Gender

Male

Birth date

1927-06-15

Place of birth

Ithaca NY, USA

Inducted

1949-03-12, Camp Zama

Enlistment type

Volunteer

Service branch

Army

Service type

War,peacetime

Unit type

Support

Units served

5th Calvary Regiment, 1st Calvary Division, Japan ATIS. General HQ, Far East Command, Tokyo, Japan 521st Military Intelligence Service Detachment, X Corps Republic of Korea, Horth Korea

Military specialty

Military Intelligence MIS Interrogation Liaison with Republic of Korea MIS

Stationed

Other Countries: Tokyo, Japan; South and North Korea

Separated

Ft. Ord CA

Unit responsibility

ATIS: One of the responsibilities of ATIS during my assignment there was to collect tactical and strategic information from Japanese ex-POW's who were sent to Siberia after WW II by the Soviets to forced labor camps and subsequently repatriated to Japan in the late 1940s. The information concerned details on military installations, factories, city layouts, etc. 521st MISD: Responsibility was to provide higher HQ with information on enemy battle order. and details on the activities, manpower, etc. , from POW, civilians, and any other available intelligence sources, including information from ROK MIS counterparts. The Detachment was also responsible for registering all incoming enemy POWs.

Personal responsibility

At ATIS, kept abreast of information already available for my area of responsibility, by self-briefing of available information. During interrogation sessions, I paid attention to any contradiction to previously acquired details if any, and made sure that there were no statements that would be subjected to questions during subsequent review of my reports. At 521st MISDet, I was responsible for interrogating enemy POWs for general information, such as name, rank, unit for registration and issuance of POW tags as they were brought in from the field. Further interrogations were conducted as required, using Korean or Chinese interpreters. As an NCO IPW team leader, attached to the 7th and later, the 5th ROK Army Division, I was responsible for supervision and welfare of the personnel assigned to teh team. We were logistically supported by the US Military Advisory and Assistance Group at the ROKA Division.

Major battles (if served in a war zone)

Participated in Inchon Amphibious Landing, advancement to Ham hung, North Korea (Sept - Oct 1950), Communist Chinese Forces intervention ( Nov 1950 - Jan 1951), First UN counteroffensive (Jan - April 1951), Chinese Communist Forces Spring offensive (April - June 1951), UN Summer-Fall Offensive (July - Oct 1951).

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Japan Occupation Medal Korean Service Medal with 6 battle stars United Nations Medal

Living conditions

At ATIS we were quartered at the NYK Main Office Building within walking distance from the Tokyo RR Station. We had rooms with approximately 10 to 12 to a room, barracks style. Mess halls were located in the same buidlding. I was assigned to the Central Interrogation Center on the first floor. In Korea, our quarters were in tents, vacant civilian houses, or sleeping bags outdoors. At Ham hung, North Korea, we occupied a section of a Russian barracks. Later on we moved into a student dormitory in the city and commuted a few miles to the Ham hung prison being used as a POW enclosure.

Most vivid memory of military experience

Two days after landing at Wonson beachhead, five of us from the Detachment were ordered to join the ROK I Corps which had already advanced north to Ham hung, N. Korea. We travelled in two jeeps with trailers. We were warned that approximatley 6,000 enemy troops were still holding up along the mountain ridges west of the main supply route northward toward Ham hung, a large city.We had our weapons loaded and ready to fire as we drove through the mountain passes along the east coast. Fortunately we got through to Ham hung after our 4-hour trip without incident. I was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery through the mountain passes. On our way north, we passed one lone South Korean soldier attempting to fix his jeep with its hood up. Even now, I sometimes wonder if he ever got the jeep fixed and made it out.

Missed most whilst in the military

There was nothing that I really missed during the whole time I was in the Army. I had made friends witha lot of people that I met. It was my first opportunity to meet with different people. When the Korean War broke out, I volunteered for Duty there so that I could experience being out in the field. While in Korea we were busy most of the time with our duties. there were lots of inconveniences in the field, Which I accpeted as being a part of the life in a combat area. We were getting good mail service so I had no worries about my family.

Most important thing, personally, to come from military experience?

Since I went to Japan with my parents in February 1940 at age 13, I lost all contact with the American way of life until 5 years later when I reestablished contact through the US occupation forces. My ambition was to get back to the US and go back to school. While working for the US Forces in Japan as translator/interpreter, I was able to enlist in the US Army in 1949. My goal was to gain free passage back to the States at the end of my enlistment, and have savings for college attendance. While in the military, I was able to acquire friends, meet people from different regions and get caught up on the American way of life that I had lost contact with. The 5-month basic training that I went through with the 5th Calvary Regiment was an excellent session for me. I also took advantage of academic evening courses during my assignment in Tokyo. The GI Bill certainly was a big help in attainig my educational goal.

Additional information

As a part of my autobiography, I wrote about my Army experiences which included the time I spent at ATIS, Tokyo and Korea during the Korean War. The article was published in the English-Japanese Rafu Shimpo in five parts, in the 13, 16, 20 July, 31 Aug and 10 Sept 2005 issues, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Shuji Miyasaki, San Diego, CA, who submitted the article to Rafu Shimpo. Mr. Miyasaki is the president of the Korean War MIS Veterans Group of San Diego, CA. With permission of Rafu Shimpo, an abridged version, titled "The 521st Mil Intel Service Detachment in North Korea", was also published in the Jan-March 2008 News Digest published by "The Chosin Few", a US Marine Corps Fraternity, of which I am a member.