Bonding with the Koreans

Me: For you, what was the scariest part about being in the war?

Dad: I guess getting attacked. (laughs) I don't know!

Me: But you were never attacked?

Dad: Never attacked. When we'd go to that village, we could have got ambushed, shot at.


Me: You said the Koreans didn't really let you patrol the perimeter because they wanted to protect you?

Dad: Well, not patrol - guard duty.

Me: And what was it like.

Dad: Well, it was like the sound of silence. you hear them all the time.
You're not awake all night long. You're only awake like 2 to 3 hours and then you're relieved and somebody else takes your place.

You sit down. You could be behind sand bags. You keep your eyes and ears open. And you always hope nothing happens.

Me: Did anything ever happen?

Dad: Nope.

There are times you could swear you something, or you could swear you heard something ... but nothing. YOu can hear like twigs being broken, but it's just animals ... walking on leaves.

It's either hot and dry or wet and hot, when the monsoons come. That's when the humidity really hits.

Me: So for you what was the scariest part

Dad: When we'd go to that village at nightime, we could have got ambushed, shot at.

I remember we went to a bar one night, I forget where, and I forget whose idea it was, but I know we had to walk through the back streets, the back alleys, and it was kinda like, why am i even here, why are we even here? what are we doing here?

It was a bar they wanted to go to 'cause they had prostitutes there.

And that was kinda scary, 'cause it was night time. We were by the riverfront, you could see the river.

One of the best things about being with the Koreans, besides feeling safer, was eating the food. I've always liked rice. I can remember one night, where we cooked dinner in our helmets. you boil rice and then you add the kimchi to it. It was good, I liked it.

A lot of white rice, back at camp a lot of fried rice, hot dogs.

I can remember back at the American camp - everyone gets a job to do. Regardless of what you want, the Army decides what job you're going to do.

I remember when I was in Texas, we had a guy, he was a ... well, he had an attitude and I could understand why to a certain extent. He got drafted, just I did. And he always wanted to be an MP. But he couldn't because he was like half an inch or an inch short. But in his civilian life, he was a San Francisco PD. So he did everything he could to get out of detail, get out of work. That was back in 'Hood. The First Calv. So he was bitter, very bitter. When he was going to leave the Army, he was going to go back to his old job, San Francisco PD.


Did I tell you I took basic training with the same unit, that Elivis Presley was assigned to at Fort Hood Texas? The 48th infantry.

Me: The same unit?

Dad: The 48th infantry. When he was at Fort Hood Texas. And they still had his armored personnel carrier that he drove, with his name on it, Private Presley comma E. (rolls eyes)

Me: Tell me about your relationship with Kim. That seemed important.

Me and him kinda clicked. Him and Corporal Lee. Corporal Lee was the driver. And Captain Lee, both Captain Lees, we kinda like all clicked together. Like we were always on the same page together. And Captain Lee, he was the one who was in charge of the Korean camp. And he was knew English, Japanese, Chinese, and the good thing was, he knew Vietnamese. He was fluent in all of them. Whenever we'd go somewhere, he could always talk to the Vietnamese.