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Those men who fought were some of the toughest of the tough.  I was stationed in Korea for a year, the cold and the snow were horrible, followed by insane humidity and monsoons.  I would think WWI would be worse though.

It’s a shame that Korea is the “forgotten war”

Anybidea what regiment he was in? I was 1-179 when I was enlisted.

My Dad was there.  A medic in 2ID.  He didn’t talk about it much but I have some of his letters to my grandparents. He mainly wrote about how cold it was.  Miss ya Pop.

From my dad's obit:
"As an intelligence officer in the First Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division from 1950-1951 he participated in the landing at Inchon and the operations for the capture of Seoul, Korea, the Chosin Reservoir, and the Spring-Summer offensive in the Central Sector of Korea."

At some point he was awarded a Bronze Star with "V" device, but I don't have the citation. I do know one thing...for an extremely nice person he developed a life-long hatred of the Chinese from that war. The only picture I know of him from that period is in a book in my brother's study. It's him and several other Marines on the ground outside a hut or building studying a map.

My uncle George over there. But I have no other information on what unit or anything.

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Awesome. My Dad was a Thunderbird, 45th ID heavy mortar. Spent his tour in the baldy complex.

Grandfather went, enlisted very early, either 16 or 17, were not sure, didn’t talk much about it(he’s been gone now over 20 years).  I was very close with him but I was to young when he passed to get many details from him, and he only had daughters(including my mom).

He spent his entire life having nightmares(survivors guilt).

What we do know from the little bit he disclosed was that he was a Sherman tank commander, and his tank was destroyed, and all of his tank crew was killed except for him.

He was severely wounded, aside from hearing nothing disabling though.

I have some photos of him training on the m4.
Don’t know much else.

It is interesting so many say their relatives would not speak of the war. My father would tell of his experiences in a very matter of fact manner. He was an infantryman, a rifleman and a BAR gunner. He was badly wounded in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill.  
 Every able bodied man in my family is expected to serve at least one hitch. My father and my uncles shared their stories so the next generation would know what to expect and how to deal with it.

I have nothing to add but great thread!!!

Mods, can we tack this one? Maybe a forum for great threads?

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My dad and two of the A-26s(B-26) that he flew.

He’s second from left in the first pic, on the left in the third pic.

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My Dad was in WWII and so was my Mother's Father, Dad was a Navy Corpsman on a ship or landing with Marines and Gramps was stationed in New Guinea in the Air Corps out of Port Morsby.

Don't know why either one didn't go to Korea. Never asked them why.

My grandfather (Maternal) was there. He was an Armor officer, he was in at the tail end of WWII in Italy (I think). He retired, tried to lead a "normal life", but died before I was born. He was only 52, Mom said it was cancer that got him.

I wish I had the opputunity to meet him. If I had photos I would share them.

My dad served in the Army and was in Korea, but unsure if it was during the active war or not.  He died when I was 10yo.  Does anyone know how I can find his service records?  He would have been 18yo in 1952.  Assuming he enlisted at 18.

Edit.  I found eVetRecs and submitted a form for his Service Records.

This is another view of matching the OPs lower left landing craft image from the inchon landing.

@TontoGoldstein

Your uncle and my father (center) and the gents in this photo might have known each other. All three were 1st Cav medics. My dad talked about "fun" stuff during his service, but was tight lipped about the unpleasant things. An example is this damaged photo of the soldiers on his left and right. He often talked of Cash (left, maybe spelled Cache) and Cooley (on his lap). The only person he shared any darker stuff with was my ex. I know he was almost KIA during a shelling. He said he only survived by hitting cover one second before two fellow medics that were with him. Not sure if it was these two. That is still unclear. All he did say was "I remember diving in a shell crater, then flying through the air, then waking in a hospital in Japan."

Another note, I'm not sure if this pic is stateside before or after deployment. I assume stateside. Maybe at Fort Jackson.  Also, this is a phone pic of a burned photo. One of few of his photos to survive a house fire.

BTW,  this pic shows my dad copping a feel of Cooley's tit. I don't think he was actually queer. He did manage to produce five sons later on. He and my baby brother look like clones in this pic. My little brother is also an idiot.

