오산기지 1953-54 이시우 2006/05/09 1679

http://kalaniosullivan.com/OsanAB/OsanSongtan1-1.html

1953:
Indigenous Workers Flock to Area As soon as the base construction started there was a need for indigenous workers to do the coolie labor — hauling of rocks and dirt. The Army 839th Engineering Aviation Battalion hired some Koreans to work in their mess halls. In addition to the prostitutes off-base, the area started to fill with people seeking work on base. On the hills of the anti-aircraft artillery sites, little kids were filling sandbags for 25 cents a day. The refuse was contracted out — and the response was that the garbage collectors were eating the American garbage as they drove away.

As word spread, many North Korean refugees from Hwanghae-do in the southwest part of North Korea moved to Songtan. These people had fled on foot and ended up in Taejon until the threat of the Chinese invasion had subsided. When the base was started in June 1952, the destitute North Koreans sought work at Osan. They arrived in large numbers and huddled together in the Milwal-dong area for protection and morale. As more arrived, they spread along the south-side of the perimeter into Jeokbong-ni, Sageori, Pokchang-ni and Shinchang-dong. Without land or resources, they took on the menial of tasks of the community to survive. The large numbers of refugees started to tax the school system in Seojong-ni as there was compulsory elementary education for children.

Everyday people seeking work on the base would line up at the main gate. A truck would drive up and count off how many laborers were needed for the day’s work. At the end of the day, the workers were paid and delivered at the main gate. Later a contract office would be setup for the 839th Engineering Aviation Battalion and 914th Engineering Aviation Group which would handle the jobs as contract work. Photos of the construction of the base shows Koreans working as coolie laborers digging into the hillside and hauling the rock and dirt away on A-frames (chige). In the construction of the runway, Korean workers were engaged in the simple tasks to assist the EAB in pouring the concrete.

Koreans were hired as mess workers and other jobs requiring no technical skill. Korean companies would be used for the completion of small jobs, while the EAB handled the major tasks. At the time, the EAB was more concerned with constructing the essential base infrastructure rather than “morale” facilities. These smaller facilities would be done under contract.

As the base started to take shape, other areas were opened to indigenous workers. They worked in the messes, cleaned barracks, and did the laundry. These workers, in essence, liberated the officers and enlisted force from the everyday drudgeries of military life. Road gangs were comprised mostly of women as the men had all been conscripted or killed in the war. The base roads were cut out by graders driven by GIs, but right behind them were road crews with A-frames (chige) on their backs hauling the dirt away and widening the road with pick and shovel.

The fortunate ones who spoke a little English found jobs as translators/clerk typists in the units; or bartenders/waitresses in the clubs. There were few openings on the flightline area except as general cleanup people and as manual laborers used in moving munitions or working base supply in the storage facilities. (NOTE: It should be noted that the Christian missionaries in the Pyeongyang area had been teaching the poor and disenfranchised Koreans English since the late 1800s. Many of these Koreans migrated to America as “scab” laborers to offset the Japanese workers who started to leave the plantations and farms. As a general rule, the majority of the lower class people who could speak English were both Christians and North Korean.)

At times there were saboteurs amongst the Korean workers which increased the Americans mistrust. Dick Clifton, a South African pilot, remembered one occasion when a Korean worker removed the safety clip on the arming wire of one of his bombs — a move which armed the bomb and nearly blew up him and his plane. The air police caught the saboteur soon after this episode and “dealt whith him appropriately.” Presumably they shot him because summary executions was the standard procedure by the ROK Army who handled security. (Flying Cheetahs, Moore and Bashawe, pp213-214) However, in many cases, these saboteurs were in actuality people simply seeking to engage in thievery — but the consequences were the same when caught — summary execution. Of course, the rumors of the frequency of these occurrences heightened the mistrust.

Spies were also a problem throughout Korea — especially in the early years of the war. Many Koreans could speak some English because of being taught in missionary schools — mostly in Pyongyang. Unfortunately, these students were also from the disenfranchised peasant class who were Communist in leaning. Because of their English skills, these people easily found employment in the squadron bars and officer clubs where they could listen in on conversations. They were occasionally found and summarily executed — on the spot. Though some Koreans were used in administrative roles, they were kept away from sensitive material. By 1953, the threat of spies had decreased — though it would remain an open problem for American bases well into the 1970s.

There was a generalized prejudice against the Korean workers by Americans. Many of the Americans didn’t like the Koreans and called them “Gooks.” The Americans felt they would steal anything that wasn’t nailed down. At this time, there was desparate poverty off-base and starvation amongst the populace. Instead of seeing the people’s thievery as simply a means of survival, many Americans perceived it as a “colonial mentality” on the part of the Koreans whereby stealing from the Americans was morally acceptable — while stealing from Koreans wasn’t.

Cultural sensitivity was lacking for the most part in the Americans. But to come to the American defense, the landscape around Osan was barren of any trees. The air stank from the use of human excrement for fertilizer. The people were in rags and poverty was everywhere. The response was that the kimchee, the national dish, stank and there wasn’t a damn thing in Korea worth saving. Though the country had thousands of years of history, none of it was evident in 1953 — except ruins. Unlike Japan, it was hard to feel an affinity for this country or its people.

Despite this fact, many Americans took a shine to the Koreans who worked on base. In some cases, the Americans would “adopt” an orphan and he would become a fixture on the base — residing in the barracks as well as acting as a houseboy. Unfortunately, their attitude towards the Koreans were for the most part paternalistic. Some units allowed their “mascots” (orphans) to sleep in the barracks. But though the Americans thought of their houseboys as lowly workers, the truth was that they were paid about $30 a month ($1-2 for each barracks resident) which was $6 more than a Korean colonel made. Having a job on base was a blessing. Soon the Korean workers formed networks whereby other family members would be brought in to work on base.

Regardless, the Korean people remembered the Korean War veterans and passed legislation whereby a foreign Korean War veteran could buy Korean land without being a Korean citizen. Though few took up the offer, some did and became Korean citizens after the war. The Korean War veterans who returned for the 50th Anniversary of the Korean War were treated as honored guests. The Koreans remember the sacrifices of the Korean War veterans in assisting Korea during its time of national need.

C-Ration Village Outside the Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer)

In the photo above, the area that became known as Chicol Village (also known as Jae Yok-dong) — and finally Shinjang-dong. To the local residents, it was known as Chongmun-eup (Front Gate town) to differentiate it from the agricultural village.

The photo was taken just at the main gate — most likely from the helipad to the right of the gate. To the right there is a sign post where the Korean to the right is. At the sign post was a small alley that ran down towards the Jungang Market area — which still hadn’t been established — and then down along the rice paddies in what is now Shinjang 2-dong.

The Shinjang Mall Road — though it was not a Mall then either — veered left at the main gate and then jogged right. It straightened out till it went up the hill and over the rail spur. It then went down over the Kyongbu Railway. If you look to the left, you will see the pattern of the houses with a space between indicating the two-lane dirt road. The houses-shops were built directly along the edge of the Shinjang Mall road and there was very little expansion as yet.

The clap-trap nature of the houses are evident. The roofing material most likely is tar paper (obtained from the base) and tacked down with strips. The tar paper was used for inner wall water barrier insulation on the Jamesway buildings and Quonset huts used on base. These houses shanty houses made from mudwattle and scrap wood — even cardboard.

In between the houses, you will note there is an open strip along the hillside. This is the location of the Kyongbu Railroad line and railroad spur area to the base. The hill in the background is the hill between the base and MSR-1. There is a faint line on the hill indicating the road that joins MSR-1 at the base of the hill. The Songbuk-dong business area and farmers market had not been built as yet.

——————————————————————————–

Education The influx of refugees into the Chicol-ni and Milwal-dong areas created problems of overcrowding in the local area schools. In Seojong-ni, there was the Seojong-ni Elementary which had been officially established in 1945 — but traced its roots back to 1922 Japanese school. The Seojong Elementary School had reopened after the initial invasion in Jun 1951, but there were not enough teachers and too little classroom space in their 3-room school house. In April 1952, a Parent-Teacher Association was formed to help defray the costs. Under this program, the PTA supported about 75 percent of the costs and the government provided 25 percent. Unfortunately, under this plan only those who supported the school would attend. Though primary school was made compulsory in 1949, there were still disenfranchised children in the refugee community.

NOTE: In 1952, Robert Evilsizor, 839th EAB, took 8mm home movies of school children marching in line to school and a boy in uniform playing “changi” (kick-toy game). The neatly dressed children we believe were headed to Seojong-ni Elementary about 2 km down the road. There is a part with a little boy in uniform that we believe was from the St. Theresa’s middle school — taught at that time by Father Dominicu in the St. Theresa Rectory. We make this assumption because of the uniform. At that time only middle school (and above) students wore uniforms. St. Theresa’s was the only Middle School in the area in 1952. In 1953, it would move into its new 8-room school house built on the church grounds capable of supporting 280 students. (St. Theresa’s later became the Seojong Catholic Church.)
Within the area, there was the Kumgak-ri School was opened up in 1953 as a “branch” of the Seotan Elementary School that had been established in 1930. In Jinwi, there was the Sadae Elementary (later the Jinwi Elementary).

Education in Local Area

Bob Spiwak sent a photo taken in 1953 that he at first thought was an orphanage, but then realized it was school kids. (NOTE: We at first thought it was Seojong-ni Elementary, but the date didn’t match. Then we noticed the correlation of Kumgak-ri Elementary on the southwest side of Hill 180 being attached to Seotan Elementary in Nov 1953 — and thought it was the school built by the 18th FW in 1953 with donations. Again we were wrong as Bob Spiwak said it was easy walking distance from Hill 170 on the northeast side of base. Later Bob confirmed that the building was NOT Seojong Elementary. As of Aug 2005, we are not certain of the school, but Mr. Oh Sun-soo stated that the construction appeared to be Japanese.)

His photo is of significance as there were few photos of these types of structures and infrastructure at the time. At that time, this school was not considered important. What is marvelous about the photo is that though the kids had patches on their clothes — all the clothes appeared washed and pressed. This reflects the attitudes and respect towards the educational process on the part of parents and children — a tradition continued till today. There was no middle school or high school in the area and for many of these kids — this was the end of their education. The intent of these schools was to teach the Koreans to once again read “hangul” (Korean) — after years of Japanese colonial rule which banned the use of Hangul in schools in 1937 — and it succeeded as the Korean populace currently has a 98 percent literacy rate. Because of the times, this would be the last education for many of these children as poverty prevented many from continuing on.

School unknown, but near Hill 170 (1953) (Bob Spiwak) (NOTE: See Compulsory Elementary School Education in the Songtan area for details.)

In 1952, Robert Evilsizor with the 839th EAB, took some 8mm movies of a long procession of kids walking to school. As there was only the Seojong Elementary School in the area at the time, these kids must have been on the way to school. They were guided by the teacher and some women who might have been parents or teachers. Though the government had passed a law making education compulsory it did not fund the schools adequately. Thus most of the schools were supported by “donations” from the Parent-Teacher Associations. In fact, those children whose families could not afford to “donate,” did not attend school. Because of the severe poverty, many times families could not even afford the cost of paper and pencils. In the film, most of the children did not have uniforms, but some of the older one did. Some of the girls wore white blouses with black trim on the collar and black skirts. Some of boys wore the traditional black coat and pants. What was evident was the happiness to attend school that was evident in the faces of the children as they marched along.

Though elementary education was “compulsory,” the truth was the government had neither the resources nor the teachers to implement such a program. At that time, if you were a high school graduate, you were qualified to be a elementary school teacher. “Government-endorsed” schools were set up in a system where the government would provide the buildings (many times tents donated by the American military) or unheated-buildings and approximately 25 percent of the funding. The parents would “donate” the difference. In this void many missionary and church schools moved in to fill the void to help the poor people be educated. The missionary schools have a long history in Korea dating back to the late 1800s starting in Pyeongyang and spreading to the other major cities and treaty ports. At that time, the yangban upper classes were educated, but the poor were left uneducated. The same appears to be true in the Songtan area in the 1950s. The “haves” (no matter how meager) went to the government schools, while the poor went to the “church” schools. The emphasis was simply on learning to read and write Korean, but the education starved Koreans flocked to these schools which operated sometimes in shifts to handle both children and adults.

The Seojong Elementary School that was first established in 1945 as a “branch” training school and became the Seojong-ni Elementary School in 1949. This is the school that was over-loaded with students in 1952 when North Korean refugees flooded into the area seeking work at the Osan-ni AB. As the North Korean population exploded in the area, the Kumgak-ri Elementary School was established to the south of the base as a “branch” school of Seotan Elementary School in 1953.

However, there were also “church” schools in the area. The most visible was the Salvation Army was active in the Chicol Village area. Its main work was with the orphans through the Gusegun (Salvation Army) church set up in the area. (NOTE: The during this time period there were 20 orphanages in Suwon and three in Pyeongtaek to handle the overflow crowds of children. The Pyeongtaek orphanages handled the orphans that showed up at K-55. Currently there is the Ae Hyang Orphanage in Seojong-dong run by Mr. Lee Min Ho.)

The Catholic church was started in Seojong-ni in 1930 and it appears that classes were taught in the rectory of the church to a small group of children by the priests. In 1952 Father Dominicu held classes in the rectory for children who sat on the floor. Through donations of the 18th FBW in 1953 from the Catholic personnel on Osan-ni AB, the St. Theresa’s Middle School was established. This was the forerunner to the Hyomyung Middle School and Hyomyung High School which have continued in operation to the present day. The Hyomyung Middle School celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2003 and the High School in 2006. (See 18th FBW builds country school for details.)

The Kwangmyeong Gongmin Hakkyo (church school) was established in 1953. The Taegwang Middle School authorities state it was in the same area as the Taegwang Middle School today — near the high ground next to the rice fields. The hakkyo was located below the area where Songshin Elementary was built in 1963. It was in the low-lying area adjacent to the rice fields.

(NOTE: The school taught the first three grades of elementary school. According to Mr. Pak Chong-su, owner of the Pak Toy and Doll Shop, the school was started by his father. Pak Song-chul, was an advisor to the 18th ABG Commander and got the base to provide the tents for the much needed school as the population swelled with North Korean refugees. The day-to-day operations was handled by Mr. Pak Byong-kwon, a good friend of the senior Mr. Pak, and who had a house adjacent to the school. (Source: Verbal conversation Kalani O’Sullivan and Mr. Pak Chong-su on 19 Nov 2005.

On 11 Nov 1955, the Songtan Godung Gomin Hakkyo (church middle school) started six classes. This became the Songwang hagwon on 6 Jan 1962 and then merged with the Songwang Middle School on 17 Mar 1962. On 12 Mar 1968, the Taegwang hagwon changed to the Taegwang Middle School and supplanted the Songwang Middle School with permanent structures next to the Songshin Elementary School.)

——————————————————————————–

18th FBW Builds Country School through Donations A HQ FEAF, 5th Air Force news release on 22 Jan 1954 read in part: The airmen of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing provided materials and finances for a new eight-room country school house near Osan for 280 Korean grammar school children. While Korean builders speeded the construction of the new building, men of the 18th Wing utilized their off-duty time in the base hobby shop making 90 double desks and 140 double seats needed for the students.

Chaplain (Maj) Rinkowski and St. Theresa’s Middle School (1952) (Hyomyung 50th Anniversary Book (2003))
The Hyomyung Middle School 50th Anniversary Edition (2003) shed light on this school. The postcard in the photo reads: “This school was built by Catholic Airmen, Army Personnel, SCARWAF Personnel of K-55 through their generous contributions at Masses during the past six months. Bishop Paul M. Rho, Bishop of Seoul, (blocked out) the $6,000 (blocked out) 6 January 1954.” According to Mr. Kim Jong-youp, Vice-Principal of Hyomyung Middle School, the structure was built in what is now the parking lot of the Seojong Catholic Church.

However, though the postcard states the name as “St. Theresa’s Middle School,” the Hyomyung Middle School chronology shows that the school was called “Hyomyung Godung Gomin” — translated as a “High School Catholic.” It states that it was a 3 classroom building with the first principal Yu Su-Jong (Father Dominicu).

It $6,000 — a significant amount of money at that time — was donated by the 18th FBW Catholic Chaplains Fund towards the construction of the school done under contract, The key man in getting this going was Chaplain (Major) Rinkowski of the 18th FBW and Father Dominicu (Korean priest) of the church in Seojong. However, this project was not well-publicized and may have been a strictly Catholic airmen initiative as many veterans of that period did not know of this school.

Prior to this structure, Father Dominicu (1918-1977) was teaching a small number of students in the rectory in 1952. Father Dominicu served in the Seojong Church from 1952-1960.

Father Dominicu teaching in Rectory (1952) (Hyomyung 50th Anniversary Book (2003))
The building was erected in 1953 and called “St. Theresa Middle School” — or Hyomyung Godung Gomin (Hyomyung Catholic Middle School) — and is the predecessor of the present Hyomyung Middle School.

