While reading through his memoirs about his time in Korea he provides an extensive and very interesting history of how the naming of Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu came to be:
Did I tell you the story about the naming of Camp Red Cloud? Well, I think this is worth telling. My compound there, the corps headquarters, had always been called Jackson Six, which was our telephone exchange. That seemed to me a rather inadequate name. I told somebody — my G-1, I guess, or PR officer, whoever it was — to start digging and find some people in this corps who got a Congressional Medal of Honor during combat and let’s name our compound here, our headquarters, for the most worthy. They came up with several names, and they had a couple of lieutenants. One of them was the Lieutenant Shea that I mentioned, who had just reported to my division and was killed on Pork Chop Hill. She was sort of a favorite of mine, because he held the two-mile record at West Point, about 30 seconds faster than I had held it 30 years before. I had a great feeling for Shea and when I went back home had a review and presented the decoration to his mother. Shea was one of the names, and there were two or three other lieutenants. I finally looked this list over and spotted the name of Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud. I thought that was interesting; what did he do. I got the citation, and Mitchell Red Cloud had done about everything a soldier could do; he charged a bunker and knocked off about 20 of the enemy and finally — even after he was badly wounded, tossed a grenade in a bunker before he died. So what about Mitchell Red Cloud? Well, Mitchell Red Cloud’s mother was the daughter of a chief of the Winnebago Indian Tribe. I said, “Now let’s get hold of all the records we can, and we’ll put in and get this camp named Camp Red Cloud.” I was thinking of the relationship between a native American and a native Asian. We did this, and I had a brass plaque made. I put the brass plaque on a tremendous rock on the more or less flat sloping side in front of I Corps (Group) headquarters, where it is today. We put it in front, right at our flagpole. On Armed Forces Day, 1957, I decided that we had the authority to redesignate and announce it at the Armed Forces Day meeting.
It was a lovely May day; I had all the Diplomatic Corps, President Rhee and his wife, Ambassador Dowling and his wife, General Decker, I believe, or White — all the Americans. We had about 150 people that were there for the ceremony and then for lunch at my club, which I had built or greatly extended across the street. They were sitting there. General Lemnitzer came over; he was always great because my wife had remained in Tokyo, so he brought her over. She was sitting in the front row of seats next to Mrs. Rhee. The President was standing there on one side of this curtain. I was going to say something about Camp Red Cloud, draw the curtain, and expose this plaque, and then the President was to make some remarks. This all happened; we pulled the cord and it worked, fortunately, and the brass was there, so I read what the brass plaque said. Then I said, “How wonderful it is that an American, a native American, an Indian whose ancestors lost their country to us, came over here to fight for the freedom of the native men of Asia.” I went on and built this one up for a little bit, and emphasized that he gave his life for the freedom of Asian people. I then turned it over to President Lee. Well, he said excitedly what a great thing this was. Mrs. Rhee was getting itchier by the moment because she knew that he frequently went of on tangents, and my wife was keeping her calm, saying, “Never mind everything is going to be alright.”
The President launched into this one. He said, “Yes American Indians are exactly like Asian people. I think American Indians came from Asia.” But then he said, “Why is it that all the time you have American movies over here, you show soldiers and cowboys killing American Indians? Asian people don’t like to see white men killing American Indians.” The he said, “Never again will a motion picture be shown in Korea that has the American soldiers or cowboys killing American Indians.” And they never have, but this doesn’t mean that our compound cannot. There was quite a “to-do,” Mrs. Rhee was so upset. I said, “This is nothing. What he said is true, but this happened more than a hundred years ago.” Of course to them this could be happening today. The dates aren’t shown frequently, and they think this is still going on out in the West. It is bad psychology.
Before I left there to come back to the United States at the end of that year, the end of 1957, I wrote back to G-2 and I said, “Listen, you have got to go out and get me tow of the finest pictures, portraits, grand portraits of American Indian chiefs that you can get for me to present to President Rhee.” Mrs. Trudeau and I were invited there for dinner at Chung Mu Dae, now the Blue House, with President and Mrs. Rhee. He presented me with another Korean decoration and then I said, “Your Excellency (or Mr. President), I have a presentation I would like to make to you.” He said, “Certainly.” So we went into the next room. The portraits were on the wall. I had this all planned with his people bringing him in and then we were going to flip the covers back. I said, “Mr. President, you remember the day we named the I Corps Headquarters Camp Red Cloud for Mitchell Red Cloud, the American Indian who came to fight for your freedom in Asia?” He said, “Oh, yes, I remember”. “Well,” I said, “I want to show you, I want to present to you a pair of portraits of other famous American Indians who are high in our esteem in our country also.” I’ve forgotten which ones they were, but I presented them to him; he thought it was tremendous. Goddam it, they looked more like him than he did himself, if he had a headdress on. It was terrific!
This was a very interesting read and I have to wonder what ever happened to those two portraits? I wonder if they are still on display in Cheongwadae?
Note:You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link:
The South Korean city of Uijongbu has a long history of being host to hundreds of thousands of US Soldiers over the past 60 years. Out of all the current and past US military bases in the city Camp Stanley has housed more Soldiers than any other:
Where Camp Stanley is located today was originally a truck depot during the Korean War and became a tent city to house troops following the war. The tent city was eventually named after Colonel Thomas H. Stanley in 1958 who was the commander of the 36th Engineer Regiment during World War II that was killed in a vehicle accident in Italy. I could not however find the reason why this camp was named after someone killed in World War II. If anyone knows please leave a comment. I have seen some of the veteran sites out there that offer old photographs of Korea but Bruce Richards’ site is the best archive of old photographs of USFK facilities I have seen yet. Using Bruce’s picture archives here are a few historic photographs of Camp Stanley:
For those that have been stationed at Camp Stanley before, the above image of tent city is starkly different from what has been built on the camp today. Not only is the camp extremely different but so is the terrain because the mountains in the background look completely deforested compared to the thickly forested slopes of the mountains today.
In this aerial photo from 1955 the rice paddies that still surround the camp to this day can be seen:
This next image from 1961 shows how much development took place in less then 10 years with all the tents replaced with quonset huts and other permanent buildings:
This next image shows a 1964 image of the “ville” adjacent to Camp Stanley:
Needless to say Camp Stanley has changed a lot over the years and is currently a logistical support base for the 2nd Infantry Division after long being the home to 2-2 Aviation Battalion and the division’s artillery units for many years. Camp Stanley has actually escaped being surrounded by urban sprawl due to the fact that is located right next to a Korean prison and it’s adjacent rice paddies. From Camp Stanley you can sometimes hear the prisoners singing songs and cadence from the prison. You can often see them working in the prison’s rice paddies as well. The picture below is of Camp Stanley as viewed from Surak Mountain that show the rice paddies in front of the camp:
This picture provides another view of Camp Stanley as seen from Cheonbo Mountain in Uijongbu:
The Uijongbu Prison is easily seen due to its distinctive blue roof. Camp Stanley also has a distinctive tree lined road that leads to its side gate that goes right by the prison. While driving up the road the prison can easily be seen:
Camp Stanley is the largest base in Uijongbu which due to its size is the only US military installation in Uijongbu that has a true “ville” located adjacent to it appropriately called Stanleyville. The base is located in the southeastern corner of the city and since it is surrounded by mountains and rice paddies it is unlike other bases 2ID where it has not consumed by the urban sprawl. There has been talk in the past about closing Camp Stanley, but I think as long as 2ID remains north of Seoul this camp will remain open due to its size and location that is not a burden on the local community. Here is the north entrance to Camp Stanley from the road leading up to the camp past the prison:
Compared to the earlier 1975 image the gate to the camp has changed a bit over the years. Right next to this gate is the Nameless Music Cafe:
The other way of accessing the camp is by continuing to drive down Highway 43 to the camp’s main gate. While driving down the highway there are some really nice views of Suraksan Mountain that can be seen:
Here is the eastern gate into Camp Stanley as seen from Highway 43:
The Highway 43 gate is primarily used for military vehicles to enter the installation from.
Here is a view looking inside of Camp Stanley:
Here is a view of some of the barracks buildings on the camp:
Here is a picture of the old PX building which has been turned into a education center:
Right next to the old PX building is the new building that was opened back in 2005:
The new Camp Stanley PX when it opened was quite nice and I was surprised by how big it was considering the size of the camp plus the fact that other nearby installations were all being closed out back in 2005. Well the employees at the PX found other people to sell the merchandise to as the Camp Stanley PX would have the distinction of operating one of the largest blackmarketing rings in the country that was finally broken up in 2009. Here is the view looking to the east from the PX which on a clear day has quite a nice view of the nearby mountains across the valley filled with rice paddies:
Here is the view from the PX looking up the hill towards Surak Mountain where one of the few quonset huts on Camp Stanley is still visible:
Next to the PX is the Community Bank which is still open and serving customers on Camp Stanley:
Near the bank is the post chapel:
Near the church there is also a small theater on the camp:
Across from the PX is the commissary which now has this map posted on it in case somebody some how gets lost on this small post:
This commissary is actually pretty good because my wife and I found the customer service to be outstanding and the employees very friendly:
For being a small commissary the shelves were stocked with most items Americans would want to buy, but my only gripe like with many other commissaries in Korea is that the blackmarketing was easy to spot:
All in all though by 2ID standards Camp Stanley is pretty nice installation though it is much quieter now compared to past years when it was home to artillery and aviation units. Likewise Stanleyville has also died down with the exit of all those combat arms soldiers. There is still enough soldiers here though where Camp Stanley is still home to the only real soldier “ville” in Uijongbu where one can find the typical juicy bars, pawn shops, chicken on a stick shacks, counterfeit clothing stores, coin & plaque shops, and other typical staples of a “ville” in Korea:
The ville also has some apartments for families to live in for those thinking about bringing their families to Korea. The few that I have seen were pretty rundown and I almost had to have one soldier move out of his apartment until the landlord agreed to fix some safety issues. For those that have lived in Stanleyville please leave a comment and let everyone know what you thought about your time living there? Likewise if you have been stationed on Camp Stanley please share your thoughts about the camp in the comments section.
The final picture once again from Bruce Richards site is an aerial picture of what Camp Stanley looks like today:
In the above picture you can see Camp Stanley in the middle of the image while Stanleyville is the area with the blue roofed buildings on the left. The Uijongbu Prison can be seen on the top of the picture. The fields of rice that could be seen in the earlier images, like I said before are still visible today around Camp Stanley and are worked by the prisoners housed at the correctional facility. I hope everyone enjoyed this profile of Camp Stanley considering it days are supposedly numbered due to impending USFK transformation plan if it ever happens. Due to Korean governmental delay games and US budget issues I wouldn’t be surprised if Camp Stanley is open for another decade or more.
If you have an interesting or funny veteran story from your time in Korea I would love to hear it. If it is a good story I am willing to publish it here on the ROK Drop. It doesn’t matter what decade you served just as long as it is interesting or funny. If you have a story to share you can e-mail the story to me.
Thanks for reading the ROK Drop.
Note:You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:
I always liked CP Stanley, like a small town and away from the flag pole. Was there 1991-1994 and again 2002-2004. Worst decision ever made was to move DIVARTY/Fires BDE up to Casey.
Friends:
I was stationed at Camp Stanley in the “dark ages” 1959-1960. My unit was the 13th Trans Co (Lt Hel) (H-21C).
It is to me unbelievable how things have changed over the years. In 1959-1960, the area and Korea in general looked as it did…maybe 100 years ago.
God Bless all the Troops that served “over there.” I retired with 36 years service, I will turn 80 on 12 Nov 2012. SGM(Ret) Donald R. Fox
I was at CP Stanley from 1990-1991, during Desert Storm/Desert Shield. At that time, the camp was home to the 2/2 Aviation, an artillery battalion, and several small support units. I was in F Battery, 5/5 ADA. I can remember posting guards at night and hearing people screaming over at the prison. It was pretty weird. I also remember that we didn’t call the town next to the camp “Stanleyville”- we just called it The Ville or “downrange.” The locals called it Kosan-dong or something like that. CP Stanley was a pretty nice place to be considering that many soldiers in the 2nd ID were at camps on the DMZ. For instance, my battalion HQ was at Camp Stanton, which was way up near Munsan.
I was stationed with 2ndMPco in 82, i lived in a quanset hut there were holes in the walls but we sort of loved it, it was a busy place for us! especially down in the vill (Kosong-Dong) when i first got there the MP could only check clubs if there Korean National Police officer escort said yes, we would say “we checkie checkie” they would say no, than with a lot of help from the Post Commander i got it changed so the MP’s could check clubs on our own, thats when we started getting busy, got some great memories of that place, BEST KATUSA’s i ever worked with!
Been at Stanley a few years. Small post, not very many units there now as in previous years. Lots of hills to give cigarette smoking soldiers opportunities to act like they are about to die fall out of runs in the first 1/4-1/2 mile. Very difficult to get to after 7-8 AM with traffic. Long way away from the subway line 1. You have to walk way down hill, take a bus to get within 1/4 mile of the Uijeongbu station, + the walk all the way in. This delays your trip to Seoul considerably. It is actuall faster to take a city bus south, change to a bus crossing the south side of Soo-Rak mountain to get to another line. Next to no one goes to the “Ville” in the evenings. many Soldiers prefer to party in Seoul with the increase in mobility and the ability to saty in a motel instead of having to return to barracks by midnight. If USFK re-instates that policy, then USFK will really see madness happen in hte ville again. As it is now, teh clubs prolly don’t make enough money to pay for electricity. Only 2 clubs ding enough business to stay in business, especially the club where all the MPs used to hangout.
i was stationed at campstanley also known as camp hummingbird from 1963 thru 1964 with the 13th trans. would like to have a good picture of the 13th trans emblem of lucifer the cat on the fourleaf clover. you may e-mail me at kelljim1@aol.com.
thanks
I was stationed at Stanley from 1971-9-1972, A Battery. It sure has changed looking at the photo’s. God Bless all the troops.
– See more at: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CD-Skq7PrgQJ:rokdrop.com/2012/05/01/a-profile-of-camp-stanley-south-korea/+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us#sthash.jsiMyVnm.dpuf
Eighth U.S. Army Commander John Johnson went on a curfew patrol in Seoul’s Itaewon at 2 a.m. last Saturday in a show of discipline after the rape of two Korean teenagers by soldiers under Johnson’s command. He patrolled an entertainment district frequented by U.S. Forces Korea servicemen. Johnson postponed a trip to the U.S. in order to patrol the area. In a military police uniform, Johnson walked the 100 m distance from the Hamilton Hotel to the Cheil Worldwide building accompanied by his aide-de-camp and five military police officers. He went into three bars that are popular with USFK servicemen. The aim was to enforce a 30-day curfew for all USFK personnel living in barracks put in place by USFK Commander James Thurman last Friday, according to the Eighth U.S. Army.
The city of Dongducheon is well known for being home to Camp Casey and soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division. This has made the Bosan-dong ville across the street from Camp Casey the main shopping and bar area for Soldiers stationed at the camp. However, Bosan-dong isn’t the only ville in the Dongducheon area. Camp Hovey is a smaller camp accessed from Camp Casey by a small valley known as the Hovey Cut between the two camps. Just outside the gate of Camp Hovey is the small village of Teokgeo-ri:
Note that Teokgeo-ri has been spelled Toko-ri in the past.
At one time Teokgeo-ri was one of the sleaziest villes you could find in Korea since the clubs had to go out of their way to attract GI customers from the much larger and popular TDC Ville. If you have ever watched the first Stars Wars movie and remember the bar with the space aliens in it in the city of Mos Eisley, that is what Teokgeo-ri was like a few years ago.
Obi-wan Kenobi once described Mos Eisley as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy”, Toko-ri wasn’t much different. However, instead of horned, green, or beady eyed aliens, Teokgeo-ri had Filipino and Russian juicy girls covered in chocolate and wax, a retarded barmaid, strippers that used to hold what was known as the P***y Olympics led by a Korean woman known as the Dragon Lady who did anatomy defying things with cigars and beer bottles, and to top it off there was even a midget. Before I had even ever stepped foot in Korea I had heard about the “Midget of Teokgeo-ri” from old crusty NCOs about how they used to “stick to the midget” especially on New Years; that is how well known she is in the US military. After seeing the midget for myself I can’t imagine why anyone would want to “stick it to the midget”, but hey to each their own.
Since I don’t have anything to do with the ville any more I’m not sure if any of this still goes on, but from what I hear Teokgeo-ri has really died down and even the midget has left the ville in recent years. I hear that the clubs in an effort to stand out from their competition in the TDC ville are more active in prostitution. Anyone know if this perception is true or not?
I started my walk around Teokgeo-ri from the main road that runs through the center of town. From this road I noticed the first club I saw called the Black Jack:
As I continued to walk down the road I also saw the Fox Woods Club:
At the end of the street the road leads to Highway 364 which is a scenic drive up and over the mountains to Pocheon. I took a left and followed a small side road that leads to Camp Hovey:
The side road follows a creek on its eastern side and on the western side are more buildings from the village. Here is the view looking across the creek towards the farm land from the side road:
Here is the view of the buildings I was approaching as I walked down the road:
This cluster of buildings were more clubs servicing Soldiers from Camp Hovey. The first club with the Joy Club:
Next was Club Bounce and Club Hooah:
Here is the view looking back at these clubs:
Here is the view of the creek that runs through Teokgeo-ri and also flows through both Camp Hovey and Camp Casey:
This creek looks harmless enough now but when there is sustained rain this creek can really get swollen and flood which is something Camp Casey and Hovey experienced in recent years.
Here is view looking in the other direction across the rice paddies that border Teokgeo-ri:
As I walked further down the road I came upon this bridge that crosses the river:
Across the bridge there is a road that leads to Beaver’s. Beaver’s is a BBQ restaurant frequented by US Soldiers that has been the subject of controversy in the past. However, it was about this time that I started getting rained on pretty heavily and just decided to walk back to my car as quickly as possible instead:
As walked down the road Camp Hovey came into view:
The road in front me leads through this narrow ville, which I have had a few interesting times trying to drive a Humvee through before:
Instead of walking down the road towards Camp Hovey I took a left and headed back towards the downtown section of the city instead:
Along the way I walked by this US Army friendly hotel:
I then walked by the villages Post Office that appears to be having a problem with people leaving trash on their premises:
Here is a picture of a chicken and beer joint I passed as I walked through the ville:
Here is a side street in the middle of Teokgeo-ri I then followed where more clubs are located:
First is the DMZ Club:
Then there is the Grand Illusion:
Followed by Club NBA:
Here is the view looking back down the street at the clubs that I walked by:
From this street I then walked up a side alley to take me back to where I parked on the main road through town:
Along this road I saw few more clubs such as Club Obsession:
I then walked by the UN Club:
After coming back upon the main road through Teokgeo-ri I noticed a sign for the D&G Club:
Right next to the D&G Club was what was left of this burned down club:
Here is one final view of downtown Teokgeo-ri:
Conclusion
If it wasn’t for the fact that Teokgeo-ri is a sleazy ville it actually would be a nice place to live due to its scenic location. The valley is quite beautiful and some people are starting to take notice of this fact as more and more large and expensive homes are being built along the hills around Teokgeo-ri. I do have to say that in the past 10 years Teokgeo-ri has come a long ways and is not as sleazy as it once was. Who knows maybe some day after the US military relocates from Dongducheon to Camp Humphreys further down south, maybe Teokgeo-ri will become an area more affluent people build their homes to take advantage of the village’s beautiful scenery? With that said that concludes my walk around Teokgeo-ri. If anyone has anything they want to add about the various clubs in the village and experiences they had in Teokgeo-ri in the past please share with everyone in the comments section.
Note:You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:
The flood in ’98 spawned most of the rebuilding you see today. While they have slightly polished the turd, it’s still a worthless cesspool of Horny GIs ,Flip whores, Soju laden Whiskey and Skunk OB.
I am wondering if there is any such thing as “skunk OB”.
In all the years of selling Korean beer, I never had a complaint about any of the beer tasting skunky.
Nor, outside of a GI ville, have I had strange-tasting Korean beer.
I suspect that “skunk OB” has more to do with the habit of GI bars refilling used bottles with draft beer and loosely recapping them by thumb in the afternoon.
Then, they go into the beer cooler where they loose much of their fizz and freshness after a day or three.
Ajuma brings them to the table with rapidly popped caps and nobody is the wiser.
Poor OB, which runs a squeaky-clean stainless steel and glass brewery where robots do most of the work, gets blamed for making skunky beer.
Some people deny this is possible. One guy wanted to argue that there was no way ajuma could serve him a refilled beer… he “would just know”. Besides, “I can hear the hiss when the cap comes off.” He denied my skepticism that anybody could here that in a noisy bar.
While he explained the intricacies of differentiating the nuances of opened and unopened beer, I kept eye contact, picked up an empty bottle off the bar, pressed a cap on it with my thumb… RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM… and said, “Gosh, dude. I guess you are right. Let me buy you a beer.” I popped the top with an opener.
His attitude changed. “Thanks, man!” He lifted it back for a swig… and, of course, nothing came out.
In the history of stupid looks, it was in the top ten.
I was just up in that area today…had a lot of flood damage to many of the clubs. The Americans helped out quite a bit cleaning out their own favorite watering holes though!
Though this all looks scrubbed and clean compared to the Korea I remember from 1983 I sure do want to come back and take a tour. I really appreciate the photo journalism pages like this I’m finding on this site! Thanks
Directly or indirectly? And,while I’m at it since you know a thing or two about the booze business in Korea…Why are Korean breweries’ new products so bad?
A little useless Teokgeo-ri trivia that I learned from someone born and raised there.
The first syllable in the name is “tuk” (턱), which is the Korean word for “chin.” The second and third syllables are the word “geo-ri” (거리), which is the Korea word that has several related meanings, such as distance, range, an interval, a difference or a gap.
So…how/why did these two words get combined to make the name of a small mountainous village?
There are several trails up in the mountains, some of which are somewhat dangerous because one errant step and you could find yourself going down. So if someone took a wrong step, he/she could easily find him or herself falling into a cavity/depression of some sort and quickly be up to his/her chin in a hole. Thus, you fell to a depth (distance) “up to your chin.”
