Running with the Dogs: War in Korea with D/2/7, Usmc

Copyright © 2013 Frederick P. Frankville.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-7474-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-8732-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-7475-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904771

iUniverse rev. date: 5/29/2013

Table of Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 Why I Never Went to Parris Island

One Happy Dog

From Naples to Rock Island

Belgian Neighborhood

A Moving Experience

St. Joseph School: The Parris Island of Rock Island

Even Marine Recruits Had It Easier Than This

Maybe It’s Not a Good Thing to Admit to a Bad Thing

Chapter 2 Let the Earning Process Begin

Three Sons Serve

War Breaks Out

Train Trip to California

Cruising on the Collins

Stopover in Kobe

Third Replacement Draft

The Dogs Arrive

Chapter 3 We Meet the Enemy

A Dirty Way to Wage War

Pohang Guerrilla Hunt—Mid-January to Mid-February 1951

Not Everybody Is Cut Out to Be a Marine

February 10, 1951

February 12, 1951

My Life as a Turtle

Niles Gugliano

Fertilizer Business

Chapter 4 A Sad Day for the US Army: Operation Killer

Operation Killer

Fighting the French

The Hills Are Alive—but Not with the Sounds of Music

No Beef with the Army: We Liberated It!

Mail Call

Massacre at Hoengsong

We Lose Our Taste for Hamburger

The Hoengsong Cover-Up

Dale Erickson, W/2/7 Remembers

Investigation of the Massacre

Payback

Chapter 5 The March Continues

I Wouldn’t Want to Be a Grenadier

Sergeant Larson’s Navy Cross Citation

The Chinese Win the Race; We Win the Place

Chinese Possums

MacArthur Could Have Been a Five-Star Vaudeville Headliner

Our New Diet Plan

Consideration for the Cook

Chapter 6 Back to the War

No Rest for the Weary—or the Fresh

Everyone Has a Warped Sense of Humor

Matt the Magnet

Telltale Toilet Paper

Three-Man Foxhole

Winning the Hearts and Minds of the People

The Casualties of War Extend beyond the War Fighters

Chapter 7 A Hero on Hill 430: Richard DeWert Earns the MOH

Run, Fred, Run

Marine Corps or Army—Nothing’s Changed

Corpsman Courageous

March 12–13, 1951

An Unexpected Reminder of Home

The Fight to Get DeWert a Medal of Honor Begins

Other Tributes to DeWert

My Silver Star

Hearts Filled with Pain

Corpsman Honoring Corpsman

Chapter 8 Revenge of a Sort for Hoengsong

If You Find a Prisoner, Bring Him Back

Thanks, but No Tanks?

We Lose Sergeant Robert Vincent Damon

Silver Star Citation for Damon

Perry Dickey Remembers

Brendan O’Donnell’s Account

Brendan O’Donnell’s Silver Star Citation

Robert Damon’s Obituary

More Information on Robert Damon

A Belated—and Sad—Mail Call

Chapter 9 The Impossible Is Possible

Reserved—but Not Shy

Saddle Up

Two Enemies, Same Objective

Wimpee Teaches Marines the Danger of Being Wimpy

Adrenaline Rush

Silver Star Forty-Nine Years Later

Chapter 10 Late Spring Springs

Letting the Air Out of Our Defenses

Whistling on the Phone

Low-Tech Job

Who Owns the Ford Dealership Here in Korea?

Task Force Zebra

Chapter 11 I Thanked the Lord That I Was a Marine

Another Massacre

Perry Dickey Remembers

Death by Truck

Ridgway’s View of Trucks

Beer by Truck

Chapter 12 Operation Mousetrap

Destroying an Enemy Regiment

The Battle of Morae Kagae Pass

My Memories of Mousetrap

After-Action Report

Did It Really Take Place?

Bud Calvin Remembers

Dale Erickson Remembers

Chapter 13 The Spring after the Mousetrap

Laughing—but Always Close to Dying

Wimpee Was No General Sherman

To Walk or Ride? Dangerous Either Way

Objective 8

Ed, the Broken Needle

Ed Earns a Purple Heart

Adventure at the Water Hole

What If the Canteen Had Been on the Other Belt?

