Madison County Democrat. (London, Ohio) 19??-1958, 1951-03-09

1888 TIq. x Corps, Air Section,
APO No. 909 co Pm. San
Francisco now serving on the
Korean battlefront, writes wildly
of the struggles of war in the fol-
lowing letter - ]. r. Conway,
publisher of this newspaper:
Feb. q, 1851
My dear friend
Greetings from Ch'ungju, Korea
in the center sector, X Corps area
of close combat. We have the FAM
Gus 1st Marines 7th Inf. Div,
2nd Inf. Division and 18th Inf.
Combat team (Paratroopers)
Some Dutch and French units and
naturally some attached South
Korean troops are also with the
X Corps. This x Corps has really
made name for itself over here.
Starting off with the Inchon
landing then being the first and
only unit to reach the Yalu River
namely the 7th Div) Naturally,
as you well know, when the
Chinese struck in force across
from Manehuria, they really came
in hordes and we ended up on the
Hamhung-H Hungnam beachhead.
The evacuation of this beachhead
was handled in a masterful man.
ner. A fighting heart was shown
by every front line CT. even in a
tactical withdrawal such as this
was. I firmly believe that better
fighting discipline was displayed
in this evacuation than in any
other withdrawal so far in this
war. There was minimum of
casualties, because of the truly
fighting hearts of the G.I.'s in
those front line Infantry Comp
anies. | wish, CuZ, you could
have seen those Marines operate
up around the Chosin Reservoir
when they were completely sur
rounded by II to 18 Divisions of
Chinese Commies. They built
an airstrip for us to fly in with
our little L-5's to bring out the
wounded, and they did 1t by
hand during one night. 1t was
% degrees below zero and the air.
strip they built for us was 1000
IL. uoove sea level and those Ma
rines We're fighting all around
the airstrip, along with a part of
the 7th Div. troops. Never have
seen such courage. Sure glad
I'm flying this war instead of
walking with the gravel agita-
tors" like the last one, even IL
1s in one of these SO called
"Quartermaster Bombers." I've
really got 1t made, no sweat for
me.
/ can tell you one thing though,
fellow, don't believe any of that
misinformation about our leaving
here, because we're not and we
never planned to, believe me.
We're here. to stay until some of
those big-wigs in the U.N. can
iron out this thing, politically or
otherwise. There's not enough of
these slant eyes in China to prove
otherwise. Much as / want to be
with my family and you pals
there in London. don't think any
of US would feel right deep in our
hearts if we left here. It would
only mean that our comrades
that have died here and have been
seriously wounded, and are still
dying, are doing so in vain. Be-
lieve me. I'm not for that. That
would only give this cursed Red"
movement more stability and mo-
mentum, and we've got to lick
it some time. So why not keep
going now?
Listen Cuz, 7 certainly appreci-
ate your sending me the Madison
Press. I've been getting it regu-
larly. You know how well / ap-
preciate the news from old Lon
don town. I've seen a lot of
burgs" in the last IL years, none
as wonderful as London. You
know what / mean.
/ read a letter In the paper
from one of the boys from London
who is over here. The only thing
wrong with it was that he said
we didn't have a chance with
these devils over here. I'm one
who believes that when our MAX
er is on our side, and / know
He must be, you not only have .
chance, but that you're going to
end up on the winning side. This
u. S. of ours has come a long way
and I'm sure it's not at dead
end as far as this little commun-
list infested peninsula goes.
Your brother THE Scholar)
wrote me most interesting let
ter about the Christmas holiday.
His little epuns' about the va
cation days sent my morale sky
high. Sure wish | could have been
there. especially during those 2
weeks.
had nice 5 day rest leave
in Tokyo about 10 days ago. |
called my family twice and talked
to Reva and my kiddies. Also talk
ed to Of Paul and gave him the
hot news. Guess he probably has