George Culverwell. Corporal George Culverwell is a veteran of the Korean War. He served in the

Transcription

1 George Culverwell Corporal George Culverwell is a veteran of the Korean War. He served in the Marines Corps, with Dog Company, 2 nd Battalion, 7 th Marines, 1 st Marine Division. He is a recipient of the Purple Heart. Corporal Culverwell was born and raised in the Bay Area and joined the Marine Corps Reserves during his junior year in high school. After being in the Reserves for three years, he was called up for active duty at the age of 20 to serve in the Korean War. He was in Korea for only a month, but fought in the. He was wounded with shrapnel and also had to have four toes amputated due to frostbite, prompting his retirement. In this interview, he describes basic training at Camp Pendleton, military life in the freezing north, and the experience of fighting at Chosin Reservoir. He speaks fondly of his commanding general, General Oliver Smith, and the tensions between Smith and General Edward Almond. He also speaks about the lack of food, the freezing temperatures, frostbite, the aftereffects of being exposed to extreme cold, and fighting with the Chinese soldiers. He talks about his life after the war, and how normal it felt to return. He and his wife reside in Fresno, and have two daughters and six grandchildren. He says that going into the military is a great opportunity for young men to gain direction in their lives. 1

2 Central California War Veterans Oral History Project George Culverwell Fresno, Calif. May 12 th, 2010 EUNICE KWON: Today s date is Wednesday, May 12 th, I m here at a Starbucks on Herndon and Palm in Fresno, California with Corporal George Culverwell who served in the Korean War with the Dog Company, 2 nd Battalion, 7 th Marines, 1 st Marine Division. He will be interviewed by Eunice Kwon. This interview is part of the Central California War Veterans Oral History Project. The tape and transcript will be kept permanently at the Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno. EUNICE KWON: Could you tell me a little bit about where and when you were born? GEORGE CULVERWELL: Yes, I was born in 1930 in San Francisco attended schools there. In my junior year in high school, I joined the Marine Corps Reserves and this is, of course, after World War II, and I was in there for about three years when the Korean War started. And they called up the Reserves. So August of 1950, we got called to active duty. I had just graduated from high school I was working at the telephone company. So they said, Take care and I went and went into service. Went down to Pendleton Camp Pendleton did some combat training down there. Because I d been in the Reserves so long, I didn t have to go to boot camp. 2

3 EK: Oh, that was a bit of an added bonus. GC: It was a bonus and interesting, in about 1993, I think it was, at a reunion in San Diego, we got our certificates of completion for boot camp for what we went through. After the combat training in Pendleton, we were shipped over to Japan; we spent about a month in Japan, training again. This was after Incheon. We landed at Wonsan after the 1 st Marine Division had landed there. So And there was no opposition at Wonsan other than the mines in the water that they had to clear before the 1 st Division could land. And it was interesting because Bob Hope flew in there to entertain the Air Wing that was there, but the Marines were all sitting out waiting for the mines to be cleared. We were still in Japan at that time. When we got to Wonsan, we were assigned to Dog Seven Company and we were flown up to where they were, which was on the way up into North Korea. So we got there, I think it was like November early November. And for the first two weeks, we just moved, we had sniper fire, but as far as combat goes, we saw dead bodies EK: No heavy fighting. GC: No heavy fighting at all. We would every time saw snipers, we would call in an air strike and they d take care of it. When we got up to Koto-ri, which, the movie The Bridges of Koto-ri, I never saw any bridges, but Koto-ri, is when it started getting very cold and we went up a plateau actually we went up in eight miles, we went up about 2000 feet, over 2000 feet. It was just up the side of the mountain, one lane road. And 3

4 what came out of that was the fact that the Chinese, which we didn t know were involved yet, were suckering us in, going up the line where they would attack us very lightly, draw us in, and then disappear. So we just kept going into their trap. When we got up to the top of this plateau, there was a pipe from the reservoir coming out and they actually had a bridge over it, one lane bridge, no other way to go, it s the only way. Our general, in books later, said, You know, this is strange. This would be an opportunity for them to blow this bridge and we couldn t have gone any further. So that means they re looking for us. Well, we, the whole division EK: Who was the general? GC: Oliver Smith. EK: I ve heard about him. GC: Oh, wonderful. Very quiet, very So when we got up to the town of Hagaru, which is up on the plateau, it started to get cold. It was getting down to the zero degrees. I likened it to a refrigerator to keep food is about 38 degrees; a freezer is about 0 degrees. We were starting to go below zero. We started to get parkas and boots, neither of which did the job, but we did have Thanksgiving. They brought in turkeys, which were frozen, and as was everything, but in order to heat em, we had heating tents. So you could go in there for a half hour and get warm. So they just put the turkeys in there and heated up the tents and thawed em out and cooked them. But by the time you went indoors, it was 4