A Bitter Taste in Captain Mackin’s Mouth

Chapter 14 The War Drags On

A Warm Place for a Cold Marine

An Expensive Frisbee Game

Target Practice

Last Punch Bowl Objective

Bootleg Whiskey

Jack Benny Arrives—and We Put on a Show

Beefing Up Their Defenses

Chapter 15 South Korean Marine Corps and Drinks Galore

Surprise, Surprise: The Sergeant Speaks Japanese

Lucky in Life, Unlucky with Beer

Kool-Aid Becomes a Cool Aid

Peep Show

Captain Mackin Is about to Lose Control

Chapter 16 War without Captain Mackin

Lieutenant Flynn Joins the Marines

I Join Easy/7 but Stay with D/7

Welcome to Easy/7

Kanmubong Ridge

Target Practice, and We’re the Targets

A Classic Case of a Rock and a Hard Place

PFC Matt Davis: A Magnet for Enemy Ammo

Mackin’s Worst Fears Are Realized

A Walking Miracle

Chapter 17 War Is Unkind to Both Sides

PFCs Aren’t Sergeants

The Sheep Don’t Need a Shepherd

Back to the Dogs

Leave No Marine Behind

The Joe McKenna Story

Me and Joe

End of Offensive Operations

A Steep Price for a Steep Hill

The Ridge Changed the North Koreans Too

Chapter 18 My Part of the War Ends

A Little Boy Left Behind

Poc Hogan

Mackin, Poc, and I Join 4.2 Mortars

Atten-shun

Guard for Hire

A Whiskey-Producing Orange Tree

One More Encounter with Luke’s Castle

My Last Day in Korea Includes a Lot of Welcome Baloney

Marines Should Not Wear Lipstick

Meeting the Pope

San Francisco—and Home

Chapter 19 Home at Last

Getting Off in Galesburg

Easy Company Wasn’t All That Easy

Check, Mate

Do They Have to Eliminate the Marine Corps Because I Left?

Casualties in First Marine Division History

Boot Camp Graduate—Forty-Seven Years Later

Chapter 20 Back to Korea

Back to Where I Never Wanted to Go

The Captain and I Return

A Shocking Reaction

The Seoul of Korea

Down on the Farm

Appendix A Massacre at HoengsongBy Gary Turbak

Fighting Withdrawal

Enormous Graveyards

From Changbong-ni to Hoengsong

Appendix B Angel of the Marines A Story of the Ultimate Sacrifice in a War Long Forgotten By Fred E. Kasper, USN

Appendix C Dog Seventh Marine Casualties

Dedication

To the marines with whom I served in Korea, and to those with whom I didn’t—especially those who gave their lives so the people whose freedom they fought for could build a nation of their own.

Hundreds of firefights, patrols, and battles take place in a war. Most are just fading memories in the minds of the survivors. Those killed are registered in the casualty reports. This also will fade to the backwaters of history and, over time, to those who are remembered on Memorial Day as the ‘war dead.’ The personal sacrifices and pain will be just … dust in the wind.

Fred Frankville

Foreword

A n exhibit at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, depicts the brutal conditions that US Marines and their American, South Korean, and United Nations counterparts endured during the Korean War. It includes wary marines and US Navy corpsmen clad in winter gear in a mountain setting at night, no doubt awaiting a skirmish with enemy forces. To make the scene more realistic, museum personnel keep the temperatures in the room that houses the exhibit at a cool level.

As I was standing in front of the exhibit, I overheard a conversation between a father and his son regarding the scene. The youngster asked his dad, Why is it so cold in here?

Maybe it’s because the room is so big, he answered.

Could it have anything to do with the scene? the boy asked.

Maybe, the dad said. I don’t know why it would, though.

The boy thought about that for a minute.

When was the Korean War, anyway? he wanted to know.

I’m not sure, the dad admitted.

Well, who was involved? And why were they fighting?

The boy was persistent with his questions, as young children often are.

I don’t recall, the dad replied. Let’s get out of here. It’s cold.

He took his son by the hand, and they left for warmer exhibits.

The conversation reminded me of people’s general lack of knowledge of the Korean War, its time frame, who participated, why they fought, and why it is known as the Forgotten War. Fred Frankville could have answered that young boy’s questions. After all, he fought in Korea, saw many of his friends get wounded or die in combat, and lived to tell about it.