And so the name Teokgeo-ri was born.
Without giving it any thought – 99%+ of the people would guess the “ri” part of the name is the “ri” (리 里) that means village. But this is a rare case of a village name that ends with “ri” – and the “ri” means something other than village. Also, most Korean place names have Chinese characters behind the hangul spellings – but not this village. It’s name is pure Korean.
Have you not noticed that everybody is producing a “safe”, lowest-common-denominatior one-size-fits-all product?
This ranges from TV/movies/music to snacks/chain restaurants/beer to uninspired fashion/cars/consumer electronics.
Unique and appealing stuff is available… but it costs substantially more than the dreck passed off on the masses.
This is a side effect of the perverse form of macroeconomics currently being practiced and passed off as “capitalism”.
It would take pages and pages to explain… but some key points are… governments discourage small-scale innovation through over-regulation, employment law, and tax structure… large companies discourage anything but managed competition from their peers… the financial companies encourage stagnation through formula risk management… and short-term, golden parachute CEOs worrie about short-term gain at the expense of long-term failure, etc.
(Another interesting aspect is when this system fails, there will be many wagging their fingers and happily touting the “failure of capitalism”.)
So… with all this, every beer tastes like Budweiser… the lowest form of beer that is not exactly unpleasant… but certainly isn’t much more special than water.
Small companies interested in making great beer at a lower profit can’t get the approval or financing to get started and the big companies work together to keep it that way… and then they collectively try to shave pennies of cost off the thousand gallon tank by using inferior ingredients or faster processes which result in lower quality products across the board… but, with an army of focus groups, they are able to choose something the public will tolerate if they have no other choice… and then, after some time, the public forgets and the new crap becomes the new standard.
If all the contrived regulations and permits didn’t exist, any one of us could make fantastic beer out of our houses and sell it on the street at a reasonable price and make a reasonable profit… quickly becoming competition with the swill producers.
It can be done… but it requires big money. Gone are the days of Ma and Pa starting a big company out of their house and building the business one step at a time all on their own. Everyone from the big companies to the financial institutions to the government they control don’t want it to be that easy or that independent.
Actually, America has some great microbreweries but the big 3 (Bud, Miller, Coors) control distribution and lock them out best they can.
Prohibition killed many breweries and the small ones primarily came back because of one man… one kind of unexpected hero. While we love to make fun of him, we should probably always give him credit for this as we complain about him.
Anyway, that is a very babbling, unorganized, complex, and wide-ranging answer to why popular beer (and a lot of other things) suck… and seem to keep getting worse.
“Teokgeo-ri” does not really exist except as slang. It is not an official name… hence it is not a “ri”. It is a dong of Dongduchon. The official address is gwang-ahm-dong.
Teok-ga-ri came about because going over a hill in the area (possibly of the same name) caused one to be out of breath.
Korean slang for “out of breath” translates as “breath comes up to your chin”… which became, as you pointed out, “chin distance” or some similar idea.
I can’t vouch for my version being correct… but that’s what I heard.
With imports being increasingly popular, they could still produce a better quality product and charge a premium for it as they do in most countries. It would sell. But, as you were saying, they are shortsighted.
Some folks are trying to give people good beer options – either by opening a bar or making it themselves.
Also, there’s a Korean-American guy who is running an American Craft Beer importing company here that currently supplies Anderson Valley, Lost Coast, and Rogue Brewing Company beers. They’re pricey, but good.
I lived in the old apartment complex at the far left of that 3rd pic for a long time. It used to be a foreigners only complex, sold to private individuals during our stay there (many of the apartments were subsequently renovated). That part of TDC was a nice, quiet place to live (sleazy clubs down the street, which I never visited, notwithstanding). I’d go back in a minute. Last time I was there that apartment complex wasn’t looking too good anymore, though…
The new OB beer, called “OB Gold”, is not bad. Its at least as good or better than any US mass produced beer. And I agree that being in brown bottles, cans or kegs there is little chance of a truly “skunky” Korean beer (except I suppose, Cafri, in the clear “High Life” style bottles), as “Skunky” aroma is a result of sunlight acting on the beer.
I have heard the old “it sat around” used as an excuse… but I think it is just an excuse because nobody wants to believe they are drinking used beer.
Korean bar owners have not studied logistics nor do they speak of JIT… but they have neither the space nor the extra cash to keep weeks of unused beer lying around in a back room… so they rotate their entire supply in a week at most.
The distributors also rotate their supply quickly as storage space is expensive.
There never seems to be a skunky beer from a store, either… or Korean-only bars in non-GI areas.
I stand by my idea that skunky beer is due to the games GI bars play.
Sorry CH. I personally know bar owners whose stock *might* have rotated, sitting in an (climate) uncontrolled area, for 5-6 months, maybe longer. I couldn’t believe how much beer they were buying versus how much they sold. Thinking of one owner in particular, I’m suspecting a huge bulk discount on nearly expired product. Possibly saving 3-5 cents a bottle! Oh, it’s worth it.
I know I never sold used beer in my bar but sometimes, but rarely, got a skunk.
As far as sunlight and brown bottles. Meh. Hauling brown bottles around on the back of an uncovered flatbed for a few days?…
oh man this brings back memories. was with the MP’s from 2004-2007 here. I remember the king club and mustang club the most. mustang for the crowd/music and king for the girls
I was in Camp Hovey – Toko-ri from 1966 to late 1968. I don’t know how it changed but then it was one of the most laid back places in Korea. The people were friendly and the food was great. The pot was cheap and it was mellow. The girls were all Korean, no foreign girls at all. There wasn’t a paved road anywhere to be seen, except in the camp. There were no buildings over one story that I can remember, even in camp. Most buildings were quonsets except for the mess hall and the officer’s quarters. The clubs were called the New Seoul Club and the Niagara Club, etc. A yobo (girlfriend) was $15.00 a month and it went up as you gained rank. We used to do field marches up to a place called Wang Bang Knee. If you wanted to go to TDC, you could take a Kimchi bus at the risk of your life. Going over the pass to TDC was always an adventure. The village was a floating mud puddle during monsoon season. I don’t think many of us wanted to go to TDC because we had our own little tucked away paradise. It was among the best times of my life. I would go back in a minute if it were still like that. Unfortunately it does seem to have changed a bit.
One of my buddies just returned from Hovey last week. He said Toko-ri is now Off Limits. He did say that since it is Off Limits, the MPs and the units patrols do not go there, it is a good get away.
Re: OB and skunk beer – shit, when I was in Korea, I’d drink a semi-cold beer out of a homeless man’s shoe; In 1987 at 800 won, it was not a bad deal. When out and about, who cares about the beer?
As for Toko-ri: I lived a five minute walk from the main gate at Camp Casey. It was too easy just to go there. On 2 or 3 occasions, however, I wanted to see what Toko-ri might have to offer. While not dissapointed, I was not so impressed, either. I did meet one nice person at the Ace club, but not so nice that I went back. Honestly; why travel to go ride on a merry-go-round when you already live in Disneyland? I will admit that the cab rides were nice, especially if you told the adjushi to go fast; the ride through the mountains was nearly as fun as a roller coaster.
I was also stationed at Camp Hovey (1966-1968) where I met Steve Dudas and we became friends and still are. Tokori was a great little village back then. There was a road that went up behind the village along a stream – great place to stop and have a picnic – very scenic. I stayed overnight many times – returning back to base in the morning. We would buy a teapot full of Malkoli for about 40 won – drink that and smoke pot. I really had a great time there even extending my tour of duty for an additional year. Also had a great time touring much of South Korea. The people were very grateful for us being there and protecting them.
Looking at these pictures – I can’t believe how much everything has changed.
Toko-ri was a “ri” at one point. Mail to my hooch off base back in the 80′s was Kyonggi-do, Tongducheon-Shi, Kwang-am-dong, Toko-ri, and whatever the street address was.
I was stationed at Camp Hovey from 1989 -1990! I spent so much time “down range” in the ‘vill my buddies called me the Mayor of ToKoRi! You could usually find me at the Enjoy Club swilling something cold, hardly ever OB. I think they sold Bud there, can’t remember! Usually had a LBFM close by trying to hustle a drinky or a short time!! I was very glad to see the photos posted here but can only remember the “GI” Club and Jun Bar B Q! The Enjoy club was up that alley between the two in the pic! Tried to go by there the day before I PCS’ed but the place had been shut down for some reason. I’d like to go there again and see the place, but I am too old now to “Enjoy”!!!
I was stationed in Yongsan at the 121 Evac Hospital from 1979-1980. One of the few things that I didn’t like about Korea was that the beer sucked. There were 2 types, OB (OB is an appropriate name since it tasted like Obstetrical drainage) & Crown (less nasty in my opinion but not by much). I went back to Korea for a week after I retired in 1996 on the way to my wife’s home in Cambodia & they had Budweiser. It’s not great like Guinness, German, or Czech beers but it’s better than OB or Crown. I drank oceans full of soju, mokoli, & oscar when I was stationed there. The pot was just ok but you could get different pills or codeine cough syrup in the Korean pharmacies. For any law enforcement personnel reading this that is just what I heard. The year I spent in Korea was the best year of my life, it was one big party.
Perhaps drinking OB is just an acquired taste. I know that after several months in Korea, I acquired the taste quite nicely, thank you. Hell, I could even drink that wierd-ass “champagne”, Oscar, and not toss my biscuits. If one can tolerate (or even enjoy) soju or makkoli, one could certainly like OB!
Did anyone ever try kolyangju? It is a Chinese whiskey; that shit gave me a three day hangover. Never again!
Ahh Hovey ville! My first introduction to military night life in 1990. My first drink, my first time over seas, first time experiencing the “Drinky” culture…..the days. I love your comparison between the Casey ville and Hovey Ville…too accurate. I used to love going to Hovey Ville because I knew that all other G.I.’s were in Casey. But one time they shut Casey down and put it off limits, that night I think half of 2ID was in Hovey ville. I had never seen it so crowded. Thanks for the pics and memories.
Sorry for the double post – but this is a more appropriate place for this:
I went out the Camp Hovey gate and drove through Tokori last night. It was sometime between 9:00 and 10:00pm on a Saturday — and I literally did not see a single soldier.
Wow! I was stationed at Cp Hovey 69-71. I was a “Ville Rat” and actually married a girl from there, two sons, and doing well. It was a little broken down village and I can’t believe how it has changed. When you walk out the Hovey gate I actually bought the first building to the right, don’t know if it’s still there (if so I own it lol), it had been bought by a former MSG, two rooms and pretty snazzy for Tokori, I think I paid like $300, huge sum in those days…aaah they were good times….
I like Steve Dudas’s post, why go to TDC when we had a little bit of heaven on our front door. I also remember Steve, the New Seoul and Niagra Clubs.
True story…the little stream that floated thru Toko-ri and Camp Hovey. I had snuck out without a pass and somehow got thru the front gate…to get back I used an air mattress and floated right to my barracks which was just off the stream. I don’t think I was the first to do this, they always put up wire but somehow it always got torn down…great crazy memories…..
Interesting stories on how the name Tokori came about. You learn something new all the time. I’m wondering if there are still any references to Wang Bang Knee where we did our full pack marches back in 1966-68? It was uphill all the way out and uphill all the way back. Never figured out how they did that. I suspect the name ‘Wang Bang Knee’ is a G.I. given name but I’ll let you break it down. Obviously somebody with a tauxan chargee who was bragging about it.
I was at Hovey in spring and summer of 1971.
HHC 1/23. We had just come off the DMZ over at Libby bridge. Brought my girl from Changpa ri down to Toko’ri. We had a hootch just out the back gate and up on the hill on the right.
It was cool. Work on base 8-5 then down to the vill for the night and all weekends.
No having to be back by midnight and only 25% of your unit able to be on pass like it was when we were across the river.
The vill was a bit of a mud hole though,but it was in that beautiful valley. It’s funny I just moved from Irvine Ca where I lived for 24 years and it now has a huge Korean population. In 2000 a Korean family bought the house next door and hearing Korean bought back lots of memories.When I tell the Koreans that I was there in the army they almost always say thanks to me for serving. I sold my house to a Korean family when I move here in Tulsa Ok. The family got $250,000 from their parents in Korea for the down payment. South Korea has come a long way.
Toko’ri was there from 84 to 86 good time had by all remember thunder runs and jungle juice thought i died and went to heaven lots of girls too hahahaha thanks for the memories do they still do the horn run on saterdays
What a deference. I was station at Hovey in 1966. What a rat hole then. Muddy streets 4 inches deep, shanty town at best. Mothers selling their daughters. I see it’s still Loaded with bars and whores. Had some fun though, culture shock back then for sure.
Then you can imagine what it was like in 1966. Same mud but probably more of it and that refreshing aroma from the rice paddies when the first spring thaw occurred. You remember that aroma, right? Straight from the hard work of the honeydippers. By the end of the first week, you didn’t even notice the smell anymore. Ah, what a place. I would go back in a minute if it still existed.
wow… is this really Tokori ? I was stationed at Hovey from oct 71 – Jan 73. I was a gate guard for some of that time, and the rest of the time I was in HHC 1/23 Inf commo, on the hill just above the Motor Pool.. or the commo chief of Combat support and spent some time on the Z. I was a 17 year old kid, and sure remember some of the best times I had in my life. I never looked at it as a bad place, I had so much fun how could I. It was a dirty mud hole that I do remember, but hell I still enjoyed my time there so much that if given the chance I would do it again…..
I was stationed at Camp Hovey from Oct 1966-1967. Met and married my first wife there. Three kids and four grandchildren later I still have mixed memories of the place. I long for the days when a dollar would buy just about anything.
Was with HHC 3/32 as Radar Operator from Jan 67 thru May 68. I totally agree with comments regarding “the time of our lives”. Toko-ri was a real eye opener for a 19 yr old. Like the old west. Spent all your money on beer in the clubs and to mamasan for the short time with the bar girls. The town was really nothing more than wooden shacks and some store fronts with dirt roads and an occassional town well. The bars and clubs were always packed with G.I.’s and the music blared in the streets from the time you walked through the Hovey gate. The surrounding rice paddies brought tears to your eyes during the spring thaws, and frozen toes when walking guard on the dikes in winter during alerts. Spent 3 months on the Z at GP Hendrix, and never regretted a day spent in Korea. It was great being 19 and innocent.
I was an 11 Bravo at Hovey in 1-503 Inf, 87-88. I raised a lot of hell that year. What sucked about Korea was that all of the NCOs and Officers lived cheek to jowl with you-no family to go home to, so they were more involved in a soldiers personal life more than at a typical stateside assignment. Also, they would pull your pass for the smallest of infractions or just for the hell of it. Having said that, outwitting NCOs and Officers was something I enjoyed doing. I had an overnight pass every night-even when I was restricted. I preferred Toko-Ri to TDC because I had my favorite bar and knew the owners and was treated pretty decently. I went back to Korea from 94-97. Things had really changed.
I was with CS 2bg 34inf in Nov1959-1960. Toki-ri was a primitive village through I drove my jeep on the way to my alert station. The streets were unpaved and often muddy. The stench from open sewers was worse than the rice paddies. When the Niagra Club opened it was a time for celebration, because it was the most substantial building in the village. There was a more convenient community north of Toki-ri that we used to village via a hole in the fence. It was necessary to traverse the rice paddies, because there was no road.
Just ran across a guy who was at Toko-Ri the same time I was there…it’s interesting that all of our memories are the same….it was a dirty little village, but it also had it’s good points, good times….I think Steve said it best, the smell was awful, but after a week you got used to it. I spent over two years there and would have spent the rest of my military career there if they let me…great crazy times
CHIPPERB… Was same unit & time as you .. 87-88. Look up Camp Hovey page on FB. What company were you with??
Tokori was THE BEST !! In 87-88 it was our ‘ville!! We loved it there!! Great clubs & places to eat once you got to know your way around. I’m not talking Vegas here but, for the time, place, & circumstances. If you’ve been there you know what I’m saying.
I was there in 91-92 as medic in the 1/5th. I can honestly say I had the time of my life down in Toko-Ri. All I can remember was the Grand Illusion and the Wild Rose or Yellow Rose. Looked a lot different 21 yrs ago. There was a lot of “juicey” girls then but you figured them out and they also figured you out. They would just await the next “Turtles” to show up. Poor girls…good times! How about that SoJu??!! Was kind of happy to throw my boots over that power line and fly outta that hole. What I really miss is the food! I’d like to get a group together and ride the train to Ouijambu(sp), take the subway to Iaetawon and party the weekend on HookerHill. Anyone remember the HeavyMetal Club or the King Club? How about drinking Kettles on the Hill when the clubs closed long enough to restock? The only place that stayed open really late or all night was that club on the top floor of the building at the bottom of Hooker Hill. I didn’t hit Seoul til I was in country for 7 months. Too much to do in TDC and Toko-Ri. “AlwaysReadySir”-Second to None
I lovedf Korea 1973-1976 Gun Fighter in Charge was with C co 1/9 inf KEEP UP THE FIRE mancho heavy dragons loved that PEACH Osker could find me at papa son club mosa>>>>11 C4 P and 95 B4 P mortors and Military Police
I remember like it was yesterday, i spent my last weeks in 06 at casey,and tokori my club was the indian head. I was in search of the famous tokori midget. how i miss the cool fall, early winter nights waking in the cold with a nice soju buzz smoking a cheap Korean cigarette and watching the juicy girls tremble, wearing almost nothing…. one day i’ll go back
11B 1/38th in 77/78. I remember Toko-Ri as a great place. More class than that dump outside Fort Polk for sure. There was unofficial pressure to take up with a Yobo full time in the village to keep you away from the bar girls. I still remember the little hearts the “official” girls wore they got from their last medical checkup. Sort of a “Best used by” date.
With Charlie, 2/32, at Hovey in 1969-70. Toko-ri was always our choice…getting over to TDC took too much time and I ran into some problems there with slicky boys on a couple of occasions. Mostly hung out at the Niagara in Toko-ri with pal Sonny Koger. Yup, the place stunk to high heavens and the best part of winter was that the ville didn’t smell as bad. These pix show an entirely different place. Paved roads? Wow.
Still a little new to computers at 55, was at C 1/9th from 77 to 78. Never heard anyone mention the top 10 VD guide bill board at the Main gate at Camp Casey, have a photo of it. Tokori was mainly a week day thing when we weren,t in the field and you could hit the house boy Mr Cho up for a loan with interest, the New Seoul club was my favorite.TDC was mostly the payday weekend deal but one thing for sure I would not of traded that one year for the three spent in Germany.
Served 11 months on Train Fire Range at Camp Casey from Aug. 64 to July 65. Worked at zero range where personnel learned how to set the sight on there rifle and how to use use there weapon. Served with a great group of men.
Cpl
I’ve been serving in Yongsan for a couple of years now and I’m having a great time! Funny, we are on exercise in Daegu. We were talking about the midget of Tokori yesterday and if it was an urban legend. That’s how I stumbled onto this blog through a google search. I love hearing the old stories and have a few myself.
Not to disappoint but Teokgeori is almost about shutdown. There is only maybe 4 bars still open and yes, the prostitution is still prosperous, but you dont see hardly any GIs or CPs/MPs hanging around…they mostly go to the TDC Ville now. BUT, GIs looking for a quick lay you will see out in these few clubs and it isnt that they are there for drinks only! Anyone with a brain knows what their plan is, been there done that. The prostitution goes on in the TDC Ville as well though…its all who you know and if Ajima know you or not. Pay your $200 to $300 dollar barfine and the girl is yours for the night! Not like in the 90′s when you could go upstairs for a shortime for nearly nothing! but than again, I used to get laid in a dark corner with the girl riding me…no need to pay to take her out and MPs/CPs would just turn a blind eye back than anyways. Attempt at stopping Human Trafficking from the Philippines is a joke! Talk to most of them, they use Hong Kong as the “back door” to enter Korea to work in the clubs. The club burned down in teh picture, the fat Korean guy who used to own it married a juicy and now lives in the Philippines. The Midget from Teokgeori works in a Korean bar near Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu. The club system will never go away as long as there are foreigners in Korea spending money…the KTO has too much power! Now if the 2ID Commander had a pair like the Osan Commander, than that would make a HUGE difference in TDC with no Filipinas! But hey, I’d like to see the Koreans come back anyways, and they are slowly gaining ground with the bar “Beerland” being all Koreans, which is nice! But in typical Korean fashion, they will suck your wallet dry if you let em! There is a club owner that used to own Hans Club across from the Bosan-Dong train station and now owns a little bar called Hans in the TDC Ville. Notorious for having her girls runaway. She even tried to prevent it one by taking the Filipinas to Pocheon to prostitute out to Koreans, but that only lasted for about a year. I’ll end, I could write a book on TDC, been there so many years and know the system used in the bars! Oh and Yongsan…dont even waste my time going there. You gotta carry an “Off-Limits” list with you just to find a place to go in Itaewon…not worth my time. Waiting to see what happens outside the Camp Humphreys gate as it grows…a small club district right now, but I foresee it growing. Again, another place easy to get laid…been there recently, done that. Break curfew, it FUN! What’s the worst that could happen, they send me home to the States?? YIPPEE!
Funny, I was in Casey in 1999 in 2/72 Armor and me and my Filipino friend went to Tokori to see the midget. I’m pretty sure she worked at the bar that was shown as burned down. Anyway, we walk in and my friend isn’t much more than 4 1/2 feet tall and the midget walks up and he starts laughing. I look at him and I look at the midget and I look back at him and I couldn’t help but laugh, too.
I just dreamt about my experiences in 93/94 there in Tokiri… what a time I had. New Seoul Club was the name of the place and the girl I liked most was Sauni. I knew nothing about life and I was introduced to it from Korea, don’t know if that is good or bad. Thanks for posting all your stories. Maybe one day I will return, only reenlisted once but was for Hawaii. Got out and moved on with life. Stay out of trouble and enjoy your service gentlemen.
