Evening star., 1950-10-15
By Jessie Font Evans

BY jessie Font Evons
This letter. telling of a mis-
sion to Korea, has just been re-
ceived by the writer from her son,
1t. Comdr. Philip Wharton Evans,
U. S. NJ, a veteran of three COM
bat patrols during World War H.
and presently attached to General
Headquarters in Tokyo.
Dear Family:
with Col. Chase, my superior,
7 went over by courier plane to
Kimpo to check on the petroleum
supply situation on the beach
head established by the Marines
and the 7th Division that make
up the x Corps which landed at
Inchon. Inchon itself is sham
bles. There is hardly a building
left intact near the waterfront OF
even up in the hills. Everything
is either burned, bombed OF
shelled out. The price of free
dom comes high. The oil tanks
which were my main concern, are
either shot full of holes like
pincushion or muShroomed and
twisted from the fires that re-
suited from the Shelling. Now
we will have to replace them
The warehouses down in the dock
area are little more than piles
or red brick. The more industri-
Gus natives were busy piling them
up and hauling them off down
the street on their yokes and
starting in to rebuild their houses
with the scattered parts of the
debris.
At night we could see the bursts
of fire from .50-caliber tracer
bullets streaking up into the hills
in support of the patrols. Every
now and then, too. one of the
Navy cruisers in Inchon harbor
operating on control fire from
the shore would open with salvos
intermittently that would fly over
our heads and burst on the hills
in support of the flank elements.
There are N. K. North Ko-
reanD tanks scattered all over the
roads between Inchon and Seoul.
In one field alone. there are 10 in
one group, some relatively I'M
harmed except for small holes
where the rockets went in and
then exploded into flame. Be
side the tanks are usually a few
where the former occu-
pants are now resting. In one in
stance they missed one who was
lying not far from the tank. A
man that has been lying in a field
for week is not pretty sight. I
have seen dead men on ships but
somehow they seemed to have a
cleaner death, but war in any
form isn't pretty.
"The runways at Kimpo were
in good condition but all of the
hangers and administration build
ings are either burned or bombed
out. There were car carcasses of
N. K. planes scattered around the
field as well as some of our own
that had either been caught on
the field at the time Kimpo fell, or
shot up when we landed. Our
wrecked United. States planes,
tanks and other vehicles are
pushed aside into the bitches to
await our retrievers to drag them
out and take them back to the
rear. The field itself is a hub
Of activity with both combat and
airlift planes coming and going
in a steady stream, the combat
planes to pick up gas and ammu-
milton, and the airlift to discharge
cargo and fly back to Japan.
Rhee Is GWU AIumnus.
Il did not see Gen. Macarthur
and at Kimpo, as he arrived be-
lore we got to the airport that
particular morning, but we did see
President Rhee, Ambassador Muc-
clio and the Korean Assembly come
in shortly afterwards. You, of
course, know that President Rhee
is very proud of being a graduate
of George Washington University
and of the Alumni Achievement
Award he received from GNU.
President Rhee was the first man
out Of the plane. His emotion at
returning was quite obvious. His
wife was with him, dressed in ma
tive costume, and her white hair
worn in a bun at the back of her
head. She is very attractive look
ing and the ageless type who
might be so or 70. She came
sprightly down the ladder from
the Bataan without help. One
of the South Korean AS
sembly was on crutches and evi-
IDENTIFY i'll. A big, burly sergeant
walked up the ladder to the plane
and carried him off in his arms.