The Hyomung Middle School was founded on 21 May 1953 — and followed by the Hyomyung High School on 21 May 1956. (NOTE: It appears that the date of the official opening of the structure by Bishop Paul M. Rho is used as the founding date of the Hyomyung Middle School, though the school was established at a later date about a mile down the road.)

According to the History of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing 1 Jan 1954 to 30 Jun 1954, Office of the WIng Chaplain, written by 1st Lt. Andrew J. McLean, Deputy Wing Chaplain, and signed by Bernhardt G. Hoffman, Wing Chaplain talks of the St. Theresa’s school. From this history, it appears that the funding and donations of time and effort for the construction of the furniture was solely due to the Catholic personnel on base — and did not involve the Protestant group. There were over twice the number of Catholics (12,219) on base as there were Protestants (5,339) and Jewish (40). At this time, the Protestant Chaplain was attempting to set up a Wing Orphanage Program, but there appears to have been a lack of support from the wing leadership. Wing Chaplain Major George M. Rinkowski who had initiated the action had rotated to the states in Apr 1954. At that time the Protestant Chaplain Program was attempting to start a program to direct its funds to a dedicated orphanage in the area, but it still had not gotten off the ground. A local minister, Kim Yung-Chul, conducted services for indigenous workers and conducted daily bible study classes. (Source: 51st FW/HO)

Humanitarian Services:

a. The Catholic Chaplain’s Fund sponsored a primary and middle school at So-Jong-Ri, Korea. The present building and equipment were provided entriely through the contributions of the Catholic personnel on the base. Further improvements are under way with a view to extending the size of the school by three rooms through AFAK, and an additonal two rooms provided through the Fund, making it eight rooms in all. The expense of erecting the building will be assumed by the Fund. Over $6,000.00 has already been donated towards this project since January 1st. Another $6,000.00 to $9,000.00 expenditure is contemplated to complete the project.

b. Towards various charitable projects in Korea the Catholic Fund, besides the building of St. Theresa’s School, has contributed over $2,000.00. c. An expenditure, in additopm, from the Catholic Fund of $800.00 has been approved for the purpose of providing a playground for the children of St. Theresa’s School. d. The tuition for three (3) years each, amounting ot $360.00 for the education of two (2) Korean boys has been provided by the Catholic Chaplain’s Fund. (Source: History of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing 1 Jan 1954 to 30 Jun 1954, Office of the WIng Chaplain)
On 1 Mar 1964, the Hyomyung Middle & High School moved to its present location about a half mile down the road from the Seojong Catholic Church. On 1 Mar 1981, the Middle School and High School officially split into two separate schools. On 20 Dec 1997, the Middle School constructed its main building.

On 6 Nov 2003, the Gym was rededicated as the Kwangamkwan Bldg — the 50th Anniversary Gym. On 17 Feb 2005, the 50th class graduated from the school — a total of 16,219 students from its beginnings. On 28 Feb 2005, the Dominiku Building was erected in honor of Father Dominicu (1918-1977).

Seojong Catholic Church Parking Lot (2005) (Kalani O’Sullivan) (NOTE: Site of St. Theresa’s Middle School in 1953.)
Seojong Catholic Church (2005) (Kalani O’Sullivan)

Hyomyung High School (2005) (Kalani O’Sullivan)
Amphitheater Hyomyung Middle School (2005) (Kalani O’Sullivan)

Hyomyung Middle School (2005) (Kalani O’Sullivan)

——————————————————————————–

Honcho Park The Airman Magazine in Sept 2001 ran a touching story of Pak Chan-yang’s flight to freedom and finally finding work at the Osan AB Messhall. (See Honcho Park).

When he was 15 years old, Pak Chan-yang’s life changed for the better. But it didn’t seem like it at the time, as he ran for his life.

It was early 1953 and the Korean War raged. The Paks were farmers in Unyulkun, a village in North Korea’s lush Hwanghae province. The teen had never been to school. Instead he worked the family’s small plot of land. That was all he knew. It was life under the yoke of communism.

The Paks hated communism. “It controlled us,” he said. “We wanted to be free.”

The fighting in the province grew fierce. Guerilla forces were active. And as North Korean and Chinese forces closed in, the Paks knew there would be retaliations. So they fled.

Pak Chan-Yang (2001) (Airmen Magazine)
They made a beeline west for the Yellow Sea. They joined a ragtag exodus of refugees going the same way. All hoped to make it to safety, somewhere. On their heels were the communists who’d been their masters since the end of World War II.

But the Paks were lucky. American ships waited at the coast to take the refugees to safety. The Paks boarded a huge landing craft. People crowded into every available space. None had any idea where they were going. But Pak said that didn’t matter.

“All we knew was that we’d never be able to go back home,” said Pak, now 63 and head chef at the dining facility at Osan Air Base, South Korea.

However, as he looked out over the sea, Pak did wonder what lay ahead. What would happen to his family. About the family left behind that he’d probably never see again.

“We were scared,” he said. “But in our hearts, we knew leaving was the right thing to do.”

Flight for life

The journey to the South was a desperate flight of survival. A trip made by hundreds of thousands of North Koreans. It was one of many sacrifices they’d make to better their lives.

Two days later, the ship docked at Kunsan City, and Pak’s new life in South Korea began. Within a few months, the fighting stopped. An armistice followed. Then both sides sat back to maintain the shaky cease-fire.

Pak’s family settled in Kunsan, and still live there. But the teen-ager knew he had to strike out on his own. What little money his father had would soon be gone. He’d been free six months when he heard the Americans were hiring people at Osan. He knew he had to go there.

“It was the only way I could help myself and my family,” he said. “I had to go.”

So with the few won [Korean money] that his father had given him in his pocket, he left. The money didn’t last the trip, but he made it to Osan. What he saw amazed him.

The base was still under construction. And jets took off with a roar from its concrete runway. The landscape around the base was bare. There were no rice paddies or trees. No town or homes.

“I had never seen anything like it before,” he said. “But there was so much going on.”

Out of money and hungry, he joined the other people outside the base gate looking for work. He spoke no English and had no job skills. But he was determined. During the next three months, he lived day to day. If he got a meal a day, he was lucky. Many days he went hungry. He built a shack from cardboard boxes discarded from the base. But each time it rained he had to rebuild it.

“And it rained a lot,” he said.

Pak doesn’t like to dwell on that time. All he’ll say is that it was a hard time.

Pak doesn’t like to dwell on that time. All he’ll say is that it was a hard time.

He got his break in January 1954 ?a job helping build the base dining facility. He had an income. Could eat regularly and send his family money.

Pak Chan-Yang (2001) (Airmen Magazine)
Pak Chan-Yang (2001) (Airmen Magazine)

When the dining facility opened, he stayed to work in the kitchen. Soon he developed a taste for roast beef and hamburgers. He’s been at Osan ever since, longer than any other worker. Forty-seven years later, “Honcho” Pak ?as his co-workers call him ?is head chef at Osan’s award-winning Pacific House dining facility. He’s done every job there from cleaning the kitchen and sweeping floors to peeling potatoes, managing the storeroom and cooking.

——————————————————————————–

18th TFW and 2d Squadron SAAF Transition from F-51 Mustangs

29 December 1952: The F-86-11 Mobile Training Unit (MTU) bagan arriving at Osan. Everything was in place by 7 Jan 1952, the unit having brought over from Chanute AFB, in Illinois. (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p28)

7 January 1953: The task facing Colonel Frank S. Perego’s 18th Fighter Bomber Wing was trmendous. It was expected to keep its old F-51 Mustangs in operation as long as possible while it moved to an unfinished airfield in the dead of winter and began to transition conventional fighter pilots to the “hottest” USAF jets. The conversion program was already lagging when the 18th Wing moved from Chinhae Airfield ot Osan-ni on 26 December 1952. No Sabres had yet been received, but the Mustangs were so worn out that the 18th Group moved such of these as it still possessed from Hoengsong to Osan-ni on 11 Jan 1953. After arriving at the new base, the 12th Squadron and the attached 2d South African Air Force Squadron stood down for transition, but the 67th Squadron continued to fly Mustangs until 23 January. On this day, the old F-51s — once the pride of the Air Force but now sadly obsolete old planes — were withdrawn from combat. (Source: USAF in Korea, Robert F. Futrell, pp637-638)

A mobile training detachment for the F-86 came from Tsuiki to Osan to begin the conversion training. It continued eight hours a day, seven days a week until the task was completed. Several experienced pilots from the veteran 4th and 51st Interceptor Wings were transferred into the 18th to ease the pilot transition. Sabre Jet Classics stated: “It would be no easy task for the South African air and ground crews to transition into the Sabre. None of the pilots had ever flown a jet, nor had any of the ground crews maintained an aircraft as complicated as the F86.”

Harold Snow and F-86F with early 18th FBW Tail Marking (early 1953)
(NOTE: Red stripes indicate the 67th FBS; Yellow Stripes indicate 12th FBS)
(Harold Snow, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

Osan AB Sabre Jet (early 1953) (Ron Freedman)

According to The U.S. Air Force in Korea (p637), “The new model Thunderjets increased the Fifth Air Force’s combat capability, but the biggest news was the proposed equipment of the 8th and 18th Fighter Bomber Wings with F-86F Sabre air-ground attack planes. Except for bomb shackles, a modification of its gun-bomb-rocket sight, and special 200-gallon external fuel tanks, the F-86F Sabre-bomber would not be greatly different from the F-86F-interceptor. Many pilots were not completely convinced that the Sabre would be satisfactory as a fighter-bomber. “It’s much too fast,” some said. “It’s bound to be unstable,” thought others. Despite such pessimism, the Fifth Air Force planned to convert the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing at the new Osan-ni Airfield, squadron by squadron, beginning in November 1952. Sometime in January 1953, after the 18th Wing had obtained its full complement of Sabres, the 8th Wing was to begin to convert its squadrons at Suwon Airfield. Conversion of air wings to a radically different type of aircraft is never an easy task, and a number of unforeseen developments made the Sabre fighter-bomber conversion program the most difficult. Slippages in deliveries of Sabres to the Far East delayed the 18th Wing’s conversion and put both wings into transition at the same time. Concerned with the growth of Red air capabilities, General Barcus ordered the new Sabre wings to make their pilots proficient in fighter-interceptor tactics before beginning fighter-bomber training.”

January 22: The 18th FBW withdrew its remaining F-51 Mustangs from combat and prepared to transition to Sabres, thus ending the use of USAF single engine, propeller-driven aircraft in offensive combat in the Korean War. Some of the F-51s went to the ROKAF, and the rest were ferried to Itazuke, Japan. The decision to reequip the unit with F-86F-30 Sabres was made in Oct 52, but problems with delivery had delayed the conversion. (Source: AFHRA) (NOTE: On 27 December 1952, No. 2 Squadron flew its last missions in the veteran F-51Ds. However, delivery problems held up the conversion to the Sabres until early 1953. On 30 December 1952, the 18th Wing moved from Chinhae to the new air base that had been built at Osan in anticipation of the arrival of the F86s.)

8 January 1953: 12th FBS stands down froom combat and flying their F-51Ds back to Kisarazu AB, Japan by way of Itazuke AB, Japan. With the 12th FBS ‘hitting the manuals’ by early January 1953, the Soth Africans became the nexxt unit to stand down. This left just the 67th FBS at K-46, flying as many missions as it could handle with all the wing’s surviving F-51Ds. (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p29)

12 January 1953: Heavy snowfall typical of December and January with temperatures in the teens or lower. The 12th and No.2 Squadrons received their Sabres, while the 67th, continued flying Mustangs.

15 January 1953: On 15 January the 67th launched its last major strike out of Hoengsong, the F-51s then recovering at Osan AB. This was a significant event in the history of the 18th FBW, for less than a week later (23 January 1953, to be precise, the 67th FBS flew its last combat mission of the war with the F-51D. (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p29)

23 January 1953: The 67th Squadron continued to fly Mustangs until 23 January. On this day, the old F-51s — once the pride of the Air Force but now sadly obsolete old planes — were withdrawn from combat. (Source: USAF in Korea, Robert F. Futrell, p638). The unit was then officially removed from the available frontline force. According to official records kept by the wing, 20 Mustangs were flown back to Japan on 17 January, with the remaining 26 fighters flying out from Osan. 11 days later: The retirement of the legendary WWII vintage fighetr from the USAF’s frontline force was carried out with very little fanfare from the media. Indeed, the significance of the even was only truly realized within the ranks of the 18th FBW itself. (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p29)

The 67th converted to F-86Fs. At first, the l8th’s pilots learned fighter-interceptor tactics before relearning their previous fighter-bomber duties. According to an article by Warren Thompson, “Classroom instruction was strictly business, with as many as three different classes going on at the same time, eight hours a day, seven days a week. The fast pace enabled all of the 18th’s pilots to be checked out in the new aircraft by Feb. 25, only 49 days after training began and only 32 days after the final Mustang mission.”

F-86F with early 18th FBW Tail Marking (1953)
(NOTE: Red stripes indicate the 67th FBS; Yellow Stripes indicate 12th FBS)
(F.G. Smart, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

January 28: The l8th Fighter Bomber Wing received its first three PAINTED F-86F Sabres. One was marked in SAAF colors and the other two in 18th FBW colored bands. The South African Air Force’s (SAAF) No. 2 Squadron, the “Springboks” (antelopes) had a springbok silhouette painted on the sides of its Mustangs. The 12th, the “Fightin’ Foxey Few” had yellow propeller spinners with shark’s teeth on their noses like the Flying Tigers. The 67th, the “Fightin’ Cocks,” had red spinners with a rooster logo. Sabres continued to be delivered until the last Sabre arrived on 31 March.

Foxy Few Emblem on Squadron Ops Bldg (1953)
(Gene Buttyan, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

The unofficial nickname 12th FBS “Foxy Few” logo appeared on the tails of the 12th FBS F-86s as well as on “Foxy Few” patches, mugs — and even signs on the Operations Building. The wing proclaimed its presence by posting a sign at the base’s main gate stating: “18th Fighter Bomber, Best Damn Fighter Group in the World”. (Source: Korea War Project: 12th FBS and Korea War Project: 67th FBS.) The 12th FBS was the only squadron that did no use an official emblem during the fighter-bomber era of the Korean War. Instead, its personnel chose to keep the “Foxy Few” logo that had been created soon after the unit had arrived in Korea from Clark AFB, in the Philippines, in July 1950. The emblem had been designed by legendary Mustang pilots “Spud” Taylor and “Chappie” James. (Source: F-85 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p 26)

Foxy Few Emblem on Aircraft (late 1953)
(Ken Smith, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

11 February 1953: – General Maxwell D. Taylor replaces General James A. Van Fleet at Eighth Army.

22 February 1953: First mission was flown with part of the 4th. Sabre Jet Classics stated: “It was a MiG Sweep along the Yalu flown by the commanders of the three squadrons in the 18th Group. Major Jim Hagerstrom, CO of the 67th Squadron led the flight, with Commandant Gerneke as no. 2, Colonel Maurice Martin, new CO of the 18th, was no. 3, and Major Harry Evans, CO of the 12th Sq., flew no.4. Although several flights of MiGs were called out, combat with the speedy Russian jets was not accomplished.”

25 February 1953: On 25 February the 18th Wing flew its first combat mission with Sabres — a four-plane flight which tacked on to a Yalu sweep.

4 March 1953: The 18th Wing was in action, but Colonel Perego was dissatisfied with the progress that many of his conventional pilots were making. Believing that enough time had been wasted in an effort to qualify men who lacked aptitude, Colonel Perego reassigned 30 pilots to other duties in the Fifth Air Force on 4 March. (Source: USAF in Korea, Robert F. Futrell, p638)

5 March 1953: – With the death of Joeseph Stalin, the new Soviet Premier Georgi Malenkov speaks of a new peaceful coexistence.

March 1953: The 18th FBW faced many difficulties in transitioning to the F-86Fand was only flying fighter-bomber missions. One of the first problems faced by the wing following the retirement of the F-51 was twhat to do with the many high-time Mustang pilots that polulated the trio of squadrons within its charge. The process of retraining and then ‘checking out’ pilots in the Sabre was very costly, and if the USAF could not get a certain number of missions from a pilot after he had completed the training regimen, then he was considered to be a poor investment. Therefore, it was decided that any Mustang pilot that had flown less than 50 missions in Korea had to transition onto the Sabr, regardless of how he felt about shifting from a piston- to jet-engined fighter. (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p30)

F-80C trainer (early 1953)
(NOTE: At first, F-80s were borrowed from Suwon and Kunsan.
Later each squadron had one F-80C for training.)
(Kenneth Koon, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

According to an article by Warren Thompson, “Many of the 18th FBW’s pilots were close to finishing their required 100 missions. It wouldn’t have been logical for them to go through an extensive ?and expensive ?training period in the new Sabre only to rotate back to the United States after a few missions. Instead, pilots with fewer than 50 missions automatically entered the program. The rest had three options: finish their tour with a forward air control “Mosquito” squadron; become advisors to the Mustang-equipped ROKAF; or extend their tours and have a chance to fly the new Sabres.” However, there were exceptions with a small number of ‘top-timers’ volunteered for extensions of their tours to transition to the fighters.

