the First<br />
Sergeant (a Staff Sergeant) who put us through hell dur<strong>in</strong>g our<br />
Basic Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g. He had earned the name of “Mickey Mouse”<br />
because of his pronounced features.<br />
Someone shouted, “There’s Mickey Mouse.“ Dozens of soldiers,<br />
many of whom now outranked him, razzed him as he<br />
walked by red-faced.<br />
After all the <strong>in</strong>com<strong>in</strong>g troops had disembarked, the embarkation<br />
process began. One important part of the load<strong>in</strong>g process<br />
was to ascerta<strong>in</strong> that each member had his service record accompany<strong>in</strong>g<br />
him. No one went anywhere without his service record<br />
that conta<strong>in</strong>ed vital <strong>in</strong>formation about the <strong>in</strong>dividual.<br />
I was <strong>in</strong> the last group to be loaded. When it came time for the<br />
group ahead of m<strong>in</strong>e to go aboard, the load<strong>in</strong>g stopped. Two officers<br />
came to me.<br />
One said, “Sergeant, this officer is a pilot and I want you to go<br />
with him. We don’t have the service records for the group ahead<br />
The type of plane on which Peter Busca<strong>in</strong>o flew<br />
of you. He has a list of places these men have been. F<strong>in</strong>d those<br />
records and br<strong>in</strong>g them here so we can f<strong>in</strong>ish load<strong>in</strong>g and the ship<br />
can be on its way.”<br />
Com<strong>in</strong>g from a poor family of seven, all the travel<strong>in</strong>g any of<br />
us did was by car or bus. None of us had ever been on an airplane,<br />
so this was my first plane ride. The small plane, I was told,<br />
was a reconnaissance L20. (I was later told it was an L19.) In any<br />
event, it was equivalent to a Cessna 172 with three seats, two <strong>in</strong><br />
front and a back seat for the observer.<br />
As naive as I was about fly<strong>in</strong>g, after I got <strong>in</strong> I looked around<br />
for a parachute, but found none. After about the third or fourth<br />
stop, the records were located. I told the Orderly Room clerk to<br />
get me a ¾-ton truck and a driver.<br />
It was about a two-hour drive to the Port of Inchon, and it was<br />
late afternoon when I arrived. The dock was completely empty,<br />
except for the group without the records I had <strong>in</strong> the truck. S<strong>in</strong>ce<br />
my group had already loaded, and many had heard the order for<br />
me to get the records, it was known aboard ship what the delay<br />
was.<br />
As the truck rolled down the dock to the gangplank, the hoot<strong>in</strong>g<br />
and holler<strong>in</strong>g resembled a presidential visit. You can imag<strong>in</strong>e<br />
the anxiety and excitement that each person felt, most hav<strong>in</strong>g<br />
served over a year <strong>in</strong> South Korea.<br />
Of the over 4,000 people aboard, I was the last enlisted man<br />
to board the USS General John Pope, followed by several officers.<br />
In less than two hours we were on our way to Bremerton,<br />
Wash<strong>in</strong>gton.<br />
NO SOLDIER WAS LEFT BEHIND.<br />
Reach Peter Busca<strong>in</strong>o at 2260 Alta Vista Place<br />
Prescott, AZ 86301<br />
19<br />
The Graybeards<br />
May – June 2009