5 frozen already. We did have Thanksgiving. That was the 23 rd in November. We then, after that, moved up to Hagaru. Incidentally, that was the first hot meal I d had ever since I got there. We got up to, from Hagaru, we were sent up to Yudam-ni, which was about, I think, fourteen miles north and on the west side of the reservoir. We went into that area there, we were then on Hill 1240, protecting that because we could see the command post was down below. (00:06:05) EK: Oh, so why was the hill called Hill 1240? GC: Well, 1240 represents the altitude in meters. And on a map, it s designated by that number, which tells someone to read that it s 1,240 meters tall. So we were there and it was about two or three days and on November 27 th, which, as a date that will live in infamy in my life, there was a patrol that went out, and it was almost annihilated because the Chinese started to come in. And so, they got back, they lost about eight people on that patrol. When they came back, we had a watch, meaning that one could sleep but the other had to be awake all night. And a little after midnight, we were Hill 1240 was attacked by two regiments of Chinese. And that is probably about a thousand people, each regiment. When they came through and attacked us, we were our machine gun was working, and then it d stop. They were just coming through us EK: Why did the machine guns stop? GC: They would it d just jam and we couldn t get it firing anymore. 5

6 EK: Oh, and the weather, too, maybe. GC: And the weather was a real problem. Once we started firing out weapons, then they d work okay. Once you could get that first round out of the way. And so, we were ordered off the hill and we came down and our captain at the bottom of the hill told the command post by radio that he d lost two many people and he can t get back because they wanted him to retake the hill. And the officer that was telling him to retake the hill said, If you don t, we will lose the command post, and lose all of our artillery, so you have got to take it. So, in books later, I read that there were 38 out of us out of the company that went back up the hill. When we got up there, the Chinese were looting the bodies, taking coats off, kind of ignoring us. EK: Yes, I did hear about the looting. GC: Well, they were just trying to get food and warm clothes. So we were able to take care of that and then we spent the night in that, and it was probably 40 degrees below zero, with a wind chill factor of God knows what. There was a artillery person in a book I read who actually took temperatures, because for artillery you had to know exactly what the temperature was and he got a temperature of 38.2 below zero. So and then with the wind and everything, it just was unbearable. Everything would freeze, it was terrible. So we re up there all night, just fighting off. I was wounded with shrapnel from a grenade, but not bad, just enough to look bad. 6

7 EK: Where? GC: On my leg, and the side of my arm [indicates to left arm]. It wasn t really bad, I was still able to fight. And the next morning, we were relieved by another group and sixteen of us were left, out of that company. So we carried our wounded down. At the Then they decided that, I guess they General Almond, who was an Army officer, who was the head of the 10 th Corps, which we were part of, came in and said, We ll send them planes and trucks to get you out of here. And leave your gear. And General Smith says, We don t leave our gear, we don t leave our wounded, we don t leave our dead. Said, We ll walk out. (00:10:03) EK: I did read that General Almond and Smith had a lot of GC: Friction. [Laugh] Yes, they did. And Almond was reporting to Doug MacArther, General MacArthur. So anyways, Smith says, No. And Smith had also built an airfield at Hagaru for bringing supplies in and taking wounded out. Almond said, Why are you doing that? And he said, We re going to need it. And as it turned out, we did. And as it turned, after we got back down to Hagaru Oh, it took us six days to go that fourteen miles. We were constantly fighting. We had patrols up on either on one side, high side of the hill, or the low side. EK: So the Chinese were everywhere. 7

8 GC: They were just everywhere. But they were not making controlled attacks, they wouldn t persevere, they d attack and we d starting back, they d run. It EK: Very erratic. GC: It was, it was. I think their officers were kinda loose, whereas our officers were inspiring, and you know, you d do anything for them. And for five days, six days as it was, we didn t have any food, they were dropping ammunition, which we could get. Kinda interesting, because the chutes would come down with colored designations. Red silk was for ammo, blue was something, yellow was something else. But no food that we ever saw, but it was frozen anyways so you couldn t eat it. So what the guys were doing was when they bring their supplies in when they could get them, they were cutting off the chutes and using them as scarves. Well then they found out that you wear yellow scarves and all of a sudden the snipers would be after you. So then we got rid of the scarves. But we got to Hagaru after fourteen miles in about six days, and I had been tagged by corpsmen for being wounded with what my wounds were, but my feet were frozen, too. So when we got to Hagaru, and having not eaten for five days, six days, we, they had a Army had a mess hall there, which were making pancakes. So I ate those before I turned in for the medical exams. Turned in for the medical deal, they took my shoes off, dressed my wounds, and my feet were so bad, they take off and I flew out the next day on a C-47 and down to South Korea and then to Japan and I lost four toes, out of that, two great toes and two second toes, and was at Oak Knoll Hospital in San Francisco, Oakland 8

9 actually, for six months. And then I was retired medically from the Marine Corps in July 1 of 1951, and then went back to work at the telephone company, where I spent 39 years. EK: It seems like that battle was like the Valley Forge of the Korean War. GC: You know, I read different books where they talk about the most significant battles that the Marine Corps has been in, and the Chosin Reservoir was one of the top 25, which is pretty impressive, because the Marine Corps is 234 years old. But it s Oh, another point. I think the Marines I think the Marines in Korea were about two to three hundred oh, Medals of Honor. [reading from notes] At the end of the Korean War, the Marine Corps had won 294 Medals of Honor in its history. Seventeen medals were awarded for the Chosin Reservoir, three to the Army, and fourteen to the Marine Corps. Fourteen Medals of Honor, and seven of those were posthumous. So it was a very significant battle, they started an organization called the Chosin Few, which, if you were there, you could join. I was in it for awhile, and then, you know, I dropped out. And I m a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. But other than that, I m not really involved in Although I am trying to get on as a volunteer at the VA Hospital, so. (00:14:48:07) EK: That battle, it was mainly to push up the Chinese, right, back into China. GC: What Actually, well, we were pushing the Koreans out of the North. Hopefully getting them past to the Occupy all the way to the Yalu River. At the time, we were 9