Major Howard Ebersole in Cockpit (1953)
(Howard Heiner, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

However, a different story is told by a Training Supervisor, Maj. Howare R. “Ebe” Ebersole, at Sabre Pilots: 18th FBW Transition. He stated that on 2 March 1953, many of the F51 pilots who were anticipating combat in F-86s were told they were to be transferred either stateside if they had 75 missions — or become F-86 “advisors” to the T-6 FACs. There were some very unhappy troops and supposedly shots were heard being fired through ceilings that night — though no one was hurt. On 4 March 1953, the 12th FBS received 16 fresh F-86 pilot training graduates — all Second Lieutenants. They filled the 12th FBS squadron’s table of organization for the allotted number of pilots. By March 31st, the 12th Squadron had 25 F-86Fs. The 67th reached its full complement of Sabres by April 17. Jet trained pilots from Nellis Air Force Base soon began replacing the Mustang pilots of the 18th. (See 8th FBW: for details of F-86F.) (See TROA: “A Wing and a Prayer” for an excellent article by Warren Thompson.)

Maj. Flamm D. Harper, 18th FB Operations Officer and experienced interceptor type brought in to train personnel, stated: “Despite the naysayers of the new fighter-bomber F-86 variant, the Sabre was an excellent “mud-mover”, for it could carry two 1000-lb bombs, two external fuel tanks and 1800 rounds of 0.50-cal to any target in North Korea. Due to its speed, the jet took us far less time to accomplish the missions. We could also carry napalm, but we were never tasked to do so. We dis some skip bombing and speed did not prove to be a problem at all.” (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p38)

The test flights confirmed the initial impressions of combat pilots in Korea. The MiG-15 was faster than the F-86A and F-86E at altitudes above 30,000 feet, but slower at lower altitudes. Early F-86Fs were superior in speed to the MiG only up to 35,000 feet, whereas the “6-3″ F-86Fs were faster than their MiG opponents all the way up to the Sabre’s service ceiling.

One of the primary advantages of the MiG over the Sabre was its 4000-foot advantage in service ceiling. It would often happen that F-86s would enter MiG Alley at 40,000 feet, only to find MiGs circling 10,000 feet above them. There was nothing that the Sabre pilots could do unless the MiGs decided to come down and do battle. The high-flying MiGs could pick the time and place of battle, and their higher speed at high altitudes enabled them to break off combat at will when things got too tight. Many a MiG escaped destruction by being able to flee across the Yalu where the Sabres were forbidden to pursue.

F-86F Instrument Panel (1953)
(Ken Smith, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

The Sabre was much heavier than the MiG and had a superior diving speed. Both the MiG and the F-86 could go supersonic in a dive, but the Sabre was much more stable than the MiG in the transonic speed regime. One way for a Sabre to shake a MiG sitting on its tail was for the F-86 pilot to open his throttle all the way up and go over into a dive, pulling its pursuer down to lower altitudes where the F-86 had a performance advantage. Above Mach 0.86, the MiG-15 suffered from severe directional snaking, which made the aircraft a poor gun platform at these high speeds. Buffeting in the MiG began at Mach 0.91, and a nose-up tendency initiated at Mach 0.93. The high-speed stability problems of the MiG-15 were so severe that it was not all that uncommon for a MiG to go into the transonic regime during an air battle, only to lose its entire vertical tail assembly during violent combat maneuvering. The rate of roll of the MiG was too slow, and lateral-directional stability was poor at high altitudes and speeds.

One of the most serious weaknesses of the MiG-15 was its tendency to go into uncontrollable spins, especially in the hands of inexperienced pilots. Many Sabre victories in Korea were scored without the F-86 pilots ever having to fire their guns — they merely forced their MiG opponents into spins from which their pilots could not recover. An experienced MiG pilot could get himself out of a spin, but the aircraft was somewhat unstable and lacked good stall warning properties.

The turning radius of the MiG was good, somewhat better than that of the F-86A, E and early F. However, this advantage was largely eliminated by the advent of the “6-3″ wing of the later F-86F. The good turning radius of the MiG was compromised by poor stalling characteristics. These bad stalling characteristics could get a green MiG pilot into serious trouble during the stress of a dogfight, causing his fighter to suddenly stall, go into an uncontrollable spin, and fall out of the sky.

MiG 15b

In contrast, the spinning characteristics of the Sabre were excellent, and gave most pilots no trouble at all. If the F-86 was forced into a spin, recovery was usually effected by simply neutralizing the controls.

The MiG-15 armament of one 37-mm N-37 cannon and two 23-mm NR-23 guns was designed for attacking bombers, and was not really intended for use against fighters. Forty rounds of 37-mm ammunition and 160 rounds of 23-mm ammunition were carried, a rather low ammunition capacity. The 37-mm gun fired at a rate of 450 rpm, whereas the 23-mm guns each fired at a rate of 650 rpm. The MiG’s armament had a good punch, but the rate of fire was too slow to make it effective against nimble, rapidly-maneuvering fighters. In contrast, the F-86′s armament of six 0.50-in machine guns had a rapid firing rate and the aircraft carried an ample supply of ammunition. However, the machine guns of the Sabre lacked the stopping power of the MiG’s cannon. It was not uncommon for a Sabre pilot to empty all 1600 rounds of his ammunition at a MiG, only to see it escape unscathed.

The gunsight of the MiG-15 was of the simple gyro type, similar to that of the early F-86A. It lacked any radar ranging capability. The radar ranging gunsight of the later Sabres made the F-86 a much more accurate gun platform than the MiG, but this accuracy was sometimes wasted because of the low weight of fire from the machine guns.

The MiG was much lighter than the Sabre, weighing only 11,070 pounds loaded. The take off run to clear a 50-foot obstacle was only 2500 feet, as compared with 3660 feet for the F-86A.

Internal fuel capacity of the MiG was 372 US gallons, compared with 435 gallons for the Sabre. This gave the MiG a range of 480 miles, which could be increased to 675 miles with drop tanks.

During the Korean War, 792 MiG-15s were destroyed by F-86 pilots, with 118 probables being claimed. 78 Sabres were definitely lost in air-to-air combat against the MiGs, with a further 13 Sabres being listed as missing in action. This is about a ten-to-one superiority. From this result, one might naturally conclude that the F-86 was the superior fighter. However, a factor which must also be considered is the relative level of experience and competence of the opposing pilots. The US Sabre pilots were all highly trained and competent airmen, many of whom had extensive World War 2 combat experience. With the exception of some Russian World War 2 veterans who flew MiG fighters in Korea, the MiG pilots were often sent into combat with only minimal flying experience. MiG pilots often exercised poor combat discipline. During the course of battle, MiG pilots would often break off into confusion and panic, firing wildly, and leaving their wingmen unprotected. Often, a MiG pilot in trouble would eject from his plane before anyone actually shot at him. Many MiG pilots were so inexperienced that in the heat of battle they would end up getting themselves into uncontrollable spins and crashing. At times, MiG pilots would fire their cannon in an attempt to lighten their loads, without really aiming at anything. Most of the MiG pilots were extremely wary of combat, and usually did not attempt to fight unless they saw an advantage opening up. In contrast, the Sabre pilots were aggressive and eager for combat, and wanted nothing more than for the MiGs to come over the Yalu so that they could add to their scores.

So, which plane would you rather be sitting in, the MiG-15 or the F-86? Perhaps Chuck Yeager said it best–”It isn’t the plane that is important in combat, it’s the man sitting in it.” (Source: Baugher site: F-86)
12 March 1953: Training of the SAAF pilots continued into February and by 12 March the squadron was once more flying sorties. The squadron was mainly employed in a ground attack role as the Sabre proved to be an excellent aircraft for dive-bombing, carrying two 1000lb bombs or napalm and rockets.

27 March 1953: Assigned as the CO of the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing (FBW), Maj. James P. Hagerstrom destroyed his fifth MiG to become the twenty-eighth Korean War jet air ace. Hagerstrom, of the Texas Air National Guard, scored 6.5 MiG kills to become the first and only ace from the l8th Fighter Bomber Group. He had earlier gotten two while flying with the 334th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, 4th Fighter Interceptor Group, giving him a total of 8.5. He was transferred from the 4th FIG to make for the lack of experience in the 18th FBG with the F-86 transition — and became the only Fighter Bomber ace of the Korean War. (Source: AFHRA) (NOTE: The F-86 static display near the Doolittle Gate at Osan AB is supposed to be a representation of Jim Hagerstrom’s aircraft, “MiG Poison.” Hagerstrom was promoted to Major in 1950, Lt. Col in 1953 and Colonel in 1958 based on being an “ace.” For Hagerstrom, flying combat missions in Korea was a once-in-a-lifetime career opportunity. He did everything he could to prepare himself for such a task: he started running on the beach, taking courses over and over again on the A-4 gun sight, and reading all the intelligence reports he could get his hands on at Nellis AFB. (Source: Officers in Flight Suits, John Darrell Sherwood, 1996, p70.) While at Osan, he was did not imbibe before a mission to ensure he would be “100 percent.” There was some criticism that he would dump his bomb load as soon as possible and head to MiG Alley. An assignment to the 18th FBW from the 4th FIW was not in his game plan — and he was hell-bound to be an ace. Aces were willing to “go it alone” and even break standard rules of engagement for the sake of a kill. Hagerstrom once flew fifteen feet over the alert pad at Antung at nin-tenths the speed of sound just “trying to get the MiGs off the ground. (Source: ibid, p89) Hagerstrom before he left the states had a special pair of half-mirrored distance glasses made which enabled him to see at twenty feet what an ordinary person would see at ten. The optometrist told him they might permanently ruin his eyes, and he replied: “I don’t give a shit.” (Source: ibid, p84.) In March 1953, he knew he was going to transferred to fighter-bombers or out of theater with only 4.5 kills, so he desparately gave it the old “college try to get one more to be an ace. He shot down two outside Antung. On his last day in Korea, he was in dress-blues awaiting his C-47 out when an alert was called and he flew that day to claim one more. (Source: ibid, pp89-90))

Maj. James P. Hagerstrom after MiG kills
while with 4th FIS (Dec 1952)

Maj Hagerstrom outside Ops Bldg (Early 1953)
(NOTE: Notice the early tail marking for 18th TFW on a/c in background)
(Don McNamara, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

Lt Robert Cassatt poses
in front of Maj. Hagerstrom’s F-86F “Mig Poison”
(which bears 6.5 red stars on its canopy rail) (Early Summer 1953)
(Robert Cassatt, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

April 14: The first dive-bomb mission was flown on 14 April.

28 March 1953: – North Korean premier Kim Il Sung and Chinese commander in chief Peng Teh-huai agree to the POW exchange proposed by General Clark.
March 30 – Chinese Foreign Minister Chou En-lai indicates that the Red Chinese will accept the Indian Rsolution of December 1952. Thus, truce talks resume at Panmunjom.

31 March 1953: The last of 25 F-86s to the 12th FBS delivered to Osan. Within a week both No. 2 Sqn and the 67th FBS could also boast their full complement of the new ‘Dash-30s’! (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p31) With many new replacement pilots from the United States and eventual arrival of more Sabres, the 12th Squadron reached unit strength on 31 March and the 67th Squadron attained a similar status on 7 April 1953. (Source: USAF in Korea, Robert F. Futrell, p638)

Last week of March to April 18 – The Battles of Old Baldy, Eerie, and Pork Chop Hill all take place.

April 1 – Two squadrons (428th & 429th FBS) of the 474th FBG of Kunsan AB (K-8) administratively swapped (on paper) with two squadrons of the 49th FBG (7th & 8th FBS) of Taegu (K-2) to form Taegu’s new 58th FBW (Reinforced). The 430th FBS (474th FBG) transferred to Taegu.

April 1953: Average Number of F-86Fs Assigned: 45 / Total Hours of Flying Time: 1933.25 / Average Hours per F-86-F: 43 / Number of Sorties Flown: 623 / Percent of F-86Fs In-commission: 83% / Total F-86Fs Lost in Combat: 0 / Total F-86Fs Lost (other reasons): 0 / Fuel Consumed (Gallons): 819,415 / Engine Changes: 7 / 0.50-cal Rounds Expended 23,631 / Napalm: 0 / 5-in Rockets Expensed: 0 / 500-lb Bombs: 569 / 1000-lb Bombs: 0 / 260-lb ‘Frag’ Bombs: 0 / AN-M76 Incendiary Bombs: 0 / Major Inspections: 17 / F-86Fs Battle Damaged (Major): 1 / F-86Fs Battle Damaged (Minor): 0 (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p89)

Early Morning Briefing with 12th and 67th on the left and 2d SAAF on the right (1953)
(Archie Buie, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

20 to 26 April 1953: – There is an exchange of sick and wounded POW’s at Panmunjom know as Little Switch.

26 April 1953: – Full plenary talks resume at Panmunjom.

27 April 1953: The first close support of troops along the MLR, was flown on 27 April. Sabres from the 18th Group, with top cover from 4th and 51st Group Sabres, knocked Radio Pyongyang (Ping-Pong Radio) off the air during the May Day attack led by General Glenn Barcus, boss of 5th Air Force.

According to The U.S. Air Force in Korea (p637), “Because the Sabre transition program was running behind schedule, General Barcus amended his instruction that the wings would qualify all of their pilots in fighter-interceptor tactics before beginning fighter-bomber training. On 1 April the 18th Wing began bombing practice and the 8th Wing integrated bombing tactics with its interceptor training. On 14 April 8th Wing pilots flew the first F-86 fighter-bomber mission, and on 14 April the 18th Wing made its debut with F-86 fighter-bombers.”

During this time period, morale boosting victory rolls and 100th Mission flyovers to “buzz” the runway was permitted — much to the delight of the ground personnel. In ‘BUZZ JOB!’ ‘THE TOUR IS OVER’ by ‘Ebe’ Ebersone and Hans Degner, “After they were down, Hans and I went north of K-55, and I requested a “last mission low pass”. We were ‘cleared as requested’, and switched to our ‘discrete frequency’ to coordinate our pass. Flying north to south, Hans on my right wing, we straddled the tower at their glass-cab height. We were ‘pushing the Mach’ at near full throttle! Hans peeled tight to the right, and I broke left We met head-on, each on his right hand side of the runway, about mid-field, did a loop, joined up for a couple of low, fast passes over the maintenance troops, did a victory roll in formation, came In and landed. What could be more fun than that?”

67th FBS (1953)
(Dwight Lee, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

May 1953: Average Number of F-86Fs Assigned: 44 / Total Hours of Flying Time: 2054 / Average Hours per F-86-F: 47 / Number of Sorties Flown: 1234 / Percent of F-86Fs In-commission: 91% / Total F-86Fs Lost in Combat: 1 / Total F-86Fs Lost (other reasons): 3 / Fuel Consumed (Gallons): 942,069 / Engine Changes: 4 / 0.50-cal Rounds Expended: 104,780 / Napalm: 4 / 5-in Rockets Expensed: 0 / 500-lb Bombs: 982 / 1000-lb Bombs: 1116 / 260-lb ‘Frag’ Bombs: 0 / AN-M76 Incendiary Bombs: 0 / Major Inspections: 25 / F-86Fs Battle Damaged (Major): 1 / F-86Fs Battle Damaged (Minor): 2 (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p89)

3 May 1953: – The rest of the sick and wounded POW’s are exchanged.

13 May 1953: – Raid on Toksan Dam. Dramatic strike of 58th FBW F-84s destroys a major irrigation system. 5 miles of rice fields and railroad tracks/highways destroyed. Attacks continue for the next few weeks.

31 May 1953: The 67th Squadron lost an entire flight on May 31, 1953. “Beer Flight” (all their flights were named after drinks, such as Scotch, Gin, Vodka, Beer) had two fatalities and lost all four aircraft in one day. Leader “Tex” Beneke was killed on takeoff, “Smo” Smotherman was killed in flight, and Lieutenants Varbie and Carmichael crashed on landing, but both survived. The call sign, “Beer Flight,” was permanently retired.

June-July 1953 In June and July the communists again launched a massive offensive against the UN forces, and despite bad weather the air force was again called on to give air support to the troops, carrying out their task so effectively that the Communist offensive ground to a halt and their delegates at the peace talks decided the time had come to end the war. In order to prevent the enemy from building up its air power in the meantime, the UN aircraft continued to carry out intensive attacks.

