Charles Phelps: The Lighter Side of a Terrible War

George - I was in Korea as a corporal, technically a "high speed radio operator"from about 6/52 to 6/53. I was not there at Syngman Rhee's ceremony. I was in an outfit called the ASA (Army Security Agency). This was a newly formed branch that monitored all US communications - phone lines, two way radios, shortwave; code and voice etc. Our HQ was in Seoul, behind the capital bldg. We had a building where about 6 - 10 people who had no communication with the outside, were handed, daily, all the info acquired that day from phone taps, radio reception, etc. The sequestered guys would try to figure out from that info what was happening, militarily, in Korea. (There must have been other locations, to have complete Korea coverage.) Anyway, the isolated people figured just about everything going on in our area, and would send daily reports, quintuplet, to various officers. They knew the names of most officers; and often picked up large scale operations. (they knew about Inchon, and may have been the indirect cause of that landing being called off.) They would also issue security violations for specific people who had given out classified info -usually unaware they had- Often the worst violators were the people we sent the reports to! We did, actually, have a number of people demoted and removed for severe violations. My particular location was just below the 38th parallel. There were about 10 or 12 of us in a small detachment. We did duty three days on and were off two. As the worst part of the war was over and lines had been established, we saw little activity. The most vivid memory was that the battle line, just to our north, was lit up so brightly at night, with powerful searchlights, you could almost read by the light. Both sides had so sectored the hills and no-man's land in between, that a mouse eating a nut could be blown upin a minute! We talked with one GI, living in his six by eight foot cave, dug out of the hill, who told us they hadn't had a hot meal in weeks, though they had requested a cook and a kitchen for months. One day a mess tent, two cooks, and equipment showed up. In about four hours they had it set up, and as the troops lined for their supper, three mortar rounds dropped in - no tent, no cook, no stoves many bodies. Our time, however, was spent in highly rigid army work - a 24 hr poker game with a giant kimchee bowl ( 4 ft high) filled with ice and beer at hand -basketball, building and flying model airplanes. A lovely three hole open air outhouse with a beautiful view of a nearby valley - trips to the Imjin river, a spectacularly beautiful river, to wash trucks, jeeps, etc swim and generally screw off. Once a week into Seoul for the Saturday night party - as I mentioned, we had the largest bar in the area! Our small group was stationed among the UN countries, who had small but active units nearby. Most of us wore uniforms traded with the Aussies, the British or the New Zealanders and the Maori. A Colonel on an unannounced inspection tour, lined us up, looked us over, seeing Aussie and New Zealand hats, British pants, Maori shirts, threw his hands in the air, got back in his jeep and bounced out. What a bunch the Maori were! Dark, tall, handsome, generous, friendly troops who all sang with wonderful voices. I think they could have given the Welsh a run for their tonsorial money! The fields were fertilized with human waste picked up by honey wagons (I'm sureI am not telling you anything new!) so the worst disaster our group had was when a jeep turned over in one of those fields.... With our troops and their ready cash, the black market was a thriving business. I was at the Seoul PX one day, and saw the amazed looks on an Air Force police patrol when they saw three Koreans, right on the main market street trying to sella full sized aircraft jet engine! Good knows where they got it, but I'll bet some AF supply seargent may have gone home happy. Again, our tour was not a dangerous one, for which I am grateful. I will pass along an article written for our local newspaper a few years ago about "the forgotten war" We, personally, were a very lucky bunch! I hope any stuff I pass along may show the lighter side of a terrible war. If you will send me your address, I will send some old photos. In retrospect, I regret not having taken more pictures. My collection is a bit meagre.
Charles Phelps '52 ( actually graduated in '56)
60 N. Front st,Lewisburg, Pa 17837
cpnywizzer@jdweb.com