I joined the Marine Corps on March 26, 1953 for a 3-year tour. On December 5th, 1953 (my 21st birthday, by the way) I landed in Korea and was assigned to the 1st Marine Div. FMF, 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment, combat zone. The Corps was playing the numbers game then: 4 points a month on line, 2 points a month in reserve, 36 points and you go home. After 8-1/2 months they changed the rotation, and I spent 15 months in the combat zone.
The uniform of the day was the Flak Jacket (they were heavy then), a loaded M1 rifle, 45 caliber pistol, bayonet, canteen and cartridge belt. When we wanted to dress up we wore our steel helmets. We shaved and bathed out of those helmets.
I spent 2 winters in Korea. It got very cold there. Once after a long time in they brought up portable showers. We each got a 5 minute hot shower in which we thought we died and went to heaven.
Now the nitty-gritty. I guess the Armistice meant no more Divisional clashes. Some of this is from a 50 year memory.
We were in the Chorwon Valley, ran from Siberia to Southern Korea on the North Side of Imjin River between the Freedom and Liberty Bridges some 38,000 meters apart. The river ran east to west maybe 50 to 100 yards wide. On one flank was the British Black Watch, and on the other the Turkish Army and Australian Regular Army.
You never forget the sound of a bullet cutting the air past your ear. Some nights we could hear the big ones headed North overhead. 105′s and 155′s. As long as they were headed north, we were happy.
What were we doing there?
Right in front of us were one half million Chinese and Regular North Korean Troops. If they jumped off, we were supposed to hold them long enough for the Eighth Army to blow the bridges.
OH YEAH!
We figured our survival rate at about 3 seconds. Hence the term:
DEAD MAN WALKING
