Sep/Oct 2005 - Korean War Veterans Association

Feedback/Return Fire
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Mail your “Return Fire” to the “Feedback Editor” at 152 Sky View Drive, Rocky Hill, CT 06067-2859. E-mail it to:
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507th AAA: First Into Korea
Re the May-June 2005 issue, page 20:
Don Dugay’s diary was very interesting.
On page 22, just before he signed off, he
wrote: “October 11, 1951: left Japan for
San Francisco on USNS Raymond O.
Beaudoin. Arrived Frisco on 10-24-51”
I departed from Frisco on the Raymond
O. Beaudoin in April 1949, and arrived at
Yokohoma, Japan, 15 days later. I was
surprised to hear that the Beaudoin was
still sailing in 1951. I thought for sure she
would sink on her way back to Frisco.
We went by rail to Camp Zama. From
there we traveled by 6xs to Camp McGill,
Japan, which was just over the hill from
Yokosuka Naval Base. We helped reactivate
the 507TH AAA. Next, we moved to
and dug in around Ashiya AFB, at the tip
of Kyushu, Japan in 1950.
On 25 June 1950—the beginning of the
Korean War—General MacArthur contacted
our headquarters (Col. Fultz) and
requested approximately 30 men to fly
into Suwon Air Strip and evacuate the
women and children of the military advisory
group at Seoul. This mission, called
Detachment X-ray, was accomplished
successfully in about three days.
All records and history of the Korean
War show that members of the 507th
AAA were the first military group to enter
and fight in the Korean War. There were
several Purple Hearts, Bronze Stars, etc.,
awarded.
Joseph H. Bisher, S/Sgt., Battery D,
507TH AAA Jhbisher@aol.com
Let’s Not Make A Joke Out Of
The Graybeards
I have been a member of the KWVA
since 1990, and I am a life member. Up till
the last year or so I felt you had done an
excellent job on the Graybeards magazine.
On the subject of “looking for” was
a very good write-up. Now, you have it
labeled “Recon Mission.” And on some
things you or someone is making a joke
out of it.
In this past May/June issue, a lady was
trying to find information on her brother,
Cpl. Robert Henry, MIA July 1953. To
me, the heading of “Oh Henry” on the
notice was an insult. This is a veterans’
magazine, not a comic book.
Why can’t this “Recon Mission” go
back to the way the notices were printed
in the past without making a joke of it?
Lloyd Pitman, P.O. Box 128
Preble, NY 13141
Coming Home
How Did We Survive?
These photos were taken after my
return from Korea. In one year I was
transferred from Co. C, 116 Eng. Combat
Bn. in Korea to Camp Stoneman, CA to
Co. C, 398 Eng. Cons. Bn., Ft. Leonard
Wood, MO, to First Guard Co., USDB, Ft.
Leavenworth, KS, and finally to U.S.
Army Garrison, Ft. Crowder, MO, where I
was a disciplinary guard in the disciplinary
barracks until it closed around 1959.
When I show these photos people don’t
believe we wore this summer uniform in
the states around 1955. I owned this home
in Goodman, MO, but when the post was
1955 Summer Uniform: A “Case” In Point
closing it was hard to sell. I just about
gave it away. That car on the side was my
1955 Mercury Monterey. I always said it
was named after my wife. He name was
Montie Ray Case.
I don’t know how I was able to pay for
it all. I was an E-4, and my wife did not
work outside the home. Maybe it was
because we had no credit cards or shopping
centers.
One expense we had was in being
transferred. You had to buy a different
post sticker every time you got to a new
post.
Bernard E. Case, 6790 E. 34 Road,
Cadillac, MI 49601
Clarification Re Kim II Sung
In the July-August issue of The
Graybeards, Mr. Paul A. Klein, in a letter
addressing the role of the Soviets in
Korea, recounted the personal history of
Premier Kim Il Sung, Premier of the
Democratic People’s Republic of North
Korea. He states that Kim (erroneously
referred to as “Sung” by Mr. Klein),
formed the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Army
in 1932 in China, that he was captured in
1940 and escaped to Russia in 1941, and
that he returned to the Soviet zone of
Korea in 1945 as a Soviet army major.
Recent research leads me to conclude that
there are several errors in Mr. Klein’s
recounting of Kim’s personal history:
1. Kim did not form the “Anti-Japanese
Guerrilla Army” in 1932. A Chinese guerrilla,
Yang Ching-yu, formed the
Northeast Anti-Japanese army in 1936,
which consisted of a number of Chinese
and Korean guerrilla groups, including a
unit of several hundred Korean partisans
commanded by Kim. However, by 1939,
Kim was so successful in his conduct of
guerrilla warfare against the Japanese that
the Japanese considered Kim to be the
equal of Yang, each man commanding
September - October 2005
The Graybeards