10 going up, we didn t know the Chinese were there, they had come over, they had come over at night, and then laid, all day, and they were there for about a month before we actually saw them. And of course the planes didn t see them because they were hidden during the day. So it was a battle plan, what the Chinese had, to sucker us in, and then get us to a point where they could and that was their deal, to try to annihilate the Marine Corps. EK: The Koreans, we talk about the Korean War a lot, and they said the Chinese would come over in waves, there was no stopping them. GC: That s right. In fact, what we found out later, that first wave that came in, there were very few that had weapons. They were just coming in to see where the opposition was. And of course, we were dropping most of them anyways. Then they started sending in armed with weapons, but then the next wave after that would pick up the weapons from the dead Chinese because they were lacking all the weapons, and it was real strange, you know, that EK: So they treated their soldiers like they were disposable. GC: Exactly. They would use them to infiltrate to see where the opposition was. And they were expendable. They had eight regiments that they put in, which was about 80,000 people, with four regiments and reserves that they didn t even use, maybe they did later. So. But they had, you know, over a 100,000 people to our 12,

11 EK: Did you happen to fight alongside any ROK soldiers? GC: You know, at that time, they weren t in our group. Our company, in 1951, when we got back down and we were out of Seoul and the 38 th parallel, we had interpreters, and there was a young kid who came in as an interpreter, and was so well-liked and everything that the guys, after, when they left, got him back to the United States. He now has a doctorate. He s down in San Diego. He is in our unit as a honorary member. In fact, he joined the Korean Marine after, before and then they got him over here. He has put on a couple he lives in San Diego and he s put on a couple of the reunions. But we didn t the ROK troops were not, they were kinda scattered and stuff. Pretty soon, when we got down and got reorganized, then they were quite essential. Initially, they were part of it I was only there a month. (00:18:00) EK: A very short, but intense, time. GC: Yeah, very intense. We I think, I was in the first, the second replacement draft of the 1 st Marine Division. And of that there were 91 of us that were put into D Company. Which is almost about 40% replacement for those who were killed or wounded. Of those, I think 28 were killed and so some of them hadn t even been there a month and got killed. It was pretty heavy. EK: What was your special role in your company? 11

12 GC: I was in the machine gun platoon. They called it the MOS Military Occupational Specialty. And machine gunner, I think it s 0331, is the number. And I was ammo carrier and then later on, while I was there later on within the Marines, I was made spare parts, which I carried in a barrel so I only had to carry one can of ammo instead of two. We didn t have a chance to change the barrel because the gun jammed. But I was in the machine gun platoon. EK: When you were there did you see any Korean refugees? GC: You know, they in the North, that far North, there were a few that were, I understand, came behind there, but they were more, when we got down into the valley, we had to get down to Hamhung [sic: Hungnam], and that s where thousands of them, which they they came off the ships with us and then they took them. (00:20:00) EK: I heard, I think that there was a battle where all the refugees and soldiers who had to go on the ships, and they were being pressed by the Chinese GC: That was the same group that came out of the Chosin Reservoir. They came down to Hamhung [sic: Hungnam]. And they actually came in trucks and walked there. And that s where they had the ships to take them out. And then there were so many refugees there that they also took those out too. When there were drawing out, they Chinese or the North Koreans, were infiltrating the group, so you had to be very careful of, you know 12

13 friend or foe. When they went into Seoul the first time, which I wasn t there yet, they had a lot of some refugees who were, you know like carrying explosives or something, too. They were EK: Like suicide bombers. GC: Yeah, right. And they were very wary of civilians but you know many of them, very helpful. The Korean people, they sponsor tours and for people like myself, and I didn t go, but if we did, we d pay the airfare and they do all the rest, the hotels and meals and all that EK: They do have great travel GC: They were so helpful at some of the reunions, specially in San Diego where a lot of the Koreans are, at our reunions, they d have the dance program, and it was beautiful. But they re so appreciative, and they are to this day. Now were your parents from Korea? EK: Yes. My parents were actually born they were born around 1955, so it was after the war, but they ve always felt the effects of the war through their parents. And my grandma always talked about it, she talked about having her house, having to leave her house with all her valuables. GC: Where did she live? 13

14 EK: I think she lived in Seoul, actually, they had to evacuate. Did you happen to go to Seoul? GC: No, I ve never been there. When they went into Incheon and recaptured Seoul that they d lost. And then they came back and got on ships again and came around to Wonsan, the other side going North, then we came in as replacement and then caught up with them. I never got to Seoul; Wonsan was a beach where we landed. We didn t have any ammunition and we could hear gunfire. And we were going, Hey what s going on? Well, when got there on the beach, the 1 st Marine Air Wing had a sign there, The 1 st Marine Air Wing Welcomes the Marines. EK: Air GC: Air Wing. The Corsairs and stuff that were doing the There was an airport there at Wonsan, and so they welcomed us. Actually, there was no combat there. But Yes, it was short and intense. EK: How was your life during How was basic training? GC: It was fine. We had the combat training and it was pretty thorough. And also we had water rationing so that you really didn t have to, you know, we d come back from hikes and have to [shaking canteen motion] show that our canteens still had water in them, you 14