Unlike the boy and his father, he could not leave the room because it was cold. He had to endure the frigid temperatures, which sometimes dropped into the minus thirty- to fifty-degree range, the snow, the lack of hot (and sometimes cold) food, inadequate equipment, poor—often nonexistent—sanitary facilities … in short, the assets of modern society that are often lacking completely for troops engaged in a war. Sure, he, like most of his counterparts, complained. That’s what marines do best. But he had a job to do, and he did it.

As the contents of this book demonstrate, Fred Frankville was proud of what he did, despite the conditions in which he fought, the heartache he experienced due to the loss of some of his friends, the devastation he witnessed due to the constant fighting over the Korean countryside, and the overall consequences of war. After all, he contributed in part to the building of a nation that could not have grown into one of the world’s top ten economies if the United Nations had not engaged the Communists hell-bent on swallowing up the southern part of Korea and folding it into a unified Communist nation.

Here is a brief—very brief—and greatly simplified history of how the Korean War began. Japan ruled Korea between 1905 and the end of World War II. After the war ended, Russia and the United States divided the country into two sections separated by the 38th parallel. On June 25, 1950, North Korea, backed by Russia and China, invaded a woefully unprepared South Korea in an attempt to annex it. The United Nations came to the aid of South Korea.

The North Koreans were successful in the early days of the invasion. The United Nations committed troops, mostly Americans, to drive the North Koreans back. In all, twenty-two countries (including South Korea) contributed ground troops, air force units, naval elements, hospital personnel, and other modes of support to the UN effort. By mid-September 1950 they turned the tide and drove the North Koreans back. Then, in October 1950, the Chinese entered the war.

The two sides fought up and down the Korean peninsula for the next two and a half years, with neither side gaining a decided advantage. Eventually, they signed a treaty ending the fighting on July 27, 1953. Technically, they are still at war—sixty years later. And there it rests.

Note: The history of the Korean War cannot be summed up in three paragraphs. The account presented above is a thumbnail sketch that makes no attempt to describe the complexities or nuances involved in the events leading up to, involved in, or ending the fighting. Readers are invited to pursue their own studies to get a fuller picture of the politics of the war.

In all, the fighting lasted for thirty-eight months. Fred Frankville’s part included almost thirteen months (which seemed like a lifetime to him), from December 6, 1950, to November, 28, 1951. He was in Dog Co. nine months and S2 intelligence for six weeks. For the rest of his time in Korea he was a member of a 4.2 mortar company until his tour ended. In this book, he describes one marine’s part, which is a far cry from an overall picture of the war. But he gives readers a clear idea of what the war was like for one marine and his Korean War experience. That is what he set out to do when he began Running with the Dogs. He certainly does not leave readers cold with his story.

Arthur G. Sharp

Arthur G. Sharp is the editor of Korea Veterans: The Graybeards, the bimonthly eighty-page magazine published by the Korean War Veterans Association. He served in the Marine Corps from 1958 to 1962.

Acknowledgments

I thank the many people who have contributed to the contents of this book by adding their own remembrances, reading the manuscript before it went to print, and helping with the myriad tasks that go into preparing a book. Fighting a war is not a one-person operation; neither is writing a book. I didn’t fight the war alone, as the contents of this book suggest. And I didn’t write the book by myself. It’s a product of teamwork—and I am grateful for everyone who contributed to the book’s creation.

Special thanks go to Art Sharp, a fellow marine, who edited this manuscript and offered valuable suggestions regarding the publishing process. People often joke that it is hard to find a marine who can read or write. But we managed to combine our reading and writing skills to produce this book. There is hope yet for marines.

Semper Fi to all of them who have served in the past, are serving in the present, or who will serve in the future.

Chapter 1

Why I Never Went to Parris Island

One Happy Dog

I was not born a US Marine. Nobody is. Marines are made, not born. As the US Marine Corps recruiting posters proclaim, the title of marine is Earned, Not Given. When I was a kid, I did not harbor any ambitions to either earn or receive the title. But events have a funny way of altering the directions of people’s lives. They certainly did for me. That is why I became a member of Dog Company, Seventh Marine Regiment, First Marine Division (D/7) from December 6, 1950, to September 1951 as a rifleman, then fire-team leader, and eventually squad leader.