Glad to hear the New Seoul Club is still around. It was there when I was there in 1966. I think it was about half way down the road that went left when you entered Tokori – before the road went out into the countryside (rice paddies, along the river). The road that went straight was the road that the Kimchi buses took to get to TDC. There was also the Niagara Club and a few others that I can’t quite remember now. The word ‘concrete’ was unknown in Tokori as the roads – both of them – were muddy ditches that the deuce and a halfs lurched through during monsoon season. And occasionally some villager would pretend he was hit by one of the Army vehicles so he/she could collect a few bucks. When I saw that on a M.A.S.H episode, it took me back because it was so true. Earl, what company were you with? I was HHC, 2/32, 7th Inf. Company clerk (original Radar O’Reilly).
Mike: depends on your definition of old school, but anything that an ‘old timer’ remembers from the pre-1990s – that kind of club scene completely disappeared by the early ’90s. And it ain’t been the same ever since.
I was there in 2002 and it was pretty tame even then. Didn’t see any women covered in chocolate or wax, maybe a few giving discreet handjobs in back booths, and alas we missed the midget as well. I think the main difference these days is that you’ll be unlikely to find any Russian women there. I was in the main ville up there five years ago and it was practically all Filipinas even then, with the odd Korean woman here and there.
There are still lots of Russian women working Texas Street in Busan these days. The older ones charge W10,000 for a lady drink at the little bars along the main drag, and the younger ones tend to work the noraebangs, where they can pull more coin from a Korean clientele. There are also a lot of Russian streetwalkers in the back alleys if that’s your thing, and some of them can be pretty freaky. The drunk Russian seamen wandering about also make things interesting — they’re a friendly bunch on the whole, but things can quickly turn ugly if you’re not careful, but that’s pretty much par for the course.
King Baeksu: I hear you brother. I’ve never been to Rio, couldn’t even tell you where it’s located.
Guitard: For what it’s worth, my definition of old school would be clubs where political correctness and the morality police are extinct. About 3 years ago there was a lot more Russians frequenting the bars in Itaewon. They must have relocated somewhere else with more earning potential.
Jan 67 to Dec 68, got there the day that N Korea took the Pueblo….cant remember the unit anymore except that I was a mechanic in the motorpool for HQ company at Hovey when it was 7th Inf…. Hard to remember much of it but Toko-ri was all mud, narrow alleys, sweet young girls and the OB was better than the Schlitz they sent over. Now I find myself needing proof that I was rotated to the DMZ where we got the agent orange. VA doesn’t have records of it even though I went thru Libby bridge so many times I didn’t need clearance. It was good times..what I remember of it..
Im from bounce club. I miss korea. I worked there for 9months and our boss have to send us home becoz clubs are getting shut down. Im happy seeing these pictures it reminds me of the day that i met alot of new people army korean pilinos …. It brings back memories hope i can get a contact no. Of the owner of bounce club. I really miss them.
Thanks GI Korea, you refreshed my memories. I was stationed on Hovey from 1998 to 1999. I just remember that I was in charge of the Warrior Passes, 2/17 FA HHB Unit, I was the king . I really had an excellent time in Tokori with my body Pedro. All those photos gave me a flash back.
Camp Mujuk was established in 1980 to assist the III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) with training deployments to the Korean peninsula. Mujuk means invincible in Korean and is an 84 acre facility located approximately 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul and 6 kilometers south of the port city of Pohang. The camp used to be owned by the ROK Marine Corps, but as part of the camp close outs and consolidations that began back in 2004, Camp Mujuk became the responsibility of the US Marine Corps to maintain:
When viewed on Google Earth the small size of this facility is quite evident:
Camp Mujuk’s location in Pohang is important because it is only about a mile from the home base of the 1st ROK Marine Corps Division. The camp is used as a base to house Marines that rotate to the peninsula for various exercises such as Foal Eagle, Key Resolve, and Ulchi Focus Lens (UFL), which is where US Marines train with their ROK Marine Corps counterparts. Though US Marines only come on the peninsula to train with their ROK Marine counterparts they are still subject to anti-US protests at training exercises they conduct on the peninsula to include even this year’s 2010 Key Resolve exercise:
In past protests, demonstrators actually were jailed when they assaulted US Marines during amphibious landing exercises.
In preparation for these regular training exercises a small detachment of Marines man the camp full time. According to Global Security.com the camp is manned with 32 Marines full time who usually rotate out after 6 months. With such a small full time troop presence at Camp Mujuk this means the camp has limited facilities such as a mini-PX and barber shop:
The camp does have the ROK Hard Cafe, which I suspect visiting troops probably share chuckles about when they see the cafe’s name:
Besides being a camp for visiting Marines to house themselves at during training exercises, the camp also serves to maintain pre-positioned aviation and ground ordinance facilities in the area. Here is a look at the facilities that Camp Mujuk has for visiting Marines:
Here is Camp Mujuk’s headquarters area with the American and ROK flags flying overhead:
You can see the camp’s gym on the right of this picture that Im sure gets plenty of use when visiting Marines are on the base:
00309-N-9573A-002 CAMP MUJUK, Republic of Korea (March 9, 2010) Marines from 3D Marine Logistics Battalion and Republic of Korean (ROK) Marines warm up with a set of jumping jacks before conducting training at the ROK Mountain Warfare Training Center. The 3D Marine Logistics Battalion is stationed in Okinawa, Japan, and is in Korea to participate in Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 2010. Exercise Freedom Banner involves the movement of U.S. Marine Corps equipment on Maritime Propositioning Force ships and is part of Exercise Foal Eagle. Key Resolve is primarily a command-post exercise with computer-based simulations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Bobbie G. Attaway)
When Marines are not training they are also trying to make a positive impact within the Korean community by conducting Good Neighbor activities such as sponsoring orphanages.
Like other US camps in Korea, Camp Mujuk also has markers commemorating Heroes of the Korean War such as Marine Corporal Joseph Vittori who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions during the Korean War:
Corporal Vittori was killed in action against the Chinese on September 16, 1951. Here is his Medal of Honor citation:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Automatic Rifleman in Company F, Second Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division (Reinforced), in actions against enemy aggressor forces in Korea on 15 and 16 September 1951. With a forward platoon suffering heavy casualties and forced to withdraw under a vicious enemy counterattack as his company assaulted strong hostile forces entrenched on Hill 749, Corporal Vittori boldly rushed through the withdrawing troops with two other volunteers from his reserve platoon and plunged directly into the midst of the enemy. Overwhelming them in a fierce hand-to-hand struggle, he enabled his company to consolidate its positions to meet further imminent on slaughts. Quick to respond to an urgent call for a rifleman to defend a heavy machine gun positioned on the extreme point of the northern flank and virtually isolated from the remainder of the unit when the enemy again struck in force during the night, he assumed position under the devastating barrage and, fighting a singlehanded battle, leaped from one flank to the other, covering each foxhole in turn as casualties continued to mount, manning a machine gun when the gunner was struck down and making repeated trips through the heaviest shellfire to replenish ammunition. With the situation becoming extremely critical, reinforcing units to the rear pinned down under the blistering attack and foxholes left practically void by dead and wounded for a distance of 100 yards (91 m), Corporal Vittori continued his valiant stand, refusing to give ground as the enemy penetrated to within feet of his position, simulating strength in the line and denying the foe physical occupation of the ground. Mortally wounded by enemy machine-gun and rifle bullets while persisting in his magnificent defense of the sector where approximately 200 enemy dead were found the following morning, Corporal Vittori, by his fortitude, stouthearted courage and great personal valor, had kept the point position intact despite the tremendous odds and undoubtedly prevented the entire battalion position from collapsing. His extraordinary heroism throughout the furious night-long battle reflects the highest credit upon himself and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.
Here is another Marine hero commemorated at Camp Mujuk, Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Gordon:
Lieutenant Colonel Gordon was a veteran of World War II before seeing service in the Korean War. During the war he was the pilot of a AD-2 Skyraider or Marine Attack Squadron 121. On November 18, 1951, while on a combat mission over North Korea, his aircraft was struck by anti-aircraft fire and caught fire. LTC Gordon tried to bail out at a low altitude, but was killed during the attempt. Lieutenant Colonel Gordon was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation, the Republic of Korea War Service Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.
Conclusion
That concludes my Camp Mujuk history lesson, which as readers can see isn’t much considering it is a small camp that has a small permanent troop presence, but that doesn’t mean the camp isn’t important. It is the premier site to host training between two important allied forces; the US Marines and the ROK Marine Corps. The importance of this camp will ensure that it will continue to play an important part of the US-ROK alliance long after many other camps of similar size are closed on the peninsula.
This is a problem that really pisses me off when soldiers leave not only their wife in Korea, but even their kids as well:
U.S. Army officials have started an “Abandoned Spouses Hotline” here in hopes of helping women left stranded — both intentionally and unintentionally — by their soldier-husbands.About 30 women have gotten help courtesy of the year-old outreach program, which officials hope will become a model for U.S. military communities around the world.
Most have not been abandoned in the classic sense. Many were foreign-born military wives who needed help working through the maze of immigration paperwork necessary to join their husbands in the U.S. or at their next duty stations.
However, in about a half-dozen instances, the program has come to the aid of women whose husbands have left South Korea with no apparent intention of taking their wives or children with them.
“That is really, really bad,” said Elizabeth Samarripa, the Army Community Services outreach program coordinator for Area I, the northernmost region of South Korea. “It is against Army regulations. You cannot abandon your family.” [Stars & Stripes]
When 2BCT deployed to Iraq in 2004 that is when this issue was most prevalent. I can understand that some of these soldiers get buyers remorse after marrying some of these juicy girls from the ville, but that still doesn’t mean you can abandon them, especially if you have a kid.
Here is an interesting article by journalist Ben Hancock in The Diplomat about the US troop presence in South Korea that readers here at the ROK Drop should find of interest. Hancock interviews a number of people about this issue to include, John Feffer:
‘It’s almost like a temperature gauge,’ says John Feffer, co-director of the Washington-based Foreign Policy in Focus and editor of The Future of US-Korean Relations. ‘When the United States reduces the number of troops [in South Korea] it has historically been an indication of displeasure.’ Today, Feffer says, this is part of the unease surrounding the transfer of OPCON, which dictates who has command over the 650,000 ROK troops in wartime. He describes it as ‘the tension between being abandoned by the United States and being suffocated by the United States.’
Given to the United Nations Command at the outset of the Korean War, OPCON was transferred to the US Combined Forces Command (CFC) in 1978, and is to return to South Korea in April 2012. The ROK regained peacetime control of its troops in 1994.
Conservatives in South Korea, like current President Lee Myung-bak and many members of his Grand National Party, are the most concerned about the OPCON transfer and what it might mean for US-ROK interoperability in the event of a North Korean attack. The fact that the decision on the transfer was made in October 2006–the same month the North conducted its first known nuclear test–likely adds to their fears.
But Feffer is dismissive. ‘This is a normal evolution in the alliance — frankly, the conservatives should be celebrating,’ he says. ‘Traditionally, conservatives are concerned about sovereignty, and this should be seen as a sovereignty issue.’ [The Diplomat]
This guy is a Korea expert? First of all, Korea is already sovereign and Feffer seems to be perpetuating the myth that USFK is an occupying force in South Korea. I guess using his analogy that the foreign troops stationed in the US are an occupying force that challenges the sovereignty of the US? Secondly, every Korean not just conservatives take sovereignty very seriously especially in the wake of the Japanese Imperialism of World War II. Sovereignty is hardly a conservative issue in South Korea.
Here is more from the article in regards to some more popular myths in South Korea:
‘Generally South Koreans think the US presence is needed,’ Cheong says, though he adds the 2000 summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made people ‘rethink the necessity of US soldiers in Korea.’ He also says that feelings toward troops reflect overall sentiment towards the US government, and that attitudes have turned more positive since Barack Obama’s inauguration as US president.
And as with the controversy surrounding US military stationing in Japan’s Okinawa, Cheong acknowledges there’s still significant concern here about environmental degradation caused by bases and crimes committed by US soldiers.
As I have demonstrated US soldiers actually commit less crime per capita when compared to the Korean population, but when a GI crime happens it has been sensationalized by the media to create a perception of out of control GI crime. This same phenomenon has occurred in regards to the USFK camp pollution issue.
The article also interviewed One Free Korea blogger Joshua Stanton about his views on the USFK troop presence as well:
Josh Stanton, a former Judge Advocate General defence attorney who served in Korea for four years and now lives in Washington, has similar memories. Though he volunteered for duty and extended twice, ‘I was definitely a rarity,’ he says. ‘Most of the people were there on one-year tours and they were counting the days.’
Stanton, who still monitors Korean affairs closely and runs the blog One Free Korea, says he enjoyed his time in Korea overall. ‘But I also tried really hard to learn Korean,’ something that’s not worth doing if you’re only going to be in the country for a year, he adds. Stanton also says South Koreans treated the US soldiers ‘at best like a public utility and at worst like a terrible occupier…that was terrible for our morale.’
Stanton left Korea in 2003, about the time Reeder says things really began to change. After the Highway 56 accident, the military put greater emphasis on training troops to be ‘a soldier and a diplomat,’ he recalls. In 2008, the first phase of tour normalization began.
Instead of public utility I tend to use the term “a necessary evil” to describe many Koreans views towards USFK. The anti-colonialism attitudes and the false perceptions among Koreans about USFK helps shapes attitudes towards USFK where many people would rather not have a US troop presence, but understand why they are needed on the peninsula. The occupier stuff is usually coming from the hard left in Korea which many have North Korean ties and not what I consider mainstream views.
As far as the US military presence in Korea, I am a supporter of the Camp Humphreys relocation plan which will greatly reduce the USFK footprint in Korea. I think eventually the use of having the 2nd Infantry Division located in Korea will need to be looked at because their use in a ground war in Korea would have little effect on the outcome considering the huge Army the South Koreans maintain. It just seems the remaining 2ID units would be better used elsewhere. If 2ID was to redeploy, to maintain close ties with the ROK Army possibly Stryker units could rotate to Korea to do training exercises instead of keeping a permanently based presence? The Air Force on the other hand I think continues to be an important asset to the defense of South Korea and I don’t see them moving anytime soon.
So what do readers think about Korean attitudes towards the US military presence in South Korea as well as the current troop deployments that make up USFK?
For most GI’s serving in Korea right now the term the Western Corridor is probably something they have never even heard of before since the camps in the Western Corridor all closed down back in 2005. However, for those who served on these installations the memories of these camps will never die. The Western Corridor refers to the western sector of military camps in the 2nd Infantry Division area of operations just to the north of Seoul. The Western Corridor camps are located to the west of the main US military hubs in Dongducheon and Uijongbu near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates North from South Korea.
Camp Garry Owen
These camps in the Western Corridor housed the first line of American units that were tasked with slowing down any North Korean attack. The main unit tasked with this responsibility was the 4-7 Cavalry Regiment located at the now closed Camp Garry Owen:
Camp Garry Owen is named after an old Irish dance song that General George Custer liked after hearing some of his Irish troops singing it and he made it the official song of the 7th Cavalry Regiment. You can read more about the history of Garry Owen at the 7th Cavalry Regiment website. This camp wasn’t always called Garry Owen and in fact has gone through three name changes. It was first called Camp Rice at the time the camp was first established in 1951 during the Korean War. The land where the camp was built was originally an apple orchard. After the camp was built it was used as the headquarters for the United Nations Command (UNC) Military Armistice Conference Delegation. The UNC at the time was conducting armistice negotiations with the North Koreans and Chinese in the Pamunjom area. Two years later on July 27, 1953 UNC Commander General Mark W. Clark signed the Armistice Agreement ending the war in the Camp Rice theater. The theater was demolished in the 1970′s along with the camp changing its name to Camp Pelham in honor of a prominent Civil War artilleryman. It wasn’t until the 1980′s that the name Garry Owen would become the third and final name for the camp.
Here are the names of some of the units that have called Camp Garry Owen home: the 69th Field Artillery Battalion, 1st Marine Division (which became 49th Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Infantry Division); 13th Field Artillery, 24th Infantry Division; 2nd Battalion, 19th Field Artillery Regiment; and 5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment; 1st Battalion, 4th Artillery Regiment; E Company, 2nd Engineers Battalion; and 5th Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, which became the 4-7 Cavalry Regiment. The 4-7 Cav was the last unit to call Camp Garry Owen home before closing down the camp in 2004 and relocating to Camp Hovey.
The ville right adjacent to Camp Garry Owen is the small town of Seonyu-ri:
However, the ville was known to the soldiers as Yonjugol. Many of the shops of Yonjugol used to be oriented towards the tastes of the US military, but are now today converted to more conventional businesses:
However, some signs of the former US military presence in the town are still visible:
I have never spent any time in the Camp Garry Owen ville, but from what I have heard the Paradise Club was one of the big places to take newcomers. The challenge was for the new comer to make it to the back door of the club without getting tackled by one of the girls that worked there.
Finally here is a video posted on YouTube showing all the posts buildings and the ville area before the camp closed in 2004 and I especially recommend reading all the comments from people sharing their memories about the camp:
If you have any memories about your time at Camp Garry Owen feel free to share them in the comments section as well.
Camp Stanton
The military base where the 4-7 Cavs helicopters were stationed was at the small Camp Stanton. The camp was one of the smallest in South Korea with it only being home to about 160 soldiers. Camp Stanton was divided in two by the main road through the area. One side of the camp the actual base camp and the other side is where helicopters are parked:
The camp is named after 1st Lieutenant John B. Stanton. In March 1952, during the Korean War, 1st Lt. Stanton of the 15th Aviation Company, 24th Infantry Division was killed in action after crashing his aircraft for the third time during the Korean War. His final crash was a midair collision between his Ryan Avian observation airplane and a P-51 Mustang fighter.Besides being the home of aviation units the camp was also once the home of the 2/61st Air Defense Artillery Battalion. When the camp closed in 2004 it was home to 16 Kiowa helicopters that flew in support of the 4-7 Cav.
There isn’t much left of Camp Stanton today other than the walkway bridge used to cross from the main camp over to airfield:
As you can see, today the camp has been completely leveled after it was turned over to the South Korean government:
Just down the road from Camp Garry Owen is Camp Giant:
Camp Giant was supposedly named in 1969 by Korean civilian engineers in honor of a popular American movie at the time in Korea called “Giant“. Here is an image of the camp back in 1971:
Camp Giant is very small and can house only about one company of soldiers. The last unit to occupy the camp before it closed in 2004 was A Company 1-506 Infantry Regiment that was part of the 2nd Infantry Division 2nd Brigade Combat Team that deployed to Iraq that year. Here are pictures of what the now closed out front gate of the camp looks like today:
Here is an overview of what the camp looks like today:
Here is a picture of the barracks on the camp:
As can be seen in the below picture, many of the quonset huts from the 1971 photograph are still existent today on the camp:
Here is a picture of the post’s small gym:
As far as a ville the soldiers at the camp could walk over to Yonjugol since it is located so close to Camp Garry Owen.
Camp Howze
The next major camp in the Western Corridor is Camp Howze:
The scenic little valley where Camp Howze is located was once a farm owned by the Cho family. In 1953 the family was relocated when the US Marines made the farm their headquarters:
After the Marines left Korea the camp was taken over by the 24th Infantry Division from 1955-1957. It was during this time period that the quonset huts were first built on the camp. Many of these quonset huts would continue to be used by tenets units on the camp until the day Camp Howze closed. In 1957 the camp was transferred over to the 1st Cavalry Division who named the camp after the unit’s first division commander and Medal of Honor recipient Major General Robert L. Howze. The 1st Cav used the camp as its division headquarters. In 1965 the 1st Cavalry Division units in South Korea were redesignated the 2nd Infantry Division, which continued to use the camp as a division headquarters.
Here is a 1971 aerial image of Camp Howze:
The 2nd Infantry Division headquarters would move to Camp Casey in 1971 and Engineer units would then occupy the camp instead. The camp would remain an Engineer post until its closing in 2004. The last units to call the camp home was the 44th Engineer Battalion which deployed to Iraq and the headquarters for the 2nd Engineer Brigade which would deactivate in 2005. On a side note the last Engineer Brigade Commander to command the camp was Colonel “Rock” Donahue who was quite the character for those of us who knew him.
Anyway here is a 2004 picture of the Camp Howze Chapel before closing that year:
Here is an image of the now closed out Camp Howze front gate today;
I have never been to the Camp Howze ville so I really don’t know anything about the place, however judging by these photographs the economic effect of the base closing is quite evident:
Camp Edwards is just up the road from Camp Howze and is named after the Korean War Medal of Honor awardee Sergeant First Class Junior Edwards.
Like its larger camp down the road Camp Edwards was home over the year to Engineer units. Here is a 1971 image of the front gate of Camp Edwards:
From the same website comes this aerial view of Camp Edwards as well:
Here is the view of the now closed out front gate of the camp today:
The last unit to call Camp Edwards home was the 82nd Engineer Company, which redeployed off the peninsula to Hawaii. Interestingly enough after arriving in Hawaii an accident involving the unit led to the largest traffic back up in Hawaiian history known as “Black Tuesday”.
Camp Beard
The final camp profiled is Camp Beard, which is also known as RC #1:
Camp Beard is located in a valley halfway between Camp Garry Owen and Camp Stanton. I mention Camp Beard simply because it is an example of many of the camps in the Western Corridor that were closed out long before the 2004 close out of all the camps in the Western Corridor. Here is a 1968 image of the front gate of Camp Beard which was then home to the 2-72 Armor Regiment:
I could not locate the exact date when Camp Beard closed, but I think it was in the 1970′s. Here is what remains of the camp today:
Conclusion
When driving around the 2ID area, many old camps, which are now mostly ROK Army compounds can still be seen. It would be an interesting project to identify and take photographs of all these old camps. For now though this and all my prior postings on USFK camps will have to do. If any one has any pictures of the old camps they want to share feel free to post them in the ROK Drop Forums.
I’ve been to a few USFK bases, and most of the buildings were barracks for soldiers and other facilities for those who work and live on base. They should let some of these anti-Americans on base. I imagine a few would become disillusioned with the movement given the chance to have the underwhelming experience of peeking behind the walls.