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My father, not sure of year. Never spoke about it.Found alot of pictures after his death. Attached File
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Love seeing the Easy 8 Shermans with the teeth and eyes painted on them.

I'm thinking that era was unique as far as tank markings?  I don't remember any other country or war where that was done, but I could be wrong.

Dad told me a tale one time about him having to deliver something to another unit or base and he took a train to that area. When he got off the train, he noticed snow drifts the height of the roof at the depot and an also a soldier sitting in an open top Jeep sent to pick him up. Dad asked if he was there to pick him up and if they had anything else to ride in. The other soldier replied “you can walk back if you like” lol. Dad chose to ride in the Jeep with temps in the low teens.

In Memory of my FIL, Loyman Orgeron, he passed away January 1, 2003 and was a Marine in the Korean War.

He had two children, both girls and my wife told me he never talked about the war to any of them until she met me and I started asking him questions.  He carried a flame thrower and while he dd not tell me a lot of stories, he did say it was like hell on earth there.  Had buddies die in fox holes next to him, it was so cold and the enemy were like animals, coming in waves like they were possessed

Was never aware of that memorial. Thank you.

IIRC,I think it was done specifically at that time to play on certain superstitions of the north Koreans.

A former employer was a bombardier on the A-26 / B-26 in the early part of the Korean War. He sat in a small jump seat for landings and takeoffs, and when he was on his station, he had to lie on his stomach in the nose. He told me of one mission where they were flying down a valley, and the AAA was on the hillsides above them. Luckily, most of them couldn't train their elevation low enough to successfully engage his plane. A few months later, most of the planes in his squadron were converted to hard-nose models, installing 50 cal or 20mm in the nose, and the remaining glass noses were used as recon / battle damage assessment (BDA) aircraft. He rotated back to the states after a certain number of missions.

My father also said it was the coldest he'd ever been in that place. He seldom talked of the dark stuff, but one thing he did mention was marching down a road and passing hundreds of dead, frozen marines. They'd been collected as they fell and were stacked on the side of the road. He said they looked like jumbled firewood in the snow. He said the service rivalries had him talking shit about and fighting Jarheads previously. After seeing that, he never had a cross word for the Marines. Left that march with a profound respect for them.

My pop.

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My father was tight lipped about Korea. He waa also a medic. Saw a lot of out of place body parts i figure.

One bad story, only wrenched out of him from my ex near the end of his life (for some reason, he only confided in her) was having to listen to a gut shot soldier all night as he died. All available morphine had been given to him while they were cut off from supply and a field MASH. The soldier woke screaming when the drug wore down. He was begging for more morphine. An hour later he was begging anyone to just kill him. He and several others actually considered putting him down out of mercy, but were warned they'd be sent to prison for it.

I did find out his nickname was "Fingers". That name given him by a fellow medic because he had to plug one shot up soldier with his fingers. Even evac'd to the MASH with his fingers in him. Horror and humor mixed in a name.

If I'd seen that kind of stuff, i don't think I'd talk much about it.

Thanks OP for making the post and everyone contributing.   I didn't have any family members in the Korean War.  Grandpa was ww2 and parents/aunts/uncles were Vietnam.   My FIL (passed 2 years ago) was in Korea though.  Don't know anything else about it though.

We had a old friend of the family (and honorary "Uncle") who flew for the USAF as a bombardier back when it was the US Army Air Corps.

He flew on B-17s in Europe, then B-29s over Japan.

When the Korean War started, he resumed flying bombing missions in B-29s.

He said he was more worried flying missions in Korea than he was over Germany or Japan.

(A) the North Koreans were especially cruel to captured US airmen (people who have been bombed tend to carry a grudge against the very same people who were just bombing them)

(B) the Mig-15 was a straight up bomber killer with the devastation of the 37mm cannon + twin 23mm cannons just wrecked big slow targets like a B-29.  That's a lot of explosive shells tearing up a plane. The US did not have any effective escort for the B-29s as neither the F-80 nor F-84 had the performance of the Mig-15.   He said they were severely mauled on several of their daylight missions - and quickly the lesson was learned and their B-29s were painted black and flew night missions instead (Mig-15 had no radar).  

