Valleys of Death
Page 22
I stood up and saluted. He returned my salute and I could see all of the board members smiling. I did an about face and left the room.
As I walked out, I knew that nothing was ever going to intimidate me again. I’d already survived hell. I think from that day forward whenever I was faced with a tough situation I would think or in some cases say, What were they going to do, take me out in the morning and shoot me?
EPILOGUE
After Korea, I never looked back and asked why him and not me. I just accepted the idea that my life was a gift, and every day I tried to live that life the best way I knew how.
But my experiences in Korea were never far from my mind. I was never again faced with tougher decisions and I always knew that my mind was the key. It was the key to survival then and the key to overcoming every challenge afterward.
After a year as first sergeant of “G” company, 364th Infantry Regiment, I was reassigned to the regimental headquarters. The commander wanted to put me in for a direct commission, but a major in the headquarters encouraged me to go to Officers Candidate School instead.
“Bill, if you take a direct commission, you will probably be out of a job when they cut back the force,” he said. “Go to Officers Candidate School, get your commission and then you will at least have a couple of years to prove yourself.”
This was the best career advice I had received. So with my GED high school diploma in hand, I was off to Officers Candidate School and a career I could never have imagined. I graduated and was assigned to the 505th Airborne Infantry Regiment for five years, three of which were spent in Europe. Upon my return I was assigned to Special Forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
That assignment took me all over the world and eventually into command of Project Delta in Vietnam. Created in 1964, the unit collected intelligence in remote areas. I started the unit from the ground up with the help of some very talented sergeants and officers. Project Delta still remains as the basic guide for operations deep in enemy territory.
Claire and I on our wedding day, February 20, 1954. Author’s collection
January 19, 1957. Starting my new career as 2nd Lieutenant. Author’s collection
After Vietnam, I returned to Fort Bragg and the 82nd Airborne Division. I had the privilege to command the First Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry for two years. An exciting time, shared with young enthusiastic bright men. The best our country had to offer.
A number of years later I was selected for regimental command. I opted to take command of the First Corps Support Command (COSCOM), a much larger command than a regiment and what I considered to be a greater challenge. During the fifty months I commanded COSCOM we conducted operations all around the world. Our motto was “The Sun Never Sets on COSCOM.” I was the last infantry officer to com-mand COSCOM. It would be an understatement to say that this command was a challenge.
U.S. Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1978. (back row): Bill III, Lynn, Mark, and Cathy. (front row): Bill Jr., Jeff, and Claire. Author’s collection
During my thirty-nine-year career, I have had the honor of working with some of the finest soldiers and officers in the Army. Looking back, my career may have started out as a means to escape the streets of Philadelphia, but it ended up being a great and rewarding experience. But it would never have been anything without Claire.
The other half of the photo that Wray was carrying in prison. Claire was carrying this half while I was in prison. This half has been on our refrigerator for the past fifty-seven years. Author’s collection
Soon after coming back from Korea, I married the love of my life, my soul mate, Claire. She gave me five wonderful children and a great family life. She supported me in every way, including helping to put me through college, something I could never have accomplished without her.
Every day on this journey I believed the men of the weapons platoon and my close buddies in prison were watching me to see how I looked after my men and prepared them for whatever they may have had to face.
I tried my best to make them proud of me.
INDEX
Page numbers in italics indicate photographs or maps.
Acheson, Dean
Afghanistan
airmen (U.S.) and propaganda
Aleutian Islands
Allen (replacement)
America. See United States of America
ammunition shortage, Unsan
amphibious landing at Inchon
Anderson (Doctor)
Andersonville (Civil War)
animals, POWs as
Appleman, Roy E. (Lieutenant Colonel)
arrow wound infection incident
Australian bombers
baptism of fire
barracks, WWII
Bataan (Philippines)
battalion, forming the
beer
Black (soldier)
black compound, POWs
Bookbinders (restaurant, PA)
boredom, enemy
born again
bravery
breakout, Unsan
Brewster (USNT)
Brien (First Sergeant)
British units
Bromser, Paul (Lieutenant)
company commander
death march
death of
Pyongyang
38th parallel, pursuit to
Tokyo for Thanksgiving rumor
Unsan
wounded, leaving behind
wounds of
brotherlike bond with crew
Brown, Jim “Old Firepower Brown” (Lieutenant)
Browning automatic rifles (BARs)
buildings, WWII
burial detail
Burma
burp guns (Chinese)
Camel’s Head bridge
Camp 5 “The University of Pyoktong,”
Camp Stoneman (CA)
capitalistic vs. socialistic system
capture and escape
Cassino (Italy)
Castle (Germany)
casualties. See also wounded
Chinese People’s Volunteer Army
North Korean Army
POWs
South Korean Army (KATUSA)
United States Army
Charge of Quarters (CQ)
chemical weapon propaganda
China (Communist). See also Korean War
control of the masses example
expansion desires of
identifying POW camps, refusal
socialistic vs. capitalistic system
Soviet Union (Russia) and
Chinese People’s Volunteer Army. See also Korean War; prisoners of war (POWs); Richardson, William “Bill” (Colonel, U.S., Ret.)
