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I enlisted in the Army from Plainfield, NJ and took my recruit training at Fort Dix, NJ with D Co., 364th Infantry Regiment, 69th Infantry Division.  I was lucky to have three of my friends taking training at the same time.  My good friend, Dick Bracey, was just two company streets away.  Danny White, my neighbor, was across the quad in G Company taking AIT, and Ronnie Alberino was with the 365th Inf. Regt.

After Basic I was assigned to D Co. at the Military Police School, Camp Gordon, GA.  I was to be assigned to the 10th MP Co. at Fort Carson, CO after graduating from MP School but my orders were changed to Germany.  After getting Europe shots the orders were again changed to the Far East.  Upon completion of MP School I shipped out to Fort Lewis, WA for processing to Korea.  After 11 days at sea on the U.S.S. Gen. Wm. Mann we arrived in Yokohama, Japan.  From Yokohama we proceeded to Inchon, R.O.K.  I was assigned to 2nd Traffic Platoon, 24th MP Co., 24th Inf. Div.   I also saw duty with the DMZ Detachment, HQ Detachment, Special OPS Platoon, and 2/21st Inf.  We were the "line division" and defended the Kaesong Corridor, the main invasion route into South Korea.  The 24th ID relieved the 1st Marine Division in this area in March 1955.  There were Chinese and North Korean troops to our immediate north.  We often performed vehicle and walking patrol with military police from England, Scotland, Australia, Greece and Turkey.  I served in Korea from 1955 to 1956.  I requested infantry duty and was sent to the 2/21st Inf as a 111.10 light weapons infantryman but I was only there 60 days and was TDY'd back to the MP Co because of the shortage of trained, qualified MPs.   I am very proud of the brief time I served with the 21st “Gimlet” Inf, a regiment with a glorious military history pre dating the Civil War and still serving our nation in the war against terrorism.   I am also very proud of my Imjin Rifle Badge earned while assigned to the 21st IR.

24th Military Police Co (1956) not approved		21st "Gimlet" Infantry Regiment "First in Korea"
British Royal Military Police	U.S. Army Military Police	Australian Royal Military Police
The Royal Sussex Regiment		The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders

During my tour the North Koreans shot down an Army L-20 Beaver observation aircraft over the DMZ killing the two crew members and later over the Yellow Sea an RB-45 U.S. Navy Recon aircraft was attacked by 12 Chinese MIG aircraft.  The 8 escorting USAF  F-86 Saber Jets engaged the attackers shooting down 2 MIGs.  In August the North Koreans shot down a U.S. T-6 Trainer aircraft over the DMZ killing U.S. CAPT. Charles Brown.  During either the Fall of 1955 or late 55-56 winter, while I was at the MP HQ Detachment, North Korean Commandos attacked an electronic listening trailer near Tong Gu on my sentry post.  By the time I reached this section of my post I could not see the attackers but opened fire at the sounds of the retreating commandos.   Through the open door of the trailer I saw the shot up bodies of three soldiers but I do not know if they were killed.  They looked dead.  I and another soldier on duty with me  were immediately relieved from HQ duty and returned to the MP Co.  We never heard anymore about this incident.  During my duty with the HQ Detachment, I checked a body bag through South Check Point that contained a dead 19th Inf. Regt.  soldier killed by a mine while on patrol along the Imjin River.  I later learned that his name was Reed and he was from Newark, NJ.  I learned this from a friend, Joe Leach, of Toms River, NJ, who was also with the 19th Inf. Regt. and was a close friend of Reed's.  While with the MP DMZ Detachment we worked with 24th Recon Co. soldiers and captured seven North Korean agents infiltrating through the DMZ.  In the 7th Division area an agent dressed like a Papa San threw a fragmentation grenade into the compound of Svc. Co., 31st Inf. Regt. about 150 feet from a group of soldiers and a Colonial stepped on a landmine and lost both legs.  Other incidents involved weapons being fired into the tents at Svc. Co, 31st Inf on at least two occasions, causing infantry troops to give chase and secure the area.   This information I got from Don Williams, Svc. Co, 31st Inf, 7th ID, who served at the same time as I.  I also learned that a Brother MP from New York City named Green, stationed with the 7th MP Co,  that I went to MP School with, was found dead from a bullet wound through his neck at a check point during the midnight shift .   

I was on duty in the OP's the night Bob Hope did his Christmas show but I briefly got to see him.  God Bless him!  I was lucky enough to be on the escort team for the visit by band leader, Perez Prado and again for the terrific singer, dancer, actress, Rita Moreno.  I also had a unique experience for Korea service, at different times I got to see three guys I knew from home.  The first was Harry Maselli who was with an 8th Army Eng. BN.  Our convoy stopped for a wizz break on MSR 1 enroute to Seoul and Harry was on a work detail about 50 feet from where we stopped.   We are still good friends after 55 years.  The second was Kenny Cooper, a track star from my high school.  He was the Air Force cargo master on the plane I flew from Kimpo to Japan for R&R.  Last was Bobby "Butch" Denton, a guy I went to grammar school with.  We played baseball and basketball together.  He was right across the MSR from my company stationed with the 724th Ord. BN.  I was already a short timer then with less than 30 days before rotation but we got together a few times.   

After separation from the Army I became a police officer.  I am a proud Life Member of these veteran organizations:  VFW (Tri-Boro Memorial Post 5479), The Korea Defense Veterans of America (Headquarters Detachment No. 1), 24th Infantry Division Association (Webmaster), and the Association of the United States Army.

