Corporal of the Guard

Dad as a Corporal.  For 20 days, anyway.

Dad was Corporal of the Guard during this time.  He laughed when he told me he was a Corporal for all of 20 days.  He was responsible for making sure that the guards got to and from the bridge that they were guarding for their shifts.  This also meant that it was up to him to arrange the transportation for shift changes.  Getting a vehicle from the motor pool could be difficult.  Once, he checked with them and they had nothing.  He was starting to panic because he needed to get relief out to the men who had been on the bridge all night.  He finally found a low boy (cab only, no bed) and ran it down to get his guys.  He had no idea how to drive the thing and did a lot of grinding and coasting most of the way to the bridge.

"I didn't know which end was up!", he told me.

The motor pool.

His soldiers were really mad at him for being so late since they'd been on duty all night.

On another occasion, he found a truck and a driver.  Late again, they went to pick up the group.  These guys were really angry and were riding in the back while Dad and the driver were in the cab.

A soldier named Lucas was so mad about not being relieved on time that he started firing his rifle into the air.  Dad loaded his rifle, got it ready and told his driver to just keep going.  Apparently, one of the guys in the back saw Dad load up and word got back to Lucas who settled down knowing that Corporal Day would 'take care of thinks' if it came to that.

The writing on the back of this one said,
"No Migs today, Day's on guard!"

Dad in front of a Jeep.

Unfortunately, we do not know who these guys are, but they
were in his Platoon. 

Dad is the one in his skivvies!

The inside of the tent.  We weren't
sure who was asleep.

The Army According to Buko

Korea from the air.  This is looking inland.

We call my dad Buko.  It seems to me that it was started by one of my brother's girls.  He used to always say things  like, "What's going on, Buko?" and they started calling him that.  The name has stuck.

While Dad and I were talking about his Korean War experiences, I was having a bit of trouble with the Army thing.  Understanding all of the ranks and battalions and units.  It was making me crazy.

Dad explained it all as best he could so I thought that I would fill you in, too.  Just in case you are as clueless as I was!

The Army According to Buko:

Individual then Squad then Platoon then Company

Three Companies make up a Battalion

Three Battalions make up a Regiment

Three Regiments make up an Army

Three Armies make up a Corps

Whew.  Now that you have all of that, I will add what I found in my research with regards to the specifics in Korea.

The Korean coast.

There were three Corps during the conflict:  1st Corps, 2nd Corps and the Commonwealth Corps which included troops from Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.  The 151st was in 1st Corps.  Then there were random Korean and Chinese troops, both allies and enemies.  We will tackle those as they come up!

Army Maneuvers

Installment #3 for In the Land of the Morning Calm.

Dad said that with nothing much to
do when they first arrived, he put
on a few pounds!

This is the bridge that his Company
guarded when Dad first got to Korea.

After Dad arrived in Sasebo, Japan he was taken with some other soldiers to a location near Mt. Fuji.  Over the next nine days, these men were shown different factories that had capabilities for re-manufacture.  This way someone in the Unit or Battalion would know that it could be possible to send broken machinery over to Japan, have it fixed and shipped back to the front.  This was an important opportunity for the Army to save money and avoid dumping or destroying broken equipment.  Dad also said that this is one of the ways that Japan got it's start in manufacturing on a world wide level.

This is a very blurred picture of that
same bridge.  It is over 550' long.  We did
some research and we believe that it is
the Teal Bridge.

After the factory tour was over, Dad took the train back to Yokohama where he picked up a boat to Inchon, Korea.  Because his ship was so large that it couldn't get into port due to the mud flats, he arrived by landing craft.  From Inchon he made his way to the 151st Combat Engineer's Battalion near Seoul.  He was assigned to Company C, 3rd Platoon.  

Company C was made up mainly of National Guardsmen from Alabama.  After arriving in Korea, there wasn't much going on with his Company as they were being temporarily held in reserve.  Their first jobs were guarding a Bailey bridge and repairing roads.

Coming Home from Korea

As promised, here is the second installment of In the Land of the Morning Calm.

Sasebo, Japan

On his return from duty in Korea in March, 1953, Dad was on the General Hase again.  While waiting to board, he was pulled out along with several other Sergeants (Dad had reached the rank of Master Sergeant).  They all thought that they were in trouble, but no, they were singled out for better quarters.  These guys had their own stateroom to share.  Again, they spent their time hiding from the Duty Officers and reading as they chugged home.