aircraft feared by
airmen (U.S.) and chemical weapon propaganda
burp guns
casualties
corruption of U.S.
cursed by POWs
execution joke of POWs by
lectures of POWs by
night attacks
North Korea vs. (prison control)
“peace-loving people,”
propaganda by
Unsan
Civil War (American)
cockiness of Richardson
cold and POWs
collaborating with enemy, U.S. hearings
Combat Infantryman’s Badge
Communist Party of the U.S.
control, giving up
cornstalk cocoons
corruption of U.S. propaganda
COSCOM (First Corps Support Command)
Costello (Sergeant)
crabs joke
C rations
Daily Worker
dark days of summer
death, invisibility of. See also casualties
death march
Death Valley
defense work during WWII
discipline, life and death
Doyle, Vincent “The Renaissance Man” (Master Sergeant, POW)
; Andersonville (Civil War) and
escape plans
“Infantryman’s Troubled Dreams, An,”
last year as POW
medical care for POWs
morgue (hospital)
poems by
propaganda by Chinese
drunk and penny incident
Dunkirk (France)
dying one by one, Unsan
dysentery
Earle Theater (Philadelphia)
E Company
Eighth Army
Eighth Cavalry
82nd Airborne Division
Elliott (POW )
escape plans
escapes, Richardson
Expert Infantryman’s Badge
extension of service duty
Fast, Howard
Fayetteville Observer
fear, thoughts about
Fifth Cavalry
50-in-1 box
57 recoilless rifles
Filipino sergeant
First Cavalry
First Corps Support Command (COSCOM)
First Division of South Korean Army
First Marine Division
First Platoon
505th Airborne Infantry Regiment
Foggia (Italy)
food for POWs
Fort Belvoir (VA)
Fort Bragg (NC)
Fort Devens (MA)
Fort Dix (NJ)
foxholes
Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 (movie)
freedom
Freedom Bridge/Freedom Village
gangrene
Gay, Hobart R. (Major General)
G Company
German POWs and Richardson
Giroux, Frederick (First Lieutenant)
death march
death of
Richardson and
Unsan
wounded, leaving behind
“God Bless America” incident
Gomez (soldier)
Gonzalez (POW)
Governors Island (NY)
Graves (POW )
Gray, Walter (Corporal)
Greatest Generation
Greenlowe (company runner)
Hall, Robert (Corporal)
baptism of fire
battalion, forming the
dark days of summer
movement to the Far East
Richardson and
tide, turning
wounds of
hanging man incident, POWs
Happy Days (movie)
Heaggley, William (Private First Class)
baptism of fire
battalion, forming
movement to the Far East
Pusan
Richardson and
38th parallel, pursuit to
tide, turning
Vaillancourt and
Walsh and
wounds of
Herron, Bill “Uncle Bill,”
Hill 307,
Hill 312,
Hill 314,
Hill 401,
Hill 570,
“holding back” POWs after war
“hole” punishment
Hope, Bob
Horn & Hardhart (Philadelphia restaurant)
hospital (morgue)
hubcaps stealing incident
humanity, finding pieces of
humor, keeping sense of
hurry up and wait
hut/houses (Korean)
I Company
Inchon (South Korea)
India
infantry, telling officers about
infantryman’s thousand-yard stare
“Infantryman’s Troubled Dreams, An” (Doyle)
infantry war (last true). See also Korean War
initial point (IP)
International Commission
interrogations about POW experiences
interrogations of POWs
intimidation and Richardson
Italian-American Club (Philadelphia)
Italian Army
Jackson (replacement)
Japan
Johnson (replacement)
Johnson, Harold K. (Lieutenant Colonel)
battalion, forming
dark days of summer
Fifth Cavalry Regiment and
morale builders
movement to Far East
Unsan
Jones (Corporal)
Jones (Private)
Kangnam Mountains (North Korea)
Kapaun, Emil (Chaplain)
KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army)
K Company
Keis (Lieutenant)
kimchi stolen by POWs
King (POW)
King, Charles (Corporal)
Knowles, Frank
Korea, map
Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army (KATUSA)
Korean People’s Army
Korean War. See also Chinese People’s Volunteer Army; map(s); North Korean Army; prisoners of war (POWs); Richardson, William “Bill” (Colonel, U.S., Ret.); South Korean Army; United States of America; Unsan (North Korea)
baptism of fire
beginnings of
crisis level of
dark days of summer
end of
infantry war (last true)
media coverage of
mistakes made in
peace talks
38th parallel
tide, turning
WWII veterans in
Last Frontier, The (Fast)
last year as POWs
latrine accident, POWs
L Company. See also Richardson, William “Bill” (Colonel, U.S., Ret.)
