Regular Army Corporal by Richard Ellmers

Author:Richard Ellmers [Ellmers, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594332012
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Publication Consultants
Published: 2005-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

13rd Inf. Division in Korea, edited by Docati, Max 1952. (The Army Library – UX220 No. 3,A32)

Chapter 12

South Korea—The First Winter. 1951

The voyage to Pusan in those winter seas was a rough one for a flat-bottomed and ungainly LST, but for me it was a luxurious time of sleep and recuperation from my fever and gut problems. I had hoped that we would pass through some sort of rear-area logistic installation where there might be shower and laundry units, and maybe even church services, but such was not to be, as we were shuttled directly from the docks to an open field and frozen-paddy staging area where the company was to be reassembled for recommitment. I dug out a sleeping niche up against a frozen paddy dike and covered it with shelter halves and canvas, but I didn’t sleep any warmer than I did in the mountains of North Korea.

We did acquire some amenities of life there, as the company mess arrived and we had a few hot meals and we received backed-up delivery of mail and copies of the Pacific Stars and Stripes, the armed services newspaper that provided us with the first credible news of the war situation we received. We learned the first massive Chinese offensive was roaring down the Korean peninsula and that the UN forces were rolling with the punch and using their superior firepower to inflict the highest possible numbers of casualties, but that Seoul would probably fall to the Communists for the second time.

The good news, however, was that we received our first beer ration of the war. It seems the major brewing companies in the United States had pledged enough free 3.2% canned PX beer to provide the GIs in Korea with a few cans a week, provided the army would have the logistical capabilities to deliver it. To me the three half-frozen cans of Schlitz that I received were truly a blessing from the Lord and I was ecstatic as I tried to thaw them out enough so I could pop the tops without an uncontrollable explosion of foam. The bad news was Stars and Stripes newspaper articles that told us that the Women’s Christian Temperance Union was petitioning Congress and mounting a massive campaign to stop the beer shipments. That bothered me because some of the few guys I had told about my salvation were now telling me that most church-going Christians were just hypocrites bent on prohibiting things that gave other people some enjoyment in life. I wondered about that, since the Youth for Christ guys who led me to the Lord never told me that I would have to quit drinking beer in order to be a Christian. If they had said that I might have left the meeting and I might never have made a decision for the Lord. They did tell me that once I had a relationship with the Lord there would be things that I wouldn’t want to do any more, and they were right.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.