15 know. So all of this was conditioning, so when we got there, we were lean and mean and ready to go. EK: Where did you do basic training? GC: Well, actually, at Camp Pendleton. I did combat training. Basic training I had done, been in the Reserves for three years. Each year you go to two weeks summer camp, do training. You met once a week and do training. So for three years I did training on weekends and during the week and then two weeks during the summer, down at Pendleton, you know. So I got that training. And I was a PFC, so normally you don t have PFCs at boot camp. So I was fortunate that I didn t have to go to boot camp. EK: Exactly. How did What did your parents and family think about you going to Korea? GC: You know, my brother-in-law was in the Marine Corps during World War II. And actually, when I went in, trying to think, yeah, no, he was married, my sister s married to him. It was just, it happened, you know. What I used to do was write home to my mom and dad and I d ask all my aunts and uncles and all that and they d reroute the letters and all this mail would come from different people, and cookies and stuff like that. In fact, back in Oak Knoll hospital, I got some packages that had been over to Korea and back, with crumbled cookies and 15

16 EK: Oakno Hospital? GC: Oak Knoll. In Oakland Hospital. It s a naval hospital. EK: Could you spell that please? Oak Knol Knoll. I ll look it up. GC: It s not there anymore, but it was built during World War II, and then I was there. In the military if you re in a hospital, you have to be reassigned to active duty and with me, I wasn t, I was going to be retired medically and because of 30% disability, you get retired. 20% or 10% you get a cash bonus or something like that. So I actually got retired from the military. Since then, they ve found out from cold injury and stuff and my disability has gone up with the VA. So now I actually am considered 100% disabled. EK: So you re also a recipient of the Purple Heart? GC: Yes. EK: Oh, okay. That s an honor. Did you ever meet General MacArthur? GC: No. Never did. It was interesting. I came back. I was in San Francisco, because I used to get a lot of liberties and stuff like that. But when he was relieved, I guess it was after I was out of the Marine Corps, retired. He was relieved and came back to San Francisco after awhile when Truman fired him. And so I did see him there. He was never 16

17 a favorite of mine. [chuckles] But the General Smith was, I still admire him, and he s since passed away. When we were down at Camp Pendleton, he went down there as a base commander and they d have a base commander s house and they d have a list of the base commanders that were there and he was a base commander after he came back. And I think he passed away in Palo Alto, so it was the Bay Area. And all the officers Again, I didn t know him too intimately; some guys were there for a whole year or something like that, but our reunions, we have a Dog Seven Association. And we have reunions, newsletters, stuff like and it s getting to where the guys are feeble, too old to be able to travel to a reunion. So they re talking about cutting it off. Giving the treasury to a museum or something and What the people say, No, we want to keep it going. The plan was in 19- This year, they re meeting in Ohio. Next year, which will be the 22 nd year of D Company, actually, the 70 th year, we re going to meet back in the Marine Corps Museum in Washington D.C. and have a reunion there. In there, they have a cold room for the Chosin Campaign, which they keep at about 40 degrees above. So I m anxious to get back there for that. We did have a reunion back there when they dedicated the Korean War Memorial and I believe that was in, probably 2000-something. So we did go back to that. EK: I know The Korean War, it s officially not considered a war, it s considered a police action. 17

18 GC: Well, they refer to it as a police action. And I think it was Truman that mentioned it. But for all intents of order, it was a war, because now they call it the Forgotten War. But it s still not over, actually. EK: It is. It s still going on. GC: It s still going on, and this is ridiculous. And I look back and see what s going on in North Korea compared to South Korea, and I feel, along with the appreciation from the Korean people, that I think we did a pretty good job and that I have no regrets, lost a lot of friends, but it s something in your heart you feel good about it. EK: It s such a shame that you guys went all the way up to the Chinese border and then they just came through and It was almost GC: And they never got back up there again. So any of these reunion deals they go to Korea, number one, I can t get into Korea, and there s nothing I d want to see again. You can go on, what s the Google, Google Earth, and you can see it. Actually, if you put in Chosin Reservoir, it talks about the battle. On Google Earth. (00:30:41) EK: What was the Chosin Reservoir for? Was it? GC: It was a reservoir that froze half the year. But there were water tanks that would supply water down to the South Korea. It was a working reservoir, I think it was a natural 18

19 deal or maybe they had the, when they had the I guess they kinda worked on it to make it other than natural. But they actually these big drainpipes and that s what that bridge was over. And that was another thing. When we were coming out, the Chinese had blown the bridge when we were leaving. EK: How did you get across? GC: Over in Japan they had these trestles. They put them on these big transport planes, flew them over, and parachuted them in. And they dropped about they needed two, they dropped about six and two got there. The rest missed. And they put those down and got across. The whole division was sitting there and waiting for them to get that bridge fixed. And on trucks, if a truck broke down, you just got rid of it. There was no way to fix it. EK: You just left it there. GC: Actually, when we were coming out, we just pushed it over the side there in the mountain. At first, there were some of the walking wounded were riding; after, we were getting so many non-walking wounded that the walking wounded that were riding started to walk. I even went out with on a couple of patrols when they needed people to do that. EK: When you were wounded. 19