I don’t think that would help in the slightest. Ive dealt with these sorts of people over the years and there is no reasoning with them. If you let them tour a post, they would still swear there was polluted land in areas they were denied access (even if they were not denied access). They just hate America. Simple as that…
I don’t know when the ADA battalion was re-flagged, but I do know that in 1992 Camp Stanton had HQ/A 5-5 ADA and D/5-5 ADA (Avenger), and that pedestrian overpass wasn’t there. My battery commander on Hovey hated having to go to the Western Corridor for weekly command & staff call.
HHB/5-5 ADA moved to Camp Sears a few years later and D/5-5 ADA moved to Stanley. I believe that was in 1996. At the same time, C/5-5 ADA (BSFV) on Casey was re-designated A/5-5 ADA.
Yes, great memories! I find all this bittersweet. Its sad to see mt old stomping grounds fading into history but at the same time this is evidence showing Korea is ready to hold its own. That is a good thing.
I’m not going to pretend that I know even half as much as you do in this area, but it does seem to me that there is some merit to the claim that there has been environmental damage in the military bases. According to this article (Link), a meter-thick layer of diesel was covering the groundwater underneath Camp Edward. This is not some crackpot reporting — it is the most reputable newspaper in Korea reporting a site visit from the National Assembly.
I think part of the history is a little messed up,
The apple orchard is what became Camp Pelham and Camp Beard (RC 1) outside of Munsan, (Sonjuri was the ville next to the camps) with Pelham later changed its name to Garry Owen, and closed with that being its last naming.
Camp Rice, next to the ville of Yongugol, which was outside the town of Paju, became Garry Owen when the Cav added a second ground troop there, and the Air Cav troops moved from Camp Stanley up to Camp Mobile.
Before the Cav moved to Pelham and renamed it, there was an MP platoon there, which mainly patrolled the clubs in the local villes outside the camps in the western corridor
The American media is not much better, but Korea has NO “reputable” media outlets. The crazy cow bullshit just proves it.
With the billions and billions of dollars korea has made because of the stability offered by the presence of USFK, korea should clean it up.
American families and soldiers (consdired to be nothing more than “tripwires” to koreans) and the US taxpayers have suffered enough for ungrateful koreans like Tom to live in freedom.
Enough Americans have spilled their blood, enough American families have been torn apart and enough taxpayer’s money has been spent on korea. In general korea thwhich of course those who are anti-American for no reason, just aren’t worth it.
korea has to learn for once that you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
Oh come on! Yeah Korean media outlets are biased, but most Koreans aren’t like Tom and these protesters. Just because they would prefer we weren’t there and get bent out of shape when some Joe gets drunk and does something stupid doesn’t mean they are unappreciative. From my own experience I’ve probably gotten about three Korean “thank you”s for every one Korean “Yankee go home!”.
Which Korean media outlets did you read during the mad cow protest? The three largest newspapers in Korea were all staunchly opposed to the mad cow protest, often calling it “hysteria”.
RC1 wasn’t closed until the rest of Western Corridor in 2000 or so.
When I was at Camp Page there were a lot of pollution stories in the 90s. So we took the media onto the base and showed them the HazMat collection areas and how the water flows through post, same as Yongsan, and the Army did not let anything get into the creek. Whatever was in the creek came from the other side of post. But, of course it didn’t help. Those that hated the U.S. would just find another reason.
I was also in Area 1 on the baseops side when we discovered a leak at Camp Howze. You wouldn’t believe the expense we went to for cleanup. We had to take all of the soil out and have it treated/disposed of, and not just the wet soil, and soil that ‘might’ have been contaminated.
All in all, from my experience, the U.S. does a better job of keeping the area clean than the Koreans themselves. Just go to any garage in Seoul and watch the mechanics let the oil and radiator fluid flow right into the street drain.
And why no pictures of Camp Greaves? Liberty Bell? Camp Kitty Hawk/Bonifas? You left out some significant locations and their units: The JSA Battalion, 1-9INF/1-506thINF
One of my friends served in Korea before around the late 1970’s-early 80’s and I specifically asked him about pollution. He said at that time it was really bad. Again, that’s 30 years ago now though.
I drove past Greaves about 5 months ago on a USO DMZ tour. Probably no pics because it is so hard to get pictures of it. You can’t just drive your car up to the gate. When I drove past it on the bus it looked like nothing had been torn down, it was overgrown with weeds though. I hear most of the other bases in the Western Corridor will turn into satellite campuses for some of the universities in Korea.
You have totally missed my point. My point is if we pollute we clean it up. How did you not read that?
The other point about the U.S. keeping it cleaner than Koreans isn’t that it’s ok to pollute, it’s that politics cloud the issue whether we keep it clean or not and there is a clear double standard.
Yeah! *giggle* I mean, er, *cough* Yeah!… Korea is ready to hold their own… I guess if you are referring to their ability to bribe the norK’s, then yeah, they can hold their own.they can
The camp pollution issue is much like the Yongsan water dumping incident. A few gallons of formaldehyde is dumped down the drain and processed through two water treatment plants before entering the Han River is twisted to wear Koreans are going to come down with cancer and responsible for causing a mutant to kill Korean civilians in a popular monster movie. While all this hysteria is going on the fact that Korean companies continue to dump far more dangerous chemicals and pollutants into the country’s rivers are ignored. I can remember in Uijongbu riding my bike along the river running through the city that flows to the Han and seeing ajushi with septic truck dumping raw sewage straight into the river. http://rokdrop.com/2008/03/18/gi-myths-the-2000-y…
This same phenomenon has happened with the camp pollution issue. These camps have been there since the Korean War and home to large military equipment and of course things like fuel leaks from underground storage tanks will happen. However, USFK long before any camp close outs has spent a lot of money on dealing with HAZMAT issues. HAZMAT has long been an area checked by command inspection programs. A lot of work not only in USFK but around the Army in general is put into HAZMAT. People in the Army realize this. However, the anti-US groups make absurd claims like people needing radiation suits to enter these camps while ignoring the what is going on right outside the gates of the camp. As mentioned before these environmental groups were trying to hold USFK responsible for pollution in canals running through the camps that are polluted long before they even enter the camp. I have long said the ROK government should release the environmental report. Lets see what their complaints are?
I will fully agree that the formaldehyde issue and the HAZMAT suit issue are bullshit. But seems to me that the fuel leak contamination issue is still real. I’m glad to hear that it is cleaned up though.
I think we’re missing the main point here about the pollution problem. It is irrelevant whether it exists or not as it is controlled by the SOFA agreement. The ORIGINAL agreement stated that the lands would be returned “as is” when returned to the ROK. When the first major revision was done 1990-1992, they started up “working groups” to work with the ROK government and environmental agencies on the pollution problem, but they never changed the wording in the SOFA agreement. They continued the eye-wash “working groups” until present, but the wording remains the same. The camps will be returned “as is.” The USFK — as a goodwill gesture (snark) — only cleans up environmental hazards that are immediate risks.
This is the crux. Even if the camps are screwed up to hell, the US LEGALLY does not have any responsibility. Yeah, the USFK looks like the bad guy in the ROK’s eyes, but the document that was signed in 1963 and lasted till the present gives the USFK the out.
BTW when I visited my cousin up at Camp Gary Owens many years ago the first thing I noticed (and smelled) was the pig farms right across the fence from the camp. The other side of the camp was a Korean garage with oil-soaked earth. The point is the ROK community surrounding the base had just as much fault for polluting the ground water over the years as Camp Gary Owens seemed to be in a sump-hole when compared to the surrounding community. Though the camp would have the majority of the blame, it is still irrelevant because of the SOFA wording. This is why the USFK simply walked away from the camps in the end because they knew the ROK could not take them to any international court and win.
Irrespective of SOFA, isn’t there value in having a moral high ground, leading by example, and not pissing off an ally? OJ Simpson was found LEGALLY not guilty, but he hardly came out looking like a saint in the process.
The big problem is the ROK environmental groups wanted to turn the project in Super-fund base cleanup programs that would have cost the US government BILLIONS of dollars — possibly into a trillion — because the ground water tables are not only on the camp but extend far outward into the communities. That towns grew up surrounding the camps (Yongsan is a prime example) the real estate costs to effect a Super-fund type operation would be astronomically high.
This pollution problem is NOT a USFK problem but a problem of international treaties and intergovernment actions. This is at the Presidential level and Congressional/National Assembly level discussion. The “moral high ground” is irrelevant when we start talking in terms of billions of dollars being thrown at a problem WHEN THE US IS NOT LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE IN THE FIRST PLACE.
My personal experience of how messy this gets comes from being an EMS Maintenance Supervisor at George AFB, CA (a superfund base) many decades ago as the pollution leeched its way down to the Belen River many miles away from the base. The cleanup in the ROK would be a bloody nightmare as cities grew up to surround the bases. If the US even hinted at accepting fiscal responsibility, the costs would sky-rocket immediately into BILLIONS of dollars.
The pollution problems do not have any simplistic solution. Remember that the ROK is one of the worst polluters themselves for dumping industrial toxic waste into rivers, green belts and rice fields. This is a massive problem that even Korea continues to stick its head in the ground and pretend it doesn’t exist.
Agreed that there is no simple solution. It’s just that one thing about this issue keep on nagging at me:
Insisting upon legal rights is not the best PR strategy — especially when the treaty was entered into when Korea had hardly any leverage and a dictator was running the country. I recently argued here that the Basic Treaty between Korea and Japan is of dubious legality because, among other things, it was entered into by a dictator who did not properly represent the country. I find SOFA to be much, much more valuable than the Basic Treaty so I don’t want to make the same argument with equal vigor, but it still nags at me.
Basically, if we (America) want to keep our billions (and I agree that billions could be at stake, although trillion sounds like a stretch,) we have to accept that we are going to piss off Koreans. In fact, I’m not sure if we have any right to tell Koreans not to get mad if we insist upon our legal rights.
I agree with you totally that the PR from the way that the US has been forced to handle the problem sucks. From the Korean point of view, it is totally abhorrent. I can sympathize with their outlook.
However, the reality is the ROK doesn’t want to pick up the tab — and the US refuses to pick up the tab. It is a no-win situation.
This is an on-going problem with noise pollution being the latest stick-in-the-eye for all ROKAF and USAF bases.
The ROK government killed their national level EPA in about 1995 and shuttled the responsibility to the provinces who in turn rammed it down the city level throats. The environmental protection in Korea is very weak. But here at Osan AB, the Pyeongtaek City government is constantly taking samples outside of the base of the water. The noise pollution levels are well-lit on a board near the railroad tracks.
The USFK will ALWAYS end up on the short end of the stick in the PR battle with the ROK over pollution. It’s not going away and there simply is nothing the USFK can do to improve their environmental image. The projects that worked in Europe and the states on DoD property will NOT work in Korea. SIGH…more bad news for the USFK.
I have noticed some mistakes in the text of your review of the old camps in the western corridor. I would be more than happy to provide you with the corrections if you’ll contact me.
Was that Camp Edwards (west) gate ? as I was working or playing Gate guard back in 71-72…lots of free overnight passes! lol curious! lots of fun riding bikes to turkey farm!
CP Stanton was HQ for the corridor ADA throughout the 70s and early 90s. Nice to see they finally got around to finding a safe way for the troopers to get down to the lower compound safely. We lost one, and had numerous close calls with the speeding traffic. If I may be so bold, seems to me the cleanest places in the ROK were the camps!! Eventhough I love Korea, and It’s culture, they have a long way to go regarding the environmental issues. Forgot how many times I saw the mixer trucks dumping raw sewage into the paddys.
I remember stepping outside the airport terminal in Seattle, WA to have a smoke after flying home from my tour in Korea. One of my first thoughts was that I could not believe how clean everything looked. I really think that the Korean protesters on the pollution issue need to come to the USA and have a look at how we live then compare that to the way their streets look, perhaps it might convince them to worry more about cleaning up their own lifestyles and to just be thankful UN and US forces put a stop to that nutcase up North.
Nice tour of memory lane. Was at Pelham. We had no MPs so one duty was to go to all the bars in town and stop fights on weekends. Remember the first day there and my visit to Paradise Club. Also there was a bar called Club USA or something. Had an American woman that owned it. If you have seen her, you remember her.
About the South Korean activists protesting about pollution on US bases in ROK, you have to remember who was in power in ROK when the protests started. Yes DJ (aka closet communist, or rather servant of Kim of North Korea) was in power. Casual observers of Korean affairs may not know but DJ didn’t have much love for US. It’s pretty apparent that he and his underlings were busy looking for mud to throw on US and USFK.
But you ask how could DJ and his underlings be so effective in rousing up the anti-US sentiment among ROK citizens? It’s called 9 PM news. Not too long ago in ROK, the 9PM TV news on the 3 channels (KBS1, KBS2, MBC which are all owned and operated by ROK govt) were the all powerful information outlet in ROK. They were the authoritative source of news in ROK and most people pretty much believed what they saw/heard. No internet and no cable TV as alternative. Some newspapers were more independent but not influential enough to overcome the power of TV news.
There were some stark changes in the 9PM News when Chun Doo-Hwan (gained power through military coup) was in power and when DJ became president. When Chun was president, the 9PM news ALWAYS started with what HE did that day. EVERYDAY. Many stuff were really trivial stuff.
However when DJ became president few years later, all 9PM news ended with clips of some kind of bad behavior by USFK. One I remember is when supposedly used medical equipment including used needles were dumped near an old, unused US radar installation. Another was when a neighborhood was repeatedly flooded in monsoon season because a US military camp nearby wouldn’t cooperate with requests for digging a deeper flood channel. The list went on and on. It’s possible that the ROK people were simply heady with the newly found freedom after the military dictatorship of Chun ended. But IMO, they happened because someone or some group coordinated to rouse people’s anger against USFK. When a populace keeps hearing same thing again and again, they will eventually believe it.
Even the mad cow disease was a hoax. It was found out later that the translation of one of the interviews was altered by the producer of the segment. One of the translator who translated an interview of an American came out and said what he translated was altered when it was actually aired. Had it not been altered, it wouldn’t have supported the argument of the ROK TV producers.
And you still ask how can that be? Well, it can happen because the ROK president appoints the heads of KBS1, KBS2 and MBC as they are govt entities. The previous head of one of the TV stations (not sure which one) appointed by President Roh (another US hater), practically had to be dragged out of his post. Not 100% sure but the heads of the TV stations report directly to the president of ROK.
And a response to 4/7 Medic, your perception of how clean/dirty ROK could be skewed depending on where you spent most of your time in ROK. Obviously the villes won’t be as clean as a major US airport. But when did you leave ROK? When I visited ROK recently, Seoul was pretty clean considering it was a city of 10 million. If you went back now, you’d be surprised.
I was at Camp Edwards (east) from 74-75 and I believe the ville was called Yong te ri, with the Tree Frog club which we frequented often. Lots of great memories:
– taking my platoon through a minefield of ‘bouncing betties’in the DMZ
-almost seeing my commission disappear as a flaming white phosphorus mortar round narrowly missed men and equipment after an exceptionally energetic EOD attempt
-hunting pheasant and deer in the DMZ
-getting knocked out for a half hour at the ‘combat basketball game’
Had a great time with best engineer company in the Army-Bravo Company, 2nd Engineers-Gunfighter’s Engineers
Was stationed at Greaves, Liberty Bell and Howze during my three years of duty in Korea from Nov. 86 to Nov. 89. You’ve mixed up the names of some of the villes, but other than that, a great read. Thanks.
Club Paradise was in Sonyuri, which sat between the gates of Camp Pelham and RC#4. Yongjugol was the ville outside the gates of Camp Gary Owen. Bongilcheon was outside the gates of Camp Howze (actually, up MSR 1 toward Edwards East and West was the real village of Bongilcheon, but we called the ville outside Howze’s gates Bongilcheon. That’s how it was in the late 80’s any way.
I used to live just down the alley and to the right of the 77 Club in your picture. Our first room we rented was in the basement of the landlord’s house and in the winter the only way to heat water for a “shower” was on the ondol heater.
I bought a camcorder when I was at Cp Howze back in 88-89. I uploaded a bunch of pics and began uploading Vids on the Cp Howze Facebook group, I also have lots of footage of JSA/Liberty Bell and even a little Greaves, Warrior Base and Freedom Bridge area. I also have footage of MSR-1 and the front of Edwards
nice….been awhile, I was there..assigned to 1/4 Fa Camp Pellam, and attached to maneuver unit 1/5 INF camp howze but spent most of my time with B company 1/5 inf at edwards east…alwayways wondered what came of these places as I heard we no longer had them…
I WAS IN CAMP PELHAM IN 1968 AND 1969 IT WAS CAMP PELHAM THEN I HAVE MOVIES OF THE FRONT GATE. WOW WHAT MEMORIES HARD TO BELIEVE HOW THINGS HAVE SINCE THEN THE PICTURES FROM 2004 LOOK ULTRA MODERN FROM WHEN I WAS THERE.
Duke of Yongugal is right. There are a couple errors. It was still called Camp Pelham when I was there in ’92. The MP Platoon was 3rd Plt, 2nd MP. They were moved to Camp Howze shortly before my arrival.Camp Howze was the headquarters of the 3rd Brigade (Inf). I still have pics of the 3rd brigade “spade” posted there in late ’92. 44th Engineer took over thru the summer/fall of that year. Awesome postings.
Was at Camp Garry Owen in Jan. ’82 for a few months, (A troop) anyone remember “calculator man”? Then to Camp Howze to be Colonel’s driver (HHC 3rd Brigade, what a gig that was!!!), then my last few months back at Gary Owen (got caught “slickying” an overnight pass). What a trip those 13 months were. The first three didn’t even seem like reality.
Ditto on Yong-ti-dae, I have a picture I can look for that should have the correctly spelled name of the place. Not much there in the 90s, I only recall a small convenience store and a fried chicken place.
I was at Camp Edwards from 97-98. The town 10 minutes away is Kumchon in case anyone is wondering.
i was stationed at camp garry owen mid 70’s your post bring back a lot of memories. there was a club in yonjugol called the oasis. the club was most frequented by non-com’s. i sorded in s-4 the camp wasnot dirty by anyones image.the ville and roads leading into it were beyond words as being filthy.i was one of the nco’s who had the unpleasant duty of serving under gen brady. what a prud!!!! nco’s were not allowed to assoiate with known bussiness women. but hey guys sure appreciated the memories.
i have seen some off the pictures submitted.it saddensme to see what has become of some of the campswe called home. when i was there it was not near as modern looking as some of the pictures indicate.iwonder what became maj cameron s4 officer when i was there. he was a good officer and a person charater he was the type you could look up to.
’64-’65 I was stationed at Camp Rice (outside Yonjugol)- Hq. Co. 27th/702nd Maint. Bn. I’m really confused about Camp Gary Owen. When I was at Camp Rice, I’m fairly sure that Gary Owen was in our Bn., up near the DMZ. Did the original Camp Gary Owen close, and then was Camp Rice renamed to Camp Gary Owen?
I was driver for the Adjatant, and wouldn’t trade a minute of my Camp Rice experiences. I have many slides that I hope to get uploaded soon. I would love to hear from anyone stationed @ Camp Rice during that time.
it was my understanding that camp rice became camp garry owen .it seems to me that there was a small sign still there in 76 that indicated camp rice,before it was removed shortly after i was there.which reminds me that all the roads in the camp (which were few) were to be named after MOH soldiers. this was assigned to a young lt of which i cannot remember his name.i must say he seemed to be a decent sort. i like some of you don’t remember all of the things from 35years ago.i would like to see more post from those stationed there during the mid 70’s may jog my memory a little.
Sgt. Wing- Thanks for your info. In the ’60s, Camp rice was across the bridge from yonjugol to Tajepol, through the village approx. a half mile, and Camp Rice was on the right. It was small- less than 100 personnel, and backed up against a hill. The pictures that I have seen on the web of Camp Gary Owen, do not look like the old Camp Rice. I believe 1Lt Ken Leighty has put up some Camp Rice pictures that do look like the Camp Rice that I remember. Perhaps there are some others that have memories of Camp Rice in the ’60s.
Is anyone the least bit concerned about the possible Agent Orange exposure to everyone who served at these camps(GI and KATUSA) AFTER 1971 ??? The half life of dioxin is 9-15 years in ground soil. We drank the water in the compound and in the ville. I remember vehicles with trailer drawn “foggers” spraying periodically on RC4 (circa 1979-80). Who knows what else we were exposed to ??? Wake up Warriors !!!! Dont let the VA sweep this issue under the rug.
I was stationed at Cp. Greaves (1st/9th Inf. Bn.)”Keep up the Fire!”
from Jan 84-Jan 85. Was placed in S-4 as they needed drivers when I arrived. Sweet gig, as a deuce 1/2 driver in HHC no humping and no BS, plus we had ongoing offpost driver’s pass…..so we could cruise or trucks through Sonyuri or Yongjugol at a whim. We always went down range to Yongjugol in a group and always to same hooch area and club for overnight pass.The Niagara club!!! There was the Honeybee club and Happy Club. In Sonyuri you had the paradise and Blue Angel club. All the girls in the seedy Blue Angel would put on Breakfast stage shows of ping ping ball and lesbo activity, you always stood the risk, high risk of getting burnt (vd) if you had one of them blue angel girls, but the guys said the vd was worth it. Highlite of your was Russian Student who defected from the north at JSA on my birthday 24 Nov 1984. The north korean soldiers chased him into the south and we killed about 3 of them with our Qrf.
bones what year were you there? i can remember most of the clubs that you mention i just needed my memory jogged a little.when i was there i worked for a maj cameron and a cpt white which were the s-4 officers in charge.i must say they each were good and fair men. look forward to hearing more post in the future.thanks for the memories.
I was at Garry Owen from 75-77 and Hovey from 86-87, did some time at Warrior Base with the 1-503rd. The photos sure don’t look like anything that I remember except maybe the barber shop, it was just outside the rec center and was air conditioned. Got a haircut once a week. Remember Yong Ju Gol well, I think I paid for a building or two. Spent most of my time at the Niagara Club, but did manage to get some time in the Happy, Oasis, 7-Club and Queen Bee. I think there was a new club opened called the Paradise. Also spent some time in some “tea houses” drinking some dark brown liquid. The Turkey Farm was open for awhile, it was off-limits when I went back in 86. Oscar, OB beer, kimchi and Crest toothpaste. Falstaff beer for $2 a case and no ration, did have to go buy a can opener for it tho. Also managed to do a little soldiering while I was there and it was good.
