Sep/Oct 2005 - Korean War Veterans Association

Unit on Parade
From time to time, we focus on specific units that participated in the Korean War. In this issue, we take a look at the 430th Engineer
Battalion, primarily because, coincidentally, a lot of information concerning the unit came into the office recently to supplement news of its
mini-reunion in Nashville last year. Let’s start with a letter from Jack Reissman, who provided the photos accompanying this article. As he
explained, “Here are some pix that I got from Gene Lloyd, the only guy I know that had his picture in the Stars and Stripes paper when the
outfit was on Koje-Do Island for the riots in 1952!”
The 430th Engineers
Our outfit was connected to
the 32nd Engineering Group,
which had 3 battalions in the
group: the 430th Engineer
Construction Bn, my outfit, the
434th Engineer Construction
Bn, and the 439th Engineer
Construction Bn.
I joined the 430th, having
gone to the 32nd Group HQ,
which was at Tague then, in
July of 1951. The 430th was at
Chunchon when I joined them.
We had a variety of projects
while I was with them until
July of 1952, when I rotated
home. The biggest one was
the building of two bridges
over the Soyang River, south
of Inje. The first one was a timber
trestle bridge which could
carry two-way traffic to the
eastern front. The second was
a steel trestle bridge that was
longer and could also carry
two-way traffic. I don’t
remember if I sent you pictures
of these bridges, so I am
attaching more that you may
want to use sometime in the
Graybeards.
The last project that I was
involved with was when the
whole 430th outfit went by
train from Wonju to Pusan and
then LST to the Koje-Do island
to assist with other outfits during
the POW riots in June, ‘52.
The riots resulted in the capture
of the island’s General
Dodd by the POWs. The 430th
built some 500-men compounds
on the other side of
the island to contain the POWs
who were moved from the
overcrowded compounds that
were involved in the POW rioting.
The 430th hasn’t been
given that much praise for its
actions in Korea, which were
great contributions to the war
effort, as far as I am concerned.
Jack Reissman, Pittsburgh, PA
15224, (412) 361-4450.
Ironically…
Ironically, on the reverse
side of a page from either a
1951 or 1952 issue of the
Stars and Stripes (no exact
date was on the page) submitted
for another topic, there
appeared an article entitled
“Gen. Palmer Formally Opens
New Bridges, Mountain Pass.”
Here is as much of the article
as we can reprint. (Some of it
was not legible.)
WITH U.S. ARMY – Two new
bridges and an improved pass
through the mountains were
formally opened recently by X
Corps Commander Maj. Gen.
Williston B. Palmer in a dedication
ceremony.
The bridges and the mountain
pass, dedicated to the
“memory of those troops who
lost their lives in the bitter
fighting in this area,” were
constructed by the officers
and men of the 430th Engineer
Construction Battalion.
AT THE CEREMONY were representatives
from units who
fought to wrest from the Reds
Gene Lloyd and Charles “Porkchop”
Goen
1st Sgt. Joseph F. Naughton
430’s Korean buddy Chae
Song Shik
ABOVE: Cooper hauling
steel for Soyang River
bridge.
LEFT: On LST at the Koje
coast
20
Gene Lloyd and James Long at
basic training
Joe Naughton and Gene Lloyd
September - October 2005
The Graybeards