20 GC: Yeah, I was still fighting. Set my weapons. Had ammo, and stuff. EK: It s will over pain. GC: Well, you know, you got to do what you got to do. EK: General Smith seemed to be pretty smart. He GC: He was, and he was a very quiet man. It was interesting, when we were after we got assigned to D Company, we went to an airport with C-47s which were Marines could fly us up to D Company and there was a little strip up near there. We re sitting in the airport in the hangar and this older gentleman came by and was talking to people. I looked over there and, you know, he seemed like a very nice guy maybe a priest or chaplain or something. It was General Smith, talking to the guys. EK: I read that contrary to General Almond s belief, he actually thought that there were more Chinese, but General Almond didn t think so. GC: No, they said that there were just In fact, one of Almond s comments was, There s just a few Chinese laundrymen there. EK: What an understatement. 20

21 GC: With General Smith, Almond kept telling him to send out a regiment to go to the Yalu and Smith said, I m too spread out now. The 1 st Marines were down at a pass trying to keep that. If we couldn t keep that, we couldn t get out. The 5 th and 7 th were up in Yudam-ni and the supply route was getting stretched out too far and Smith was bringing them back. He was actually, as Almond would actually say, moving too slow, and Almond [Smith] would say, I m not going to stretch beyond my supply line. So he found out, you know, as it turned out. And you know, there were Marines like Chesty Puller, if you ve heard, any Marine knows Chesty Puller. Well, he was with the 1 st Marines, we were in the 7 th, he was a headed the 1 st Marines Regiment and we were in the 7 th. There was a lot of Marines by our captain, who retired as a colonel, was awarded the Silver Star for that 1240, you know. Well he went back with us and we had a corpsmen in 1951 who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor who served with D Company and named a ship after him, too. Some of the guys that I met at the, I didn t know them at first, met at the reunions, when they saw what he did, they kept hounding them to write him up for the medal. And he got it. But that was in 51, I think, or 52. (00:35:46) EK: I think you described, you very close with your fellow soldiers and your general. Was there anything in the off-times that you guys did? GC: You know, when it was getting cold, you could go to a warming tent and I think that you got to spend like a half-hour or something in there. They had a stove in there, they had a garbage can that they made coffee in. It was a big can. There was a guy that drove a 21

22 Jeep, had the garbage can, a gas stove, and he d get it with water and make coffee and you could just get in and dip it. EK: Was it good? GC: Well, it was It was warm. Because most of the time we were eating C rations, canned rations. And we d get them open and they were frozen. And most of the time in the night, you couldn t have fires, and during the day we d sometimes when we were in Hagaru, we were there for about three or four days. We moved into the huts and homes that were there. And the Koreans had the heated EK: The heated floor. GC: And that was wonderful. We used to use the little C ration cans, half of sand, put gasoline in it, light it, and it d be a lamp. But one of the houses, somebody kicked it or stumbled on it, it went over. The house caught on fire. We had to move out of all the houses and get out. But it was interesting, I told you about Thanksgiving, which was the one hot meal of that night. The next day, the cooks, I think they were Army, I don t know if they were Marine or Army, because we didn t have any mess gear it was all The next morning we had powdered eggs and Spam, and I don t know if you like Spam or not, but I love Spam. And that was probably the best breakfast I ve ever had. Oh, and they also gave you showers and so that was the first shower I ever had, and then the last one in Korea, too. So But that was the only two times we had hot food. Even the 22

23 turkey dinner was kind of frozen. But I m fortunate to be back. Interesting, when I came back it was just back to normal, back to work, met my wife, got married, had two beautiful girls, six grandkids, but as I get older now, you start thinking about it and I ve done research and reading and gotten hold of books and you just seem more involved in it now, and now you think back and say, Hey, that was, that was pretty good. On the network, on the Internet, there s a provider of Marine novelties and stuff. But it has a where guys can write. And a lot of the guys write up and say that, I don t really consider myself a real Marine because I didn t see combat. And everybody else writes, Hey, you went through you don t choose. You go and you do what you re told. So, you know, people who have not had combat, people who didn t a lot of the Marines we had, not a lot, some of them, hadn t gone to boot camp. I had a friend who lives up in the Bay Area now who I d met after. He had been in the Reserves about two months, never fired a weapon, never did anything, was on a ship out of Pendleton when hwe got called on active duty, they put him out with the first. They called it a brigade, they didn t have a division yet that landed at Incheon. But they made up the division there. But he went over as a brigade. He learned how to fire and check a weapon out there on the ship going over. Never went to boot camp. We have a fella who was at Fox Company, which was the 7 th Marines, who had never been to boot camp; he won the Medal of Honor. There s a book out now, [(The Last Stand of)] Fox Company, where they held the pass for two or three days, lost, you know, 70% of their people. And I think three people there got the Medal of Honor. The captain got it, somebody else, and a private. So Oh, I know. The guy that went in and saved him with a group. It s You look back on it and it s kinda impressive. 23