I spent 15 glorious months on Camp Pelham and will never forget the experience. The true test of new comers was definitely a visit to the parasite i mean paradise club. the girls were super aggressive and intimidating to a guy just in from the states. I was there from Apr 90 thru July 91 during the first gulf war hence the extended stay of three extra months. Sonjuri was the paradise club on the surface but those of us who were stationed there knew of the back alley clubs where anything and everything goes. If you remember this was still during the ration years so cigarettes and booze went for a pretty price if you knew who to deal with. i brought a leather jacket and a wool suit for a bottle of Chevas Regal! insane! love the site keep up the good work and a great post about the western corridor. PEACE
Hey all, just wanted to let you know that basically everyone who served in Korea is eligible for the Korea Defense Serice Medal (KDSM). Not that it matters all that much, but for those of us who served in that strange land under that strange armistice, it’s cool to see our service recognized. Veterans can apply to have their DD214 updated and the ribbon sent. I’ve already done it but am still waiting for the paperwork.
Anyways, I thought that was pretty cool and wanted to let you all know if you didn’t already.
I was stationed at Camp Pelham (later renamed Gary Owen) in 1983 and am looking to re-unite with Army members and also I’m hoping to get any photos from that time. Please feel free to e-mail me at hiler8@gmail.com with any info or just a hello..thanks.
This site really helped me piece together the area on a satellite map (google earth). The strip of Sunjuri outside of Camp Pelham (later Garry Own) is now dwarfed by huge construction works behind the north side of the strip. I can send a file through e-mail if you want to see what I’ve been looking at.
daniel would like the information on getting the service medal.i aslo have a couple of awards that did not get on my dd-214 any info on the procedure to get it done or addded sould be helpful . thank you and all the others that have brought back the memmories for me.
The layout for the request page has changed a bit so you won’t find the same icons, but the instructions are the same. I can also confirm that this Saturday I received my updated DD214 in the mail, with a letter stating that all of my previous (and new) medals will be sent to me within a couple weeks.
Good luck Sgt, I’m looking forward to seeing my ribbon and medal first-hand in a couple weeks!
You are correct, I was station at Camp Howze in the winter of ’71. I was attached to B Troop, 4th Sqdn 7th Cav. Before being relocated to Camp Rice. We were given the task to deploy to Dragons Mouth if and when the north made an attempt to move into Seoul. That is were 8th Army was assigned. I guess things have changed since then, in the 13 month of being there not once did I hear for our removal. Had a great time with some wonderful folks, drinking Oscar and trekking through the back country. Some hard working, poor yet proud peoples. We had them on an agricultural type of program back them. Then again it was 1971-1972 and they really hated the North. Pollution was not a big issue, however, that motor pool and diesel heater did leave a mess. Thanks for the info, I was not aware they had close the western corridor. I must say coming across this web sight has made me pull out those long ago picture I stashed away. I met some great guys, some a little crazy, some of I wouldn’t turn my back to and those I would give my right arm for. Good times I must admit especially the Moon Tea room in Seoul. Thanks for helping me recall those wonderful memories of my army days in that freezer call the Republic of South Korea….”Chav”
Help me with this issue…I have had a very difficult time with my health since I ets from Ft. Hood Texas in 1974. My face was swelling up and now I am trying to recover from nerve damage to my legs and hands. They are telling me it is neuropathy, it crippled me in 13 years ago!
Gary Owen, 81-82, A Troop 4/7th….. watching the video, did not recognize anything about gary owen….. all i know they had great living quarters…. we had the old quansin (sp?) huts, turtle ditches, maybe hot water 4 days a week…… what a time…. driving the tanks through the towns….. trying to stop 50+ tons on ice and the main gun going through a wall of one of the bars…… blowing a 9 ft hole with a HEP round in the bridge we drove across to get to the Korean tank range…… what a time…..
I just wish i could remember more of my buddies over there…. 30 years ago, where does the time go……
Sgt. Houlette (702 MSB / 296 FSB)
9:56 am on July 1st, 2011 83
I spent 45 consecutive months in Korea from April 89 to January 93 and I miss it to this day. From April 89 to Aug 92 I was stationed at Camp Edwards West and the last part, due to our unit deactivation (296th FSB) was at Camp Casey with the 702nd MSB. Not only was the Army experience there less hassle and more mission driven than the state side duty stations but it was just down right fun. It is on my bucket list to go back soon just to see the country and the changes that have occured. I appreciate the write ups and such as it allows for some insight as to what has transpired since I left. As a note I saw something in the right up about the Paradise and it being in Yongjugol but I recall it being outside Pelham in Sonyuri.(Spelling) I guess they did some juggling of bases as Gary Owen was Pelham and the original Gary Owen was more south than the maps show here and at one time (during my stint there) there was Cp Howze, Cp Edwards West/East, Cp Stanton, Cp Giant, Cp Pelham and Cp Bonifas all in that area. 1/4 FA (M198 Howitzers) was at Pelham with some ADA (Avengers/Stingers/Vulcans) and the Tankers were at Gary Owen. FA at Sonyuri and Tankers in Yongjugol. But it seems they consolidated?
I was at North Camp Custer in Paju-ri with the 545th MP Co., 1st Cav. Div, from May,1964-June, 1965. Our MP station was in Yongu-gol, across from RC#1. Most of my off duty time was spent in Yongu-gol. The 21 Club, Oasis, 7up Club and the Queen Bee are the only ones I can remember. Of course none of us will ever forget the Turkey Farm.
#83, SGT Houlette. Why haven’t you gone back?? Based on what
you said, you have a strong yearning to do that. Go man!
I will bet you .25 cents hard cold cash there is no other
place you would rather visit on planet earth, what say you! If you have any trepidations about a visit there, contact me. jfisher1946@gmail.com
Pelham was later renamed Garry Owen so there is some confusion as to the two adjacent villes. I was at Pelham in 1983 and I’m wondering if you were there and is so at what time? I’m hoping to get photos of that ville Sonyuri from the 90s. I have a good set of photos from about 1970 onwards but the 90s remains a blank. I have some further details you may want to know about or if your looking for photos let me know at hiler8@gmail.com and I’ll send some to you.
Sgt. Houlette (702 MSB / 296 FSB)
2:13 pm on July 11th, 2011 87
Chris Hiler
As to the time and the lack of pocket digital cameras I will admit I do not have as many as I wish. I would have been there right int he time you wanted when the “parasite” club with “Peggy” and the girls were all there. I was at Edwards from April 89 to Sept 92 and supported both the battalion of artillery at Pelham (1/4th FA) and also the guns that rotated out of 4P3 monthly from the rest of the Division for break/fix.
Of the Pelham area the ones i have found are of the field trainging area at the end of the ville at the fork where the M198′s used to setup. I found a few I snapped there when I was on the way to Camp Casey one day from the corridor with some guns which were laid for exercises and maybe the main gate. Do not think I have any others in Pelham…. carrying cameras then was not as simple and not a priority which I kick myself in the backside for all the time. I will admit the “Gun Bunnies” (13B’s) loved to party and were a bunch of great guys to know.
For the ville outside of the old Gary Owen I have some pics of the inside of the one club that looked like a cave inside with the white walls and had the “for your protection where prophylactic” in both english and korean suspending from the ceiling. yeah too funny I know.. I think at the time it was called the “Nabi club”. I will look and see what I have.
Gary Owen was originally adjacent to the town of Yon Ji Gol before it moved to the former Camp Pelham, which is adjacent to SonYuRi. I was stationed at Camp Pelham in 81 82 as an MP and I know every nook and cranny in Paju Ri, which is the County within the western corridor. Some people don’t know about the original Camp Gary Owen and that Pelham was a separate camp with the 2/17 FA Bn, E Co, 2nd Eng, 4th Plt of the 2nd MP’s. RC4, which was right down the street from Pelham at the west end of the ville housed 2/61st ADA (Vulcan/Chapparel).
Yeah I have seen a lot of comfsuion on blog sites about the two Villes by the original location of Garry Owen (Yon Ji Gol) and Pelham (SonYuRi). I was at Pelham and have been assembling photos and reading blog sites in an attempt to get a good sense of how the area of SonYuRi has changed over time.
Chris, that’s a great website you have there. Brings back a ton of memories to me. I remember the Blue Angel, Kiss Me Club, Paradise Club (Kiss Me close and bought the Paradise) at that point we started calling it the parasite club. I had a great time there. Hope to go back and visit in the near future.
Hey Guys,
Was stationed in ROK in ’73. Arrived two weeks before Christmas at Camp Rice, B Trp, 4th Sqdn, 7th Cav, next to village we called Yon-gu-gol. In summer of ’73, B Trp packed up and moved south to Camp Pelham, I believe, which had a name change to Gerry Owen. Air field, helicoptors, was right across the road. Used to beg rides occasionaly. Had no crossover walkway when I was there. Flyboys were a crazy bunch, but we loved to party with them , especially “Crazy Charlie.”
Sorry, Camp Pelham was north and housed a friend of mine who belonged to an MP, or UP unit. Not sure what the name of the base we moved to was before called Gerry Owen. Will try to look it up in some of my pictures.
Hi Earl, good to hear from an “old timer” like you. Stanton ended up as the Air Cav camp. It was down the road from Gary Owen. I remember that place like it was yesterday. I went back in 91-93 as a civilian at casey, visited pelham and the area. Things really changed. I plan on heading back that way in the near future. I ended up getting out of the Army and joined the Marine Corps, went to language school and learned Korean….need to brush up a little.
Wow Scotty,You are bringing back memories of our days stationed on Pelham in 1980. We were secluded from the troops because of our Military Police Mission. 217FA. ” If I were the cane I would go insane”. Living ,sleeping and eatong with Katusas. Teaching them american slang and all our bad 22yo habits. Living out with the locals in a hooch with my Korean wife and 2yo son. Honey Pots, Bug sprayers at night. Us out during curfew delivering the blotter From the DMZ to Camp Howze. Drinking the water pumped out of the ground next to a rice paddy. Travelling to Seoul on the red train from Munson. We all stuck together like real brothers. I got to go back to our old haunts soon and I will be coming next time.
I was at Camp Stanton in from late 72 and 73 and moved to Camp Garry Owen 74, Camp Stanton Was called Stanton Amry airfield and change to Camp Stanton and Camp Rice Became Camp Garry Owen Spent the best 2 years of my life there even thou I didn’t know it then, The camps were not dirty but they were polluited with old oil and deisel fuel, JP-4 and we did spray Agent Orange along the fence line with a garden sprayer that we filled from a 55 gallon drum that was stored in the back of the motor pool at stanton I was a PFC back then and you can guess who got detailed to spray the weeds along the fence I remember that we would pour used motor oil in back of the motor pool on the ground it look like asphalt pavement when it was dry and nothing grew back there not even wild pot plants one of the men tried I remember him using a pick-ax to try loosen the dirt it just chipped up in large chunks
@ 87 & 88, the club you guys are talking about, was the New Seoul club.
@ 84 were you there from 86 to 87? Sgt. Houlette nobody seems to remember 4P3, I do.
The Happy club had the blondes, until a GI brought his wife into the club,
(she was a natural blonde) after that the girls went to their natural hair color. The Happy club girls were the wildest (they would have you on the defensive).
The 3rd photo down from the top..an areal shot of Garry Owen (was Pelham in ’83 when I was there) and the Ville Seonju-ri. I can still make out the rout we used for PT runs.
I was at Pelham from 93-94. I was still a turtle when I celebrated a birthday there. My “friends” dropped me off at the parasite club after some heavy drinking. The next memory I have is waking up the next morning in my room, late for PT and the 1st Sgt screaming for me because my wallet was turned it at the front gate. Of course the wallet was empty. The good ole days!
I was stationed at Edwards (West)1987-88. I was ETSed in 3/88. The camp had the Forward Area Support Team (FAST), a medical company (or detachment)with helipad, some supply outfit, and my unit- C/702nd. Also, small px store, barber, nco (really for everyone) club, and a small commissary.
After a few months there I served as a vehicle inspector for vehicles being brought for repairs- good duty. Also, as CCI- case contact interviewer. Stange additional duty for a 63W. CCI had to notify club girls that a solder, uh well let’s say had too much fun with the wrong one. lol
Interesting link way above- my my office was feet away from those gas pumps. I recall a Senator (Ohio?) coming in a convoy on the way to DMZ stopping to fill up. He was kind of an ass.
I served at Camp Edwards West as a medic from Feb 89-90, went through the name change from D Co 2nd Med to C Co 296 FSB. I have lots of good memories of my time there, some day I’ll get all my pics scanned in and some might be worth posting. Kum Chon was a few miles south of Camp Edwards, our Med co would run through their market every Friday on a PT run yelling our heads off. I remember the Tree Club, generally the lower enlisted went there the 7Up Club was usually the NCOs. Worked at the med clinic and saw the VD rates of the “working girls” across the Corrior. The Parasite Club was always above 90% positive.
Hey Bill W. (or anyone else), since it’s been a few years for me and I left before any closures, I suppose I fogot a lot about the planned closures. One thing that I’m not sure of as I google the Western Corridor closures is was Edwards (west) simply taken over by Edwards (east) and then simly became “Edwards”? I see some articles describe the Edwards closed in 2004 (?) and that that base had a px, commissary, etc. My memory is that West had those facilities and East did not. And, what year did West close (or at least get the change over from East)?
The picture in the link below shows “Camp Edwards” with 82nd Engineers, but it looks like Edwards (west) with the FAST being the first 2-story building and the second building being where my company had formation. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/camp-edwards-pics.htm
And Scott- a reunion for the 3rd Brigade/Western Corridor would be kind of cool. In Korea!! Some of you may know that the Korean government has sponsored/payed for Kaorean War vets to re-visit- all expenses paid. Maybe they would help with some in-county costs for us non-wartime guys to have a reunion.
Erik when I was there 89-90 FAST 3 was there along with an S&T Co. a Maint Co. and our Med Co. we were changed to a Foward Support Bn and continued the old FAST duties in Oct. 89. The first building became Bn. HQ and the second bldg was my Med Co. HQ. Camp Edwards East was across MSR 1 and had a co. of Mech Infantry. All amenties were at Edwards West. The FSB was deactivated in Sep 1992, and I guess the Engineers moved in until the camp was closed in 2004.
Lober- I found Camp Howze on FB, but there is nothing but a cut ‘n paste from wikipedia on it. About 40 ‘likes’, including me.
Bill- your link goes to FB, but reads ‘The page you requested was not found.’
As side note- I wonder if this would be more viewed if it were a “Western Corridor, Korea’ page? (dont mean to be greedy, just an idea).
Also, are there any Western Corridor specific veterans organizations? I see lots of wartime, infantry, etc. but not for the soon to be lost WC camp folks.
Thanks for all the info guys. I haven’t thought this much about Korea since I left 23 years ago! I especially enjoy the pics.
@Erik: That’s (sounds like) the Camp Howze page you found. Here’s a link (below) to the group I’m talking about, if it doesn’t work try searching Camp Howze, Korea on facebook.
I remember you… as a matter of fact I looked and you were in the 296th FSB annual when they started the unit back up. If you bought one and still have it check it out…lol I was there from April 89 (C CO 702nd) to Sept 92 (296 FSB) when they deactivated the unit and sent me to Camp Casey (702nd MSB). At the time you were there I was in the Armament Section in the old Firehouse by the barber shop and drove for the Battalion Commander for a bit.
I was at Camp Edwards from ’97-’98. Assigned as a 62B working up in the shop on the construction equipment. There were fighting positions when I got there which were then completely disassembled on orders of our new incoming CO who remarked (honestly) that we weren’t fighters and our main mission would be joining the garrison down in Yongsan if the balloon went up. He also added, with a bit of dark humor, that Yongsan would be gone and the charges on the overpass/tank block on the road outside would have already been blown. Pretty cool stuff
Anyone of you older guys have any specific questions about Edwards circa 97-98? The movie theatre was closed, fyi. Not sure when it was last open.
Was at Camp Pelham in 67-68. Sonyuri was the village adjacent to it and was the only place we could go w/out a more official pass, which would get you as far as Munsani, Yonjugol, maybe. Saturday was the only day we could go there and we had to be back by 11 pm. Hq batallion of the 6/37 Arty was there, along with another Arty unit. We had 3 155 batteries and one 8″ battery scattered out by the Imjin and into the no man’s land between the Imjin and the DMZ. We also had nukes.
Ah Camp Edwards. For guys like myself who were stationed at Pelham from 90-91, Camp Edwards was the place to go to use your ration card at the class six and was as far as i know the closest place to Pelham where you could meet American chicks. A couple of nights at the parasite club was enough to get you to try and meet someone else! Great time in country, we were there during the first gulf war so it was 15 months for us. I did’nt complain though. PS soon discovered Casey and other points south and Edwards was soon forgotten as far as american chicks go!
Edwards had a movie theatre!? During my 87-88 stay in the C/702nd Inspection Section (next door to Katusa snack bar) we had:
-Barber Shop
-PX (mini-mart would be an exaggeration)
-Commissary
-Katusa snack bar
-Stage-type room (mini auditorium), maybe that became the theatre?
-a gym (closed the entire I was there for remodel)
– a pool (I think?)
-the officer/NCO/enlisted club (forgot it’s name was Parasite), not too bad
-and a woodshop- hobbyshop
Had to go to Howze for movie theatre and bowling(?)Howze was the big city for us, and Casey was the camps of all camps since our world didnt have anything larger.
It’s cool hearing from Edwards’ folks (and all Western Corridor guys as well).
Alex’s reference was to the Paradise Club in Sonyuri. The theater @ Edwards (which was closed by 89-90) was across the street from the Katusa snack bar, downhill from the all ranks club on the side opposite of the pool. In the time I was there, we used it once for the annual all bases alert to give instructions out to the battalion. There was also a Clothing Sales Store as well, tucked away behind the Commissary. To Sgt. Houlette, once I put a face to the name I remember you as well, although I was much younger and thinner than now! lol
Haha Erik yeah the movie theatre was the stage-type thing too, they must have dolled it up at some point then pulled the plug, so to speak.
We had the same stuff you mention, though I don’t recall any sort of working hobbyshop. The club had slot machines, don’t know if you remember that? We also had beer vending machines in the barracks, but those were soon removed after some people got stupid.
The gym was open when I was there. We also had a USO building on camp, small little place but cool for ping-ping, darts, snacks and movie nights.
Yep, there was a pool but I only remember it being open once. We had a dog with a bad hip named MRE that used to chase all the Korean Nationals on base, he never failed to chase them. Golden Retriever as I recall.
We had a library right up near the front gate where we could check out dvds. The place even had a computer w/ internet access, that’s where I created my first email address through a strange little website called ‘hotmail’. Lol, I still have my very first email saved.
You’re right about Howze and Casey. Howze had a lot more action, and Casey, whoosh…the camp of all camps indeed. Had to wait for the bus to arrive, then take a nap for the 1.5 hour ride with my ID openly displayed for the guard check. And Casey was the only place guys could get any guaranteed mama-san action, to be polite about things. In retrospect, those trips amounted to $40 spent terribly…terribly.
One thing for certain when I was there, our chow hall was stellar. We had Soul Food day once a week (or it might have been every two weeks). People came from other camps just to get a taste. BBQ ribs, cornbread, fried chicken, collared greens, man that stuff was tasty.
Any of you guys ever head out into the little town outside Edwards? I think it was called Yong-ti-rae or something, I hesitate even calling it a town. There was absolutely nothing of importance for me there. The only thing I saw even remotely interesting was a fried chicken shop, but it was never open. Had to head into Kumchon for anything resembling real life.
Man what a time. Hated it while I was there but now I remember it fondly and am very sad to see it closed down.
Dan (#123) Were the clubs across the street gone by then? No “tree club”? the second I am sure was gfone as the business was low compared to the “Tree Club”.
Also during my time the theatre was opened for a period (less than a year) by a few of the troops working with the chaplain. (between 89-93 probably around 91ish)
As for the drive to Casey we used to race from Edwards to Casey and back for the best time. I think our Sgt Wessenberg had the best time probably at damn near 30 mins. USed to love to hear those Hmmer tires bark around the corners and dodge the RPAV’s (Rice Pattie Assault Vehicles)
Dan and Sgt. Houlette- things sure did change in a short time after I left! The chow was not something to brag about. It wasn’t terrible, but the chow hall was so hot that cooks were constantly sweating on the grills and it was obvious to us the same happened throughout the kitchen. Kind of dampens your appetite. lol. When it wss the Forward Area Support Team, the FAST commander was a major. I don’t remember why, but my buddy (Sgt. Ron Johnson) and I ended up drinking with the major across the street. We didn’t have overnight passes and when midnight came (isn’t that the expiration time for passes?) Ron and I said, ‘we better get back’. The major said abruptly ‘why, are you forgetting that i’m the FAST commander?’ so Ron and I looked at each other, smiled and ordered another beer. There was no USO, internet, or beer machines for us. The wood shop/hobby shop was first building on the left when you came on base. I do remeber the slots and the club (what was the name?) and was it Mr. Kim who managed it? I thought it was a pretty nice club.
Bill Beatty started the Camp Howze Facebook page (nice job), but I wonder if a Western Corridor page would allow a button for each camp? I dont know much about the technical parts, but it would be cool to have camp-specific deicussions and pictures, contact info, etc. Any thoughts? This duscussion tread has given me more information on Edwards than i’ve found anywhere in the past 23 years because of you folks. Thanks.
Hey Sgt Houlette, yep there were no clubs at all across the street, at least nothing I ever heard about Americans going to.. I think I walked across there probably three or four times my whole year there, just to see if I was missing what was actually in the town. I wasn’t missing anything because there was nothing to be missed.
Erik, that is bizarre. I actually write under the pseudonym ‘Ron Johnson’. Whoa.