leadership by Richardson POW
lectures by Chinese
lice
lightning rods (television antennas)
Mac (Corporal)
MacArthur, Douglas (General)
magazines, Vaillancourt’s friend
mallet and teacher incidence
Mampo
Manchuria
Manila
manzai (welcome)
Mao Tse-tung
map(s)
Bowling Alley Pusan perimeter
Korea
Pyongyang
Remnants of 3rd Battalion, Unsan
stolen by Richardson
38th parallel
Unsan
Martin (Sergeant)
master sergeants
Maurer, Kevin
Mayer (Sergeant)
Mayo, Walt (First Lieutenant)
McAbee, Filmore (Captain)
baptism of fire
battalion, forming
dark days of summer
last battle, gallant story of
movement to Far East
POW
tide, turning
McClain (Captain)
McGreevy (soldier)
McKee (replacement)
McMahon, Joe
media coverage of Korean War
medical care for POWs
Merrill’s Marauders
M-15 sights
M4A3 Sherman tanks
MiG Alley
Miller, Elmer (Sergeant)
Miller, Herbert “Pappy” (Sergeant)
millet for food, POWs
Million Dollar Pier (NJ)
mind as key to survival
missing in action status
mistakes, Korean War
mistreatment of POWs by POWs
“mobile defense” strategy of Walker
M-1 rifles
morale builders, POWs
morgue (hospital)
movement to the Far East
M-7 grenade launchers
M-24 tanks
Murphy (Sergeant)
Naktong River
Naples (Italy)
Nazi Germany
New York Yankees
night attacks by
Chinese People’s Volunteer Army
North Korean Army
night compass course
nightm
ares, Richardson
night training exercise
Normandy invasion
North Africa
North Atlantic Division of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
North Korean Army. See also Korean War; prisoners of war (POWs); Richardson, William “Bill” (Colonel, U.S., Ret.)
boots of POWs stolen by
casualties
Chinese vs. (prison control)
decimation of
fanaticism of
followers vs. leaders
money
night attacks by
slaughtering of civilians by
South Korean abuse of soldier
surrendering by
T-34 Russian tanks
wounded, taking weapons from
occupation duty, U.S. Army
Officer Candidate Test
Officers Candidate School
O’Keefe (Sergeant)
Okinawa (Japan)
one more night decision, Unsan
“On the Banks of the Wabash Far Away,”
“On Top of Old Smoky,”
pagoda situation
Palmer, Charles Day (Brigadier General)
Panmunjom (Korea)
“Peace Olympics” (Pyoktong)
peace talks
Peterson, Phil (First Lieutenant)
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia memories as POW
Philadelphia Phillies
photograph (half) of Richardson and Claire
physical condition of POWs
Pinantok Mountains (North Korea)
pneumonia
Pope (U.S. troop transport)
“post” command
prisoners of war (POWs). See also Chinese People’s Volunteer Army; Doyle, Vincent “The Renaissance Man” (Master Sergeant, POW); Korean War; North Korean Army; Richardson, William “Bill” (Colonel, U.S., Ret.), POW; Smoak (Sergeant First Class, POW)
animals, POWs as
boots, uses for
boots stolen by North Koreans
capture and escape
Catholic nuns as
cleaning up
clothing, deteriorated
cornstalk cocoons
cursing at Chinese by
deaths of
Death Valley
dogfights watched by
escape plans
execution joke by Chinese
freedom
“God Bless America” incident
hanging man incident
“holding back” after war
“hole” punishment
home remedies