67th FBS Flightline (1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

June 1953: Average Number of F-86Fs Assigned: 43 / Total Hours of Flying Time: 2211 / Average Hours per F-86-F: 51 / Number of Sorties Flown: 1606 / Percent of F-86Fs In-commission: 92% / Total F-86Fs Lost in Combat: 9 / Total F-86Fs Lost (other reasons): 4 / Fuel Consumed (Gallons): 959,684 / Engine Changes: 10 / 0.50-cal Rounds Expended: 241,452 / Napalm: 56 / 5-in Rockets Expensed: 0 / 500-lb Bombs: 1038 / 1000-lb Bombs: 1434 / 260-lb ‘Frag’ Bombs: 0 / AN-M76 Incendiary Bombs: 2 / Major Inspections: 1 / F-86Fs Battle Damaged (Major): 5 / F-86Fs Battle Damaged (Minor): 5 (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, p89)

2d SAAF F-86F landing (1953)
(Dwight Lee, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
2d SAAF F-86F Being Repaired with 67FBS assistance (1953)
(John Batchelder, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

10-18 June 1953 The 12th Squadron lost eight pilots between June l0 and the 18th. Three were killed in action, two others became POWs, and three were lost in a C-124 crash in Japan.

18 June 1953: – South Koreans release 27,000 North Korean POW’s who refused to be repatriated. Communists then break off negotiations.

25 June 1953: – Robertson begins “Little Truce Talks” with Rhee to secure the Republic of Korea’s acceptance of armistice. Meanwhile, Chinese forces launch massive attacks against the Republic of Korea Divisions.

30 June 1953: By June 30 there were 127 pilots on the roster, with 82 percent classified as combat ready. The remaining 18 percent were new replacements coming into the wing, all of whom already had received advanced training in jets at Nellis Air Force Base but had to be checked out in the required air-to-air and ground-support tactics.

10 July 1953: – Communists return to the negotiation table after U.N. assurances that the Republic of Korea would abide by the terms of the cease fire.

11 July 1953: South Korean President Syngman Rhee agreed to accept a cease-fire agreement in return for promises of a mutual security pact with the United States.

15 July 1953 Unauthorized strike of a target near approved by a temporary Major Dee Harper results in a huge success with the destruction of a Chinese munitions buildup for a pending attack. (NOTE: Source noted: “Official USAF Historical records report the date of these occurrences as 16 June, 1953, but Harper, who was personally involved, remembers them happening somewhat later, “probably 15 July”, based upon his vivid recollection of the bail-out experience of 27 June and the two week period of his hospital stay prior to assuming the Operations Duty. There is no question concerning the veracity of the acts reported, only the conflicting dates, which could easily have stemmed from a subsequent typographical reporting error. Col. Harpers says 밽iven up?trying to set the offical USAF record straight.”) (Source: 18th Fighter Wing Association: Lt. Col. Flamm “Dee” Harper.)

But this second time he (Dee Harper) paid a higher price for his successful evasion ?while bailing out, his 멵hute barely had time to open, then collapsed as he hit the rocks alongside a cliff. Harper ended up draped over a big boulder at the foot of the cliff, with a few broken ribs and a heavy contusion to his spinal cord. He was hospitalized for two weeks after his rescue, following which he was placed on 멏NIF?status, (Duty Not Involving Flying) where he served as 18th Fighter Group Operations Officer to manage the scheduling of bomb loads and target directions for the Group뭩 three squadrons. Harper, at that time, was a Captain, serving wih a temporary ?i>Spot Promotion?to Major. It was not really tough duty by that point in time, because peace talks had begun at Panmunjom in Spring 1953, and finally showed promise of a compromised end to the vicious fighting in Korea.

Both sides appeared to be cutting back on their directed combat operations, and even though 5th AF was having trouble finding targets worthy of pre-planning, everyone seemed to have a sense of apprehension that the North Koreans were planning one final, last ditch assault to enhance their bargaining position at the peace table. Individual pilots became extra wary, and hesitated to become 몋oo aggressive? thinking they could reluctantly become ?i>the last man to die in the Korean War??br>
Late in the afternoon of June 16, 1953*, , while Lt. Col Harry Evans, 12th Sq CO, led an armed recce flight operating just North of the battlefront, they discovered a very long train of what appeared to be 밶 hundred or more cars stalled in front of a tunnel? They attacked the newly-identified targets, causing huge explosions and fires, but when they became low on fuel and had to leave the area, there still remained scores of undamaged rail cars.

?i>Near the same time*?in mid-June 1953, in the vicinity of Heartbreak Ridge, Lt. Col. C. L. Stanton, Commanding Officer of the 67th Sqdn, discovered a concentration of several thousands enemy troops?in the open, all neatly arrayed in huge rectangular formations marching along a road; his flight immediately attacked the formations and encampments with their 1000 lb bombs, rockets and machine guns, slaughtering an estimated two thousand or more of the enemy.

When the flights returned to base at Osan (K-55) from the rail and troop attacks, and reported their startling new enemy targets to Operations Officer Dee Harper, he immediately contacted Taegu뭩 Fifth Air Force Combat Operations Center for permission to promptly reload and dispatch additional aircraft to continue the attack.

As the luck of ?i>Murphy뭩 law?would have it, the 5th AF Commanding General happened to be at dinner when Harper tried to call for authorization, and no one in the Combat Operations Section would venture to interrupt the General뭩 repast with such a wild and unconfirmed report.

멑rustrated by the bureaucratic roadblock imposed by 5th Air Force Hqtrs, and the fact that his own 18th Group and Wing Commanders were not available 꿧or they were attending a conference in Tokyo 꿣ut also knowing full well that neither of the vital strategic targets would remain in place through the night, Major Flamm D. Harper made a Command Decision, on his own, to refuel and re-arm the Sabrejets, and send them back to restrike the targets immediately ?that evening and, almost unheard of in ground attack battles, they continued their dangerous air-to-ground attacks far into the dark of night?when their targets were lit only by the flames of the burning and exploding rail cars. The 18th Wing had been 멦asked?by 5th AF to fly 120 combat ?i>sorties?on that day .. (1 plane on 1 flight equals 1 sortie) and the Wing had already completed 93 of them. During the remainder of that evening and night they flew an additional 94 combat sorties, losing two aircraft, (but just one pilot) in the process of wiping out the prepared-and-ready armaments which the enemy had stockpiled to spring their final massive offensive on the following day. The Chinese battle plan was never launched; it뭩 strength had been mortally sapped by the heroic night attacks of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing pilots, under the forceful .. if illegal .. direction of one 멿owly?temporary Major, by the name of 멖arper?

The war petered out during the next few weeks, and the fragile truce was finally signed on 27 July, 1953. The many pilots who had bravely flown their F-86 Sabres in low level ground attacks with only their altimeters and the silhouette of hills near the burning rail cars keeping them from plowing into the ground, reveled in the success of their night뭩 work. None of them knew that all of their heroic missions that evening were 몍nauthorized? because Harper had purposely kept it from them ?not wanting to expose anyone but himself to the almost certain threat of military Courts Martial.

Only the recognition of the tremendous success of the 18th Wing뭩 missions in stemming the impending Chinese offensive prevented him from possibly being cashiered from the Air Force ?or being limited to a lifetime in the rank of Captain.

멏ee?Harper was 멵hewed out, royally?for assuming the General뭩 prerogatives ?but he had come to expect that after his Group CO told him that he, the Colonel, had suffered the very worst ass-chewing of his entire career over Harper뭩 unauthorized ?i>Decisions?

27 July 1953: At 1000 hours on 27 July 1953, the Korean Armistice agreement was signed, stopping the fighting in Korea. Throughout that final day of the war, UN aircraft roamed the skies over North Korea searching for targets of opportunity. At 2201 hours, the Armistice went into effect and all UN aircraft had Flight to be on the ground and/or south of the bomb line.

27 July 1953: – The cease fire is signed by Lieutenant General Nam Il and Lieutenant General Wiliam Harrison at 10:00am at Panmunjom. Twelve hours later all fighting ceases. (NOTE: See Armistice Agreement, Volume I — U.S. (as head of UN Forces), North Korea and China signed, but South Korea refused to sign this document. Technically, South Korea is still in a state of war with North Korea. To gain South Korea’s acceptance of the Armistice, the U.S. signs the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty Between the Republic of Korea and U.S.)

B-26 from the 8th Bomb Squadron (L-NI) flies the last sortie of the war. The honor of the last mission was given to the 8th because it flew the first missions over North Korea.

4 September 1953: – The processing of POW’s for repartriation begins at Freedom Village, Panmunjom.

1 October 1953 No. 2 Squadron ceased all operational flying and began turning their Sabres over to 5th AF units still operational in Korea. The last aircraft were returned on 11 October, and all South African personnel had departed Korea by 29 October.

The United Nations acceded to the request of the United States to intervene militarily on the side of South Korea. On 12 August 1950, the South African government announced its intention of placing No. 2 Squadron, the so-called “the Flying Cheetahs” of the South African Air Force at the disposal of the United Nations. The offer was accepted, and on 26 September 1950, 49 officers and 206 other ranks, all volunteers, left from Durban for Johnson Air Base in, Yokohama, Japan, prior to their deployment in Korea. All these men were seasoned pilots and technicians having an outstanding World War II record from operations in Eastern Africa, Ethiopia, Sicily, Italy and the Middle East.

2 Squadron had a long and distinguished record of service in Korea flying F-51D Mustangs and later F-86F Sabres. Their role was mainly flying ground attack and interdiction missions as one of the squadrons making up the USAF’s 18th Fighter Bomber Wing.

The first flight of four F-51D Mustangs departed for Korea on 16 November 1950 and the first operational sortie was flown three days later from K9. This was at a stage when the United Nations forces were retreating in front of the advancing enemy. In freezing cold and poor weather, the aircraft had to continue operating and be maintained and armed in the open, moving from K-24 (Pyongyang East Air Field) to K-13 (Suwon Airbase), K-10 (Chinhae Airbase) and finally K-55 Airbase at Osan in January 1953, which became the all jet fighter base for the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing. Here the squadron immediately started to convert to the Canadian F-86F Sabre jet fighter. On 11 March 1953 the squadron flew it first operational sortie with the F-86F Sabre. The Squadron now flew, in addition to its ground attack role, high-level interdiction and standing patrols along the Yalu River.

The cease-fire was signed at Panmunjom at 11:00 hours on 27 July 1953. During the Korean conflict the squadron flew a grand total of 12 067 sorties.

2SAAF F-86
A total of 243 Air Force officers and 545 other ranks served in Korea. 34 pilots out of 152 and 2 other ranks gave their lives. Eight prisoners of war were returned. Aircraft losses amounted to 74 out of 97 Mustangs and four out of 22 Sabres.

On 31 October 1953, the last South African Force left Korea.

The Squadron received the United States Presidential Citation, the Korean Presidential Citation and the USAF Unit Citation. Individual medals were 2 Silver Stars, 50 Distinguished Flying Cross (DFCs), 1 cluster to the DFC, 40 Bronze Medals, 176 Air Medals, 152 clusters to the Air Medal and 1 Soldier Medal.(Source: 2 Sqdn SAAF )

2d Sqdn SAAF F-86 (1953) (Bob Spiwak)
As the SAAF was to leave, the Commanding Officer of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing, under which command the squadron was under, issued a directive at the end of the war that: “In memory of our gallant South African comrades, it is hereby established, as a new policy that at all Retreat Ceremonies held by this Wing, the playing of our National Anthem shall be preceded by playing the introductory bars of the South African National Anthem, ‘Die Stem van Suid-Afrika’. All personnel of this Wing will render the same honours to this Anthem as our own.” (Source: 2 Sqdn SAAF (Flying Cheetahs) in Korea ) The Flying Cheata’s in Korea by Deeermot Moore and Peter Bagshore states, “Two bars of the SA National anthem is always played before the US National anthem on official parades to this day.”

——————————————————————————–
Life in the 18th FBW

In addition to being more dangerous, the mission of the fighter bomber tended to be less rewarding than that of the fighter-interceptor. A village bombed was not the same as a MiG destroyed — no visible status symbols were awarded and rarely was the press interested in hearing bomber stories. Aces such as James Jabara and Joseph McConnell had their pictures plastered in such national maagazines as Life, Look, and Time. Fighter-bombers, on the other hand, only received attention in service oriented journals, such as the Air Force Times and Air Force Magazine napalming a village or a suspected troop concentraiotion was hardly as romantic as shooting down a sleek MiG. No title, parties, or awards were given for bombing five villages. In fact, a fighter-bomber only received a party after his death or his hundredth mission — which ever came first. The hundredth-mission party varied from squadron to squadron, but it generally consisted of a “victory pass” over the base by the hundredth-mission pilot, followed by a photo session and a champaigne reception on the tarmac. The more common party, though, was a “shoot-down party.” According to Perrin Gower: “Every time someone got shot down, they threw a party and got completely stoned. Ostensibly it was a wake, but really it was a celebration to celebrate the fact that it wasn’t you.” Survival, in short, was the major reward for the fighter-bomber and the only status symbol he could look forward to during his tour. (Source: Officers in Flightsuits, John Darrell Sherwood, 1996, pp 102-103)

While fighter-interceptor pilots also sported baseball caps in Korea, the phenomenon was even more popular in the fighter-bomber units. Each squadron custom-designed and ordered its own cap from Japanese manufacturers. colorful and erotic unit logos were vital part of morale building. The symbol … for the South African squadron, a “Flying Cheetah.” Other squadrons adopted a sewual theme asuch as “the Foxy Few,” the logo of the 12th Squadron of the 18th Figheter Bomber Wing. Heiner’s squadron, the “Fighting Cocks,” went so far as to have Walt Disney design its logo — a rooster with boxing gloves. The logo was emblazoned on aircraft, flight suit patches, and even squadron beer mugs — mugs which were proudly hung in the “The Cockpit” (the Osan officers’ club). (Source: ibid, pp 110-111)

In addition to developing colorful logos and flying missions, fighter-bomber wing, goup, and squadron commanders relied heavily on floklor as a vehicle for instilling their outfits with pride. The 67th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, for example, took pride in the fact that their unit was organized explicity for duty in the Korean War. According to their squadron newsletter, the Fighting Cocks were “conceived in haste, born in obscurity, and have risen from the unknown to write a fateful page in history.” Interestingly enough, this fateful page concentrates more on the squadrons’s close air support missions that its interdiction attacks. For the fighter-bomber, supporting frontline troops was seen as much more honorable than napalming Korean villages or cutting railroad tracks. The newsletter emphasized throughout that the contribution of the squadron “cannot be expressed in words of praise, but only in the hearts of the men in the front lines, who daily watched the squadron’s relentless attacks against the enemy weaken and drive him to cover.” (Source: ibid, pp 112-113)

Like the 67th Squadron, the Foxy Few of the 12th Squadron relied heavily on unit history to upld the morale of the group. They boasted that theirs was the first official USAF combat squadron to see action in Korea. The Foxy Few also traced their lineage back to the World War II Flying Tigers. Consequently, they painted tigers’ teeth on their aircraft — a tradition that was also carried over to the Vietnam and Gulf Wars. (Source: ibid, p113)

18th FBW Officer’s Club (1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: Murals along the wall depicts various facets of the Wing’s history.)
Red Scarf Club — 67th FBS Officers’ Lounge (1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

Two institutions that helped foster cohesiveness in the unit was the squadron dayrooms and officers’ club.

The dayroom was the building where the indiidual squadrons posted flying assignments and unit statistics. This hut was the nexus for on- and off- duty pilots during the day. It was one of the few places on base reserved squadron activities alone: the officers’ clubs were shared by all officers of a wing. As a consquence, each squadron attempted to fix up its dayrooms and transform them from drab operation buildings to comfortable flight lounges. Each squadron had its own beer mugs with the squadron insignia emblaxoned on them. An example was the 67th FBS “Red Scarf” Lounge pictured above. The 12th FBS lounge was named “The Cockpit.” According to Kenneth Koon of the 12th FBS, That’s all there was — the mess hall was for eating.” Kenneth Koon, a light drinker, typically would have a coulple of martinis at his club when he was not flying. (NOTE: Flying officers would cure hangovers by turning the oxygen to 100 percent — a sure cure for queasiness and hangovers.) (Source: Officers in Flightsuits, John Darrell Sherwood, 1996, pp 123-126)

While the dayroom was the primary place for pilots to relax and socialize during the day, the officers’ club or “o club,” was where most pilots spent their evenings. Unlike the dayroom, the o club served no operational purpose — it was used solely for drinking, eating, and socializing. In fact, it was the central party place on most bases — a plce to indulge in the primary off-hours ritual of flight suit culture: drinking. Unlike its stateside counterpart, the O-club in Korea was not afforded much respect and was frequently trashed by rowdy pilots. Colonel Martin, Wing Commander at Osan, is uoted as saying, “Korea was the easiest place in the world to become an alcoholic: it was exttremely cheap and available everywhere.” (ibid, p125)

Lack of other activities as well as a shortage of women on bases made “booze the primary recreational activity.” Whereas beer was bought locally, liquor was imported to bases from the rear-echelon maintenance bases in Japan.