He said that a B-29 caught flying in daylight was like a seal Vs. a shark.

Yeah, got several. They'll well written & not that dry crap most history books are.

Frozen Hell comes to mind. Excellent detail, research & entertaining to read (if that makes sense?)

James Brady (Parade magazine writer) has several. He was a 2nd LT there in some serious fighting. He also just wrote a book where he went back to his "hill" recently. He's 75 now, so it was quite the physical effort for him to be able to do this.

I lived in a tent in Korea from Oct to March while a Marine. The cold is indescribable, IMO. Stood guard duty at night & the water froze in my canteen. Could........... not................ imagine............... trying to fight in that sort of weather.  

I have had the honor & privilege of meeting two Chosin Marines. One was a founding member of a gun club I joined, so I got to chat with him from time to time. He knew my background, so he got a wee bit more detailed in his stories with me when it was just the two of us. He later told me he'd told me things he'd never spoken of before with anyone else. I felt honored.

Anyone who reads multiple books on the Korean War & doesn't come out hating MacArthur with a passion should have their head examined, IMO. He personally caused a LOT of wholly unnecessary deaths & suffering with his march to the Yalu River. SOB should've been court martialed, IMO.

Also, not to start any sort of pissing contest in here, but there's all sorts of documented cases of US Army soldiers who simply turned & ran in battle. (Most likely draftees & not "regular" Army.) Task Force Faith was decimated by the Chinese & able bodied soldiers either ran or surrendered on the spot. The Chinese walked up & down the motorcade shooting ALL the wounded so as to not have to deal with them. Horrendous.

I've heard old, old Marines describe Chosin as the Iwo Jima of its war, only frozen. Gen. H.M. Smith saved the 1st MarDiv by his leaving a couple of battalions at small towns to protect the roads/passes as they advanced north towards the Yalu. Had he not done so, the 1st MarDiv would have likely been completely wiped out. They were outnumbered by an estimate of at least 10 to 1 by the Chinese.

The cold rendered artillery powder useless, hydraulic recoil systems inoperable (arty) & rifles wouldn't function due to being frozen. Ground was frozen so foxholes couldn't be dug. Just an incredible situation to be in, all because of MacArthur.

The 8th Army (US) was routed by the Chinese on their side of the mountain range. Just a horrific performance by a US mil unit.

It is. I've got that one as well.

Have that one also. Excellent book!

I have a shoebox full of Kodachrome slides I need to get digitized that my uncle took in Korea 52-53. He was 45th ID, he didn't like talking about it much but he told me a few stories and that he was at Old Baldy and Pork Chop Hill.

Anyone have any recommendations where I could get them digitized?

WWII, Chinese-American 1st Provisional Tank Group Sherman tiger paint jobs.  Top of turret was painted yellow for aerial recognition, and fun
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American crewed Sherman of the same unit with nose art, "Fight Or Frolic"
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My friend Bill died on Monday at the age of 90. He was a Korean War Vet and served in the Navy.
You will be missed and the road won't be the same without.
RIP Bill

I bought a scanner & do mine myself. I think I paid $200 for it? Does negatives, slides, photos, everything.

Looked, sorry, mine is discontinued. However, the current model is $299. Link

Fantastic book

Another excellent book

Pretty cool, Atterbury is just up the road from me!

So the tiger paint job was a psych op against the Chinese, not the nort
h koreans as I misremembered.

https://aw.my.games/en/news/general/historical-camouflages-korean-war

There is, however, one image associated with it that many people are familiar with – a Sherman tank with a giant tiger mouth and eyes (and sometimes claws) painted on its front hull. The idea behind this was some rudimentary psychological warfare. The lunar year 1950-1951 (the lunar calendar doesn’t correspond to the one we use) was a year of the Tiger according to the traditional zodiac.

It was therefore assumed that painting tiger faces on tanks would terrify the Chinese forces intervening in Korea from the late 1950. After all, an average Chinese soldier was at the time thought to be superstitious and poorly educated, which is why such a tactic was deemed worth trying. An unknown but relatively high amount of tanks was painted that way in 1950. Various types were used – the early M46s, the Shermans, even some Chaffee tanks.