Love the Edwards history guys, I’ve been meaning to get pictures up for a long time so this might finally get me up off my ass.
To Erik (#125) – Yeah as FAST3 we had a major and when we transitioned to the 296th FSB I beleive he simply transitioned to the XO of the 296th (Major Dempsey was the last I remember of the FAST Side) and he was very into the Korean Culture. Good guy though.
To Dan (#127) – Yeah I assume that when we left in late 92 (when the 296 was deactivated) the one real club left was the “Tree Club” but it had taken a beating due to people going to other villages or Seoul/Camp Casey. Does not surprise me that it was gone as the two main women that ran it (we called them First Seargent and Seargent Major affectionetly) were older and such.
I am looking for a place to post the Annual they had created in the first year of the 296th being reactivated as I placed it into a PDF files scanned into the PC. Includes the people and the units and such much like a school annual. Once I find a place to post it I will link it here for some of you to check out if you want.
I believe their were two clubs across the street, neither were anything to brag about, but a place to get off base for a bit and have a few beers. As I walked across MSR 1 into the village, first business on the right was a dry goods store. The first corner on the left was a food (?) store and i recall fish being layed on the ground outside to dry. Wonderful smell! If you make that left there was a restaurant that was the only place to get food (I had Ramon one time) after hours. In the rear portion of the village were apartments. Sgt. Ron Johnson’s wife and three kids lived there, unsponosored of course. 1SGT wasn’t happy, but sort of accommodating – Ron got overnight passes a bit more often. I spent the nights when I was able to get the pass. BTW Sgt Houllete- was MJR Dempsey an African American? Could be the same guy. And Dan- I would love to have any pics of Edwards. Would you be willing to e-mail them to me?
Erik… You got the stores right… first left corner was a food store of sorts much like a convenient store I guess… the one thing that sticks in my mind is the fact that that when I got there in 89 there were no street lights or traffic lights or even cross walks for the people to cross MSR1. As there was no AC in the barracks and my room faced the MSR you could count the auto/pedestrian accidents every month as you heard every one. Over the next three years as the country got more and more used to automobiles, as it struck me that after the 88 olympics they realized they had to, we recevied crosswalks then warning lights and finally a red light. Those damn taxi cabs and “Orange Crush” (The dump trucks which were orange) used to run those Rock Drops coming from the south and never see you walking across till it was too late… lol We called it “Frogger”. I lived in the Village in 91-92 and stayed in two locations… one was the “Strawberry House” as the owner had strawberry bushes.. and the second hooch was out back on the second story of an individuals house they made into an apartment. Better place as it had oil heating and not Charcoal Major Dempsey was Caucasion.
BTW Dan- before I was assigned to the inspection section I worked in the shop that you descibe working in. As you walk past the Katusa snack bar and gas pumps (cant remember what side of the gate the pumps were on), through the ‘maintenance yard’ gate, inspection section is a few feet on immediate left, ‘shop’ is all the way to the right, maybe a couple hundred feet. I believe the shop was built a few years before I got there. The the other/older buildings in the yard where welding shop, recovery (M88 tank tow truck basically), and machine shop.
I was stationed at Camp Edwards 74-75, worked at the East camp but lived at the BOQ at the West side. Since we were Engineers on the East side we made our own theatre and headquarters shack, had our own NCO club and ammo dump, not bad for a company sized unit and a lot better than what the West side offered. Although we had some legendary ‘hail and farewell’ parties at the BOQ on the West side. The camp commander would designate an LT to procure several women from the Tree Frog Club who then brought them in under cover with the band.
Yeah dude whenever i get down to scanning them in i’ll post up in here again (i’ve been sitting on an Edwards blog for awhile now so i’ll put the pics up there and you can just copy them straight off).
Ah yeah man that’s the shop I was in on the right side of the hill. The center shop was the wheeled vehicles bay. Petrol shack was way off on the left w/ the pumps.
The Katusa Snack Bar…ahh, memories of ordering Ramyun and Yakimandu while hammered on cheap beer on Friday nights in the barracks. They used to deliver to our rooms. Relatively tame in comparison to some of the stories here, but it really is cool that so many of us have awesome memories of ROK, even through different periods of time.
ALL – I have to ask if anyone here knew “Hank” the House Boy on Edwards West. The man was old enough to be my Father in 1989-1992 but he was a hard worker and busted is backside for all of us. It was my understanding that he was there for years and some of the older soldiers from the area (earlier 80′s) or even after (93 and on) from the Engineers that took over Edwards West might have known him. Always wondered what he did when the 29th FSB Deactivated. Any pics?
DAN #133 – Can you drop the link to the Edwards Blog you have?
I don’t recall the name of our house’boy’ (much older than I), but your description fits him. $30 per month for excellent services. I wish I could get the same here!
Erik & Sgt. H I was at Camp Edwards (89-90) the barracks on the left as you come on post on the rear. I don’t remember a name either. My memory though was leaving my unit coin in my pants. I went and asked him if he had seen it. He proceeds to pull out a 3 lb. coffee can full of unit coins! He said he always found them in the laundry and put them in the can until someone claimed them. I wonder whatever happened to that can…
Funny Bill. I recall my ahjussi being honest. NEVER one problem with his service, honesty, or anything. I slipped him a bottle of something rationed (Jack Daniels?)during Christmas. He was very happy with that.
Here’s another funny; aa a CPL I was on the CQ duty roster instead of CQ runner. For some reason I only pulled it one time during the year, although I didn’t make a stink over it :). We were to walk the camp every hour, I believe starting at midnight. My first round started off as a nice walk- nice weather, quiet, etc- but it was pitch black. I started from the orderly room (I believe that became the engineers orderely room) toward the gate and followed the road on around past the barber shop and eventually to the commissary and back up past the Katusa snack bar. Anyway, when I came close to the first gaurd tower i’m thinking, he’ll be saying ‘HALT, WHO GOES THERE’, etc. But he says nothing and i’m sure he could have heard me, especially as I got closer and closer. Duriing my tour the Korean gaurds in these towers were packing shot guns and they were civilian, and not known for being the best of the best. SO now i’m getting a bit worried (shot gun + trigger happy + language barrier) and I yell ‘HELLO, CQ HERE”. I then hear a little movement, but no voice. Now i’m more worried. Does this guy think i’m someone he needs to have a strategy with? Is he trigger happy? So I yell again, “HELLO, CQ HERE”. I then hear in very broken english, “WHO THERE”. “THIS IS THE CQ, CPL ANDAL”. After a long pause I hear “OK”. So not fealing real confident in this guy I say “CAN I PASS”. Another long pause and “OK”. And I was on my way. As I left that postion I had three thoughts; 1. I hope the other gaurds that I approach are more on top of things, 2 I’m glad I didn’t get to experience friendly fire first hand, and 3. i’m glad I don’t get this duty very often.
Erik… too funny.. they went on strike during the time I was there and we manned those little shacks for a time. Some of us also learned how to be “fireman” as they also turned our old armament shop near the barber shop back into the firehouse and they were going to strike also. By that time the Armament shop was down in the motorpool on the lower compound.
Just leaving a request that anyone serving at Camp Pelham during the year 1983 contact me. I have really enjoyed gathering people and stories from those times and I don’t expect to stop now!
Talk about a long and interesting read…I was assigned to Camp Howze from 1985-1986…Retired from the Army and lived at camp howze in the red brick apartments by the MSR until 1993…All these posts brought back many Great memories of the Villes outside most bases in the DMZ area…Those places gave a real meaning to the word Party…As a First Sergeant I had to go down range to insure my Soldiers were treating the Local working girls with respect…At least that is what the Brigade Commander Col Stack said…Col Leach was a whole different Ball Game…Division Commander Gary Luck was also a Village Monger and loved to tip a few with his men down-range…My 2 Won Worth…
Let’s see…we lose 58,000 lives preserving freedom for at least half of Korea…thousands more have sacrificed since the war. I have spent over 6 years in ROK military and civilian; I love Korea but they need to pick up the tab on this issue OR we need to pull out and let them handle their own problems from here on…
Scott M. Conn
8:48 pm on October 13th, 2011 141 Times have changed…..”lived in the red brick apartments”…in my day we had a hootch down in the ville.
Yes Times did change, Watched it being built, paid 13,000,000 won at that time it was about $15,000 usd 3 bedroom…Sold it prior to the base being closed and moved to Seoul (Yongsan area)…
Man,you guys brought back some memories! I was at Howze, 1/31 Inf Feb 84-85. I thought I was crazy when I read the confusion about Sonjuri and Yongjugul, but we cleared that up. I was 11b and recall my summer in the DMZ/Warrior Base.
Those 10 man, 24/48 hour patrols in the DMZ were some of my best memories. We shot the place up one night in summer ’84. Had to sit thru an interrogation by some brass and others afterwards, but Lt.Col Reid, our Bn CO backed us up totally. Great Commanding Officer. Anyone remember the long, steep hill getting into GP Collier? And GP Oullette was like being in the Twilight Zone. Hell, the DMZ was the Twilight Zone back then, with all the music blaring.
My back still hurts from jumping over the the fence at Howze after midnight curfew. MRI (years later) revealed a compressed disc from that little night of adventure, but no big deal, that’s my battle injury I guess!
I’d love to be part of a Western Corridor vets group, great stories!.
Check out the Camp Howze group on Facebook, there’s lots of pics and even some vids there. Also, anybody here stationed at Ft Campbell in the mid 80s to early 90s? I know a lot of guys came to the ROK from Campbell or (like me) PCS’d to Campbell from the ROK.
The 101st was my first permanent duty in 1985. 801st combat support bn. We went to NTC, West Point, and International Task Force 11 (Universal Trek) in Honduras. The big thing that sticks in my mind was how much of a running fool our bn. commander was. We didn’t look forward to those runs. What unit were you in Lourn? And, does everyone still head south (TN) to drink because of the stict laws and law enforcement in KY?
I was with 1/502 from 89-91, our previous BN Commander died from a heart attack during a run just before I got there. I saw a lot of guy’s from (1/5 INF) Camp Howze around Ft Campbell. Yeah, we started at the 101 Club on post then the Red Carpet on Tiny Town Road, then from there we usually went to the go-go clubs (Mona’s Log Cabin, Why Not?, Joann’s Back Door, The Pink Lady) working our way down 41A. The Pink Lady had the best dancers, we’ed usually start there then make a circut and finish where we started. There was another club you may remember called “The Penthouse” that burned down before I got there.
Hey guys, I haven’t forgotten about the pics I have from my time at Camp Edwards (97’98). Just been very very busy w/ work and writing. Once I get them scanned and on a computer I’ll post back, never fear.
Lourn- not much has changed at Ft. Campbell. as I was finishing a 10-mile air assualt run I saw a CSM collapse. It was a heart attack, but he survived.
Erik – I did that run too, I think it was in July too and hot as a MF. A female Captain kept passing me until we got to that long steady (incline) hill. I took it easy up the hill and and let her take the lead and she even got out of my sight, when I finally reached the top of the hill and it leveled out I saw a croud around her as she was laying flat on her back, they were fanning her with towels and splashing water on her. I kept chugging away and finished the run I think at 1:13 hrs, not too bad for a 200+ pounder in that heat.
Lourn: I knew a SSgt Leib, guy with red hair, believe his first name was Randall. He was my squad leader in ROK (Camp Edwards), and I know he was previously stationed at Ft Campbell. Sound familiar?
Erik – So you must left Ft Campbell for Korea in 87? Did you spend much time at any of the go-go clubs on 41A? Hey could you reply through either facebook or my email suflex@hotmail.com
Anyone from Pelham or Gary Owen (after the name change in 96) may want to join the following group on Facebook. The membership and activity on this group is increasing.
@ Bill Beatty; You know there’s already a Camp Howze group on facebook with lots of pics and even some videos, nothing wrong with having a page also except for some reason facebook won’t let me like anything anymore. I do like the pic on that page, that’s my old barracks in the foreground and I took a similar pic from our rooftop.
As an FYI I asked and now see that Joseph Helou now updated the Camp Edwards Facebook page so I will be posting some of my pics there and such. I have a few of Pelham and such and will try to get on those groups also as since I was a 45L I supported the M198′s and 4P3 from Edwards… would be cool to see some of the “Gun Bunnies” I knew….
Hi Everyone.
On a personal perspective, I like the Camp Howze FB page as that was my division HQ and a place I visited for various reasons- dental, edcucation counselor, etc. But, I also like the Camp Edwards FB page. Being such a small camp it is important for me to see conversations and pics that are specific to that camp because I would likely otherwise never see or hear anything significant about the small chunk of land that I spent a year on. I have enjoyed both pages very much and I’d sure like to see a link between the two pages. In fact, what about a link between the Howze page and other small camp’s pages? Just a few thoughts. And, thanks to all who have given me back memories that I haven’t thought about for years (mostly good )
Also, thanks to ROK Drop as well. I believe this too is an important page as it covers all of Korea’s issues/past. I certainly didn’t mean to downsize the great work here. I suppose I see the comparison between all the pages like an old high school web page (very cool), but also smaller and more focused groups like the ‘class of 1978′ would be valued as well since it focused on just those interests. Thank you all for this website, the Howze FB, and the Edwards FB.
I was stationed at Camp Edwards in 1989-1990 when it’s mission was DMZ Support (Med, Maint, S&T) we were re-designated 296th FSB while I was stationed there. Thank you to ROK Drop for keeping these bases alive, if only in the memory of us old soldiers. Thank you Erik for reminding me I have a box of photos somewhere that others stationed in the Western Corridor might find familiar. For what it’s worth, I recently saw online that the 3rd Bde of the 2ID is headed to Afghanistan. I don’t know all the units in 3rd Bde, but I do know that 3rd Bde HQ was at Camp Howze, and our FSB fell under their command, although we were still a part of DISCOM. Never quite figured that out, but I was a PFC then. I will dig out those pictures and start posting them on the Facebook page, or here on ROK Drop.
Bill
Was there a Lt. Cole there when you were there? African American, shop officer for the C/702nd maintenance activities and XO of our company. You may recall the shop office was next door to the Katusa Snack Bar. Good guy. He may have left not too long after me (March, 1988), but I just don’t recall when his tour started/ended compared to mine.
Erik
I don’t recall a Lt. Cole, my tour started in February of 89 so he may have been gone by then. I do remember the Shop Office as most of my tour I was assigned to the new MTF (Medical Treatment Facility) that was probably under construction or dedicated during your tour. It was just downhill from the Katusa snack bar.
A couple of people pointed out a simple mistake regarding 4-7 Cav and Camp Garry Owen in particular. I was in 4-7 Cav in 76-77, both HHT and C Trp. LTC Hahn was Sqdn Cmdr at the time. There was a MAJ Mcmanamay and MAJ Machioroli as XO and S-3, 1LT Philip K Duchin was the CE officer. SFC Paul Hogan was the PSNCO. SGT Walker was the Sqdn Courier, CPT Jack Ellertson commanded C Troop. The motor pool was on the left as you entered the gate, HHT barracks on right. Sqdn HQs on top of the small hill next to some Korean graves. The large dirt field shown on current photos was the baseball field and the Rec Center stood at the north end of it. The old NCO Club is still visible on google maps
Everywhere the 4-7 Cav is stationed, they call Camp Garry Owen. There was even an FOB Garry Owen in Iraq. When I got to Camp Garry Owen in 76, it was right outside YongjulGol. Supposedly it had been called Camp Rice before the Cav moved in.
Delta Troop, the Air Cav Troop was down the road at Camp Stanton.
They had one Platoon of Infantry called the Delta Blues which was the Div Cdr’s personal pet platoon, allowed special uniforms etc. Soldiers had to go thru a special training course to be in the Delta Blues. The culmination of which was a helocast where the chopped would “accidently dunk them in a local lake. That process was stopped by the Div Surgeon because every time a soldier went in the local water he had to be given shots for a bunch of diseases (cholera/hepatitis) if he had any open cuts or ingested the water.
Supposedly, across the street from Garry Owen was what had been called RC #4 which had been given to the ROK Army. RC = Recreation Center and there was what remained of a large swimming pool that the ROK had allowed to become filled with garbage. TaejuPol was the small village before you crossed the river/bridge into Yongjulgol. Also called the “Turkey Farm”, most well known place was the “Blue Door” which was famous for cheap oral thrills.
The gate to Garry Owen circa 1976-77 is located at 37.824963, 126.844049
I might try posting a map/annotated photo when I get the chance.
We lost our telephone communications for two days once. We were on the Giant telephone exchange. You picked up the phone and told the Korean Operator what unit you wanted and they connected you. Two Sergeants First Class stood up the Korea gals who worked as operators on a date and they responded by not not allowiing any of our calls to go through except on the line line we had to Casey which was direct dial. The CSM had to tell them to go and apologize so we could get phone communications back.
Do you remember the 1SG (s) Walton and Belardo? How about commissary mom, who
was married to a Korean and sold pictures at the entrance. I was on the Contact team with SSG Christian, SGT Reilly, SPC Legg and SPC Cole. There was guy who could out drink the Koreans (Soju)he ended up in track 3 treatment, What do you know about a guy name Mosher. LOL….SFC Deramus was the 3rd shop NCOIC and CW3 Peters was the OIC. Do you remember when GEN Luck called an ALERT while we were in the chow line? LOL I could go on and on about the comical crap that went on.
I agree… When I was in the Western Corridor from 89 to 93 the Garry Owen I knew was one in the same with yours to include the Air Cav down the road at Camp Stanton. Your Coordinates nailed it. The U.S. Army played name games later when the armor moved to Camp Pelham (where 1/4 FA was) closer to Munsan and the newer RC4 (from what you knew) and closed the Garry Owen you and I knew.
greg you nailed it. camp garry owen as you described it was as i remember it. i was stationed in the s-4 shop during that time i worked for a maj cameron and later cpt/maj white. the ncoic was sfc rodell which i replaced for a short time until a replacement came in. the 1st sgt was named hawke.the ones i remember most were sgt felix sfc white ist hawke maj cameron etc. we usually frequently went to the oasis club the momason there looked out for us,we were alerted when gen brady was in the area if you remember nco’s were not allowed to associate with known business women.funny i never saw any women in the clubs that were not bussiness women ha!
Hi Bones- I believe my first 1st Sgt was Belardo. He was an ass and had something wrong with his trigger finger that made it extend always, like he was pointing. He bragged when he got orders for Leavenworth and talked abouot how he wouldn’t mind making the prisoners lives more uncomfortable. We were SO glad when his replacement arrived. My second 1st Sgt. was a big dude, black, and commanded respect just from his posture. In reality, we all respected him because of him. Good guy (if you didn’t screw up). I can’t remember his name. I was only in the commissary a few times and so I don’t remember many of the regulars/staff. Mosher does not ring a bell, but my memory sucks anyway. Wher’d he work? And, our Shop OIC was 1st Lt. Cole (good guy, I wish I could locate him), 3rd shop office was CW3 Woods (another good guy i’d like to locate), and Cpt Virgilio was our CO for most of my 2007/08 tour. When were you there, what did you do?
Greg,
Thats the Garry Owen that I spent 75-77 on in HHT. Funny that mentioned Philip Duchin, I worked for him at Ft Huachuca in the early 80′s, he was the CO of the 505th Sig Co. I remember that we called him Disco Duck when he was in the 4/7 CAV. He was quite the character.
Erik,
I’ll get you his email address when I go back to work on Tuesday. He works for a contractor on Ft. Bliss as the PM for the DOL. I met him in the early 90s when he was the BDE Maint Officer and I was a BN Maint Officer. Good guy!
He was the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade Maintenance Officer. It is a small world and even smaller in the automotive Warrant Officer field. I’ll get his email to you tomorrow.
Camp Stanton, 95-96 F-troop 4/7 I was just leaving when they finished that overpass. Before you had to take your chances with the light and the terminator trucks.
I didn’t know that all the camps were closed. To bad no Camp Howze drink girls.
I was in seonyu-ri 62&63 CC4 is the only name I recogonize also MUNSON. I was in 77th field artillery 1st cav. HD battery. Could some one help me out with name of camp? There was a little creek dividing Seonyu-ri and camp. Was station there during Cuban crisis.
#179, I was an at north Camp Custer in Paju-ri from 64-65. You were definitely at Camp Pelham. Traveling north from Sonyu-ri you came to slicky boy corner. Stay to the left and Camp Pelham was a short distance up the road to the right. They changed the names after we left so it will be confusing but I assure you that you were at Camp Pelham. 15th S&T was also there.
Thomas,Paradise club and pictures of fish alley bring back memorys of seonyu-ri in 62. Every thing was dirt roads only hard surfaced rd was to Soel. We were country boys. All field exrecise’s was in Jan or Feb. Did all the girls want to go steady in the 80′s?
#179 I forgot to mention that slicky boy corner was in Munsan-ni. You probably remember that. Cuban Crisis found me at the Automotive School at Ft. Knox.
#182 – back in the 80′s, the girls were still all Koreans and yes, many did want to get married.
The ’88 Olympics are really what changed Korea from what it was, to what it is today. I look to the ’88 Olympics as the point in time that Korea truly emerged from their Hermit Kingdom.
I drove all those roads on a regular basis. I was a truck driver in the 17th Trans Bn at Casey and hauled to and from all the camps north of Uijongbu in 60-61. The MSR was blacktop to gate 2 at Casey, and the one from Seoul to Munson Ni was blacktop to the check point. Dirt roads with some gravel
Robert Johnson: I was a Instructor at the Automotive School at Knox 62-63 in the Chassis Section. Remember we had a Master Sgt Maxwell with a glass eye, SFC Merradith, Msgt Abshire,a Staff Sgt with a huge mustach. I was a buck sgt. I was also a platoon sgt for one of the wooded barracks. I let one of the students paint some hot rodded pictures of armt trucks and jeeps on the walls in the barracks, 1st sgt had a fit.
