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The French saw more action at Arrowhead Ridge, Hill 281.
The outpost was over-run and they were badly mauled. King Co.
of the 23rd Reg. was sent up to help hold the line.
There may be other actions the French were involved in that
I’m unaware of, but I do know they were great fighters and
deserve recognition.
David F. Martin, K Co.,
23rd Regt, 2nd Div.
March/April Mystery Photos
Re the “Mystery Photo A” that appeared in the March/April issue
of The Graybeards, p. 48.
I know exactly what it is. It is a picture of a U.S. military
ambulance. If you will look carefully, you will see stretcher
mountings attached to the sides of the ambulance. The wheels are
from a railroad car and it is a middle-size older passenger bus that
runs on rails. I know because I was a passenger on one in May or
June 1953.
The railroad line ran from up north to Seoul, South Korea and
enabled the medics to transport badly injured soldiers who could
not be treated in field hospitals. Plus, it could transport perhaps 6
or 7 wounded. It also had a bus engine and shifted as if it were a
regular bus.
I will never forget that ride. We made it in about one-and-a-half
hours to Seoul. Since it was so close to the cease fire, the ambulance
may have been discontinued soon after June or July 1953.
Hope this note clears up that mystery.
SFC Ray L. Hunter,
4024 Main Street,
Alexandria, VA 22309
Mystery Photo ‘A’
It was a bus/ambulance
I was in an advance party of the 765th TRSB (Transportation
Railway Shop Bn.), which consisted of 32 men. We arrived in
Korea on or about Labor Day 1950. The rest of the men came in
on Christmas Day. One of those men turned out to be an old
friend, Ed Spangenberg, of Port Jervis, NY.
Anyway, we did many things and kept real busy during that
fall and very cold, cold, cold winter.
We had a motor pool sergeant, Howard “Red” Fuller. The
roads were terrible, so Red put a set of railroad wheels on a ¾-
ton. Other than airplanes such as P-51s and Corsairs, this 4x4 was
the fastest transportation in Korea.
Someone got the idea of putting rail units on buses. I do not
know if we converted fifteen or more of these buses and used
them as ambulances. They could use the rails up close to the
front, raise their rail wheels, turn the vehicle around at any road
crossing, re-align the bus, put down the railers, and travel the
rails with wounded back to a rear hospital a great deal faster than
regular ambulances could on the roads.
I don’t know what outfit did the interior work on the buses.
They were not fancy, but they were fast and practical.
Arthur C. Hall (Sgt),
40 Center Street,
Waterloo, NY 13165,
(315) 539-2969
“Tanks” for the corrections
Re the article on pp. 30-31, Jan/Feb issue, “The Colombians’
role in the battle for Triangle Hill (Hill 598),” by Guadalupe A.
Martinez:
The author talks about tanks that fired for him at Jane Russell
Hill. The tanks he wrote about, the M4 and the M4A3, had 75mm
and 76 mm [guns] mounted respectively.
He also wrote about the M60. There were no M60s in Korea.
The M46 and M46A1 mounted a 90mm—a very good gun.
Please proof read before issuing a story.
Tom O’Halloran, P. O. Box 69,
Phelps, WI 54554
(1st Tank Bn, 1st MarDiv, 1952-53.
EDITOR’S NOTE: I am sure Mr. O’Halloran means “fact
check,” rather than proof read. We are a bit shorthanded at HQ
nowadays, so “fact checking” is a bit difficult. We rely on the
people who submit stories to provide us with the correct information.
We also rely on readers like Mr. O’Halloran to correct
errors when they appear.
What I missed the most
I am going to list some things in response to the “What did
you miss most?” question in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue, p. 67.
My list will likely differ greatly from things most people
missed by people who were there during the war. I think it will
include some things that were missed most at a different, somewhat
more recent, time, 1957-58.
My sense is what was important to me will turn out to be pretty
generic when you compile your information into an article.
Despite the fact some may look upon me as a “Mama’s Boy,”
I missed my parents most. Why? Because it was always in the
back of my mind that something might happen to one or both of
them, and I would never see them again.
When you are twenty years old, you may consider your parents
old. When I reached the age they were then, I didn’t consider
myself old, as I did at that time.
I missed my family, my girlfriend, and my friends.
At times I missed my privacy. It was very hard to study in
such a group setting. I missed a good bath so much and only took
a couple while I was on R&R in Japan.
I did consider trying to call home on a few occasions. I was
May – June 2009
The Graybeards