After returning to Seattle from Sasebo, Japan,  Dad was put in charge of an entire plane full of returning vets traveling on the Flying Tiger Line.  This was a cargo and troop airline started by WW II vets using old reclaimed planes (bought out by FedEx in 1989).  Being in charge meant that he had to turn over all of his guys when they got to Camp Crowder, MO (where Beetle Bailey cartoonist, Mort Walker got his inspiration).  He couldn't lose anyone.  This would have been easy except for the fact that the planes were so decrepit that they had to stop twice for repairs before they made it to camp; once in Boise, ID and once again in Kansas City, MO.

I believe that this was taken on
his way to Korea.

Now guys coming home from a tour in Korea may want to go out and have a drink or two.  Remember, this was 1953 Kansas City and segregation was still going strong.  The African American soldiers who had fought, lived and died with their Caucasian fellows were not welcome in the same bars.  Dad's men were quite put out by this and more than a couple of fights broke out.  He had every one's records with him, so it was his job to go around and make sure that they all made it back to the plane.

They did finally make it to Camp Crowder.  Mom and Grandpa Day had come down to take Dad home.  He remembers Grandpa asking him if he would like to drive home in the new car.  Of course, he was thrilled to be driving something other than a truck or a jeep.  So, Dad and Mom sat in the front and Grandpa Day sat in the back.




Next Installment:  Army Maneuvers

PFC Day

Welcome to the first installment of In the Land of the Morning Calm.  Hope you enjoy!

This is the front cover of a photo album that
Dad bought in Japan while he was on R and R.  I used
a picture of it for the cover of his book.

Dad shipped out as a PFC on the USNS General W.T. Hase out of Camp Pendleton, CA in December of 1951.  He spent 10 days on board, including Christmas and New Year's Day arriving in Yokohama, Japan in January of 1952.  The ship averaged 500 miles per day with good weather.  Before they embarked, the vets coming home were streaming off of the Hase.  One of these guys took Dad aside and said, "Listen, make sure that you get a top bunk."

PFC Carl E. Day

Good advice, because on the 550' troop ships the men slept in stacked hammocks 4 or 5 tall.  Nobody really wanted to be on top because you had to climb up every night.  However, when you are on the top hammock in a room full of Army men who are not used to sailing, you are gold.  Think about it.  You will at least stay clean.  Dad took the top.

While he was telling me about the sailing he started laughing about how they spent most of their time trying to hide from the Duty Officers or lining up for food.  Apparently, it would take 2-3 hours to get served their meals.  After they ate, they would only have an hour or so before it was time to line up again.  And, of course, no one wanted to be tapped to clean the decks or any other part of the ship, hence the 'hide and seek'.

The Hase.  Not only did Dad arrive in Japan on this ship,
he also left on the same ship.  This was highly unusual.  More on that later

Oops!

Okay.  I think that I have it now.  I totally forgot how to do pages that will take posts in blogger.  Quick refresher is done and now I have it.  I think.

Grocery Boy, Swim Girl and I visited the Korean War
Memorial in August of 2009.

For those who don't know, this is a page that will be all about my dad and his Army experiences.  He is a Korean War Veteran.

I interviewed him at length this past fall.  We went through his pictures (boy, did he have a lot!) and I managed to organize everything and put it into a book.  I published it through Shutterfly and then I gave a copy to him and my siblings.

I have to tell you that once I put that puppy to bed, it was time for me to not look at it for a while.  It has been many years since I have done something that intense.  I guess that explains why it has taken me so long to start this.

Anyway, my plan is to basically reproduce the book in stages, along with his pictures, on this blog page.  Some we could not identify (I mean, I can't remember what I did yesterday and here I was expecting him to remember names and places from over 60 years ago).  Many photos we could identify.  And some we think we got after lots of completely fascinating research.  I will admit that I got a little lost sometimes.  And sometimes I got sucked into the vortex of the ever expanding research.

It was really cool talking to Dad about his experiences.  He remembered so much.  I know that he didn't share everything with me, but that's his choice.

My fondest dream from all of this is that one of you all will show this to a Korean War Vet and maybe, just maybe, that Vet will remember the 151st Combat Battalion (Company C) and a tall skinny guy from Missouri, my dad, Master Sergeant Carl E. Day.

So, strap on your gear and get ready for what I promise will be an interesting, if not extremely literary, ride to the Land of the Morning Calm.