2ID veterans at the Korea Defense Veterans Association reunion in Washington DC this week include CPT Sarah Casey, the great niece of MAJ Hugh Casey, the camp's namesake. Sarah served in the 6-37 FA as an MLRS platoon leader at Camp Casey, Korea a few years ago. pic.twitter.com/GIjSNls3HL
Soldiers on Camp Casey are currently barred from going outside the gates to neighboring Dongducheon:
An uptick in coronavirus cases near a U.S. base in South Korea prompted the commander to impose a travel ban Wednesday between the base and the neighboring city.
Dongducheon city is off-limits to anyone associated with Camp Casey, except for “approved mission essential travel,” according to a U.S. Forces Korea news release. Dining in off-post restaurants is also restricted.
You can read more at the link, but apparently an uptick in coronavirus cases in Gyeongi province this week from 111 to 135 cases is what led to the travel ban.
Whenever an alert drill happens there are procedures each unit runs through. Each unit likely did not get very far in their alert procedures before the all clear was given as a false alarm. This is much to do about nothing other than making sure it is harder for someone to make a user error mistake like this again:
A U.S. Army base in South Korea accidentally sounded an emergency siren Thursday night, sending some soldiers into a frenzy amid threats of an unwanted “Christmas gift” from North Korea, news reports said.
The incident occurred at Camp Casey in Dongducheon, 40 kilometers north of Seoul, the closest U.S. Army base to the North Korean border.
The Washington Post reported that the siren went off around 10 p.m. instead of taps, the bugle call played at military funerals and on military bases to mark the end of the day.
US soldiers stationed at Camp Casey, South Korea conducted their annual clean up of the Shincheon River that flows through Dongducheon:
U.S. soldiers from Camp Casey clean up debris along the Shincheon River in Dongducheon, South Korea, Thursday, March 21, 2019.
Soldiers stationed near the North Korean border helped fill more than 80 trash bags with debris Thursday as they worked with local organizations to clean up the Shincheon River in their host city of Dongducheon. Dongducheon Mayor Choi Yong-deok and Lt. Col. Shane Doolan, the 210th Field Artillery Brigade deputy commanding officer, offered opening words of appreciation to the local residents and approximately 100 Camp Casey soldiers who were participating. “We cannot meet spring with garbage from last winter,” Choi said before the annual event. The volunteers began by throwing into the river biodegradable balls containing microorganisms aimed at preventing the growth of pathogenic bacteria.
This is an interesting story about the relative of the namesake of Camp Casey serving at the 2nd ID installation:
Second Lt. Sarah Casey, an officer with the 210 Field Artillery Brigade, stands in front a converted armored personnel carrier at Camp Casey, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2017.
Second Lt. Sarah Casey shares a name with her duty station, a small artillery outpost near the Korean Demilitarized Zone.
The artillery platoon leader from Collierville, Tenn., played along with the ribbing when folks greeted her with comments like, “Casey at Casey!” after glancing at her name tape. Until last month, when she revealed her secret. The camp was named in honor of her great-uncle, Maj. Hugh B. Casey, a World War II veteran killed in the Korean War who was awarded two Silver Stars during the liberation of the Philippines.
“I’m not here to say, ‘Hi, I’m Sarah Casey at Camp Casey,’ ” she said. “I think it’s important to remember the sacrifices of all those who came before us; that’s what the real story is to me.”
Sarah Casey was 26 when she arrived in South Korea — the same age her great-uncle was when he lost his life. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link and learn more about Camp Casey at this link.
With the recent passing of Muhammad Ali I figured it was as good as time as any to remember the Champ’s visit to South Korea back almost exactly 40 years after ago in 1976. Ali visited South Korea after participating in a celebrity wrestling match with famed Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki. Incredibly Ali threw six punches in the wrestling match and earned $6 million for it.
Pacific Stars & Stripes, June 26, 1976
Ali landed in Korea at Gimpo Airport and a motorcade took him on a tour of downtown Seoul where an incredible one million people it was estimated greeted him. Here is what Ali had to say about the welcome he received in Seoul:
“When I go back to America and throughout my tours I will tell people of the world how nice Korea is,” Ali said.
Pacific Stars & Stripes, June 29 1976
Ali also had good things to say about US troops stationed in South Korea:
“I’ve many American brothers over here, black and white who fight for the freedom of the world and are doing a job we can’t pay them for,” he said. “I am a fighter myself and I realize how lonely it is when you’re in combat-how lonely you are in training.”