24 (00:41:02) EK: It s a significant part. GC: Yeah, it is. EK: Was basic training What was it like to go through basic training and then suddenly be put into a combat situation? Was it a shock or? GC: No, actually no. In fact, interesting, when the first night I was there, in combat with no combat, we I had a watch and we went out and we re kinda overlooking this kind of a small valley. And it wasn t quite dark yet, and we had a I don t know if, two or four hour watch with another guy who I had just met, didn t know him. And we were there and it was watch, so he took a snooze and I m looking out there and I m hearing things and I m going, Wow cause we had seen, coming up there, a lot of dead bodies of Koreans, North Koreans. So we would just see them on the road, this was just getting to there. But I can remember that night, sitting out there and hearing noises that I thought I thought I saw something move over there and stuff like that, and it wasn t cold yet, but it was turning cool. But I m wondering, My God, what did I get into? And now is the first realization but there was still no when the sniper would fire down on us, it was a whole company so, you know, sometimes you see the dirt kick up or something, and it was close. But it kinda meant that you got to stop and sit down for a minute. So it was pretty good. And they d call in the Corsairs in and they d come in and napalm the hill. Whoever the sniper was is gone, one way or another. And then you had 24

25 to get up and walk again. The night, the 27 th, when they started hitting us, they had bugles, officers were screaming EK: The intimidation by noise? GC: Yeah, right. There were whistles blowing, there were Chinese saying, Marines, tonight you die! And stuff like that. EK: In English?! GC: In English. But that was the only English they knew. And you know, we were so busy that I just, you know, I guess when we had to go back up the hill, that was fine, we got up there. There was no problem, we were able to take care what when we were up there. And all night long, that was kinda scary, waiting. But they would hit us every halfhour, they would come. They were stacks of bodies on the ridge, and EK: So it is true, they just climbed over the bodies. GC: Oh yeah, and sometimes, we were told not to roll your grenades because they would stop at the bodies. Throw them. EK: Shoot them over. 25

26 GC: That was another interesting thing. Grenades come in a tube, a hard cardboard tube. And they have a yellow tape around them. So you take off the tape, open it up, and the grenade is there. And it s got a key. A pin So what d you do is the pin is really it s a harder key and it s open. So what you do is take the yellow tape and you put the tape around the spoon so then open the key so that you could get her off easy. Then you d hook it on your belt or something. Well then, it s 40 below zero, you ve got gloves with the fingers, trying to get the tape off. And finally, sometimes you d have to take your glove off just to get the tape off, so we d get it off and they d say, Get some grenades ready, they re coming. Key is just hanging loose. Wait a minute, I think they re our guys. So they checked and get a response. And then they d say, Throw the grenades or Don t throw them, I think they re our guys. So you d have to stand there with your hands frozen, and the pin s going to fall out. [chuckle] And then finally, you know, you d get rid of them and but it was always funny, because we were so concerned about the tape on them, and it was so hard to do when your hands are cold. EK: Did anybody accidentally? GC: Well, in fact, when we first got to Wonsan, we were handed ammunition and grenades, and then they set out a watch around the tents, at which, there was you know, you never know. But we weren t really in a combat area, but they did it. One of the guys, had it in his pocket, he was fooling around with it, and it went off, so you had that. (00:46:00) EK: Did he die? 26

27 GC: Oh, yeah. And one of the guys had a.45 and he was showing it to somebody and it fired and the.45 was a pretty big bullet, it went and made a hole in the tent this side and blew the whole back of the tent out. Fortunately, no one was in there to get it. But there were accidents. You are trained to keep your weapon clean and oiled; we were down to using gasoline because the oil would freeze. EK: The oil would freeze? It was that cold? GC: When they would park a truck or a Jeep at night, they would come up and they would put a rock there or something to keep it from rolling and let it run all night, and not put the brake on, because if you put the brake on, it would freeze. So no brake, and you d just leave it idle. The next morning, you d put it in gear and drive it. Now, we did have a lot of gasoline. When we were on the hill, when dawn came, the Chinese started to run because, you know. Well, then we were sitting on top of the hill, and I, at that time had a carbine, and it had two fifteen-round clips that were like this. So you d put it in one side, and when you finish, you d put the other in, and you d get thirty rounds out of it. But it s a short, close it s not a long-range. When dawn came up, and all these Chinese are running over these hills to get away, then we got the M-1s out and then we started picking them off. It was almost like, it sounds morbid, but the guys were laughing and they were saying, You know, let me get this guy. And he d fire, and the guy would drop, because he d see the dirt kick up, you know, he d drop. Then he d get up and run again. And it was, you know, kinda light. And I think we needed that, too, because then 27

28 we spend the rest of the morning carrying the wounded down, and the dead. But they did have to bury them, they had a big Caterpillar to dig, we had a big trench to put the bodies in, because we couldn t take them all. EK: So there are American soldiers bodies in North Korea? GC: In North Korea, in Yudam-ni, they did. On the day of the 27 th, some of us, we kinda had the day off, so to speak. We could go to the warming tents for just a period. There were guys in the Reserves who had families. And we would get They would set up a pay deal. And so they d set up a pay deal, it was quiet EK: A pay deal? GC: Pay. They needed money. We didn t need money, but they did. What they would do is they d pick up EK: You mean, some people were paid? GC: No. I had no place to spend it. But these guys who had families would draw as much pay as they could. And it was military script. After they got paid, they would move on to the next table and buy a money order to send home. You can imagine a guy with a family, on a Wednesday, was told that he had to report Saturday to Treasure Island to go to active duty and the guy carpenter, something, his family has no income He s 28

