The photos on this page were supplied by Stephen Roberts and were taken during 1958. The text on this page, about Detachment C, 177th USASA Co. is based upon his report and is, mostly, in his words. A big thanks to Steve for this. Without it we would never have known that Detachment C ever existed.
I started 058 (05H) training as soon as I arrived at Fort Devens. After passing 18 GPM on the mill, I and a few others were diverted to 056 (054, 05D - they kept changing the designation.) I graduated about 13th out of 15 students and had two choices of assignment - Fort Bragg or Korea. You can guess which I picked.
Arrived at Fort Lewis, WA about February or March of 1958. It was cold as all get out. We had about two weeks before the troop ship would come in and we would ship out. So once again I had two wonderful choices, permanent KP for two weeks or fireman. I stoked the furnaces for two weeks.
The ship finally arrived and we all boarded the USS Gen. Wm. B. Mitchell. Fifteen days later we stopped at Yokohama and everybody got a 12-hour pass.
Here we all are getting ready to board the Mitchell.
Finally arrived in Korea. To me it looked like a bunch of teeny islands and I wondered if we'd ever get to larger land. We all got put on busses and traveled to Seoul. It was the time of the year when the farmers were pumping human waste onto the fields. Gag city! We stayed about a week at 508th GP, processing in. It seemed like the permanent party there hated the place - ticked off at the world... and it was that way with everyone assigned there.
Getting onto busses at Ascom City.
Another shot at Ascom City with 2 1/2s lined up.
I was assigned to the 177th USASA Co/321st USASA Bn. 321st was at I Corps Headquarters, Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu. I stayed there a week where I got familiar with the "Papasan" club and the Korean girls. My first night in the village, a buddy and I stayed past curfew. He said he heard a jeep, and it was possibly the MPs. So we took off across the rice paddies, as he said he knew of a hole in the fence at the rear of the company. I was doing real good running along the dikes until I misstepped and - you guessed it - right into a honeybucket hole. You should have heard the houseboy the next morning, cussing like crazy in Korean. It gives a whole new perspective to the old expression "I'll be dipped in shit!"
Camp Red Cloud PX - Winter 1958.
The 177th Co was then was situated at Mia-ri - at the northern edge of Seoul right at the city limits. In fact, when you left the company heading north, you ran out of paved road immediately. However I wasn't stationed there. They shipped me to Detachment C which was located about 19 miles north of the 177th. All I can remember is that after leaving UiJongBu, you went over some railroad tracks, and took a left where a Turkish guard was standing in a kiosk. You passed by the Turkish Brigade HQs, and after about another 5 miles, went over a large wooden bridge, hung a left, and went up a narrow dirt road (?) - more like a PATH. The small village adjacent to us was called Karebi. You passed a Korean schoolhouse and there was the Det C compound with a high wire fence around it.
Detachment C compound.
Detachment C compound.
I think we had a total of 35 personnel there. There were a couple of 2 1/2-ton trucks, a 3/4, and a jeep. The barracks was an H-shaped quonset. The OIC and NCO slept in a Jamesway tent. We had a small messhall, a rec room, a transmitter room (we used the BC-610), and radio maintenance/supply room.
Some hired help working on the compound. Do you remember the joke about how many koreans it took to operate one shovel?
Some of our next door neighbors
Our mission, using AN/TRD-4A's mounted on railroad crossties, was the Far East problem and the southern problem. It was a 24-hour a day operation, shift work. We were taking bearings like crazy! Those old huts had the gasoline heaters attached to them - dangerous as hell, and most of the time they didn't work. We took sleeping bags and blankets to work in the winter. No new construction ever went on during the 13 months I was there.
Some of the names of personnel I can remember are:
- 2LT George F. Bass, OIC, Sig Corps type
- SSG Manning, NCOIC
- SP5 Eugene V. Sonner - I understand he died in Vietnam later
- SP4 Joseph F. Lake, from Baltimore, later to become my best man while we were assigned to Co A, 317th ASA Bn, Fort Bragg, NC. (Yeah, I opted for Korea over Ft. Bragg, and they STILL sent my butt to Ft. Bragg!)
- SP4 James A. Kruse, from and still there now, Palacios, TX. He was in my basic training company, took Morse with me at Fort Devens, and also 056 school. He was top man in the class and picked Japan. When I got to Det C, there he was. I asked him why, and he said they didn't need him in Japan. By the way - he went back to Korea, married his girl friend, lost his clearance, and got out shortly after.
Can't remember any other names offhand - this was 40 years ago!
2Lt. George F. Bass burning the trash
SP/5 Eugene V. Sonner at Det. C 1958
SSG Manning at Det. C 1958
I volunteered to make water runs to the Turk water points - shower etc. water was obtained a few miles away at a creek where they had a water pump and hose stuck in it. Potable water was obtained at the Turkish Brigade. Every once in a while I would make the ration run to the 177th. It was no fun.
SP/4 Steve Roberts operating a morse "bug" key in the hooch at Det. C 1958
We supported a Korean orphanage (don't remember exactly where) - once a month we would load up a 2 1/2 ton with food and collect money. I went up there to the orphanage quite a few times - and it would tear your heart out. The (headmaster) and the children would be outside singing hymns in English as we drove up. They would sit on our laps and chatter away. When it came time to leave, the children would line up outside and sing "yes, Jesus loves me." Always wondered where those "kids" are today.
Troops on parade at the nearby Turk Brigade compound
Our houseboys really kept our fatigues and boots looking sharp - I really liked the look of the teal blue scarf with crossed lightning bolts and "177thASA Co" in yellow on it. And when you got to 100 days left in-country ("short"!) you could wear the ribbon from a Seagram's bottle in your fatigue cap or lapel. All legal.
I remember there were mountains all around us - across the road ("path") from our compound was a Korean cemetery - the old style - with mounds of dirt where they buried the corpse sitting up. I watched a few funeral processions coming down the main road. Old men in front with tan peaked hats, ringing bells and beating little drums. I departed Korea the same way I arrived - on the Mitchell. Can you imagine - the same Navy troops were on the MItchell from 13 months before! It must have been punishment duty!
Steve Roberts
508th/321st/177th, Det C Mar 1958 - Mar 1959
056/05D/98Z5H