No group of flyers had a more notorious reputation for drinking than the South African Cheetah Squadron who definitely consumed the most booze but handled it better than most of their USAF counterparts. The Cheetahs turned most of their squadron debriefings into two or three mission-whiskey bottle parties. (NOTE: SEEKING INFORMATION ON NCO/ENLISTED CLUBS.) It is known that during this period the officers could procure and drink hard liquor (distilled spirits), while the enlisted were limited to “green beer.” The beer was first shipped up from Pusan, but later when the brewery in Yongdong-po was back in operation, the supply was from Seoul. We are guessing that the local NCO club was mixed-service and if it was like other areas had a crap game in operation 24-hours a day. Lower ranks (E-3 and below) were served in the Airmen’s Club.

Pheasant Hunting (1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
(NOTE: Pheasant hunting was the only recreation
that most folks enjoyed off-base.)

Because of the danger of guerrillas and snipers as well as the impoverished conditions of the countryside, most pilots rarely ventured forth from their bases. When they had leave, they went to Tokyo; when they were on duty, they tended to remain on their “blue island.” In fact, for many flight suit officers, the base and Korea were synonmymous: “When you were in Korea,” exclaimed Sturgeon, “therwe was nothing except the base.” Almost everything one needed to live could be found there: shelter, food, sports, movies, variety shows, shopping, education, hobbies, bars, and even a few Western women or “camp followers,” as they were often called. (Source: Officers in Flightsuits, John Darrell Sherwood, 1996, p119) (NOTE: The term “camp follower” here applied to the Red Cross women who were held to high standards of conduct — though some may have had discreet relationships. Most of the women were over 25 with many having WWII experience. Any accusation of impropriety was immediately followed by a broad-based investigation.)

There was no perimeter fence at first and the base was literally wide-open. Later strands of barbed wire was strung on the perimeter, but the GIs would simply crawl through the open strands. This led to a double standard at Osan-ni AB (K-55) after the USAF arrrived in December 1952. On one hand, the areas off-base were placed off-limits, but at the same time, the bars in Namsan Village (and later Chicol village) and road-side beer stands along the MSR-1 sprang up. There was no perimeter fence to stop any individual from simply walking out for a “cold one” (beer), though “off-limits” signs were posted off-base alongside the roads leading to the base. The VD rates for all the bases in Korea soared. The off-base areas was placed “on-limits” in June 1953. (Ref: 18th Fighter -Bomber Wing, Fifth Air Force, Far East Air Forces, Historical Report, January-June 1953).

Despite the prevalence of VD in Japan, officers and enlisted men actually considered Japan to be a better place to solicit the services of a prostitute. “It was looked down upon even for an enlisted man to go with a Korean prostitute,” recalled George bBerke. Furthermore, many wings placed surrounding Korean villages “off-limits.” The 51st Wing placed Suwon off-limits and ordered Paul Turner to tpatrol the city in a jeep and hunt foor violators — a job called “pussy patrol.” The 18th Wing did not place its nearby village of Osan “on-limits” until May 1953; it did so only after all base personnel and “probable contacts” were administered antibiotics as prophylaxis. Clearly, the Air Force believed Korean prostitutes to be disease ridden even toward the end of the war. Consequently, Japan remained the favored spot for illicit sexual activity Rest and recuperation (R&R) leave became known as I&I — intoxication and intercourse. (Source: Officers in Flightsuits, John Darrell Sherwood, 1996, p132)

To facilitate the idyllic experiences of the R&R in Japan, the Air Force leased hotels in the countryside. The 18th Wing leased a hotel called the Fujiya for officers only. The Fujiya had 221 rooms and was located in the heart of Hokone National Park, a park famous for its natural hot springs. The 18th Wing also reserved a C-124 Globemaster, appropriately labeled “the cocktail courier,” to transport the two hundred service personnel who took leave every week. The Globemaster’s weekly runs continued unti the plane crashed on 18 June 1953, killing 129 airmen in the world’s worst air disaster to date. (Ref: 18th Fighter -Bomber Wing, Fifth Air Force, Far East Air Forces, Historical Report, January-June 1953) (Source: ibid, pp134-135)

67th FBS F-86F (1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
67th FBS: Pretty Patti (1953)
(Robert Doyle, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

F-86 with 1000-lb GP on ground (1953)
(Reid Ivins, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
67th FBS: F-86 with 1000-lb GP (1953)
(Cliff Nunnery, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: Notice the exposed gun bay open for maintenance.)

Mobile Control at End-of-Runway (1953)
(Harold Snow, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: The temperatures in the sealed off Glass house made this a very uncomfortable job in summer.)
67th FBS: Lt John Crocker sitting on alert in summer (1953)
(Frank Harrison, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: The only protection from the sun was a paper umbrella as one broiled in the cockpit.)

Base Bone Yard (1953)
(Reid Ivins, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
18th Supply Squadron (1953)
(John Batchelder, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: At the base of hill 180 in present BX area — across from train tracks. 12-man tents on the hill in the background housed troops.)

Boresighting Guns on aircraft (1953)
(Cliff Nunnery, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: After bore sight, the aircraft would be towed to the on-base range for test firing.)
67th FBS “A” Flight Maintainers (1953)
(Don Whicker, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

12th FBS Engine Run (1953)
(Dick Kempthorne, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
12th FBS Maintenance (1953)
(John Batchelder, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: Hill 170 in background)

12th FBS Refuel (1953)
(John Batchelder, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: POL tanks on at base of Hill 170 in background)
67th FBS Crew Chief SSgt Vic Collier (1953)
(Vic Collier, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

12th FBS: Officers’ Call? (Mid-June 1953)
(William Barber, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea) (NOTE: Unknown pilots sitting on 500-lb GP bombs. POL tanks on base of Hill 170 in background)
67th FBS: Lt Harold Colladay peeps out of intake (1953)
(Harold Colladay, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

At first many people lived in 12-man tents until more premanent living quarters, or “hootches” as they were commonly called, could be constructed. The Air Force used steel World War II-style Quonset huts (rounded construction entirely of corrugated iron on the exterior) or the “tropical shell” Jamesway buildings that were prefabricated in Japan of plywood (exterior covered in wood slats). The tropical shell Jamesway was described as a “chicken coop” becuase it had a bare wood interior and lots of screens along its sides. The quonset huts had sandbags along its sides to protect the occupants from air attack. The Jamesway used sandbags on the roof to keep the corrugated iron roofing from blowing away.

For officers, there were six to twelve officers in a hootch. For enlisted, there were as many as 24 crammed into the hootch on double bunks. For the enlisted overflow, they slept in 12-man tents until a hootch space was available. Makeshift partitions were made from whatever scrap could be found to give a small sense of privacy. For a bed it was the standard air matresses over GI-issue cots or bunk beds. Army blankets or sleeping bags were used to stay warm at night. Heat was provided by an oild-burning stove that stood in the center of the hootch, but in the Korean winters the heat only radiated a few feet from the source. Furniture, if any, was made from wood of packing crates. Usually there was a motley group of makeshift chairs and a table in the area to be used for poker games or other entertainment.

Despite the deprivations of the facilities, some found the conditiosn brought the units closer together. The casual life style where everybody was on a first-name basis, and everybody partied together in everybody else’s houses.

——————————————————————————–

Life on Dogpatch Construction of the airfield was completed in December 1952 and it was designated K-55. Air Force pilots, being what they are, quickly nicknamed it “Dogpatch.” “Dogpatch” was taken from the cartoon strip that was first created in 1937 by Al Capp dealing with the hillbilly misadventures of Lil Abner and Daisy Mae in Dogpatch. The name “Dogpatch” was inherited from the days when the 18th FBW was still flying its F-51Ds out of Chinhae.

When deployed in January 1953, the antiaircafrt artillery battalions in Korea offered minimal defenses to the six highest priortiy installations out of 17 installations requireing defense. The deployment did not actually provide adequate defenses, even for the top-priority installations, In February 1953 General Weyland told General Clark taht additional automatic-weapons battalions were needed at Kimpo, Suwon, and Osan-ni. (Source: USAF in Korea, Robert F. Futrell, p660). Because of the lack of anti-aircraft artillery resources in 1953, some bases were equipped with “Quad-50s” manned by USAF crews, but Osan-ni is not mentioned as one of these bases. “Bedcheck Charlie,” slow-flying Popov PO-2 fabric biplanes that were virtually impossible to shoot down by aircraft because of their slow speeds, incessantly heckled Seoul and Suwon regularly. The personnel at Suwon were sent to their shelters for safety against falling flak fragments as the anti-aircraft lit up the skies but never touched the little Red raiders. However, there were no reports of the aircraft attacking Osan-ni.

Dogpatch, reported the story of Ron Freedman of Punta Gorda FL. He was a 2nd Lt. with the 398th AAA AW Bn at K55. He was a platoon leader with the second Platoon of Baker Battery. He wrote:

Upon arriving at Osan, we stood around from 1 a.m. until daylight when we were able to move into tents. Our Battalion area was the dimple in Hill 180 on the northwest side. Graves Registration was working the area and recovered some GI bodies with their hands tied behind them. I have since learned that this was where GI’s and North Koreans made their first contact of the war. Task Force Smith was the unit.

We set up our guns (40mm cannons and Quad .50 machine guns) around the airstrip. I was a Platoon Leader, and had my HQ on top of Hill 180. In the slide of my Platoon (slide 12-left) you will notice a youngster we called Kettle Boom (I don’t know why). I think his real name is Bak II Bong. I have tried to find him many times with no luck. Is there a city registry where I can look? He’d be between 55-65 by now.

Quad .50-caliber M2 Heavy Barrel Air-Cooled Heavy Machine Guns Mounted on half-track, WWII AAA vintage

40mm Bofors without sandbags on Hill 180 (later sandbags placed around gun) (1952) (Ron Freedman)

Our CO had us build the officers club before anything else (which is why I transferred out), and eventually had the men build 1/2 Quonset huts for the gun crews.

398th AAA AW Battalion C Battery 40mm Bofors on Hill 170 (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

398th AAA AW Battalion C Battery Sign (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

The Air Force was already established when we got there, and had named the place Dogpatch. Although they had lighted barrels as runway lights, and they were still scraping away with their dirt loaders, they already had a well-stocked PX and an officers club. We used to walk down the hill every night for drinks and to use their latrine.

We refused to go to a concert given at the base by Dick Contino (the accordionist), as he was a well-known draft dodger. He might have been a CO (conscientious objector), but we didn’t care ?his butt was not in the mud like ours. All the buildings were tropical huts, and it was great watching the Sabres take off in groups. We had Korean houseboys, and women would wash our clothes and then dip them in a miticide because of the mites etc. that lived in the ground. Koreans cooked for us, and also became carpenters. We paid the washwomen with a bar of soap, and a haircut was $.25. The barber used only scissors and had no clippers.

I left the unit in April (1953) before all the gun emplacements were up and the two hangars were built. Everything was mud and dirt. We used to say that Korea was the only place in the world where you could stand a–hole deep in the mud and have the dust blow in your eyes.

The food was mostly rice and beans and we had no milk except powdered with big chunks of ice floating in it. All the local food was non-edible.

I must tell you about the AF latrine. It was a long trough with a sitting board over it. It was flushed by 2 Koreans sitting up over a closet with a big tub. Water was handed up to them by a group of Korean laborers, and every 10 minutes or so they would dump the water down into the trough and it would run out of the building into a big honey bucket somewhere.

There was a village called Makum-ni down the bottom of the hill on the west side. It was filled with prostitutes, and we had a terrible time keeping the GI’s out of it. Our CO told us that we had the highest VD rate in all of Korea. And of course the stench from the use of night soil was overpowering. The place was so backwards it was unbelievable. No roads, no electricity, no water, and the main road through Osan-ni was just dirt. The villagers paid their taxes by keeping the road somewhat repaired. We had a garbage truck that came to our outfit every few days. Its tires were held on by bolts and the mound of garbage was covered by 8 or 10 men sitting on top of it eating the stuff.

I left the unit in April and went up to the front. The best part of that was NO STENCH as farmers couldn’t come north of the no-farm line.

I have seen (recent) pictures of Seoul and of K55. I can’t believe what I see. Seoul was rubble, and Osan was 8 or 10 mud huts along the road. I saw people brushing their teeth with a twig in the drainage ditch that ran along side of the road, and I saw little kids peeing in the same ditch.

I have lots of other memories and slides, but I’ve given you the best of the bunch.

Hill 180 and Villagers (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Hill 180 and Villagers (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Hill 180 and Villagers (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Village at Base of Hill 180 (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Blurry photo of Runway (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Kids filling sandbags for 25 cents a day (1953) (Ron Freedman)

“Mr. Chan” Kid from bottom of hill (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Ron Freedman’s Platoon (1953) (Ron Freedman)

Children on MSR1 north of Osan-ni (1953) (Ron Freedman)

(SOURCE: The photos of Ron Freedman, former 2d Lt, 398th AAA AW Bn, Retirees Activities Office: Then-Now: Jack Terwiel and Osan AB History Web Page)

——————————————————————————–

Det 6, 136th Communication Security Squadron, USAFSS The following are photos from Bob Spiwak at USAFSS 136th CSS COMSEC Website with photos in 1953 of life on Hill 170, billeting and a glimpse of life outside the fence. These were the folks with the crypto gear — all the gear for coded messages.

USAF Security Service Patch (Bob Spiwak)
USAFSS Units shows Det 6, 136th Communications Security Squadron (CSS) was out of Moriyama, Japan (1951-1953) and its parent unit was the 136th CSS of Brooks AFB Texas (1951 to 1953)(comsec/transec). The unit operating TDY at Osan (K-55) was Section 1, Det 6, 136th CSS. This then became Flt A, 32d CSS in Dec 1953. (NOTE: The 136th Radio Communications Security Detachment was transferred from the Army to the Air Force on 1 February 1949. This list shows that prior to 1951 there was “Det ? Seoul/Ewa college KOR (Comsec/Transec) 1950-1951 and Det 8 Osan Ni KOR (comsec/transec). We believe that this was the TDY unit that fled Seoul and relocated to Osan-ni (the village — NOT the base as K-55 was not constructed at the time) to set up radio communications to Japan as the North Koreans crossed the Han River.)

Jim Muller wrote in Nov 2005, “I served with Det F, 136 CSS (later called Det 6) in 1950-51-52. I was stationed at Moriyama as a radio operator. Some of our group were sent to Korea and just escaped with their shirts when the Chinese came in. I was not with this group but I believe Tony Lemons was. I remember they returned with Chinese grease guns with the drum ammo barrels and other such paraphenalia.

I was sent to Korea with the next group from Det 6. We landed in Inchon and went thru Seoul which was a completely ruined city, pretty much like Nagoya when we first got there. We stayed at Ewha college for a short time (sleeping on cots there) and running for the trenches when the air raid alarm went off at nite. The college itself was pretty much a shell of ruins. The air raid alarm was a huge gong bell. We worked in trucks.

Next we went up on a high hill outside of Seoul overlooking the Han River and the ruined city of Seoul. The hill was devoid of vegetation which had all been shot away, was covered with shell holes and bunkers. Was littered with ammo, gernades, and misc unused ammo. And we slept in tents and used the radio trucks to work in. At nite, you could see and hear the artillery and hear the 50 cal machine guns chattering away on the front which was a few miles north. There were lots of bodies in various stages of decomposition on the hill and caught in the barbed wire. Some of the guys would entertain themselves by rolling the skulls down the hill to see which rolled the furthest. I have pix of these. I picked up some nice red star chinese belt buckles. My closest buddy, Bob Kinsley, delighted in gathering up gernades, pulling the pins and tossing them into caves. Lots of fun of that sort.

History 32d CSS (8 December 1953 – 31 December 1953)
The 32d CSS History (8 December 1953 – 31 December 1953) states, “The 32d Communications Security Squadron was activated on 8 December 1953 under the authority contained in the USAF Security Service General Order 87 dated 1 November 1953. At the time of activation the squadron consisted of Headquarters, previously 6971st Communications Security Flight, and four subordinate flights designated as A, B, C and E. Flight A located at Moriyama Compound, Nagoya, Japan, had been previously identified as Detachment 6, 136th Communications Security Squadron. Flight B, previously identified as Section 1, Detachment 6, 136th Communications Security Squadron, was stationed at K-55 (Osan-ri); …”

Bob Spiwak wrote in June 2005, “I know that when I was stationed at K55, we were Section 1 of Detachment 6 of the 136th CSS and were TDY. Detachment 6 was based in Nagoya, Japan. On 4 December 1953 Det 6, 136th CSS became Flight A, 32nd CSS, No travel involved. I don’t think our AP’s were K9. We had a fence around our compound which bordered on the perimeter of the K55.”

