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