Two of the men depicted in that memorial are a machinegunner (carrying a M1919) and his assistant, carrying a tripod. They seem to interact, making eye contact - this always moved me for some reason. So damn real. Probably my favorite memorial.

I saw one of these on a static display when I was stationed there in 78, but I can’t find my pic.   Some older Korean guy was there too and chatted me up, as best he could in broken English.

The gent said he was a ROK soldier during the war, and the quad .50 went thru the Chinese “Like chopstick, thru rice, kill many”.

That guy loved Americans.  He wanted to take me drinking but I had guard duty in a few hours.  It would have been fun.


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They still had them at Ft Lewis in the late-70s mounted in the back of a deuce and a half.

Taegu Air Force base had those, and 20mm Vulcans truck mounted around the airfield. ADA crews manning them 24/7. That was 1984. I've got some Pics somewhere.

I've posted these before but here are some pictures my grandpa had from his time in Korea. I transferred them over from slides just before he passed in 2020.






My grandpa he spoke very highly of the dogs










A USO sho he attended







I have some film reels I need to transfer from his time over there. I have the shipping box from legacy box ready to go I just need to send them in.

I really miss him he introduced me to shooting. I still find myself wanting to call and tell him about new gun purchases.

Tagged for awesomeness

Three stories from my grandpa who served in Korea. Before he passed I had him sit down and recorded 14 hours of video of him telling stories about his time. The catch was I couldn't show them to anyone until he passed away. I am currently working on getting them into a sharable format. Here are three stories that stand out.

Early on in the war he wasn't on the front line and to burn some time he would take the limited number of shotgun shells his unit was issued and he would go hunt pheasant because it was one of his favorite activies before the war.  This provided fresh meat to his unit, which he stated was usually rare. Well one day he is walking back into the camp with two pheasants under his coat but a head was hanging out and as he walked past a jeep with a high ranking officer sitting in it he was questioned about the pheasant. Fearing he was about to be in major trouble he explained he got lucky and killed two. The officer called him over to his tent and took the pheasants, had them cooked and they ate together while the officer asked if he could kill them regularly. My grandpa explained that he could but he was limited on the number of rounds he had for the shotgun. For the next two months the officer provided him with all the rounds he needed for the shotgun and his sole assignment was killing pheasants to feed the camp, he had two korean kids assigned to him to carry pheasants back to camp. He estimated he killed 2000 pheasants over those two months and the camp ate pheasant for nearly every meal. When asked what he was most proud of during his service he stated that feeding all those guys freezing and starving in the camp was what he felt like was his biggest accomplishment.

He was reassigned towards the front later in the war and another story he told me that stuck with me was this one. One night he and a few buddies had been assigned to an outpost in front of the frontline. The idea was that it would likely be overrun but they would provide warning to the main line of the incoming attack. ( Sorry I don't remember what he called this outpost). On his second night assigned to it, he and two other buddies came up with the plan to hang tin cans filled with rocks from the barbed wire surrounding the outpost. Thinking that this would warn them if anyone was trying to sneak in. A few hours after dark the wind started blowing and all the cans were of course rattling like crazy. He said that was one of the longest nights of his life.

Lastly, my grandpa's father had purchased him a 1911 of some type after he found out he was going to Korea. All I know is it was a Colt and he believes it was a commander model with a short barrel. He carried it during his service and he stated it saved his life once. He was very proud of the fact that he could load it up and "keep a can bouncing" for the entire magazine. Well fast forward to my grandpa getting injured and knowing he was going to be sent home. He had a friend who he called "Rossi the Wop" and stated he was the only italian I ever liked.  They had gone through basic together and served together for most of the war. As my grandpa was about to get sent home he gave the Colt to "Rossi" with the promise that he would give it back once they were both stateside. Sadly Rossi did not survive the war and the colt was lost as far was we know.  My grandpa stated he hoped Rossi had used it before he died, but also stated quite a few times that it was typical of an Italian to not give something back and not hold up their deal. ( This was obviously a joke, but someone may not catch the humor).

Wow, thanks for sharing.