Virgil Ashford wrote in Jun 2005, “I was never in Korea, When we first were there we drew cards, low cards went, out of three different draws over 9 months I drew an ace, king, and ace so I was never priviledged to go to Korea. It has been awhile and our records burned as you know, but I went to Japan from the 136th Comm Scty Sq Brooks, AFB, to Det 6, in Nagoya, the name was changed to 32nd Comm Scty Sq flt A and about the time of the last name change Korea was assigned as another Flight, no longer attached to Flt A. “long story, I was asked to go over as first sarg. and was promised another stripe, I accepted. A letter then came down from Hg Tokyo, stating, you have 4 Master Sgts at Flt A, if none of them are qualified to be First Sgts, we will rife them back in rank. Hg got 4 voluteers for the job and I didn’t have to go. One of the other things I remember was, the war was coming to a close. you only had to spend a total of 18 mo in Korea then home. We had a bunch of married men in Nagoya that volunteered to finish out their tours so they could get home earlier–that filled out the crew needed in Korea.”

Hamilton on Hill 170 (Apr 1953) (Bob Spiwak) (Note the uneven ground as they set up operations.)

Hill 170 Tents and Ops (trucks) (1953) (Bob Spiwak) (Notice anti-aircraft gun at top of hill)

Building Compound on Hill 170 (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Compound with its “2-holer” to right (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Boyle and Pate (on truck) on Hill 170 (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Black Market Mamasans outside Compound Fence (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Mert Winsworth, Motorpool (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

K-55 Flightline from Hill 170 (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

F-86 Takeoff just before Armistice (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

K-55 Flightline from Hill 170 (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

O’Rourke with F-86 (Oct 1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Morrow, Kon, John Fox and Ed Harrop in scrapped fighter (Apr 1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Det 6 136th CSS COMSEC (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Ops Building (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Ops Interior Det 6 136th CSS COMSEC (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Guard Duty (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Overlooking Bomb Dumpand Village Outside Compound (Namsan Village area) (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Local Girls in Village (Namsan Village area) (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Getting a beer in Namsan Village area (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Bruno sunning himself (1953) (Bob Spiwak) (Note the ground unevenness.)

McCormick, Air Police, at “Eight Ball Lodge” billets (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Billets (1953) (Roger Hallada)

Pate (Mechanic) and Kirk (1953) (Roger Hallada)

Billets interior (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Bob Spiwak and Houseboy Kan (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Hunting Pheasants at K-55 with carbine (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Hill 170 Tipped over Crane (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

From Hill 170 looking toward End-of-Runway. (1953) (Bob Spiwak) (NOTE: House in foreground part of Namsan-ni Village. In the distance, to the right is Shinjang-ni Village and to the left Shin-Yari and Yari Villages.)

In Namsan-ni Village (1953) (Bob Spiwak) (NOTE: Sign for 24-hour service from Jaeil Photo Shop. Left is country house converted into restaurant. Items under sign include Korean-style desks so these items are for sale.)

——————————————————————————–

Osan-ni

The village of Osan-ni was just coming back to life. Bob captures the picture of the food market that the current Osan City government claims a heritage back to 1742. However, from Bob’s picture it is hard to imagine that fact from what is seen in 1953.

Osan-ni little girl (NOTE: Children were left to care for their younger siblings as the mother and father had to work the farms. The traditional method for carrying babies on one’s back with a swaddling blanket tied around the waist.) (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Osan-ni farmer with Chige (A-frame) (NOTE: In the a-frame is firewood from twigs as it was so scarce. Notice he is wearing the traditional farmer sandals made of woven rice reeds.) (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Osan-ni kids and Choga-chip (country house) (NOTE: Mud-wattle frame with rice-thatch roof. Kitchen is the room to the left. Open courtyard in front traditional for drying farm produce, threshing rice.) (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Osan-ni Farmers’ Market. (NOTE: This open market supposedly has its roots dating back to 1742, but you could hardly tell that from this scene in 1953.) (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Old Papasan at Osan-ni (NOTE: Typical farming garb with woven hat. Plants being cultivated appear to be sesame seed plants — whose leaves are eaten, seeds used in cooking, oil used for meat preparation. (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

——————————————————————————–

Seoul

During the Korean War, it was overrun by communist North Korean forces and liberated by U.N. forces. The many battles for Seoul left the city a charred shell, a ruin picked over by starving survivors searching for food and fuel. In 1952, the Central Committee for City Planning was set up by a group of architects to begin rebuilding the city. But as the war dragged on, they had neither the human nor financial resources to implement their plans. When the fighting moved northward, refugees poured into the city. Many were fleeing North Korea. By the end of the Korean War, refugees swelled the city’s population to 2.5 million. (Source: Korean Society.)

Han River (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Jeep to Seoul (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Seoul Station (1953) (Bob Spiwak)

Ehwa College: Tent covers outdoor latrine. Known as “Eight Ball Lodge.” The picture above is what later became the Ehwa Womens College — one of the most prestigious women colleges in Korea — that started off as a teachers college, but soon grew to become the college for the daughters of the Korean elite. (1953) (Fred Wagner)

Seoul Capitol Building with all windows blown out(May 1953) (Bob Spiwak)

YMCA in Seoul (May 1953) (Bob Spiwak)

——————————————————————————–

67th FBS Formation (October 1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

12th FBS Formation (Aug 1953)
(Robert Hook, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

——————————————————————————–

Armistice (Jul 1953) While the armistice negotiations festered on with the POW issue the largest running sore, both sets of enemies found some political advantage in the continued war. On the battlefield UNC and the combined NKPA-CPVF did more than just spar over some disputed outpost, but tried to find ways to inflict painful casualties on each other in what became an artillery war that more than matched the cascade of shells on the Western Front. Although United Nations Command never mounted more than limited operations, executed by individual divisions, the Communists staged major offensive actions in October-November 1952 and July 1953. In both cases part of Communists’ goal was to punish the ROK army for getting bigger and better, the other a preemptive offensive designed to prevent UNC from withdrawing crack divisions into theater reserve where they might become available for Inchon II, a potential corps-sized amphibious envelopment seriously discussed within Eighth Army in 1951, but not in 1952. The Communists wanted to take no chances, given their weakness in air and naval strength. They reinforced their forces (several divisions) in Hwanghae Province, just south of Pyongyang, the major operating area for the UNC partisans stationed on islands off North Korea’s western coast. The Communists even recaptured some of the islands until turned back by UNC naval and air forces. The partisans also served as cover for specialized UNC special operations forces who collected signals intelligence, raided the mainland for enemy equipment and high value POWs, and rescued downed fliers. Behind UNC lines Communist partisans continued to strike at truck convoys, the railroads, and isolated military posts. At the height of the fighting in 1951-1952 the Korean army committed two full divisions against the guerrillas (Operation Ratkiller), which was still in progress in reduced form in 1953. (Source: Eisenhower lecture.)

Syngman Rhee had a different problem: the expectation of part of Korea’s political elite and much of the State Department that he should share power, punish corruptionists, and face his real economic problems. Rhee did not relish cooperation. He slowed reconstruction by pressing for an unrealistic won-dollar exchange rate while his printing presses ran amok and inflation soared; Koreans paid in dollars by American contractors (from humble handymen to the Chung family construction empire) prospered while farmers and many others (including the officer corps) struggled to support their families.

President Rhee personally, backed by his rubber-stamp government, had done his utmost to prevent any settlement with the North Koreans. When the terms of the armistice proposals were reported tot he National Assembly on 28 May 1953 they were declared completely unacceptable, and South Korea proposed if necessary to go on fighting alone. Rhee’s reply to a message from President Eisenhower urging acceptance of the armistice proposals was to submit his own proposals; if they were unacceptable, he said, South Korea must be permitted to fight on. On 7 June, declaring that Eisenhower’s answer was unsatisfactory, the cabinet proclaimed a state of emergency and ordered the return of all Korean officers training in the United States. On 18 June, determined to sabotage the armistice negotiatitions, Rhee ordered the South Korean guards to allow the mass escape of some 27,000 North Korean prisoners of war who had declared themselves anti-Communists, glorifying in what he had done. Rhee secretly ordered his provost marshal and military police to organize the “breakout” of 27,000 Koreans whose loyalty had been sufficiently established. Infuriated by Rhee’s obstinate behavior and resistance to an armistice, State Department officers and economic assistance administrators railed against Rhee, but “the old man” charmed the U.S. Army, cultivated his political agents in Washington, and worked the press like an American city boss. His opponents faded to the edges of resistance in 1953, which gave him enough confidence to accept the armistice while keeping his “march north” rhetoric aflame. In the end he was forced to give in, after Eisenhower had sent his personal representative, Mr. Walter Robertson, to Seoul and the Chinese had launched on 17 July, the biggest offensive for two years, declairng that they had done so because of the obstruction to the armistice by the South Korean Government. (Source: The Republic of Korea, W.E. Reeve, 1963, pp33-34)

To gain South Korea’s acceptance of the Armistice, the U.S. signs the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty Between the Republic of Korea and U.S. on 1 October 1953. This, together with the agreement ot finance long-term aid programs, was one of the conditions extraced by Rhee in his negotiations with Walter Robertson in return for a promise of no further obstruction of teh armistice negotiations. (SITE NOTE: Because of Rhee’s actions, the reconstruction of Korea was delayed as no one wanted to invest in a country that may go back to war arbitrarily. From the Tokdo controversy to the Rhee line and the ROK Mutual Defense Treaty being the only one which has a codicil which states that if the ROK causes an outbreak of war, it is on its own.)

The Armistice was signed on 27 Jul 1953. South Korea refused to sign the Armistice and the US acting as UN Commander signs along with the CPVA (Chinese Peoples’ Volunteer Army) and North Korea. Technically, South Korea is still in a state of war with North Korea. The cease fire was signed by Lieutenant General Nam Il for the North Korean Command and Lieutenant General Wiliam Harrison for the U.N. Command at 10:00am at Panmunjom. It was later countersigned by General Mark Clark at Munsan and by Marshal Kim Il Sung and General Peng Teh-Nuai (representing the Chinese People’s Volunteers) at Pyongyang. Of course, no South Korean delegate was present. (NOTE: See Armistice Agreement, Volume I — U.S. (as head of UN Forces), North Korea and China signed, but South Korea refused to sign this document. Technically, South Korea is still in a state of war with North Korea. To gain South Korea’s acceptance of the Armistice, the U.S. signs the 1953 Mutual Defense Treaty Between the Republic of Korea and U.S.)

On July 27, a B-26 from the 8th Bomb Squadron (L-NI) flies the last sortie of the war as the 8th BS was the first unit to launch an attack on North Korea.

Twelve hours later all fighting officially ceased.

Stars and Stripes (28 July 1953) (Bob Spiwak)

——————————————————————————–

Life after the Armistice Life at the 18th FBW after the Armistice for a time continued on high alert — in case hostilities broke out again. Spending cuts had not taken place and flying hours remained high. However, soon pilots started to rotate home and the combat experienced pilots became a premium. The lack of experience in general in the pilots required constant training to ensure the level of competency remained high. Alerts continued to be pulled in case hostilities erupted again.

However, soon the military would feel the pinch as America was tired of the war and wanted it all behind them. Along with this attitude came the cuts in military spending and the RIFs in the military. The veterans returned home not to parades, but to silence and indifference. Korea would become the “Forgotten War.”

Alert Inspection by Wing Commander (early summer 1953)
(Kenneth Koon, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

After the Armistice (autumn 1953)
(Kenneth Koon, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

67th FBS: Strapping in (Autumn 1953)
(Robert Niklaus, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)
67th FBS: Flightline in winter (Winter 53-54)
(Kenneth Koon, F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea)

——————————————————————————–

Reconstruction Period With the ceasefire started the Reconstruction Phase for South Korea. The Reconstruction Period lasted for seven years ending with the fall of the Rhee regime. Inefficiency, mismanagement, and waste characterized this period. The Government under President Rhee became increasingly reliant on buying loyalty by bribes. Runaway inflation caused quick fortunes to be made and left most sections of the population, including government officials, badly underpaid. Corruption, mismanagement, misguided regulations, not excepting misappropration of aid funds, were the order of the day. At the root of the problem was the American decision to give strong support ot a government whose policies the US disapproved yet could not effectively influence or control.

Though the UN Commission for the Unification and Rehabilitation of Korea (UNCURK) and UN Korean Reconstruction Agency (UNKRA) received pledges from member and non-member nations of $212 million (but only received $150 million of which $93 million was from the US). The ROK appealed to the US for substantial aid, but The US Congress insisted taht the American share should not exceed 66 percent. As the donations were minimal, the US participation also remained minimal. In August 1953 President Eisenhower requested an emergency appropriation of $200 million over and above funds already made available. However, there was a bias as many American high military and civil officials — the attitude that the “ROKs” (as they called the Koreans) were incompetent and corrupt and would, without the tightest of reins, squander American aid funds wastefully and dishonestly. The Foreign Operations Administration (FOA) — later the International Cooperation Administration (ICA) — administered the US aid. From the beginning of the reconstruction period in mid-1953 to 1960, the US had spent $1.8 billion on bilateral aid to Korea (excluding military aid). The UNKRA found a simple method called the “Small Business Revolving Loan Fund” as a method of employing aid funds with the cooperation of local banks. Some 700 small businesses had loans to provide “equipment, raw materials and working capital for small and medium-sized industrial units…Plants namunfacturing ceramics, chemicals, and drugs, optical goods, paper, ice, wire and wrre net, rubber, soap, matches, starch, glass, paint and canned goods have been aided.” There were practically no defaulters.
The Quakers, the Roman Catholic Church, the Salvation Army, and other religious and charitable bodies contributed generously and did admirable work in many of the most acutely distressed areas. American soldiers also contributed generously to the effort.

On a per capita basis, about $13-14 a year had been received since the Korean War, compared with an average of $1-2 of aid per head for all underdeveloped countries. Virtually all Korean aid was in the form of outright grants, and it represented the SOLE source of foreign capital since private investors, slow to enter developing countries at the best of times, steered well clear of this trouble spot.

In the eyes of the American taxpayer, Korea came to be regarded as a bottomless pit. The orientation of American aid policy began to change in favor of assisting underdeveloped countries towards self-sustaining growth, Korea’s immediate problems tended to be aggravated as it simply was a country that was living on support-type grant aid (hand-outs).

The other problems was that Rhee was bitter at the US refusal to embark on a war of reunification. Then there was the problem that the US sought ROK-Japan normalization, but Rhee objected to normalized relations with Japan. In 1953, Rhee drew the infamous Rhee line where he demanded Tsushima as “reparations” for the Japanese colonization of Korea. Japan was a natural trading partner both as a market outlet and as the cheapest source of supply for several key imports, such as bituminous coal, chemical fertilizer and equipment received under aid programs. Then there was Rhee’s insistance on an unrealistic exchange rate to settle the “advances” that the UN forces received. (NOTE: This was settled in 1953 with a payment of $89 million.) Then there was the pleading by the US for a comprehensive stabilization program with proper budgetary methods and restrictive monetary and credit policies. There was no financial stability and the lack of cofidence in the currency encouraged speculation and discouraged investment.

The Korean view of aid programs was that it should be based on the impending reunification of the two Koreas, while the US realistically based it on simply South Korea. Then there was the ever present squabbles of the Korean paranoia over the ursurping of their national sovereignty. The Koreans, again, disliked the inevitable linking of their economy with the American. Koreans feared they might become a “debtor colony” of the US instead of a fully sovereign state. Though these fears are understandable in light of their Japanese colonial experience, it made adminstering aid programs difficult. The Koreans argued that aid was always accompanied by a large influx of American advisers and experts, who supervised and perhaps initiated projects which should be the concern of the national Government. The Americans, sometimes exasperated, not too tactfully, tried to impose their will upon Korean officials. (Source: The Republic of Korea, W.E. Reeve, 1963, pp110-124)

——————————————————————————–

1954:
War is Over and Hard Times for 18th FBW According to the History of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing 1 Jan 1954 to 30 Jun 1954, Office of the WIng Chaplain, written by 1st Lt. Andrew J. McLean, Deputy Wing Chaplain, and signed by Bernhardt G. Hoffman, Wing Chaplain talks of declining morale and increasing VD rates amongst the personnel. The Chaplains blamed the problem on the lack of activity for the personnel to allow them healthy outlets to keep them occupied. However, there also seemed to be an opinion on the part of the Wing Chaplain that the Wing leadership did not fully support the Chaplains in their work. (Source: 51st FW/HO.)

The impacts of the US populace not wanting to remember Korea was reflected in the military support for Korea. The Eisenhower years are remembered as a time when even things like toilet paper was rationed — and those away from Osan used newspapers, paperback books as substitutes. In the rush to return to a peace time Army, budgets wereWing Chaplain in the first half of 1954 complained of the roof on the base Chapel as leaking — and though the AIO (Airfield Installation Organization, forerunner to the present Civil Engineers) the patch work was inadequate. Though building construction continued on Osan AB, it was mostly to complete buildings that were started during the Korean War by the 839th EAB. No new construction was approved. Budgets were slashed and maintaining vehicles, aircraft, and facilities became a real problem. Money was tight and without a mission — besides waiting for the claxton — morale suffered greatly. Once the news that the wing was moving to Okinawa, all actions to improve the base simply ceased — and everyone simply started counting down the days to departure.

