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"In October, I was promoted to corporal and was working with the battalion sergeant major learning all about battalion administration. Battalion headquarters was a key location in the chain of command. We had the battalion commander, executive officer, and adjutant. The sergeant major was the key person who oversaw all communications and correspondence between these officers and the various line companies and headquarters. S1, which was what we were called, received all incoming orders and was responsible for publishing all orders for travel, promotions, court martials, etc. The first sergeant major I worked with was soon rotated. The next sergeant major, a man from Charlotte, Michigan, made an R&R trip to Japan, and while there, he decided that he would like to be transferred to Japan. He had some friends there in higher ranks who could help him accomplish that. Soon after getting back from his trip to Japan, the orders came through for his transfer, and he left posthaste. I was doing the sergeant major's job as a corporal whereas the position called for a master sergeant. Unfortunately, at that time, promotions were frozen throughout Korea, and I could not be promoted although I continued to do the sergeant major's job.
"We spent the winter in the Chunchon area. That area was considered a combat area, so there were no civilians allowed there except for the indigenous laborers that we used on our projects. That winter we lived in squad tents - about eight men per tent. It was very cold in the mornings because the one little stove in the tent would usually go out in the night, when the fuel oil would freeze up. "I managed to arrange a trip up to see my friend, Johnny, who was in an infantry division up on the line. We had kept in touch, and I knew that he was not too far away, so I borrowed a jeep and went to look for him. I was able to find Johnny with no problems and had "dinner" with him at his unit - but driving back after dark was a rather hairy trip. Of course, we did not use headlights, and I met a lot of oncoming tank and truck traffic on those narrow mountain roads. I also had to ford a river. "While at Chunchon, the battalion commander did ask me if I would accept a battlefield commission and become an officer. I would have been the battalion adjutant. If someone was making a career of the Army, it would have been a great opportunity, but I told him, "No thanks, I was just putting in my time and did not want to reenlist." "In the spring of 1952, we received orders to move our battalion out of the Chunchon area. We traveled by train to Pusan. From Pusan, we moved by ship out into the Sea of Japan to two little islands, Cheju-do and Pongam-do. These were relatively small islands only several miles across. They were inhabited and had villages and nicely-terraced fields. I wondered why in the world they were sending us to a location like this with six-ton trucks, graders, earth movers, bulldozers, and cranes. It turned out that our mission was to construct prisoner-of-war camps for North Korean prisoners. The local people had to move out, and they really put up a big fuss. Many of them had to be hauled, hollering and screaming, into boats to be relocated. To me, it was very sad to see the lives and culture of these poor people disrupted. They had lived with their families on these islands all their lives and had nothing to do with the war going on up north. "We bulldozed and burned the houses and leveled off the terraced fields to build fences to house prisoners of war. Prisoners were soon brought in by the hundreds and put in the stockade. It was interesting to see how organized these prisoners became. They formed little groups and set up their own tents and fire pits for cooking, etc. They seemed to have a pretty strict hierarchy of leadership among themselves. They would get up early in the morning and do their PT exercises in little groups and sing their "communist songs" (I couldn't understand them but I'm sure they were not hymns). "When we moved to our island, it was my responsibility as sergeant major to work with the battalion commander and adjutant to set up the headquarters area. The officers were very good at delegating, so it fell upon me to arrange for all of the headquarters layout. I surveyed the area and, since I was working for the battalion commander, I appropriated the best location - a level spot near the top of a hill - for the headquarters, and here I arranged to have the headquarters tent, the message center, the radio shack and our barracks set up. It was a nice location with a good view. I was pleased with the results and the officers were, too. I must say that we had a good group of qualified and dedicated officers who knew their duties and responsibilities and did them very well. "During the Korean War, there was a rotation plan based on a point system. When I was drafted the term of enlistment was for 21 months, but soon after that President Truman extended the term to 24 months. The one good thing about the Chunchon area was that it was in a combat zone, and that allowed me to accumulate additional points for being rotated back to the U.S. early. By September, I had accumulated enough points to be able to return to the states, and orders came through for me to leave. The first segment of my trip home was by outboard from our island to the larger island of Koje-do. I then went by larger boat to Pusan and then on a larger boat from Pusan to Japan. In Japan, I met up with my buddy, Johnny, and we came back on the same troop transport, the Marine Lynx. It was a nice quiet boat ride back - no storms, nice sunny days, and a pleasant trip. "Our arrival in Seattle turned out to be something that I will never forget. We were met in the harbor by fireboats with streams of water shooting in the air, bands playing on the dock, flags, banners, and signs welcoming us home. We disembarked and boarded buses for a ride to Fort Lawton. All the way along the route, there were people lined up on both sides of the route waving flags, tooting horns, and shouting greetings to us. It was good to be home! "I received an Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Army on October 10, 1952, at Fort Custer, Michigan."
Decorations received: Reprinted from "Bumford Reunion 2000, a Family History".
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