29 gone. So these guys were getting in every pay line they could to get money to send home. And I m sure a lot of them worked through the Red Cross. But these families, I had no I wasn t married, I had no problem. But had I been married, had a family, had a job, you know, I paid. I had three months pay difference between what I earned in the military and tipped my seniority, I came home the year later, 11 months later, and I had two weeks vacation coming. I d gotten a raise. You know, it was beautiful. These guys would then stand in line to buy the money orders. I had written two letters that day. They had mailbags. When we left two days later, they set all the mailbags on fire. As they burned tents, any trucks that wouldn t work they d demolish. We didn t leave anything for the Chinese. But all of these guys with money orders, they burned, their letters would burn, there s probably a lot of incoming mail that was burned. Cause they were bringing all that stuff in the trucks, and the planes. We didn t have that many wounded at that time. But then the next couple days Well, a lot of experiences. I was reading something the other day about the pancakes. I remember cause they told me to report to the medical deal, as I walked over I saw the mess hall, and got pancakes and jelly. Put the jelly in and roll it up and eat it. And I must ve had about five or six of them. And then when we got down to the airport in South Korea, from the C-47, they were going to load us on bigger planes to go to Japan. And the ambulance came by and picked us up. And by that time, I wasn t walking. (00:52:06) EK: You weren t walking? 29

30 GC: No, I was on a stretcher. The ambulance driver picked us up, and he was talking with us. We were driving over to the plane, and we said, You know, we haven t eaten, can you get us some food? And he said [dialogue with people at next table] GC: I ve got my lunch here. And he stopped and cut it up, a sandwich, and gave us each a part of the sandwich. On the plane going back, the nurses were on that plane, but all they did was give us penicillin. No food, oh, and juice. We had juice. When we got to Japan, it was at night and there were wives and daughters of military men. EK: They went over with them? GC: No, no. They were there giving out doughnuts and coffee to the guys coming in. EK: Families could go with them to Japan? GC: Yeah. Well, see, Japan had a lot of occupational forces, which is those are the guys. They were not trained, a lot of them kind of a easy duty and fun duty. And they weren t ready for combat. Really not ready for combat. And so all of a sudden they were thrown in, and they were annihilated. That first When that first thing started, it was bad. And we only had the brigade over there, so there were very few Marines over there. EK: I know the Marines always go in first and prepare the way 30

31 GC: Well yeah, they pulled us out of there to go to make the Incheon landing. Which, again, I wasn t there yet. But then we came around But anyway, at Oak Knoll, I mean, excuse me, at Japan in the hospital, the ladies had brought us coffee and doughnuts, we stuffed ourselves. We got to the hospital and it was about midnight, and we said, Hey, we still haven t eaten. We re still hungry. So they made us scrambled eggs and bacon sandwiches, and oh, those were good. Well then, we started EK: Essentially, you were starving for a month. GC: Yeah. EK: And fighting on top of that. GC: Actually, it wasn t starving, but yet, and a lot of the stuff we would eat, like when we would eat frozen food and try to chew it, it s terrible on your intestines. So that was a problem. At the hospital I was there in Japan for ten days. I got there on the 7 th and the 17 th I left, but one of the complaints over there it was an Army hospital was that our meals would come and they d be cold. Now, for having food or frozen food, to be complaining about our hot meal wasn t hot enough. So they brought in a lot of their daughters to come and help serve the meals and they would sit with us and talk. So that was really neat. And then one night, the doctors came by and first thing they were looking for was surgery and because my toes had turned all black and ugly, and so they were talking about surgery and then finally, they said, No, put him on. I didn t know 31

32 this, that they just came by, would point, some of them go like that you know what it s for. And then, guy, one of the Army corpsmen, I guess they re called mortar boys or something, came by, and he said, You re wanted on the telephone. And I said, Who? It was You had to tell them if you were bringing anything into the United States. And I said, Are we going home? And he says, Yeah! And I said, No, nothing. I didn t have anything. From there, we left and flew to Wake Island. EK: To where? GC: Wake Island, it s in the Pacific. From Japan to Wake Island. Where Pan-American fed us at a gas stop. In those days, you had to stop for gasoline. And then we got to Hawaii, and spent two days in Hawaii. And on the plane between Wake and there, they gave me a shot of penicillin and I blew up. [pantomimes swollen face] I am allergic now to penicillin. So when I got there to Hawaii, I was itchy, kinda bloated, stuff like that, so went there for two days, then came into Oak Knoll hospital there. Got to the hospital there, and when I finally got a bed, I said, I want to call my parents. And in that time, they didn t have phones in the ward, but they had pay phones out Oak Knoll Hospital had barracks and walkways. And in the walkways, they had public telephones. So they got me a wheel chair, and you needed a dime. And it was a nickel, I don t know. Some guy came by and he gave me a dime. I couldn t reach the thing to dial so he dialed the number for me. Nobody at home. So I was trying to hang up the phone, somebody else came. I got the operator again. Yeah, it was the operator. I finally I got my oh, and my 32