By the end of October 1954, following a heavy schedule, the 18th FBW was in rather bad way. Parts and supplies were becomeing scarce — the civilians back home were sick of war and did not particularly care about the military, and its lack of proper funding. 2Lt Vilas Bielefeldt was assigned to the 67th FBS as the 18th FBW’s move to Okinawa was close at hand. On more than one patrol, he stated that he could recall that some of the cockpit gauges not working, and he flew a few missions with no exhaust gas temperature registering. He stated, “I also remember aborting missions before getting airborne, or even “cranked up”. The lack of funds got even worse as we neared our move to Kadena on 30 November.”

“At about this time, there were more new pilots coming onboard, and the check-out program was not really up to scratch — as the following accident reveals. One of the “new heads” was scheduled ot tow a banner target (a 6 ft x 30 ft piece of plastic mesh) on the end of a 500-ft cable which was to be used for aerial gunnery training. It became obvious that he had never target towed before when he asked another poilot how this was done. The latter replied, “Just pull the nose up a bit higher on take-off and leave it on the ground a little longer.”

“Well, the Sabre, like any other fighter, will be “behind the power curve” when the nose is raised too high, and despite accelerating well past its take-off speed to about 175 knows, it will never leave the ground! As the aircraft neared the end of the runway, the young pilot figured there was a malfunciton with his jet and he was going to have to eject. As he let go of the stick, the aircraft’s nose dropped and it began to fly, but by this stage there was no one at the controls, for the pilot had already initiated the ejection sequene. The F-86 started to roll, and when at 90 degrees of bank, the pilot “punched out” — by this time he was parallel with the ground. The jet nosed in and blew up, and the crash truck was soon on the scene.

“The rescue crew proceeded to wade through the flames to get the pilot out, for they had not seen him eject. To their astonishmnet, the pilot instead staggered out of a rice paddy, which had probably saved his life. A mass-briefing on tow procedures was duly conducted!” (Source: F-86 Sabre Fighter-Bomber Units Over Korea, Warren Thompson, 1999, pp113-115)
——————————————————————————–

839th EAB (SCARWAF) Construction Continues Don Tomajan was stationed at K-55 with the 839th Headquarters and Service Company as a heavy equipment mechanic and operator from Nov 1954 to Apr 1955. He wrote in June 2005,

“Dozer not a grader sunk in the early days. Related to me by Ernie Harper, now deceased. Ernie was with the lead 839th party that started work in the area. Bull dozed the first road from Rt 1 toward the rice paddies that later became the base area. Two rock crusher sites, Hill 180 where I worked and the Company B site in a stream bed northeast (I think) from Suwon. Nothing on Hill 180, not even a tree–dirt road over the top, that was only used with 4-wheel drive. (SITE NOTE: From this we can surmise that the “Main Gate” as we know it today, did not exist in 1954. From a 1953 photo, the front gate was located where the 934th EAB was billeted near the Hill 170 side of base — where the railway spur entered the base.)

Best source of information is Col (Ret) Ed McManus, was with the 840th. Another is Fred Williamson. Both were Plt leaders and Mac was a company commander. Both there when a lot of the building activity in progress.

I got there in late 1954, and construction still going on but for the base infrastructure. Flight line and taxi areas and parking ramps built in 1952-53 still very much the same as today. Materials by train and truck. Tracks and spurs had to be built and rebuilt.

I do not think there was a train station near the base, but if yes, was bombed out and not a large facility. (SITE NOTE: The Seojong-ni Station was nothing more than a small stop with probably some rail sidings to load rice from the area. However, it is evident that there was a rail yard there in the past from the track sidings. The then two track rail system (northbound-southbound) branched off into sidings with warehouses.)

——————————————————————————–

Life After the Armistice A few secret missions were flown after the Korean War ended. One of these missions is related in Combat Air: SABRES 0VER RUSSIA — RF-86 Cold War missions by Robert F. Dorr.

Although the Korean War ended on 27 July 1953, beginning in March 1954 a handful of 15th TRS pilots flew secret reconnaissance missions over the Soviet Union in the RF-86F Col. George H. “Jake” Saylor was a major when he took command of the ‘Cotton Pickers,’ at Komaki, Japan, and he quickly learned he had the Pentagon’s attention. In Washington, where a campaign of aerial reconnaissance against the Soviet Union was secretly orchestrated, experts decided to use the RF-86F to photograph port facilities and bomber bases near Vladivostok. The bases were equipped with the Tupolev Tu-4 (given the Air Standards Coordinating Committee name “Bull” after the events described here), a Soviet facsimile of the B-29 Superfortress. American experts believed the Tu-4 could reach Alaska or Japan with an atomic bomb.

Because the Sabre was relatively short-ranged, the plan was to launch the missions not from Komaki but from Osan Air Base, Korea (K-55). A two- or four-plane flight of RF-86Fs would take off carrying four under-wing fuel tanks, jettisoning the tanks as the fuel was consumed. If everything went well, the Sabres penetrated Soviet airspace and used their 40-inch vertical cameras to photograph a swath several miles wide and hundreds of miles long.

RF-86F pilots worried about Soviet fighters. Saylor recalls: “Our instructions were to abort the mission if we started to pull contrails [as this would make the plane readily visible to any adversary]. If we were going to abort the mission, we were supposed to give the radio call ‘Alabama,’ a word that was associated with the squadron’s ‘Cotton Pickers’ name.”

… On 22 March 1954, Saylor led two RF-86Fs into Soviet territory near Vladivostok, the first penetration of Soviet airspace ever by the type. The mission was launched only after it was personally approved by President Dwight D. Elsenhower. Saylor remembers: “We went into Russia pretty far but the mission was not 100 percent completed. Our cover story, in case we were forced down inside Russia, was that we were lost while making a study of high winds aloft.”

On 3 April Saylor led the second such mission and the first to cover all of the assigned photographic targets around Vladivostok. This time, he led a four-ship of RF-86Fs. Saylor continues: “We took off [from Osan] with a maximum load of fuel. We punched off the external fuel tanks over water then proceeded into Russia with our internal tanks full We did not see any MiGs in the air but were told later that they were climbing in an attempt to reach us. They would only have been able to catch us if our engines had failed.”

While reconnaissance pilots never saw most of the film they took over the USSR, RF-86F Sabres eventually flew several dozen missions, although the exact number cannot be found in recently declassified documents. Records also fail to disclose when the last RF-86F overflew Soviet territory but this apparently happened in 1957. All flights were in the same general area, although some were made over Chinese territory.
However, most of the life after the Armistice was not so exciting. It amounted to sitting on pins and needles awaiting the next breakout of violence — and there were more than a few incidents. However, the ROK started to rebuild as well. L.J. Massett of Brevard County, FL wrote in Oct 2005, “Was with 6147 TAC CON Gp 54-55 and used to thumb my way to Young Dung Po every 6th day for R&R, cause Osan sucked and so did the APs.” This would be the general opinion as the photos indicate there was very little in the way of what could be called “night-life” — except bar brothels. The MSR-1 ran directly into Yongdung Po in Seoul (as did the Kyongbu Railroad), but that’s where the “night-life” was — as sleazy as it was. During the mid-1950s, Yongdung Po was a military bar area with the main beer brewery in the area — but later it would become a red-light district.

But there was more to Korea than simply the bar rows. Though poverty stricken, Korea was struggling to rebuild itself from the ashes of a horrendous war. The Korean toughness and ability endure what most Americans could not even imagine was remarkable. The following photos were taken by then Lt. Robert Furrer in 1954 of life at Osan AB as well as outside the base. He chronicled the prevalent conditions in Korea during his travels visiting the various radio relay sites in the region. When Bob was asked why he took so many photos, he replied that it was his hobby and he was attempting to tell a photographic story. (SITE NOTE: Bob Furrer revisited Osan in 2004 and we had a chance to chat a bit with him to try to piece the missing pieces together of how things were. After talking with him, there were more questions than answers — not because of anything Bob said — but simply because the terrain had changed so drastically. What was ricefields in 1954, were now reclaimed land that sported buildings. The barren hills surrounding Osan AB Chicol Village area was now filled with buildings of Shinjang Mall. We wish to express our appreciation to Bob for his help with this history.)

The photos are from Retirees Activities Office.

Broadway Avenue (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: This is the approximate area of the intersection of Broadway Avenue on the east end. Notice the “benjo” ditches for drainage. Note how Hill 170 was completely denuded of all foliage.)

Hill 170 2nd Radio Relay Sq Ground Power Maintenance Shop (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Hill 170 Sentry Dog Training (1954) (Robert Furrer) (SITE NOTE: The K-9 was for the compound defense — not the base perimeter.)

Hill 170 2nd Radio Relay Sq Ground Power Maintenance Shop (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Pistol Range (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Korean with A-frame and Lt.Col. Elmo Reeves leaning against jeep. According to Bob, Korean supposedly passed with A-frame full of twigs and firewood, but returned with a half-empty bottle of Makoli and stoned. That’s when picture taken.)

Officers Latrine and Showers (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: The standard USAF latrine in Korea had toilets which holes over cut-off drums slid where farmers under contract would retrieve the “night soil” for use as fertilizer on the rice fields. In this one, however, the holes were over a trough and water was dumped to wash the waste away. Bob stated that if you were on the “throne” at the time, it came as a real shock.)

Officers Billets and Oclub (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: The billets are the standard Korean War plywood Jamesway buildings with corrogated roofs that had to be nailed down and sandbagged to keep from flying off. The buildings were prefab structures shipped in as kits from Japan. Housegirls hanging out wash on makeshift lines. Notice that the grass is untrimmed indicating the general attitude after the Armistice — everything went to seed in a hurry. This was common at all bases throughout Korea as the military packed up to go home. The O-club was the rearmost building.)

Officers Club Waitress Staff (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Officers Billeting Interior (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: The diesel “space heater” was not very effective for heating and only heated the area immediately around it.)

Skoshi Bar with Laundry in corner (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Skoshi Bar located in the front 1/3 of the Laundry Bldg.)

Skoshi Bar with Maid (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Bob Furrer with “refreshments” (1954) (Robert Furrer)

FIGMO Major in Korean Traditional Garb (1954) (Robert Furrer)

——————————————————————————–
Outside the Base

Intersection of MSR-1 and Road leading to Main Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: This is the approximate area of the Express Bus Terminal to the left and continue on to Seojong-ni train station to the right. The line of hills in the distance is where the current road Route 1 to Pyongtaek runs. At the base of the hills are the apartment complexes on both sides of the roads. The rice paddies were filled in to create usable land for expansion into Jisan-dong. Hill to the right became the Jisan-dong park area.) (PROBLEM: Problem is that Bob remembers going to the intersection with MSR-1 from the Shinjang Mall Road and turning right onto MSR-1 — BUT he does not remember the rise that lead up to the Terminal Ridge Road nor using the MSR-1 Bypass. However, the ridge would be to the right and is not shown in the photo. As of Sep 2005, we are uncertain of this photo.)

C-Ration Village Outside the Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: This is the area that became known as Chicol Village (Jae Yok-dong) and later Songtan — and finally Shinjang-dong. The roofing material most likely is tar paper (obtained from the base) and tacked down with strips. The tar paper was used for inner wall water barrier insulation on the Jamesway buildings and Quonset huts used on base. These houses claptrap houses made from mudwattle and scrap — even cardboard. Bob remembers the houses being made of C-ration crates and cardboard boxes.)

C-ration village (1954) (Bob Furrer) (NOTE: The road is macadamized and the sidewalk is a macadamized mix too. The base is one the hill. The houses are Chicol-ni directly outside the gate to the left as you exited.)

Village Outside Osan AB (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Photo taken from 2nd Comm Ground Power next to perimeter. One can see a coloration near the rice fields. Those are women. If you blow the photo up, there are outhouses behind the shanties next to the rice fields. The Shinjang Mall Road is seen in the rear running from the Main Gate. The well is where the supposedly Young Chon Hotel is today according to local resident reports. PROBLEM: The current perimeter abuts the Namsan Village Road that leads to the Main Gate. In order for this to photo’s perspective to be correct, the perimeter must be atleast 100 yards further out than present. The slope bottoms at Aragon Alley while the Young Chon Alley is about 50 yards up the street. It is possible if the perimeter extended out into the area. Other photos of circa 1958 has the same perspective. (NEEDS RESEARCH).)

MSR1 leading towards Osan-ni (1954) (Dan Klopsten) (NOTE: Dan Klopsten claimed that the US gave Korea money to pave the highway, but instead they bought trees to line the road — and pocketed the difference.)

Mamasan along MSR1 (1954) (Dan Klopsten)

——————————————————————————–

Life Goes On

Suwon Business District along MSR1 (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Rice Field Plowing (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Rice Starter Beds (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Rice Field Planting (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Rice Field Planting with Team (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Bob commented that he wanted to document all the phases of rice production in these series of photos, but did not get one of rice harvesting.)
House Construction Cheonon (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Notice the timbers are not even and rough hewn. Lumber was a scarce commodity in Korea. Bob commented that he wanted to document the construction methods of the time.)

Taebang (Tearoom) with Hostess (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Teeter-totter game of bouncing on board (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Mokchon Village School Recess (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Toksan Village Open Market (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Toksan Village Open Market (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Toksan Village Saw Mill (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Toksan Refugee Village (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Bob stated that the Refugee Village of three buildings was operated by a missionary couple — who were “poor as church mice” but invited them in for tea.)
Toksan Refugee Village (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Hong-song City Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Chinon Reservoir Mokchon High Point (1954) (Robert Furrer)

——————————————————————————–

Along MSR-1

Children in Traditional Farmers Dance Garb (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: The garb for these boys seem to be thrown together from what was available…but not bad for post war-time conditions where people made clothes from discarded GI blankets. However, the colorful attire does not seem to match any traditional attire we have seen.)

Children along MSR1 heading towards Seoul (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Bob stated these kids were about 8km from Kunsan which would place them somewhere near Osan-ni.)

Church near Pyongtaek (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Traffic Circle in Cheonan City (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: The Shopping area was through the sign gate.)

Amn Stolz and Bob Furrer in Cheonan Shopping area (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Notice the bottle of Makoli (rice wine) to right.)

Funeral Procession South of Cheonan (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Funeral Procession South of Cheonan (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Funeral Procession South of Cheonan (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Korean graves on hill (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: Grave sites chosen by geomancy. The higher the grave on the hill, the higher the individual’s status.)

T34 tanks mired in Kum River near Taejon (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Taejon Central District on MSR1 (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Taejon War Memorial (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Taejon Experimental Farm near Summer Home of Syngman Rhee (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Taejon Experimental Farm near Summer Home of Syngman Rhee (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Kids at play at Taegu Farmer’s Home (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: First picture Bob took in Korea.)

——————————————————————————–

Osan-ni

Task Force Smith Monument (1954) (Dan Klopsten)

Task Force Smith Monument (1954) (Robert Furrer) (NOTE: The hill was barren in 1954. Bob remarked that when he revisited the monument in 1999 he was astounded that he could even see it because of the changes in landscaping.)

——————————————————————————–

Suwon

South Gate of Suwon (1954) (Dan Klopsten) (NOTE: The City Gate, Hwaseong Castle and the adjoining wall is listed as a UN Cultural Asset and has become a tourist attraction as a 8km walking tour around the city.)

Suwon Business District along MSR1 (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Suwon Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Suwon Old City Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Suwon Wall surrounding City (1954) (Robert Furrer)

——————————————————————————–

Seoul

When a truce ended the fighting in 1953, Seoul faced a desperate situation. More than half its people were homeless. Refugees lived in squatter slums all over the city. Many buildings had been destroyed, including at least 191,000 buildings, 55,000 houses, and 1,000 factories. Although South Korea was drained of capital, natural and human resources, it had to rebuild quickly. As reconstruction began, buildings went up at a rapid pace. But they lacked visual appeal or traditional concern for harmony with nature. (Source: Korean Society.)

Han River Bridge (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Han River Bridge (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Han River Holiday (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Namdaemun South Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Seoul Station (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Seoul Shopping Area (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Seoul Shopping Area (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Tongdaemun North Gate (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Seoul Shopping Area (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Traffic Circle 8th Army PX Yongsan (1954) (Robert Furrer)

Traffic Circle 8th Army PX Yongsan (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Seoul ROK Army HQ Syngman Rhee’s Birthday Yongsan (1954) (Robert Furrer)

ROK Army Parade Syngman Rhee’s Birthday Yongsan (1954) (Robert Furrer)
ROK Army Parade Syngman Rhee’s Birthday Yongsan (1954) (Robert Furrer)

ROK Army Parade Syngman Rhee’s Birthday Yongsan (1954) (Robert Furrer)
Seoul Baby on Way to Hillbilly Site (1954) (Robert Furrer)

(Source: The photos of Robert Furrer and Dan Klopsten; and Retirees Activities Office. NOTE: Dan Klopten passed away in 2005. Bob Furrer resides in Lake Oswego, Oregon.)

