In 953/54 I was in Korea with the Air Force and there was a rumor that our group of F 86 Sabre Jets were being sent to Viet Nam via the Phillipines to aid the French who were about to be defeated by the Viet Minh army. U.S. involvement in Viet Nam was much earlier than most people know, UNFORTUNATELY. Picture is me pulling guard duty at a Ammo Dump
So did I, Lon. The army recruited volunteers to jumb into Vietnam to train Montibond tribesman to fight, Viet Mien I was volunteered by a former buddy who had gotten out of our infantry company and was working on the General Staff of Eighth Army commander. I went to a meeting out side of the South Korean Capital (I can't spell the town's name but something like this: Yung Dung Poh, across the river fro the capital of SK.) I would have gone and trained but they forbid leaves to the United States before hand. All volunteers could take a leave anywhere in the far east including Australia. Because i coudn't go see muy mom and dad before hand, I backed out. Their training was to take place in the Phillipeans. When you were about to go rescue the French I was on five day R&R in Japan trying to get back to Korea but was ordered to stay in place. All sea and air transportation was involved in that evacuation of the French.
In 1953/54 I was in Hah School, but I did go to Korea in 1961 with the US Army Occupation Forces. Yowzah
Thank you for your service, Lon. I was a little too young for Korea, but my older brother was drafted and almost went to Korea (they signed the armistice when he was finishing his last month at Ford Campbell), so he wound up in Landshut, Germany. I joined for 6 months after 2 years at a Jr. College, went to Fort Knox for basic and then spent 5.5 years in reserve. going to Camp Pickett for 5 summers while finishing college. They wanted me to go to officers training, but I declined. My family (mom and dad had health problems and needed me), so I was hired as a high school teacher. Later I went to grad school and finally spent my career at a community college, where I worked for 38 year (counting part time teaching at the end). My wife and I have a combined 80 years of teaching. Now I enjoy retirement (and trying to survive the pandemic), spending my time in Christian endeavors (such as the Gideons, Big Brothers, bus ministry, drama team, passing out bibles) and other things (such as building bird houses)
The original name of the Korean peninsula was "Chosen". (Pronounced Cho SEN) The extreme winters gave it the name "Frozen Chosen". I spent a year there in the safety and comfort of the 8th Army Communication Center.
I was a Aircraft Instrument technician working primarily on the F 86 Sabre Jet. It was a formidable fighter jet against the Russian made Mig 15. When pilots wrote up problems with a particular instrument we generally pulled the instrument out and replaced it with a new one. The old one was sent to Japan for repair.