Arrival in Korea

We went to British Columbia. From there, we went across to Seattle, and we left on the Marine Phoenix. That was a troop ship, held about five thousand men on it. And we were on there about twenty four days. And we landed at Yokohama. It still didn’t seem like we were going to war. We got to Yokohama, we stayed there all that day. We left that night. We went to a place called Inchon. Then it started to get scary. We had to get off the boat, and we were all packed up. We had all our stuff and everything on. They said, “Okay, over the side, down them ladders.” You know, you see on those ... that’s good, we got down there. We got in those landing barges. Then we start knowing. And we went up on shore. They said, “Okay, everybody off.” Instead of everybody going that way, everybody was pushing back this way. Nobody wanted to get off, because in the movies, you see them, they’re getting killed when they’re running off there, and nobody wanted to get off. And then we got on a train, cattle train we called it. We travelled that night, dark, couldn’t see the country. Woke up in the morning, and I looked out and, jeez, I wish I was home. I don’t want to be in this place. What a desolate looking place. It was at a place called Wijambu. We got off there, and we turned around, and we had to walk up to the front lines. Damn Americans and Aussies going by in trucks, getting a drive and everything, and we’re walking in the mud. We left here in March. We got there in April, 1952. And we got there, and we marched up through the mud, and everything. And when we got in the front lines, our 2nd Battalion, we were relieving them. You know what they did? Come right in. Said, “Here, this is this, this is that. See you! Goodbye!” Never said nothing about what was over there, nothing. They just wanted to get out of there. And so, here we are, stuck in there, and the front line is right over here. We don’t know what’s going on. Don’t know a thing that’s going on. They never told us nothing. Just say, like, there’s a hole in the ground. Like, you know, they dug their own holes. Never said nothing to us. And we were in there at nighttime when they started shelling. And the dirt’s falling, and that. And you’re sitting in there worried if you’re going to live. One fella said, “Don’t put your head outside, you might not have it.” But you got used to it.