My Korean War (2)
The following article is the second of a four-part series on the 1950-53 Korean War written by Kim Yun-sik, professor at the Asian division, the University of Maryland in Yongsan, Seoul. Prof. Kim contributed this series on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the fratricidal war this year. ― ED.
By Kim Yun-sik
In September 1950, I was transferred to the 1st Engineering Group commanded by Col. Pat Strong. He commanded three engineering combat groups, three construction groups and 100,000 Korean laborers. I was assigned a new task as both liaison officer and recruiter of Korean laborers for the 74th Combat Engineering Unit.
The unit served in the Rhineland, Germany. It participated in the Central European Campaign during World War II and was sent to Korea on Aug. 2, 1950. It was a spearhead unit to check bridges and airstrips for the U.N. troops who were pushing the North Korean troops back to the 38th parallel. I had two GIs ― Sgt. Mathew and Pvt. Chestnut ― and some KATUSA soldiers to assist me in this duty.
At this time we were the foremost advancing combat unit on the southwest front through Jinhae and Masan. At Masan we encountered strong enemy resistance while crossing the Nam River to Jinju, but prevailed and retook Jinju despite the best efforts of the enemy. Both Sgt. Mathew and Pvt. Chestnut played a pivotal role during this battle, and contributed greatly to the victory.
The 74th Unit initially advanced slowly to Jinju, carefully avoiding mines that had been left by the enemy. When we reached Jinju, to avoid bitter house to house fighting, we camped in a bean field near the Nam River. This was because the commander feared that any stragglers still in the city would try to attack us.
We then marched north and watched the enemy tanks that had been heading south. We noticed that the barrels of the tanks had exploded and they were inactive. The enemy soldiers had escaped, and were nowhere to be found. We continued to march northward to Iri and Daejeon. There, at the K5 airfield, we set up camp and began bulldozing the field to repair the craters made from prior bombing of the field.
In late September, we finally advanced into Seoul. We saw numerous haggard looking old men, women, and children who welcomed us back to the capital. We continued marching north, and halted briefly at the 38th parallel before continuing north with a convoy of L5 reconnaissance planes in support overhead. The planes were there to detect enemy movement a mile ahead of us.
Our unit then moved into North Korean territory through Sariwon, where the 1st Cavalry Headquarters was stationed. There, we set up a makeshift barracks in a local primary school. My unit’s assignment was to construct an airstrip. From there, we marched north with no resistance to Hwangju. I remember being impressed with the roofs of the houses; they were slated and thatched with flat rocks.
Finally, we moved into Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea. We set up our base of operations out of Kim Il-sung University. While there, I spotted the caption “Stalin was the sun of our nation” on the cover of a book. I was so disappointed that the people in charge of educating the North Koreans would choose such a text.
As an educated person, I knew that Stalin was a bad leader who treated his people poorly. To use him as an example of the communist ideology was very disturbing. While on a mission in Pyongyang, we came upon a group of orphans and refugees in a local street. Some of the orphans came near us and asked for food. I gave them some of my combat rations and Sgt. Mathew did the same.
We then constructed pontoon bridges across the Taedong River that allowed us to advance further into North Korea. During the advance we noticed elevated form implements of techniques in the agricultural areas we passed through. It was readily apparent that the policy used by the North Korean government did not favor or reward the farmers who labored in the fields.
Every year, no matter how hard the common farmers labored, the government took almost everything they harvested. This forced the farmers into a state of near starvation.
By mid-November 1950, the U.N. troops occupied two thirds of North Korean territory. The furthest northern advance of U.N. troops was at Unsan approximately 85 miles from the Yalu River. Our advance took us through Sainjang, Sunchon, Huichon and lastly Unsan.)
The 74th Combat Engineer Unit was deployed briefly at Huichon on the way up the Yalu River. There, we constructed an airfield in case friendly aircraft had to perform emergency landings. We also set up a pontoon bridge on the Chongchon River, and deployed a mine protection team. At this time, we thought that the war was almost over.
In late November 1950, there was an initial large attack by Chinese forces at Huichon. We were attacked again in early December by the Chinese 39th Army Group near Unsan. At first, no one realized that these were Chinese Communist forces, since we had seen so many North Koreans, but the war had taken on a new dimension.
At the time of the attack, we were in the vicinity of a 2nd Infantry Division unit that was taking heavy fire. We were also encountering strong resistance on the Unsan hillside. By this time, the front lines were no more than 3,000 yards north of Unsan.
The Chinese Communist forces usually attacked at night, announcing their presence with bugle calls, whistles, and horns. We used to awaken to the sound of small arms fire and blowing bugles, and within a few minutes, the command post was being attacked. We realized that the situation could change abruptly, and every one of us was on high alert and wondering how we would escape.
The Chinese kept advancing in great numbers. Our artillery fire prevented us from being overrun, but we eventually had to retreat. A few miles down the road, we took positions along the ridge on the high ground.
We were unable to fight effectively due to the frostbite and heavy casualties. I too was among the wounded, having been injured by shrapnel from an explosion, and was sent to the battalion first aid station.
The 8th Army was forced to give attempts to advance along the Yalu, and crossed back along the Chongchon River to head south once more. The temperature was below freezing, and there was a biting wind. It kept us from sleeping in our tents, so when we were not on fire missions, we huddled around gasoline stoves for warmth.
The commander of the 74th Combat Engineering Unit received information from an L5 reconnaissance plane that the Chinese troops had established a roadblock several miles south of the road to Sunchon, so we had to alter course to bypass it. Our retreat was delayed greatly by the masses of refugees clogging the roads. Among their numbers were even some ROK soldiers, “bugging out.”
The writer is can be reached rokmankim@hotmail.com.