#185 Most of our NCO’s were shipped out during the Cuban Crisis. Only one I remember was Staff Sgt. Hershel Taylor. He came to Korea in 1965 as our new motor Sgt. I recognized him immediately and introduced myself in frontof the CO. He asked the Co if I was any good? The CO told him I was the best. Later, Taylor must have gotten a dear john because he became a vegetable. He got a compassionate reassignment back t the States. I drove him to Kimpo. The only other NCO I remember who as a black dude who could call cadence like nobody on this earth. If we weren’t in class, we had dismounted drill all the time. A pain in the butt except when he was in charge. We actually looked forward to it. I lived in an old wooden barracks that was actually at the corner of Wilson Rd. and 7th Avenue.
185 Yep, that is where I learned to march troops. I looked every where for photos from there, nothing. If you have any, I sure would love a scaned copy of ant of the school area or barracks.
I was a gear head back then, and still am. Here is my weekend play car.
185 I never had any pictures from the school or anywhere at Ft. Knox. I was a car nut long before I joined the Army. I had a 55 Chevy parked in a private lot on Wilson Rd.. The last night there, we were all going home for a couple of weeks for Christmas. They told us that we weren’t allowed to travel by POV during hours of darkness. About midnight I went to the orderly room for something and the CQ asked me why I was still there? I told him what we had been told and he laughed and told me to hit the road! Five of us with all our duffle bags and other stuff made for an interesting drive to Cincinnati. No Interstate highway, just US 42
1985 TO 1986 Camp Pelham 2/17th FA looking back on the first night we landed in South Korea and stayed in Seoul Hotel , I was fortunate and will always pride my self for that tour of duty, I have lost touch with most of my army buddies Mario Lavlenet, Art Carter , Roberto Jones, I would give anything to meet them today over a cup of coffee and reflect, some how life throws us around and we neglect to keep the best times close, I was just browsing my Face book time line change and found the Life Event page and started a post to my military time I served in South Korea which brought me to search the web and found the ROK site the pleasure to find the postings brought back vivid reflections and a smile to my face to see that although time has passed and the future is always bright , we can connect with people and a time that can improve our understanding of life and the reasons why we do the things we do, I think I shall update my life events in face book since my child hood days as see what happens,P.S. keep in touch .
Make sure to look up Camp Pelham on Facebook if you have not already as there is a Facebook page for Pelham and also Camp Edwards… not sure about the others but those two I am aware of and participate on. Never know… there might be some people there ya know of the 100 or so members.
Mr. Houlette- room dog. I was your “room-mate”, even though you lived in Yong Tae Ri.> sp. I was at Camp Edwards from ’90 to 91. 18 months, involuntarily extended. I remember a dog named JP4. Mama san at the club across the street, hung out there a lot and drank a lot of Jungle Juice??(what’s in that stuff anyway?) Did our CO’s girlfriend get killed trying to cross MSR1? Loved hanging out at the NCO Club and pool. Thank god for the NCO club. Someday I will try to post my photos too. We went to the field quite a few times supporting the artillery guys from Camp Pelham. Our 1SGT had a dog (a shepherd mix)that got kidnapped and someone shaved it’s head, hilarious. The 1st SGT also bragged that he was related to Brian Setzer?? Korea was a long strange trip.
I was stationed at Camp Stanton 1984-1985. HHB 2/61st ADA. Learned a lot about myself and the Korean culture. Kind of crazy seeing the walkway across the road to the airfield which was not there when I was. I found working with the ROK soldiers to be very enlightening and would love to see some of them again to catch up. I have some photos of the base from the top of the mountain behind the base. Does anyone know if the tank traps are still there?
I had to stop reading about the alleged pollution issue because I remember the area did not have any real sewage system. Raw sewage all over the place. I hope the new leader to the north has more sense than his predecessors?
I also remember finding all kinds of propoganda literature which was said to be dropped by the North using balloons. I have few copies of that as well.
I would give anything to live those times over again. 77-78. I was assigned to HHT at Camp Garryowen. Anyone remember SP4 Maggio? CSM Dimitri? Cpt Couch? SP4 Watson? I just remember being so young and crazy and full of life. This is a great forum and really rejuvenates me. I want to go back someday. Here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRdftI18E2k&feature=related you can see the camp as Camp Rice before it became Camp Garry Owen. The helo pad was still a helo pad but it was also the rec center’s open space. The Quanset huts were updated to more rectangular one floor barracks when I was there. What a time warp it was.
SGT STERK-thanks for the youtube video, I sure remember all of those buildings well. I was a mechanic in Troop Maintenance back in 75-77 and spent many hours in the old barn that we called a motor pool. Its fun to remember old memories but more fun to make new ones.
Thanks for the video. I believe Rice was renamed Pelham then later Gary Owen. There are a couple groups on Facebook dedicated to this camp and I would like to post this video in one of them. Please confirm my info above is you see this, Thanks
Camp Beard;
The pin locating Camp Beard is in the wrong place. That is Recreation Center #1. Camp Beard is across the road (top center) going up the narrow valley.
Camp Giant;
Prior to it assuming the name ‘Giant’, the compound was simply know as Post Engineers. However, a map dated July 1 1968 does refer to it as Giant. I arrived in country Oct 67 (2nd BN 72nd Armor, Camp Beard)and knew it as the PE compound. http://koreaatourofduty.us/Installations68.html
Camps that temporarily used the name Gary Owens;
Camp McGovern, Camp Rice (Yongjugol), Camp Pelham
This name Gary Owen is associated with the 7th Cav and units of it could use the name if they desired to. http://news.webshots.com/photo/1079038943027034894fOvVhc
For those following this thread that haven’t seen this already, the below link takes you to a complete list of my “Profile” series of postings of different USFK related areas in Korea:
Chris Hiler, Use the link of Camp Rice and the same Camp Pelhem if you like. I found it on YouTube. HANABMF you are correct. Making new memories is great but lately I have gone back in time to conjure up old times. I am almost 60 years old so I’m looking back these days. I’ll get over it soon enough I suppose. I’m still trying to find SP4 Maggio who worked with me at HHT. Anybody have a 1978 HHT yearbook that would give me a first name? Thanks. By the way, this website has some great fast turn around comments.
Thank you for your post…brings back a lot of memories. I arrived at Greaves in August 1971, serving with 1/17th(MECH) Infantry, and after some months, we pingponged south of the Imjin to a Camp McKenzie. Thus far, I’ve been unable to find any info on the latter, although I found the remnants of Greaves on Google Maps. I suppose 40 years has wrought too much change. I’m interested if anyone remembers McKenzie and/or its location. I still have the same camera I used all those years ago to take a good many photos of Greaves, the DMZ, McKenzie, etc.
I was there from June 86 to June 87, I was on the Contact team. Your right about
about 1SG Belardo with the finger, but he was cool for the time I was there. He retired at Ft. Riley and got a job selling insurance.
@189
You guys had issues with 4/7 CAV lol, there were a group of guys who called themselves “The Family” from HHB.
I was stationed with HHB, 5/5 ADA at Camp Stanton in 1992 and 1993. D Btry, 5/5 ADA was also on the camp. A and B Btry’s were at Tong du Chon. i never understood why an avenger battery and a HHB would be that close to the DMZ, but we were. If anyone was there during that time, feel free to contact me.
I was stationed at Camp Edwards in 1981-1982(Armament), 1984-1985(Armament NCOIC), 1987-1989(Armament NCOIC). I have a ton of pictures and some videos. Not only pictures that I took but also from 5 different year books. I’ve always thought about scanning the yearbook pics and putting everything up on one of my websites. I actually have a video where I mounted a Sony betamax camera in the back of a jeep and filmed the entire drive (through the front window) from the front of the Armament Shop all the way across Freedom Bridge to 4P1 on the DMZ to fix an M102 howitzer. Nice to see people from that time still around and hello to everyone that was stationed there that I don’t know. Sgt. Houlette? You remember Mike Kelly? Believe it or not, we both work here on APG in Maryland. Hope to hear from you some time!
Sgt. Houlette (702 MSB / 296 FSB)
12:09 pm on May 9th, 2012 205
LOL at SGT Stotts… glad to see ya and touch base… you need to tell Mike that I have tried to track him down and been unsuccessful..
I was stationed with S2, HHT 4/7 Cav at (old) Camp Garry Owen 1979-80. What a great bunch of guys. We were all so miserable together it was actually fun. At that time HHT and A Troop (Armored Cav) were at Camp Garry Owen, B and C Troop (Air Cav) were just a few clicks south at Camp Stanton by Changman-yi, and D Troop (Air Cav) was at Camp Stanley outside Uijong-bu with 2ID DivArty. The Romance Club and the Giant Tea Room were next to the police box at the East side of Yongju-Gol on the road to Beobwon-Ri(pronounced “Pobwonyi”). There were a few Hawk Missile ADA Batteries up on the mountains around Beobwon-Ri. YongJu-Gol was like the wild west back then. Damn near anything went. We worked hard and partied hard. I was a punk-ass 19-year old buck private when I got there and left a well-trained Spec4 in need a of rest from all the hard work and partying. When I came home in May 1980 I remember getting on the plane at Osan to fly back to Travis. I was so happy it was over and I was “going back to the world”. I swore I’d never go back to Korea again. Little did I know that I’d end up spending 8 more years in Seoul after the Olympics 88-95 and TDY throughout the Korea as a soldier and 3 more 96-99 as an Army Civilian at Yongsan. I learned to love the place. Life is a trip, no?
DRIVING AROUND DIVISION AREA
4:51 pm on May 24th, 2012 207
As the NCOIC for the 2ID carrier service, I went to every camp in the division area from Che judo to Cp Howez. Not one accident.
Thanks for the memories, guys! RC#4 89-91 “Attack Battery”, 5/5 ADA
My, how things have changed, especially the names of the camps.
Dave Daggett, 1SG, USA Retired
10:20 pm on July 22nd, 2012 210
I had a little guy named Paschall that I put thru BT in 1983. Then when I got off status and went to Germany, there he was. Is that possibly you, Pashall?
I was stationed there at camp pelham back in 1990 to 1991. I think it was the perfect place to train for our artillery exercices that we went out to the field for to prepare for any battle to come our way.
I was at C 702 86-87 I worked in 3rd shop with Sgt.D. I remember playing softball with spc Legg,sgt Holmes,sgt D,sgt Ericson, Mosher was from one of the great lake states, he was my room mate but iI don’t know anymore about him. He was a kick in the pants. I do remeber 1st sgt’s walton, and Belardo. they were both cool with me. as well as cpt.Davis. The office clerk was Balisha Jefferies.we partyed a little when she got back to the world. lost track of her. One of the most vived memerys was of sgt Riely grabbing some jackass’ junk and pulling him through one of the clubs, can’t remember the name of it but it was a cave.
Ed- I was in 702nd Co C from 87-88. I was first assigned to 3rd shop, then assigned to inspection section. I remember Balardo, but it seemed he wasn’t regarded as the nice guy. I recall him being excited to PCS to Leavenworth. We didn’t have use of the pool or old gym as they were closed for upgrades my entire tour. Was Lt. Cole there during your stay?
Erik- Was Lt Cole the shop officer. I think my chief officer was CW4 Peters. I also remiber a Sgt. Dove. For some reasone your name seems familar cant spell worth a crap sorry. I left in late May 87. I also worked with Sgt. Thorp.
You guys bring back memories. Peters was CW3 SFC was Deramis, Belardo replaced 1SG Walton, Jefferies was Company Clerk, Belardo Retired at Riley ended up selling Insurance. Legg PCS along with Kidd, Rielly was a Biker, Christian went to Carson, Mosher,you are right, if he was in jeans he was cool,if he was in a suit,look out. Garner, Commissary Mom, Katusa Snack Bar. Tree Club If you guys were to see me, you say Ohh Hail No.
#215 – Bones I was there in October of this year to see what all had changed after 20 years of being gone. the “tree club” as we knew it was demolished and a new building built in its place. the “Spring water” was done the same… seems the community was simply wanting to move on. Not to mention the entire post is demolished… no buildings at all. Have some pics and will need to simply post them up.
Bones- yea I Rembimber Mosher, he came back to post with his head bashed with a bottle, after the meds patched him up he pulled a cptQ out, put his kill a commy for mommy T on, then waited for the gate to open. He was dead set on getting who ever smacked the shit out of him. Commissary mom was Sherrie she moved to the ft Lewis area. Sg.Houlette did you do a lot of weight working.
#217 – Ed Harris I was not a big weight lifter… was more interested in lifting the OB bottles Spent a lot of time in the tree club or on bus 32 heading to Yong Ju Gol / Taking Cabs to Son Yu Ri outside of Pelham. Well…. when I was not keeping the M198′s firing for the 1/4th or supporting 4P3
Hey! Is there any way to have this website correct the order of camps up the MSR from Camp Howze? They skip over Camp Edwards West and go straight to Camp Edwards East. No mention of Camp Edwards West. Anyone else notice that? Maybe they moved the camps around and got rid of the original East Edwards during this posting of the camps, IDK. But the pictures and description clearly only show East Edwards and no West Edwards.
Sgt Stotts…. the entry they discuss is Edwards West (main Edwards by the gate and aerial view due to Commissary and such) the engineers took it from us when we disbanded 296th FSB in 1992. The Edwards East (across and down the MSR north of the ville) was our Med Company during the 296th FSB days I beleive. At one point there was an infantry company there I think when you were there in the mid 80′s? I think the confusing part is that Edwards had Engineers way back (prior to FAST3 and 296th and the Engineers of the 1992 and later era) the black and white pics of east you see… 1970 or so.
Hi Chuck, thanks for posting. Actually this website has some mistakes regarding this. Looks like they are referring to both east and west as a whole making no mention of the units that were the core of Camp Edwards West for many many years. That third picture is what was at Edwards East during the years I was at Edwards West. B Co 2nd Engineer Bn. I have a letter of appreciation for repairing their CEV (combat engineer vehicle) In 1982. The same vehicle that was used to block the North Koreans from coming across the bridge of no return during operation Paul Bunyan in the 70′s following the tree cutting incident. The last picture shows the front gate of Edwards West with the caption below it saying “the last unit to call it home was 82nd Engineers”. So I guess they took over Edwards West after your unit left? What I’m confused about is if the med unit went to Edwards East, where did the Engineer unit go that was there? At this website http://rickinbham.tripod.com/KoreaPhotos.htm scroll down to the picture of Mr. Cho and Miss Ko. They were at the NCO club at Edwards West when I was there. And you’ll also see 1971 pictures of the same 2nd Engineer Bn at Edwards East sign that was there when I was there. I don’t know exactly when C Co 702nd Mt Bn became active at Camp Edwards West but according to Ricks website it was there in 1971 and I’ve seen post on other websites indicating it was there as far back as 1968. So I can only assume that this website is only referring to the last days of the camps. But even still, they got it wrong in the fact that the last unit to call Edwards East home must have been the Med unit. So my main point is they seem to only refer to Edwards east and west as a whole and infer that the only units ever there were the Engineers.
Hello everyone I was a medic with D Co 2nd Med which became C Co 296th in Oct. 1989. We were at Camp Edwards West, there was a company of infantry at Camp Edwards East from 1989-1990 1/5 Mech I believe, do not recall the company. Our orderly room was the 2nd building on the right, just past FAST 3/ FSB HQ Bldg. The housekeeper we had said the post belonged to the engineers in the 1970s, at some point they moved the S&T Co.& Med Co. in and we became the 296th. Once the 296th was deactivated in Sep 1992, the Engineers moved back in until it’s closure in 2004. http://www.stripes.com/news/camp-edwards-closure-contiues-with-move-of-vehicles-to-camp-casey-1.25862
As stated in Post 222 the FAST 3 to 296th transformation changed the units on both WEST and EAST. one by designation and the other by rotation. Engineers did not return until Sept 1992 (Being gone since some time in early 80′s). As 2ID Doc stated, when Fast 3 was in place the Med was on WEST due to the Infantry at EAST. (1/5th sounds correct) During the 296th run the MED company of 296th moved to East until our deactivation in Sept 92 and I was sent to Casey (C Co 702nd AGAIN) for the last few months before leaving country in Jan 92.
I got a bit confused from the posts above. From my memory, during my 87-88 tour in C702nd; D Co Meds, C 702nd, and FAST 3 were on Edwards West. Engineers were on Edwards East. I do not recall infantry on East during my time.
Erik, When I arrived in Feb 1989, the infantry was across MSR1 and as you said FAST 3, 2nd S&T, 2nd Med, & 702nd Maint were all on West Edwards. In October 1989 we were all reorganized and renamed 296th Foward Support Battalion. According to the war plan the infantry was supposed to cover our evacuation south to our first position to provide brigade support. Sgt. Houlette spent several years at Camp Edwards & in 2ID so he may be more familiar with the timing of the Engineers at Edwards East. I know it was infantry at East when I was there, I stitched more than a few up after fights. Spc Bill Weedman
After the division moved out of the area it becomes very difficult to keep track of what units were moving to were as information is not as widely published.
I knew that some infantry had occupied Camp Howze over the years but never knew they also were at Edwards. It’s one of those camps you just don’t hear much about.
I was at Howze early 84 into 85, in 1/31 Inf (Mech). We would go to Younju gol all the time. Loved that place. What Camp was the one at Young ju gol?? I was at Edwards for 1 month, around Christmas time, helping with the mail (even though I was a grunt). The only Edwards I recall was a bit north of Howze, on the opposite side of the MSR. Not sure if that would be east or west. But west would be logical. They had a rail road line going thru it, where we (infantry) would put our APC tracks on (along with ourselves) to go down south for Team Spirit in March. I just don’t remember another Edwards, but it was a long time ago, as we all know.
Ok. Maybe you guys can help me out. I am confused. Pelham was the Son Yur-i Camp? What Camp was the Yung-ju-gol Camp? (In 1984, when I was there). Spent time in both ville’s, but really was never exactly sober while in them. The Son-yur-i girls were by far the scariest bunch. Yong-ju-gul was better. And how did some of you guys spend 3 or more years there, consecutively? They let us do that? If I had only known. Although I was crazy homesick as a 19-20 year old there. But all in all, Korea, western corridor was way better than any stateside duty. Stateside was just mundane and boring, 24/7. Western Corridor was The Twilight Zone, but it was one heck of a ride.
When I came down on levy and got my orders for Korea, everyone was laughing and telling me how screwed I was. They were telling me, “Worst place ever, bro, it’s all over for you, you will freeze to death, Frozen Chosen/Chosin”…etc etc. I was at Ft Bragg at the time, 82nd Abn.
Finally one Sgt came up to me and said, “you are going to have the time of your life there, kid.” He was right, although I didn’t believe him at the time.
Erik, ok, thanx. I should know, since I lived there for a month, temporary mail helper during Xmas time. But I just can’t recall an Edwards east. I do recall the small ville though, Yong te ri or something like that, a couple of clubs.
to Mike in #229 – YOu are correct on the Cp. Pelham situation as it was in Sonyuri(with the utopia and paradise clubs).. YongJuGol (Aju club and the like) was next to Cp.Gary Owen and Cp Stanton(air field) down the road.. Now before people on here start freaking out I want to highlight that this is the way it was between 89 and 93… at some point after that some cav commander decided to rename Cp. Pelham in Sonyuri to Cp Gary Owen all because they moved the cav to that location from Gary Own in YongJuGol. It has been discussed on a number of occasions that this “ranking officer” did not follow the proper process and the documentation around the change is missing or confusing to say the least. All i know is what was there when I was there from 89-93 and I supported M198 Howitzers at Pelham in Sonyuri and Cav M60′s and Bradleys at Gary Owen.
@Sgt Houlette;
A letter dated 22 Jan 1999 states ….
“Camp Pelham was re-designated to Camp Garry Owen in 1996. The Cav CMDR there did so on his own initiative. Subsequently, on the official records the camp is still known as Pelham. We tried to tell him how to do it by the book, but he would not listen”
‘R. Miller, EUSA Command Historian’
I’m still trying to get a conclusive answer as to whether or not the former Camp Rice (Yongjugol) was renamed or just re-designated Garry Owen. The name was also used at Camp Coursen and Camp McGovern when the 7th Cav occupied those locations back in the 60′s.
Ah. That clears things up a bit for me, as I thought I remembered Pelham at Sonuri, and I was kind of sure I also remembered Garry Owen at Youn ju gol, in 1984.
How some commander can just switch a camp name like that is bizarre.
It’s like switching Ft Hood to Ft Bragg, by the stroke of a pen. Of course, 30 years later it’s going to be nothing but confusion for guys trying to recall it all. And the Soju and OB beer probably doesn’t help trying to recall. Good times.
I was positive that Camp Garryowen was not in Yongu-gol in 1964-65. I worked at the MP station across from CC-1 and Camp Beard was right next to our station. Never could understand why the change in names over the years. Pelham was definitely at Sonyu-ri in my day. My home was at North Camp Custer at the base of Charlie Block. God only knows what it may have been called in later years.
The only camps that went through temporary name chances were Camp Rice (Yongjugol) to Gary Owen and Camp Pelham (Sonyuri) to Gary Owen. In both cases the change took place after the 7th Cav moved into them.
Prior to 1964/65, Camp Coursen was temporarily called Gary Owen (again, occupied by the 7th Cav) and Camp McGovern carried both names on it’s sign. Camp McGovern, written on the left side of the arc, and Gary Owen, written on the right side.
There were other camps were the 7th Cav was stationed over the years, but there was no name change at these locations(Camp MacKenzie and Camp Jeb Stuart, to name two of them.)
I might also mention that in order for a camp to be renamed, it must follow 8th Army guidelines.
Otherwise, the name change is simply a re-designation.
Camp Pelham was re-designated Camp Gary Owen.
I was stationed at Gary Owen back from 80-82 (end of 79 to Jan 82) with A Trp 4/7 Cav. as a mechanic working on 48a5′s, 113′s, duece n a halfs, goats..etc.., etc.., etc.. went through the ROK ranger course, qualified a 48a5 during gunnery (we were short on a crew for one of the tanks so SFC Williams (motor sergeant at the time) volunteered a couple of us wrenches to shoot the tank).., I used to hang out at the Chin-ju club (interior was designed like a cave).., majority of the mechanics hung out there. I had a hootch in tagibole or however you spell it (ville right out the gate before you crossed the bridge to yongjugol).., good times there, havent been back since I left but I will return there someday.