In the last few years three members of the 24th MP Co. that served when I was there have made contact with me.   Bob Wahla from Michigan was the first.  He was in my platoon and bunked in my hut.  He bought my 35mm Samoca camera and he still has it.   Bob and I exchange emails and we talk on the telephone a couple times a year.  Bob was able to locate a mutual buddie of ours, Merit Dwight, but was unable to make contact.  Merit and I used to ride patrol together.  The other two members that contacted me are, Al Zima and Dave Alverson.  Al is from Illinois but now lives in Georgia.  Al was with the Third Traffic Platoon.  We have talked on the phone and exchanged emails.  He has also sent me photographs that were taken by him and his close MP Co. friend, Andy Yeates, and he sent a copy of the written experiences he has recorded of his tour on the ROK.  I have been able to locate two other 24th MP's, Oren Wright and Charles Lacroix, but have not been able to communicate with them.  Oren and I went to MP School together, went to Korea together, served in company together, rotated out together, and spent our last passes in Yokohama together.  Lacroix and I were in the same platoon and rode patrol together, got drunk together, and beat the crap out of "Slickey Boys" in Yong Ju Gol together when they tried to rob, Lon Dougherty,  another 24th MP from our platoon.   In 1959 while eating in a bar with friends in my hometown, a man who looked very familiar came in with a group.  After exchanging several glances, and getting a head nod from the guy, I realized who he was.  I introduced myself and asked if he was in Korea with the 24th MP Co.  He smiled and said he was.  He was Lt. Shilling, a Platoon Leader and someone we used to transport to 44th MASH when we were patrolling that sector.  He was working for Beneficial Finance just 12 miles from my hometown.  What a coincidence!

Since using the Internet I have been able to write or talk to others that I knew or who served during my tour.  Bob Barrett, a member of my MP School class, who served with the 7th MP Co., 7th ID was located in Florida.  Others I have had the good fortune to meet, even though we did not know one another then, traveled over a lot of the same gravel that I did.  Most of them served with the 24th Division or were with units based in the 24th's sector.   The first person I connected with is Charles Pepin who was with the 24th Signal Co.  I also met Joe Leach (19th Inf), Charlie Davis (21st Inf), Bob Buras (17th Inf, 7th ID), Ron Nybakken (USS Bennington), Dick Ruppert (96th FA I Corps), Don Williams (31st Inf, 7th ID), and Richard Farrar (1 Bn, Royal Sussex Regt., UK).

Some of my other friends from the Company or my MP School class that served in Korea that I would like to find are:  Art Radek, 728th MP BN (Chicago, IL), R. Webster, 24th MP Co (Jonesboro, AR),  Hensley 'Pyro' Bunche, 24th MP Co (Northlake City, IL), Don Agnew, 24th MP Co (Beaver Falls, PA), J. Rice, 728th MP BN (Berwick, PA), Lloyd Yinkey, 24th MP Co (Somerset, PA), Victor Martinez, 24th MP Co (TX), Johnny Blackburn, 24th MP Co (CA), D. Close, 728th MP BN (SF, CA), Sgt. Marion Lomax, 24th MP Co (NC), Eddie Ackerman, 24th MP Co (Paterson, NJ), Johnny Jurczak, 24th MPCo (CT), John Holmes, 24th MP Co (Detroit, MI), G. "Doc" Knickerbocker (Buffalo, NY), A. Bain (Brooklyn, NY), George Demetriou (New Brunswick, NJ).
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Voting Ballot 1956 R.O.K. Presidential Election

Just Some R&R Stuff

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FEMALE MP EARNS SILVER STAR FOR VALOR IN IRAQ

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester is the first female soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star medal for valor in combat. (By Spec. Jeremy D. Crisp -- Defense Department Via Associated Press) Soldier Earns Silver Star for Her Role in Defeating Ambush By Ann Scott TysonWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 17, 2005; Page A21 Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester fought her way through an enemy ambush south of Baghdad, killing three insurgents with her M-4 rifle to save fellow soldiers' lives -- and yesterday became the first woman since World War II to win(earn) the Silver Star medal for valor in combat.  The 23-year-old retail store manager from Bowling Green, Ky., won(earned) the award for skillfully leading her team of military police soldiers in a counterattack after about 50 insurgents ambushed a supply convoy they were guarding near Salman Pak on March 20.  The medal, rare for any soldier, underscores the growing role in combat of U.S. female troops in Iraq's guerrilla war, where tens of thousands of American women have served, 36 have been killed and 285 wounded, according to Pentagon figures.  After insurgents hit the convoy with a barrage of fire from machine guns, AK-47 assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, Hester "maneuvered her team through the kill zone into a flanking position where she assaulted a trench line with grenades and M203 rounds," according to the Army citation accompanying the Silver Star.  "She then cleared two trenches with her squad leader where she engaged and eliminated three AIF [anti-Iraqi forces] with her M4 rifle. Her actions saved the lives of numerous convoy members," the citation stated.  Hester, a varsity softball and basketball player in high school, joined the Army in 2001 and was assigned to the Kentucky National Guard's 617th Military Police Company, based in Richmond, Ky.  A female driver with the unit, Spec. Ashley J. Pullen of Danville, Ky., also won(earned) the Bronze Star for her bravery. Pullen laid down fire to suppress insurgents and then "exposed herself to heavy AIF fires in order to provide medical assistance to her critically injured comrades," saving several lives, her citation said.  Six other soldiers with Hester's unit won(earned) awards for defeating the ambush, leaving 27 insurgents dead, six wounded and one captured. They include Hester's squad leader, Staff. Sgt. Timothy F. Nein, who also won(earned) the Silver Star. NOTE: Combat awards are not won by recipients, they are earned.  One does not get the award through a competition.  The terms "win" and "won" have the correct terms added next to them by the website host for clarification.