——————————————————————————–

Korea Settles into a Stalemate South Korean president Syngman Rhee wanting to unify the country with the help of the US, refused to sign the truce agreement. Instead, he signed a mutual defense treaty with the US in October 1953 and arranged for the continued presence of US forces in South Korea. The subsequent Geneva Conference on Korea in April 1954 failed to find a political solution to the “Korea Question”. The failure of the two attempts – one by the North and one by the South – to unify the peninsula by force only deepened the division, making any contact with each other impossible. (Source: Asia Times. For the role of the US in Korea and president Syngman Rhee’s refusal to sign the truce agreement, see R T Oliver, Syngman Rhee and American Involvement in Korea, 1942-1960, Seoul 1978, Panmun Book Co. For the text of the treaty, see Se-jin Kim (ed.), Korean Unification: Source Materials with an Introduction, Seoul 1978, Research Center for Peace and Unification, pp. 183-184.)
——————————————————————————–

Korean Mistrust of Armistice Most Koreans did not fully trust the Armistice and feared that they would be invaded again after the Americans left. They had seen Seoul occupied too many times as the Americans were pushed back. They had seen the summary executions by the North Koreans as they searched out the “traitors” and “collaborators.” To the average man on the street, the drawdown meant uncertainty for his future.

It was very common for people who had worked on base to destroy all their pictures from the Korean War period when they went off to do their compulsory military service. This was done because they feared that in case of another invasion, the communists would discover the pictures and execute the member’s families enmasse. Despite the high-flown words of a US Security Pact, the average Korean did not put much faith in it. They had seen the invasions after the Americans left in 1949 and put no trust in the words on a piece of paper.

The economic situation was bleak. There was no industry and no work. All of the industrial wealth was in the North (factories, hydroelectric plants, etc.) and the South only had a rudimentary agricultural base. Without fertilizers, the Koreans relied on human waste for fertilizer. Most of the country had been devastated and even the hills were denuded of vegetation. Every bit of scrap was reused. Beer cans were smashed and pressed into roof tiles; food oil tins were cut up to make buckets and pots. Orphans and widows were everywhere…a result of the war. Children scavenged in the GI dumps for scraps of food.

Poverty was seen everywhere — and there were ever more revelations of corruption in the Syngman Rhee (Yi Syngman) government. The corrupt Rhee government was 100 percent supported from the US coffers through financial aid and grants. The situation to the common man was one of despair — and the only objective was to survive from day-to-day. It was not a pretty life.

——————————————————————————–

5th AF

5th AF (31 Jul 1953)

5th AF Advanced Headquarters Moves to Osan Fifth Air Force advanced headquarters moved to Osan from Seoul in February 1954 and remained until September 1955. During 1954 and 1955, the 58th Fighter Bomber Wing moved to Osan from Taegu. Supposedly a fifth Korean village (most likely “Eunheng Jengui” as indicated on the marker at the Ginko Tree on the Golf Course) was relocated in 1953 to enlarge the compound area for the location of Headquarters, 5th Air Force, which maintained an advanced headquarters until the arrival of the 314th Air Division in 1955.
——————————————————————————–

18th FBW

67th FBS and 12th FBS
Nickname: Fighting Cocks and Fightin’ Foxy Few

18th TFW leaves Osan The war was over and the wing was leaving Korea for Kadena, Okinawa where it where it would convert to the F-100. The 67th FBS departed Osan AB for Kadena, Okinawa on 30 Oct 1954. The 18th TFW colors left Osan AB for Kadena AB, Okinawa on 1 Nov 1954. (Source: AFHRA)
——————————————————————————–

Korean War Orphans During the Korean War, orphanages were spotty at best. Near Taegu they had only one orphanage, but in Suwon they had 20. In Songtan, there was a school shelter built for the orphans. During the Korean War the American Armed Forces saved the lives of thousands upon thousands of Korean children. The GIs often rescued hundreds of children at one time in various rescue operations such as the Kiddy Car Airlift organized by the 5th Air Force where almost a thousand children were saved or the rescue of over 200 children by the US Marines in the Kanung operation. When orphanage administrators report that upwards of 90% of all their aid comes from the American servicemen and that the children would have died without this help we must recognize that the donation of over two million dollars for orphanage aid by GIs during the war years from a pay usually less than one hundred dollars a month also helped save the lives of thousands of children.

Sometimes good intentions faltered when the benefactors left. When the second liberation took place, again hundreds of orphaned children were found. A Colonel Munske, Commanding Officer of the first KCAC team in Seoul, started an orphanage for these children. It was another very large project that by Sept. 1, 1952, reached 575 in number. The story was repeated, however; Munske was reassigned. With him went the keen interest that had kept the money flowing in for the children. Very unfortunately the orphanage had to be disbanded. Many of the children could be transferred to other orphanages; many others were back on the streets as beggars and vagrants.

Sometimes there was outright fraud. An NCO club at a military base not far from Seoul gave more than $8000 in cash, to an orphanage of about 120 children near their base. The superintendent, upon investigation, was found to have used the money for everything except the children. Church leaders in the town reported that she operated a house of prostitution and that some of the money had gone into modernization of these facilities. She drank heavily and often appeared on the streets drunk. She seldom stayed at the orphanage where the children lived not much better than little animals, in rags in spite of the fact that the NCO club had also taken many boxes of relief clothes to the orphanage. There were only two matrons for the 120 children.

Sometimes the operators operated outside the parameters, but their intentions were for the benefit of the kids. One operator took the donated diapers sent from the States and sold them on the black market. When queried she said she needed money for milk. When placed side-by-side on a priority list — the feeding of the children versus having better health standards — feeding the kids won out.

In ChunChon, the Masons saw the need but because of their inability to operate the orphanage themselves, they were soon turned away from supporting it because the materials they had given reached the black market. In one drive for support from America, a very large number of toys arrived – enough for several for each child in the orphanage. In Korea, to have toys at all is practically an unknown luxury. To have more than one for each child is unheard of. The superintendent evidently felt justified in selling all or most of them to get money for food, as the toys were soon reported on the black market. Sometimes, the Americans condemned the operators, but they seldom saw that most of the operators were dedicated individuals doing their best to survive and protect their kids in the hardest of times.

Without their help, many of these kids would turn into street urchins. Many of these are professional beggars, who have been picked up before. The problem of beggars wasn’t taken seriously. It wasn’t the fault of military personnel, but it was true that the beggars lived mostly off them. Koreans had little to offer beggar children. Around the Army Railway Transportation offices, scores of children, of whom most should have been in orphanages, lived off the soldiers’ handouts. These boys – and sometimes little girls – were hard as nails. They were fully equipped to provide a soldier with everything from a shoeshine to a black market deal for his cigarettes, to women, often as not their sisters. (Source: Korean Children.org.)

Korean war orphans at K-55 (1952) (USAF Photo)
(SOURCE: Osan AB History Web Page)
The following was a Pacific Stars and Stripes article on Dec. 9, 1951. The 18th FBW was still flying their F-51 Mustangs from down south.

18th Wing Pilots Aid War-Ravaged Waifs

FIFTH AIR FORCE, KOREA-Charity may begin at home, but at this advanced air base in Korea, the local population will tell you that it begins in the hearts of the pilots of the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing. The combination of homeless orphans and softhearted American airmen has been the mixture that pays off for these children who have felt the fullest ravages of war. It was quite accidental the way it all started.

Maj. Robert L. Holsomback of Houston, Tex., who was making an experimental drop of air rescue equipment, observed next to the landing strip some unusual activity around a fallen tank.

“When we flew back to see the results of the test, we were amazed to see groups of half-clothed children literally come crawling out of the earth, ” Holsombasck said.

After landing, the Major told his fellow pilots what he had seen. “They all wanted to take the jeep and see what was going on,” he said. “Children in dire straits can sure ring a bell in the hearts of pilots.”

When they arrived at the spot they found more that 20 children in various stages of undress. Their condition was so desperate that in spite of the cold, one child had only an undershirt and shorts for clothing. None of them wore any shoes and they all showed signs of malnutrition. The children were swarming all over the tank trying to get material to keep their bodies warm.

A closer look at the area showed that seven children were living in a makeshift shelter four feet square. The hut was made out of four 50-gallon oil drums with an earth roof. Outside the entrance, they burned chunks of tar, which filled the interior with dense smoke but at least gave some warmth.

The pilots returned to the base where they immediately spread the word of the youngsters’ plight. Led by Lt. James F. Byers of Bend, Ore., they pooled their efforts. They cleaned the children up, gave them a warm meal, and took them to a nearby orphanage.

PSS-032 (Source: Korean Children.org.)
——————————————————————————–
FAR EAST AIR FORCES
APO 925
(13 January 1954)

FIFTH AIR FORCE, KOREA— Ninety-six Korean waifs found living in a cave on a Korean hillside last spring by members of the U.S. Air Force 3rd Bombardment Wind, of which T/Sgt. Creed A. Harris, 1915 Pogue Ave., Cincinnati, is a member, recently moved into the new six-unit Ok-Bong Orphanage near Kunsan which was completed through the efforts of the wing members.

The new orphanage will be dedicated early in February. Sergeant Harris, who spends much of his off-duty time visiting the institution and the children there, is expected to be present for the dedication.

The personnel of the 3rd Bomb Wing contributed nearly $18,000 through the base chapel, with the money being used to purchase two buildings and begin construction of the orphanage.

Five units of the new orphanage were constructed from the contributions of the men of the 3rd, while the sixth unit was constructed by the members of the 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion, which his attached to the 3rd Bomb Wing in Korea. In addition to the monetary contributions, officers and airmen of the Wing distributed some 21,000 pounds of clothing to the orphans. The clothing was received from the wives, parents, relatives and friends of the men of the unit.

Aid for the destitute orphans was received from many cities in the United States, with a great portion coming from the Chicago area in response to a plea from S/Sgt. Robert L. Zienger of Sherman, Texas, which was printed in a Chicago newspaper. The orphans, made homeless by the war, banded together under the leadership of an 18-year-old Korean boy, and lived in a cave during the bitter cold winter of 1952.

Shortly before they were found, practically naked and hungry, by Major (Chaplain) Luther D. Fletcher of Greenville, S.C., their 18-year-old leader was drafted into the Republic of Korea Army (Source: Korean Children.org.)
——————————————————————————–

HEADQUARTERS
FAR EAST AIR FORCE
APO 925
(22 January 1954)

Fifth Air Force Supports Orphanages

FIFTH AIR FORCE, KOREA — Total voluntary contributions by officers and airmen to Korean orphanages and schools reached $206,759.86 by the end of 1953, Fifth Air Force has reported.

The money, which was used for constructing and rehabilitating orphanages and schools and providing equipment, clothing, food and other necessities, more than matched the $150,000 in surplus supplies and equipment allotted the Fifth Air Force in the first phase of the Armed Forces Assistance to Korea Program.

In addition to the money, Fifth Air Force personnel also provided the orphans with 210,000 pounds of used clothing, much of it coming from their relatives and friends in the United States.

The Fifth’s units supported 86 orphanages and approximately 8,500 youngsters during the past year. Average donation to each orphanage was about $2,300 and 2,442 pounds of clothing.

Over half the aid was contributed by the chaplain’s fund free collections taken weekly at religious services. In addition, the chaplain’s program furnished 56,000 pounds of clothes, 21 sewing machines, five car loads of lumber, eight loads of wood, 100 pounds of athletic equipment, eight bicycles, 2,958 pounds of food, eleven crates of medicines and assorted school supplies and kitchen equipment.

The Fifth Air Force’s aid to Korean orphans reached its high point during the Yuletide season when over 8,000 youngsters from 86 orphanages were entertained at Christmas parties. Over $46,000 and 100,000 pounds of clothes were donated for these parties in addition to food, candy, toys and school supplies.

More important contributions, however, were the construction and rehabilitation of schools and orphanages. The 3rd Bombardment Wing, for example, found 80 children living in a cave on a Korean hillside last spring and promptly raised enough money to build a six-unit orphanage for the youngsters. The children moved into the new buildings by the end of the year. The men also raised $10,000 to build a new home for the children of St. Margaret’s Orphanage.

The airmen of the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing provided materials and finances for a new eight-room country school house near Osan for 280 Korean grammar school children. While Korean builders speeded the construction of the new building, men of the 18th Wing utilized their off-duty time in the base hobby shop making 90 double desks and 140 double seats needed for the students.

(See Osan AB: 1953 “18th FBW Builds Country School” for details.) The Hyomyung Middle School 50th Anniversary Edition (2003) shed light on this school. The structure was built in what is now the parking lot of the Seojong Catholic Church. The key man in getting this going was Chaplain (Major) Rinkowski of the 18th FBW and Father Dominicu (Korean priest) of the church in Seojong. Prior to this structure, Father Dominicu was teaching in the rectory in 1952. The building erected in 1953 was called “St. Theresa Middle School” — and is the predecessor of the present Hyomyung Middle School located about a mile and a half down the road. The Hyomung Middle School was founded on 21 May 1953 — and followed by the Hyomyung High School on 21 May 1956. However, this doesn’t jibe as the St. Theresa’s Middle School was in existence in 1954. (NOTE: THIS IN RESEARCH.)

Chaplain (Maj) Rinkowski and St. Theresa’s Middle School (1952) (Hyomyung 50th Anniversary Book (2003))
The postcard in the photo reads: “This school was built by Catholic Airmen, Army Personnel, SCARWAF Personnel of K-55 through their generous contributions at Masses during the past six months. Bishop Paul M. Rho, Bishop of Seoul, (blocked out) the $6,000 (blocked out) 6 January 1954.”

For some Fifth Air Force units, sponsorship of an orphanage has been a longtime proposition. The 51st Fighter Interceptor Wing, for example, began supporting the 300 children of the Yong Joo Jaho Orphanage over two years ago when its pilots began destroying Russian-built MIGs in the skies over North Korea.

Medical assistance has been important, too. Fifth Air Force medical officers have supervised and assisted in medical programs at the orphanages during their off-duty hours. In some instances, Korean doctors have been employed by the airmen to provide necessary medical aid for the youngsters.

At Taegu, a project is in progress whereby 300 children of the White Lily Orphanage are being inoculated with a combination typhus, diphtheria, and whooping cough serum. Each child has received three inoculations at two-week intervals. The serum was donated by the American Women Voluntary Services, San Gabriel El Serene Unit, Los Angeles, Cal.

In these ventures many airmen have received help from friends, relatives and organizations in the United States. Several U.S. newspapers have conducted public campaigns for clothing and funds. Unit mailrooms receive bundles daily containing clothing and other items for the orphans. Many of these are not recorded in the official logs of contributions made since they are distributed personally by the airmen receiving them.

The following letter from the officers and men of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing reveals the emphasis the Fifth Air Force airmen are placing on the aid-to-orphans program in Korea.

“The problem looks pretty hopeless when you think of the thousands of these homeless orphans in Korea today, but we’re doing what we can here at the 67th. Not just at Christmas time…it’s a year round thing with us. The Bupyong Orphanage at Ascom City, Oryu at Oryudong, New Hope at Yong Dong Po, Colomba in Seoul, the Christian Mission Orphanage also in Seoul, the school and church at Soss, the Kwahairi Church near Kimpo, all are supported wholly or in part, by the men of our wing.

“Strange names most of them, not at all like Detroit, or Dallas, or Des Moines, but these kids aren’t any different, really, from those back home…except that they need our help. And we’ve been giving it for a long time, since we came here.

“We are making little progress, too. Here are some of the figures: To Bupyong Orphanage, 3,000 pounds of clothing and $900, all in the last year; to Oryn Orphanage, 1,500 pounds of clothing and $750; to the Columba Orphanage 2,500 pounds of clothing and $28,255 in the last six months; 300 pounds of clothing to Sosa; $700 to Kwahairi church, and there is more on the way to these needy organizations each day.

“We have seen windows installed in schools, heaters and desks in the rooms, books brought from Japan, and countless smaller improvements. Maybe the buildings aren’t too modern, not an architect’s dream, but they’re warm and clean. The clothes we give probably aren’t what a Korean mother would pick for her boy or girl, but a Lone Ranger sweater keeps them warm when there’s no Mama-san to make their clothing for them. They can go to school now and learn all the necessary things they’ll need to know to help rebuild their country…so they will have a future instead of a past…so they can be part of the culture of a new Korea, strong and healthy instead of homeless, starving wanderers.”

All contributions are voluntary. The general attitude of the airmen was expressed by one staff sergeant, who said: “Sure, we gripe occasionally, just like in the States, when the collections and pleas are made. But that’s only on the surface. Actually, none of us minds giving a buck or so every now and then, when we stop to realize the good the money does and how it saves these children from the awful future facing them in this devastated country.”

Many of the collections, however, are organized and made by the airmen themselves.

The airmen’s attitude was expressed by one wing which made a New Year’s resolution that “we’re going to keep right on helping these orphanages and schools so that those kids have a chance to develop normally.”

NAD-011 (Source: Korean Children.org.)