"Talking to a Korean War Veteran of the 45th ID" Topic

Ok, I don't normal read this board on TMP, but I thought you guys (and gals) would be a great place to start.

I was recently at a family gathering for my Uncle's (the wife's side of the family) 78th birthday. It turns out that he is a veteran of the Korean war as part of the 45th Infantry Division. Unfortunately, I didn't discover this until it was time to go home. I lamented to my wife that I didn't get to talk to him about his army experiences in Korea. So she took it upon herself to contact her Aunt and ask her if Uncle Jack would be willing to talk about his time in the service. The good news is he said yes, he would love to talk about it. The bad news is (sadly) I have very little knowledge of this period in America history.

I am planning a trip to the library to grab whatever books and documentaries I can find, but I wanted to see if there were any burning questions from TMP.

What do you say?

Cap AP

YES YES, ask him about fire teams! Did they use them? If so, what was the impact of casualties upon the fire team organization.

Could the fire teams operate independently from each other?

How was fire discipline and fire control achieved?

Give some examples of how the squad was controlled during combat.

Was the quality of small unit leadership sufficient to employ fire teams efficiently?

This list is off the top of my head. I have a list of questions that I used to use when interviewing Veterans on their experience, and a section which deals specifically with small unit tactics, command and control etc. If I can find it, may I send it to you?

What years was he in Korea for? Who did he fight; Chinese or NK's? What weapons did he like and dislike. What tactics did the enemy use and what did we use to counter? How was air cover, did he get to work with tanks? What other nations from the UN did he fight next to and how were they in combat? What did he think of the US Marine Corps(I'm a Marine)

Thats all I can think of.

The crazy stupid stuff that went wrong for both sides.

As an alternative, you might instead try the so-called "Larry King" interview method in which you don't prepare beforehand but just ask general questions to get him primed. Then you can listen to your subject and help him out by gently asking for clarification when you're not exactly sure what he meant by something.

I know that strategy isn't to everybody's taste but I believe your uncle sounds like he's primed and ready to talk to an appreciative audience.

You might consider taking notes or recording it to pass on the results to the 45th Infantry Division museum in Oklahoma City too.

I agree with McDaniel, at least for the first go 'round. The best police interviewers try not to direct the interview while collecting the initial impressions and basic facts, lest they interupt the internal memory chain and miss something. Detailed explorations of particulars are best left to the follow up interview.

Ask him if he took part in any night patrols. My father was in the 1st Marine Division in Korea during the summer of 1952. Most of the firefights took place at night.

I'm also curious as to much time was spent "on the line" before the troops got a rest.

If you could ask him how often he faced enemy tanks, and tank supported infantry, I'd appreciate that. Also, how often hand-to-hand combat occured. It seems everything I read acts like every battle resulted in "fighting in the trenches, mano a mano". Seems a bit… stretched.

And tape record your interviews with your uncle. Contact your state archives or local historical society for assistance with "how to interview" for an oral history. Many state archives, colleges, and local historical societies are involved in oral history programs.

Good luck,

Jim (who works at a state archives)

You should also contact the 45th Infantry Div Museum in Oklahoma City – Just google them for their web site. They may be interested to have a copy of your tape recording and aslo have some advice on info to ask.

I hope you enjoy the experience not many people get to do. Also, if something during the conversation trigers a sad memory and he stops. Stay silent for a moment while the memory passes. Having spoken with several veterans from WW2 to Viet Nam it can be uncomfortable for both people. And since you are taping, just let him ramble on if he wants to. You may ask a question that sparks a really good memory that you may not have thought to ask.

Start with a general recollection of his experiences, and then you can prod him for specifics.

Morale, and its effects would be a good one too.

However you might before you really get going consider an experience I had back in the 1960's over a history of the 13th Armored Division. I found it at the state library and because 13 AD formed at then Camp Beale, CA now Beale Air Force Base. that made it part of the State Library's special California collection. Not being a State employee only a student at a nearby state college, I had to had the book tracked down from closed stacks and given to me for use only at the Library. Time passed agonizingly and I finally got this book.

The 13th AD was in combat very sparingly towards the last days of the Reich. Which meant the history was really one great, big yearbook of who served in all the battalions instead of say "The Battle History of the 1st Armored Division" say. Now I've even found an annotated pibliography of US European theater armored divisions' histories in the recent Osprey on this subject to aboid all that sorts of trouble.

So you might want to use the net to find out how long the 45th was actually in combat during Korea and when its fighting occured. For instance I kind of think that the national guard formations came out to defend the line against the NKPA and PLA well after they weren't using T-34 tanks to any extent.

The use of the 45th Division Association as a reference is a good one. It's been too many years to entirely remember it for me, but I do recall an excellent museum in Oklahoma City and my terrific guide was very proud of helping to capture and garrison Berchtesgarten (sp?) at the end of the war.

One last thing, in moments like that (ie family is going through memories a list of relaties I never met or heard of before) don't hesitate to be listening for little juicy and intriguing hints of details which you feel are worth pursuing.

For instance a great uncle supposedly was with the Rough Riders even though Teddy Ro0osevelt's memoires don't include him on any roster for this regiment or the cousin who was a pilot of a C-54 which became a Bermuda Triangle victim the same weekend as the supposed Roswell incident UFO crashes.

I meet a chap from the Midlands on holiday who'd been hit in the face with a rifle butt by a chinese soldier during hand to hand combat in KOrea- they attacked a convoy he was guarding. He was blinded for 6 months. His mate assured him that he'd "shot the ".
He told me this was after the cease fire!
I'd never meet anyone who'd served in Korea. An interesting bloke.

I talked to a Korean War vet last year who told me that he went directly from basic training to Japan for five days of additional training as an infantryman and then directly to Korea. So, you might ask about the type and length of his training and if he felt prepared for his job/mission or if he was just thrown into it.