Later, I was in S2 (intelligence), attached to Easy Company and Dog Company for six weeks. Following that, I was transferred to a 4.2 mortar company until my departure from Korea on December 3, 1951.

I was—and still am—proud to be a member of Dog Company and the US Marine Corps. I am prouder still of my service in Korea. It was not always a pleasant time. In fact, it was downright gruesome on occasion. Nevertheless, it was rewarding. My time in the Marine Corps was one of those life-changing events that pushed me in a different direction, and I am happy that I did not resist the change.

From Naples to Rock Island

I am a first-generation American—one of five children born to Italian immigrants. My father left Naples, Italy, in 1905 at fifteen years of age and went to New York, where he moved in with a relative for a year or so. From New York he went to Milwaukee and then to Rock Island, Illinois, where he met my mother. She was born in Prizzi, Italy, and came to America in 1912. They must have wondered if they had gotten sidetracked in Belgium by mistake.

Belgian Neighborhood

The ethnic makeup of my neighborhood was mostly Belgian. A Belgian consulate was in the next town over. My schoolmates and playground friends were mostly first-generation Belgian Americans. Belgian, Italian—it didn’t make much difference in Rock Island.

The city was a safe place in which to grow up. We were next to the Mississippi River and went swimming and fishing a lot. We were about five blocks from a city refuse center, so we knew what trucks to follow to get a lot of good stuff. That led to a lot of fun at times.

A Moving Experience

One day a pharmaceutical truck showed up, and the driver threw out a lot of old drugs, including several cases of Ex-Lax. We peeled off the labels and filled our pockets.

Along came our friend Peanuts Knoefrl. He walked and ran like he was climbing steps. He asked, What did you find?

We said, Hershey bars.

He asked for some, so we filled his pockets, and Peanuts started eating the stuff with both hands. We were all walking toward the park several blocks away when Peanuts said that he had to go to the bathroom. He started to run toward home, then he hesitated for a moment, and then he just kept on running.

Peanuts did not go to school for several days. When we saw him later, he looked like a whooping crane. He told us that he had been in the hospital and the doctor had told him that the Hershey bars were Ex-Lax. We pleaded innocent.

Peanuts joined the Marine Corps after high school. One hot day in Korea, our company was walking alongside a road across from the Fifth Marines. There was a guy walking toward us from the opposite side of the road who walked like he was climbing stairs. I thought that it just had to be Peanuts—and it was.

We met in the center of the road and hugged each other. I asked him if he would like a Hershey bar, and he said, Hell, no!

Peanuts stayed in the marines after the Korean War and was killed in Vietnam at DaNang.

St. Joseph School: The Parris Island of Rock Island

I went to St. Joseph School in Rock Island from first to eighth grade. This school was run by nuns who believed in quality education under strict discipline. They came from a religious order founded in Ireland in 1830. They had BVM behind their names. This was an abbreviation of Blessed Virgin Mary.

The nuns were meaner than the proverbial junkyard dogs. Believe me, Parris Island boot camp would have been a breeze for anyone who attended St. Joseph. Those nuns could teach the meanest drill instructors (DIs) a few tricks about creative bullying. (Come to think of it, maybe that’s why the Marine Corps never sent me to Parris Island or San Diego for boot camp. They knew I had attended St. Joseph, so there was nothing the DIs could teach me.)

The nuns had fifty students to a class, but the boys and girls were so well disciplined you could hear a pin drop in a classroom. We were all too scared to do anything that would upset the teacher.

The boys sat in one section of the classroom and the girls in another. If a boy spoke to the girl across the aisle from him and the nun caught him, she made him carry a big ugly rag doll all day. If she caught one of the boys doing this for the second time, she not only made him carry the doll, but she let him out of class several minutes early and ordered him to stand outside the building in front of the exit doors, doll in hand, as six hundred students walked by him. This made the boys hate the girls—and dolls.

If a girl was caught talking to a boy during class, both the girl and the boy had to go up to the head of the class (which was about the only way