The following letter to my Dad has not been edited for spelling or grammatical errors. It is post marked AUG 14, 1952.
Out-going mail was free while our ship was in the combat zone.
Aug. 13, 1952
Dear Dad,
Well, at last something exciting has happened to me. I'll explain! We have Army boys on the Bombline that "spot" for us. In other words, when we fire a shell he tells us weather we are on target or not. They tell us by radio up or down, left or right etc. etc. For experience the King division put one man ashore every two days----my time turned up on the 10th.
I got up the next morning at 10:30 AM and had a canned breakfast. Around 11:00 AM (I acted as radio operator.) we packed up and left by jeep. I was dressed in army khaki's, complete with helmet and gun belt. I carried a M1 rifle and had a 75 lb. radio set on my back.
We rode by jeep for an hour to the West of the coast. (The shells the ship was firing were landing about 15 miles inland.) Just about noon we reached the foot of the mountain and ate a canned dinner, then started the long climb up which took us two hrs.
About half way up, a 76 mm shell burst ahead of us a half mile. Five minutes later another no more then 75 yds ahead of us, when shrapnel started flying we "hit the dirt" and waited for 10 minutes. Those little people stopped giving us hard time, so up we went to relieve the team which was spotting then.
At 2:30 PM, we reached the top and traded information and the old crew left, (There were 5 of us, an officer from the ship to do the spotting, 2 South Koreans as guards, the officer in charge and myself.) We spotted all day, all night and all the rest of the day (the 11th). We were relieved on the 12th at 1:30 PM and went back to camp without further things happening.
I stayed until 10 AM on the 13th (today) and just fooled around. The whole deal was fun. It was just like a camping trip.
You should see some of these kids. No more than 10 years old running bare foot carrying M1 rifles and slung with gun belts and hand grenades. The older kids (14 to 17) carry B.A.R. rifles (an automatic gun, something like a machine gun.)
Other then the actual trip there isn't much else to write about.
Now I have a bad case of blisters on my feet and a sore back.
Of course the helicopter ride was real sporty - you'd think at any moment you were going to drop straight down. Once we saw a small commie patrol, about 10 guys trying (so the officer said) to intercept us. They were at the bottom of the hill and we were half way up. All we did was just lay quiet until they were gone. Although they could have gotten at us, they never bothered the spotting post as its to well guarded by South K. soldiers. Thats about it - if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them.
We are due in port again on the 21st, so I'll be expecting that camera!
I expect to have $300 saved by the time I get home. We shall see.
By now
Dave