Inchon

We were sent to the port city of Sasebo, Kyushu now that the flood waters had receded and waited there for our boat to Korea. We had to wait about four days so we had some time to relax. One evening we hired a cab to take four of us to a night club high on a hill just outside the city. It was a small Japanese car and although it was hard to fit us all in, we accepted the vehicle, supposing it was all that was available. Our mistake became evident later when the cab driver stopped the taxi half way up the hill and told us that was as far his car could go, not enough power. We reluctantly paid him off and trudged the rest of the way on foot. After that, we either hired a full size car or asked whether the destination was on a hill.

Our trip across the Sea of Japan was on a small boat already loaded with several Air Force officers. We were terribly green, of course, but even so we could not understand why they were so unfriendly to us. We found out the reason later. It seems these officers had served their time in Korea and were going home. When they got their orders they had a choice between flying home or shipping out on this boat. A flight would not be available for several weeks so they opted to take the boat, which was leaving immediately.

Even though the boat took 13 days and the flight just hours, they still would have been home sooner by leaving immediately. Wrong! After they boarded, the ship’s orders were changed and it became a shuttle between Korea and Japan. They had been riding that boat back and forth between Korea and Japan waiting for the Air Force paper work to get them other transportation. Once again, don’t ever try to out-guess the military. When we found out the reason for their anger, we understood.

Four days later we had rounded the southern tip of Korea and dropped anchor at Inchon on the Yellow Sea side of the country. Inchon was not a deep water port so we had to stay several miles out and utilized LSTs (Landing Ship Troops) to go ashore. It was just like the movie I had seen of World War II with landings at Omaha Beach, except there was no gunfire for us. It was just an everyday occurrence for the port of Inchon.

We almost had some gunfire. After we landed it was necessary to lug our duffel bags through the town of Yong Dong Po to the Army replacement post (commonly referred to as a “repo depo”).

As we trudged along, we were accosted by some young Korean kids wanting cigarettes or candy. These youngsters, most of them not over ten or twelve years old, were street wise and had learned all the tricks. One of their ruses used a piece of metal in the rear of a paperback book. While the newly-landed GI was distracted, the urchin would deftly flip the book up and pick pens, pencils, or other items from the pocket of the victim and then run like hell. One soon learned to keep such objects inside the pocket with the flap buttoned to avoid them being stolen.

Enter one of my fellow officers (a graduate of Texas A & M University). He had shunned the .45 caliber sidearm issued by the Army and had his own .38 in a holster, slung true Texas style, and tied down with a leather thong.

These Korean kids saw a challenge and while several of them hassled the young lieutenant from the front, another tried to lift the gun from the rear. Our Texan took umbrage at this and drew on them. It was not without some effort we finally got him to cool down and we made it through town to our barracks.