33 girlfriend wasn t there either, home, so. So the next day is when I got home. Six months later, I was retired and back to work. EK: This is all before you were 20 years old. GC: I had just turned 21 in May; I retired in July. EK: Now, today s generation, 21 is when you start drinking, you know. It s totally different. GC: I hadn t waited. In fact, when I was at Oak Knoll, because of the amputee, you d get every night liberty, if you wanted. So there were times when I d do that, but on the weekends we had a neighborhood bar that we used to hang out at. They never checked IDs and so when I got my oh. I got my draft notice while I was recuperating. And so, I went I had a buddy who was going into the Air Force, so we went down so I went down to the place where I was supposed to report with my letter saying, Greetings. You re wanted to go in the Army. It had lain on the bar, and smelled like whiskey, and we were laughing. I handed it to him, and I said, I can t make it. I was on crutches. On my 21 st birthday, I told the bartender, who was an old buddy, said, Hey! I m legal! I can start drinking now! He said, You ve earned it. For awhile. Yeah, a year later, got married. (00:59:40) EK: To your then-girlfriend. 33

34 GC: No, actually, this was I had known her. I had been at a party and talked with her and stuff like that but then I saw her again when I was coming home. The guys had come over to pick me up. And they said, Let s pick up my sister at this Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. And it was raining and they wouldn t let you park in front because of traffic so I got out and I was standing out there when my future wife came walking up. And her, my buddy s sister, who lived on our block, was her friend. So as we talked there, and Pat came out. Then I started dating her. Got married in 52. Had our first daughter at 54, and second at 58. My youngest er, my oldest is 56 now. EK: I ve actually been to the DMZ, I think twice now. It s really interesting to see how different like, you can see across the border. It s really interesting, it s so different. GC: It is. And they still use the binoculars. EK: I went to see one of the tunnels they had dug. And it was very creepy, and it was a very bad feeling. Would you ever go back or want to go back? GC: You know, as I said, I never saw Seoul. So I would have other than to see Seoul. You know, Wonsan, I remember the beach. I ve seen pictures of Incheon. And that was kind of nothing. I really have no EK: Connection, yeah. 34

35 GC: Yeah. Mind is up North, and I wouldn t want to particularly go up there either. EK: Did you ever get a chance to eat Korean food? [repeat] GC: You know, I have here. And of course the only time in when we were in Korea, you know, mostly North. But in Japan, when we would get liberty, which was far and few between, we d go to a bar, we would go out and find a place where we could get steak and beer. Some guys were into but we weren t. Oh and French fries, ordered French fries. EK: Wow, that must ve been rare in Japan at that time. GC: It was 1950, it was five years after the war. And it had been somewhat Americanized. They had souvenirs and stuff, I remember sending stuff home to my folks. A lot of them spoke English. A lot of Japanese. But when in Korea, they were very in Hagaru, I remember there was a family living there. There was a lady who, older lady who had an oxen. And I remember her walking the oxen across the bridge. But I didn t see her or talk to her or smile at her or anything like that, but felt very sorry for her. EK: People were still living? 35

36 GC: Well, very few, very few. I was surprised to see these people, and I don t know what happened to them. Up at Yudam-ni, there was nothing there. I guess it was a town, but I don t recall any people, any houses. When we went down on patrols, we did see houses. It was a farming community. But I think they go only during the summer, nothing there in the winter because the ground is frozen by about a foot. EK: It must ve been a very lonely month. GC: I guess, I don t know. I remember Samuel Clemens in his book talked about Mark Twain, made the comment that the coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco. And being from San Francisco, I had never seen snow. Although there was a mountain in Marin County called Mount Tamalpais, and one time as a little kid, my dad would take my sister and I to see snow. That was the first time I d ever seen snow and the last time I had ever seen snow until I got to Korea. EK: So it did snow there? GC: Oh yeah, oh yeah. EK: How much? GC: You know, it was, I remember maybe a couple of feet, sometimes. And these parkas that we had were really not waterproof so the snow would come down and if you were 36

37 near a fire it would hit that around there and just like a blotter and the fur under would get wet. [gestures water spreading and soaking into cloth] They were not good, but they had a hood on them. And then there were the snowpacks, were rubber and canvas tops. They were waterproof, but didn t breathe. So what would happen was your feet would sweat and then you d stop, and then the sweat would freeze. And so EK: That s how you get frostbite. GC: Yeah. And your socks, we had a couple pair of socks. But there s times when you can t change your socks, like on Hill It was colder than And you really didn t feel them, they re numb. But then we d take the shoes off. They were ugly. They were swollen, white, turning purple. That s when the frostbite gets in and so, and then walking probably helped, but it also hurt it, too. (01:06:00) EK: I bet a lot of soldiers in your company got frostbite. GC: Oh yeah. And they also found out that cold injury. It s just like Agent Orange from the Vietnam War, that they just said, Okay, it s bad. Cold injuries is more significant than the frostbite damage, because there they d cut off Actually, it decays, it falls off, and I ve had a lot trouble with my feet. You know, I can t hold a glass, cold glass. It s I m very My nose gets really cold, I complain. I use a blanket at home sometimes. My wife is very comfortable and, you know, I m freezing. But they now recognize it. There s 37