After the motorcade tour of Seoul, Ali was next driven north to Camp Casey where he boxed and entertained 2nd Infantry Division soldiers:
Ali fought exhibitions for the U. S. 2nd Infantry Division after receiving a hero’s welcome in downtown Seoul from hundreds of thousands of Koreans.
“One million dollars a punch,” Ali said of his 15-round draw Saturday with professional Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki, who spent most of the bout on his back trying to kick Ali down.
“And you are going to see hundreds of punches for nothing,” he told more than 2,500 American soldiers at the Shoonover Bowl outdoor theater 12 miles below the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea. [Stars & Stripes, June 29, 1976]
So for soldiers stationed on Camp Casey the next time you are at Shooner Bowl remember that decades ago Muhammad Ali once entertained US soldiers there. Here is a cool story from the visit:
“All right, fellows. Do you have any boxers out here?” Ali asked.
Specialist Fourth Class Gerald Noble, 28, stepped out. The 202-pound soldier was a Michigan State heavyweight champion in 1967.
They agreed to a five-minute round, in which Noble tried hard but was no match for Ali. The champion danced in and away and landed scores of accurate but soft punches on the soldier-boxer.
After the fight, in which Ali patted Noble on the seat of the pants with his right fist after forcing him into a corner, the champ declared the soldier one of the best men he has fought.
The soldiers booed, and a 149-pounder volunteered to “put up a better fight, if not knock you out.”
The challenger was Private First Class Larry D. Rice, 20.
Ali faked being knocked down twice in a five-minute round with the welterweight, drawing big cheers from the crowd. In the end, however, it was Rice who became exhausted and gave up.
“Ali is a great fighter but today he turned out to be a greater entertainer, too. We love him in this remote area. He must be second to none in every sense,” an enlisted man said. “Second to None” is the slogan of the division.
What an awesome story Gerald Noble and Larry Rice were able to tell for the rest of their lives of boxing Muhammad Ali. It is such an incredible story they probably had a hard time getting people to believe them. I am sure the Koreans and GIs that saw Ali back in 1976 will never forget his visit much like many people in the world will not forget the legacy Muhammad Ali left before his passing.
It is slowly happening, but it looks like the bulk of 2ID will eventually be on Camp Humphreys after all these years of delays:
The 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment will move from an area near North Korea this summer, becoming “the vanguard” for a massive relocation of U.S. forces to regional hubs south of Seoul, an Army spokesman said Tuesday.
The announcement is part of a flurry of activity as U.S. Forces Korea readies to finally shift the bulk of its operation to Camp Humphreys in the South Korean port city of Pyongtaek and other areas. The effort has been frequently delayed due to funding and construction problems. The move was originally scheduled to take place in 2008 but was delayed until 2012, then 2016 and most recently, 2017.
The Fort Hood, Texas-based battalion is slated to move from its base at Camp Hovey, which is near the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas, to Humphreys in July, said Lt. Col. Richard Hyde, a spokesman for the 2nd Infantry Division. [Stars & Stripes]
For old 2ID personnel like myself, it still seems weird to hear about an elementary school on Camp Casey. After only six years of operation the school is closing this summer:
Camp Casey’s elementary school and child development center will close this summer as U.S. forces on the Korean Peninsula relocate to Camp Humphreys.
An Installation Management Command memo, dated Jan. 28 and addressed to the parents of children stationed at U.S. facilities north of Seoul, says Camp Casey Elementary School will close in June and Child and Youth Services will end at the base July 1.
“In accordance with the 2002 Land Partnership Plan (amended in 2004), Area I is reducing in U.S. population and bases,” Col. Jack Haefner, U.S. Army Garrison Camp Red Cloud and Area I commander, said in the memo.
Camp Casey’s Department of Defense Education Activity school opened in 2010 with an enrollment of about 250 as part of U.S. Forces Korea’s plan to increase the number of command-sponsored slots on the peninsula. A new wing opened in 2011, nearly doubling the K-8 school’s capacity. However, enrollment has declined over the past year. [Stars & Stripes]
A ceremony is held at U.S. military base Camp Casey in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, on Feb. 26, 2016, for the rotation of troops. Some 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce instead of a peace treaty. (Yonhap)