Some of the mechanics that I remember., Doobie, Tompson, Baker, Audie, T, Valaeo, Lindy, Allen, many others that I can remember their faces, but their names slip my mind.
Thanks for the site! Brings back some really kick-ass memories!!
I remember reporting to the turtle farm in nov 1989. from there went to 1st Battalion 4th Field Artillery Regiment at Camp Pelham. Seonyu-ri was the ville outside the camp’s walls. There was this store to the left outside the gate where the koreans store keepers made custom sweat suits and sold other items. there was this pretty korean girl working there. A lot of my soldier friends tried to talk to her but she wasn’t having it. One day I went into the store and asked her brother why did she act the way she did towards us soldiers. He responded, look over the counter and look at her leg. I did as he asked and noticed that she had only one leg, also that there was a prostetic leg sitting in the corner where she was working at. He then went on to tell me that a soldier had something to do with her injury. I was astounded. He never got into detail, and I never asked for any more info. I had some good times up there, especially at 4P3 for those soldiers who know what that is. I will return one day to see how the western corridor has changed, if they allow us up there anymore.
Erik- Mosier worked in third shop when he was not on the gate. He was my room dog. I can recall one time he came back from the vil. he was shitfaced, he remberd that he had tossed a sandwich out the window earler that day he went out and retrieved it and ate ants and all.
I remember while in a drunken stupor one night having our cook at the EM Club fry me a whole chicken that was frozen solid. After several minutes of bickering, he decided to do it. Looked good! Bagged it up and headed for the hooch. Discovered the thing was still frozen and just left it on my footlocker. Woke up later and found my buddy, Haines was cooking it on top of our oil heater. It worked! 545th MP. Co., Camp Custer, 1964-65.
I am writing in response to some comments about the 4/7 CAV. I was there July 1973- July 1974, this being my 2nd tour in Korea in 10 years. I was Platoon Sergeant of 3rd platoon C Troop. When I arrived the name of the compound was Camp Rice and was changed to Camp Garry Owen about September that year suggested by our new CSM Hood and Squadron CO. Not only that,but they also removed an 8th Army heli pad which used to be just behind the Aid building and in back of our supply room. In 1963 I was in Aco, 2nd Bn. 15th armor which was located across the Imjim supporting the 8th and 9th CAVs with our tanks in case anything happened. The rest of our Bn. was in Yon ju gol across the road from the RC. at the same time. up the road across from the compound I was at later in 73-74, was another US compound, an artillery unit. I was there with one of our platoon sgts. visiting his brother who at the time was operating the NCO club. In 73 when I got there, that compound was ROK army and our old Bn. compound was also ROK army. In 76-77 I was back again at Casey, Platoon sergeant 2nd Plt. 1/72nd armor. We made one run across the river at night and past my old area from 1963-64 and from what I could tell all of the quanson huts were gone and the area empty. I sure hated to see all those thing sgone. Now after being retired from the army for 26 years after 24 1/2 years service, I see how life has changed over the years. Vic Pitts, 1SG, USA RET
Well what Ican give thanks to you for the geografic history
so well gather and presented.That wouldbe very apreciated memory of the camp that i expend time during the flower of our youth on the defense of Korea.
My family we have 3generations of doing the Samuel sotomayor 1952 Company D 65th infantry myself, Federico Sotomayor 1976 1977.Co B 2nd Engr Batallion.My Son Ricky T.Sotomayor served 20010 on aviation unit here by we only have a fallen cousin in Korea. well thanks for a job well done.and best regards( Federico Sotomayor)Senior
One thing wrong with the timeline is when the name changed from Pelham to G. Owen. I was at Pelham from 1993 to 1994 as part of the 5-17 Cav. So, it changed after that. I would like to see about the other camps not mentioned as well. FYI…Liberty Bell was handed over to the ROK’s the same year I arrived in 93, but was home to Ranger and LRRP’s units before it closed.
@ JW
You would be correct as only the 7th Cav has the right to use the name Garry Owen. Other compounds that temporarily used the name Garry Owen were, Camp Rice (Yongjugol) Camp McGovern and Camp Coursen. All compounds at the time the name was used were occupied by units of the 7th Cav.
I might also mention that Pelham was not renamed but only re-designated, as a renaming can only be done following 8th Army guidelines for it to be official. And the commander of the 7th Cav at Pelham did not follow the proper procedure and guidelines. Thus, when the camp closed, it closed as Camp Pelham in the 8th Army books.
Was at Garry Owen 84/85, A troop 4/7 Cav. The CO was William Shatuck. I recall the names of Glen Pelkey, Rae Howery, David Foster, Eric Leon, Lewy Grebin. Had a great time there in my youth, it was like another life. Like most, I have experienced some of the worst times as well as the best times while there, and to this day, damn near 30 years latter, I recall only the good times. I only spent 1 tour in the army but it allowed me to further my education upon my ETS. I’m close to 50 yrs old and often think back on my time in Korea and the great guys I met. What wonderful memories.
I was station at camp Pelham A Btry 2nd bn 19th FA,MAR 1962 April 1963. I liked the Soldiers also the South Korean people, really wouldn’t blame any of them for whatever they done.
I was stationed at Camp Edwards West in 1974. I was in Charlie Co. 702nd Maint Bat., 3rd shop and had some crazy times. Some of the people on base were Sgt Tripp ” Don’t let that biscuit ring Sparks, Sanutti, Staples, Brashears,Wortham, Spann,Evans and many others . The Tae Kwon Do instructor was Choi Song Sik, 8th degree black belt and truly a great master. We spent a lot of time in Yon Te Ri, the Tree Club and also at the “turkey farm”. We were rousted one night and told the North Koreans had come across Freedom Bridge and that this was the real deal. We had a Deuce and 1/2, a generator and 12 guys and we drove to Freedom Bridge that night with the top down, M60 at the ready and lots of rain. The North Koreans had driven a tank around a little and then went back. We also had some great party’s up near the helipad. One memorable band was the ” Nobody Like A Lizard Band”. This site brings back a LOT of memories.
I was in the 4/7 Cav at Camp Stanton in 78-79. Flew AH-1G Cobras during that tour. The little village that was basically just outside the gate of Stanton was called “Pie Won Knee”(Obviously not the correct spelling, but that’s how it was pronounced). One of the highlights of my tour at Stanton was the infamous naked march out of the officer’s club and through the village outside the gate. I was not a participant during this march (was in Seoul at the time), but there were some pilots that got in some real trouble over this midnight march which also included some very loud cadence that obviously woke the local residence out of bed … I wish I could have been there to see it! We also had the annual “Chicken Drop”. Aircrews would buy live chickens down in the village and do everything from rigging parachutes on them to placing them in cushioned boxes. We would then fly over the airfield at 1,000 ft in a UH-1 Huey, and the participants would drop there individual chicken … Closest chicken to the target on the airfield (the chicken had to survive the fall) would win the prize money. Anyway, we had some pretty good times at Stanton … Had some miserable times too.
I was at Camp Stanton from Jan 86 to Jan 87 when it was the ADA HHB. I worked in S-1 as a legal clerk and then as the distribution clerk. I would go to Kwang-tan to drink with the Koreans and get laid at the Korean whore houses. I did not live a “good” life while there, but I sure had some fun. Met a Korean named Jimmy who could speak English as well as any American. My friends’ name was Frank Alvarez & would like to be get in contact with him sometime as well as Paul Hansen.
KOREA IS THE ARMY’S BEST KEPT SECRET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Agent Orange Review, Vol 26 No.1 Winter 2012; Expands dates of agent orange from 1968-1969 to 1968-1971.I received a copy Mar 21,2013, I served in A Btry 2nd Bn 19th FA 1st CAV Div Camp Pelham, Mar 1962- 1963, I hopes this helps for somebody.
The info on Camp Garry Owen is incorrect. The camp name changed from Camp Rice to Camp Garry Owen in 1974. I was there when that happened. Camp Pelham is a different camp.
Ken Leighty asked: “I’m still trying to get a conclusive answer as to whether or not the former Camp Rice (Yongjugol) was renamed or just re-designated Garry Owen.”
Yes, the renaming was official. I was the squadron adjutant and did the paperwork to get the name changed. It was all done by the book.
Charles you are correct about the renaming of Camp Rice to Garry Owen for I to was there then. Not only was the name changed but the 8th Army helipad was removed if you remember and if I remember right a ball field or something else was put in its’ place. The CSM was CSM Hood and had not been there too long. I was the platoon sergeant for 3rd platoon in “C” Troop and was there from late June 73- July 74. Sure do miss those old days. I went to Fort Riley Ks. from there and in 76 volunteered to go back to Korea for my 3rd tour. I had orders for “A” troop, but when I got to the replacement station at Casey, the CSM from 1/72nd armor was told I was there and was told I was an E7 19E40 so he high jacked me and had my orders recut for “C” company 1/72. At first I was sort of ticked off, but at least I wound up with a great company of tankers and the tour turned out great. I did 3 tours there, January 1963- January 1964, 1 half with 7th ID, 40th Armor, then my company was moved across the Imjim and redesignated “A” company 1/15 Armor, of which I liked it better being on the “Z” for the duty was better and had more meaning. I retired 1 January 1987 after 24 1/2 years, and today 26 years later, I still miss those days. and the army life.
For several years, I have been trying to identify the post- referred to as “Camp Rice”. From ’64-’65, I was stationed at “Camp Rice”, which was about 1/4 mile over the bridge from Yogjugol to Taejepo. At that time, it was HQ and A Co., 27th (later 702nd) Maint. Bn. Most references- and video- do not seem to be the same Camp Rice- rather, the camp across from RC #1 in Yonjugol.
One of Ken Leighty’s pictures of Yonjugol, looking across the bridge into Taejepo, shows the original Camp Rice in the distance. Can anyone confirm that this is the camp that is being discussed here? Thanks for any help in clearing my confusion.
@ Jerry Schrag. Camp Rice was just as you described it. I was with the 545th MP’s in Yongu-gol from May, 1964 until June, 1965. 27th Maint was there when I was. Over the years I have become greatly confused with the Camp names because the names were shuffled around. My hootch was at Camp Custer at the base of Charlie block. I thought the compound across from CC-1 was known as Camp Beard but other’s have told me that Beard was actually the name of the compound that CC-1 was located.
I was stationed at camp pelham, Mar 1962-1963 A Btry 2nd bn 19th FA Bn 1ST cav Div Arty. I am 72 years old and old enough to be your great grand pa’s, and camp Pelham was called Camp rice before that, and the Village was named songju-ri and thats that.
William Mitchell…. I believe the army has tried their best to confuse us over the years. I remember a huge POL storage area in Sonyu-ri. I also remember that 15th S&T was not far away but at what we knew as Camp Pellam. You had to go through Slicky Boy corner in Munsan-ni and Pellam was on the right. Railroad track ran to it.
I was stationed at Garry Owen from 90 to 91, actually spent a few extra months in country because of stop loss for the Gulf War. Reading these posts bring back some great memories. From going downtown and falling in a turtle ditch because i was slightly intoxicated to trading MREs in the field for a hot cheesy ramen and a coke.I remember being amazed that we had beer in the soda machines in the barracks. We spent alot of time in the field freezing and dodging slicky boy, remember watching Cobra helicopters at a live fire and Koreans were beneath the birds with open trash bags catching the falling brass. Great Times Bros!
Beer in the Coke machines in the barracks. I remember that in ’84. You can bet your life that never happens these days. It truly was a different Army. Being a grunt up in the Z, I was always like “what the hell am I doing here”? But I look back with nothing but fond memories of a lot of crazy guys.
@Sam Leonard. They camp was Camp Beard. 2nd Bn. 15th Armor, 1st Cav. Div. I worked out of the MP Station that was next door to Beard 1964-65. The camp changed names later but I’m not sure what it became. I believe the camp was closed around 1970.
I remember CPT Shatuck. He gave me my first Article 15 (LOL) for black marketing. My RCP card got me. 1SG was Palomino (hoped I spelled it right). I was at Gary Owens from July 83 to Dec 84. I extended for 6 months as I did not want to leave as it was so fun. I remember Zettler from Arizona, Smith (Smitty) from NY, Ramos from Chicago and Stafford (?). Zettler was 3rd PLT in the quonset huts while the rest and I were in the barracks in 1st PLT. Talking about fun.
I was stationed at RC#4 which was right in the middle of these camps. We were a Vulcan Stinger Btry, 1988-1989, A btry 5/5/ ada 2nd inf.
There was also Camp Pellam which was field arty.
I consider that one year in nine years of service to be my favorite!
I just found this website and it brings back many memories. I spent two years 1977-79 on a mountaintop communications relay site just above Yongugol. I was part of 1st Signal Brigade. My recollection is that Camp Beard was the ROK Ranger training base at the base of the mountain where the site I worked was located. The pictures here look so different. A lot of time has passed. I spent a great deal of my time at Mr.Won’s gym studying Tae Kwon Do. He had many US students and also taught on Camp Stanton. In the 70′s the area had a rice field right in the middle of town. The communications site I was on deactivated in 79 after the link was reengineered to a new path. I’m planning a trip to Korea in the next couple years and hope to visit this area.
I served as an 11 Delta for C/4/7 at Camp Rice/Garry Owen from March ’74/May ’75. I turned 18 there. I drove a scout gun jeep for SSgt. Johnny Brannon from Tennessee. I remeber Pvt. Miller, Sgt. Quinata from Guam, ‘wee wet willie’ Willy Williams from Bloomington, Ill., and another tall, lanky, dark-haired fellow from Mansfield, Ohio with glasses – can’t remember your name. My Top was 1st Sergeant Rheinhart and CO was Capt. Miller, I believe. It’s been awhile. Anyone that served there during that time frame please contact me. I miss you guys!
Hi guys, I was at camp Howze ( Ville ) Dongducheon the end of 1971: with the combat engineers unit. 3 months later we moved to John C Pelham (ville) Seonyu-Ri. Then I became a (UP) unit police for the duration of my time. I had a bad industrial accident, I was hit by the bucket 2 1-2 cubic yard. That was 23 yrs. ago. I have a closed head injury. The only guy I remember was Billy Batson from Mo. Other then that if anybody remembers me please contact me at wildmanrd@yahoo.com Thanks guys.
Hi Rob, I was at Howze in ’84, but the Ville outside of it was not Dongduchong. It was Bong-Il-Chon. Although the truly correct name for the area is Paj, I think. Maybe I misread your post. Sorry you got hurt over there. All the best.
A place soldiers in the 2nd Infantry Division become very familiar with during a tour in Korea is the Korea Training Center (KTC). The KTC is where gunneries for Bradley and tank crews is often held along with live fire exercises for both aerial and rotary wing platforms.
The KTC has additional ranges and land for just about any other type of training exercise needed for Second Infantry Division units. The range is located about 16 kilometers northeast of the Second Infantry Division installation of Camp Casey as the crow flies, but due to the rugged terrain the drive to the KTC takes about an hour to complete from the camp by a military vehicle:
The KTC is bordered by the small farming community of Yeongpyeong-ri which is considered part of the larger Pocheon city municipality:
Driving through Yeongpyeong-ri no one would have any idea that in the valley just to north of town is Korea’s premier range training complex if it wasn’t for the one sign indicating which direction to turn to reach the range. The small village is totally unlike other villages and cities bordering US military installations because there are no clubs and absolutely no signs of a US military presence in the area due to regulations restricting soldiers from leaving the range complex.
Local Concerns
However, just like we have seen with other USFK range locations, the local residents are demanding compensation for having to live next to the range:
Pocheon city officials are asking the South Korean government for millions of dollars worth of funding to make up for the continued presence of U.S. Forces Korea’s largest live-fire range.
Although USFK plans to relocate its northernmost bases south of Seoul by 2012, it will continue to use the 22 ranges within the Rodriguez Range complex in Pocheon.
Kim Hong-jin, chief of Pocheon’s Policy Development Division, said that local residents put up with noise, property damage and disruptions to daily life that call for governmental compensation. [Stars & Stripes]
As of 2008 no agreement has been reached on paying any compensation to residents living near the range complex. (Update: As of 2016 still no agreement has been reached.) I have always found it interesting how it seems that residents only complain about USFK tanks, bombs, and airplanes making noise while the Korean military’s noise does not draw the same complaints.
For troops stationed in the 2nd Infantry Division the noise at the Korea Training Center means they are receiving the best live fire training available in South Korea:
Tanks doing gunnery at the KTC. Image via VOA News.
The multipurpose range complex (MPRC) at the KTC is primarily used to support Abrams and Bradley gunnery exercises on the main Rodriguez Range (Called Rod Range for short by GIs) as well as on the adjacent Warrior Valley range. The range is a bit unusual to most gunnery ranges in the United States because units literally fire into the side of a mountain:
On the other side of the mountain there are actually a number of South Korean villages:
With the threat of civilian damage maintaining range fans is extremely important when firing at the KTC compared to firing at ranges located in the United States. Watching night fires at the range can be extremely impressive when viewing ricochets hit off the side of the mountain and put on a mini fireworks show.
The US armored crews are not the only ones that use the range, the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army units use the range as well:
US and ROK soldiers train together at the KTC. Image via Army.mil.
Having fired Bradley Table VIII gunnery on Rodriguez Range more times then I can remember, I have found it to be one of the most difficult ranges to fire on during the summer months because of vegetation and that obscures the green pop up targets. Guys that fire well on Rod Range earn it. However, I have also fired on the Warrior Valley range and have found that one to be quite an easy range to fire on thus causing most units to want their crews to fire on Rodriguez Range if possible to get the maximum training value out of the gunnery exercise.
Other Training Ranges
The KTC is also able to support Artillery, Mortar, Close Air Support, and Apache gunneries as well. The range is also used for aerial gunnery from Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters. The range is also being increasingly used by Stryker units that have been rotating to the peninsula in recent years for training. The KTC also has a number of small arms and grenade ranges as well for soldiers to train on. The range is also being increasingly used for convoy live fires by logistical units as well:
Something soldiers stationed in Korea appreciate about the KTC is that the range has a small support area with open bay barracks, showers, a KATUSA snack bar, and even a small pizza shack.
However, for those of us who have under gone Bradley Table VIII gunnery at Rodriguez Range there is little time to enjoy these facilities because firers spend the vast majority of their time out on the range mostly waiting in line to fire and simply sleep in their vehicles. However, the soldiers out there to support the gunnery live quite well in one of the best support facilities I have seen at a US gunnery range.
Conclusion
Overall the Korea Training Center is a good facility to keep USFK soldiers properly trained and certified on their respective weapon systems. The range continues to improve with more technological updates and innovations being installed at the range. There is probably not a more important training area for USFK in all of Korea then the KTC. This means that the Korea Training Center will continue to play a major role in the training of USFK forces now and well into the future.
Note:You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:
Small update… there is no longer a small pizza shack, as well as a Shopette trailer. Right next to the haircut place, they now have a somewhat bigger shopetter and an american snack bar that serves anthony’s pizza as well. Hell they even now have an internet cafe in there. And as a bonus for shits and giggles they have an ajosshi with a table right outside selling his little wares and every now and then the brand new car salesman are there with a car on display.
Dont know about how well the support facilities compare to others as I havent been to JRTC and NTC in awhile, but YTC (Yakima Training Center near FT Lewis) has pretty good facilities.
Thanks for the update. It appears the support facilities at KTC continue to improve.
Last time I was at NTC just the big shoppette behind where units put their tents up was allowed to be used by trainees. YTC has the small camp area but when I did gunnery there we were not allowed to use it. We stayed out in the field in tents the whole time and fired gunnery and went back to Lewis.
[…] in South Korea were messages to his comrades on top secret military targets. Sometimes he was just too blatant about it. His little “Korea Finder” games he played where readers had to guess the […]
I was stationed in this area on 2 of my tours. I spent several months just north of this at Camp Kaiser, nex to Uncheon City. Back in 1960 it was called Unchon-ni. I drove a truck, and used the back road that went just to the west of Rod Range, up through what was called Greek Valley, then into the rear gate of Cp Kaiser.
The other place was at Camp St Barbara, which was just about 2 miles west of Rod Range, where old highway 37 crossed the Hantan river. There is a air strip there that is still used by some of the aviation units while at Rod. It is R228 or G228.
If any of you guys use 228, please get some pictures. I was there in 1970.
The village there is Baekui-ri. Had some GREAT Times there.
[…] http://www.qsl.net/wd4ngb/ckaiser.htm • Found on Google, Windows Live, Yahoo! Search, Ask.com A Profile of the Korea Training Center Pocheon city officials are asking the South Korean government for …. I spent several months just […]
I was at K-2, Taegu, June 1952 to May 1953. I am looking for the site of the Naktong Gunnery Range so I can post a brass plaque in commemoration of the site. It was on the Naktong River 5 hours in a 6by or 83 miles along the river to the North. No one living today seems to know where it was including 3 who were there. If you know please contact me at 44-208 Malae Place, Kaneohe, Hawaii 808 254-1221. I will give you photos. I have returned to Korea 4 times, 5th at the end of August 2010 on a revisit program sponsered by the Korean Government. I wish to return to the site and leave a commemoration plaque. Please help if you know. aloha, Harry
Bruce,
Here’s a google map shot of Baekui-ri today. If you zoom in you can see the airstrip you spoke of just north of Highway 37. Doesn’t seem like much is happening there that would qualify as GREAT Times. Would love to hear your war stories from back in the day! My first tour there was in 90 and my last in 2011. Trying to get hired as a contractor up at KTC and if I do, I’ll get you some street shots of Baekui-ri when i do.
Matt
Harry,
If you’d like, shoot me any info (local landmarks, etc.) you have near the Naktong Gunnery Range and I’ll do what I can to help. Is it up by Andong? If so, it’s likely a ROKAF range now or overgrown, but I’ve lived in Daegu on and off for six years (my dad was stationed at K2 for a year in 69) and I also do alot of hiking. Wish me luck!
Matt
Matt,
Between some of the readers here, and GI Korea, I have added some recent photos of the southern part of Camp St Barbara and Baekui-ri (called Peggy Lee back in the day). It was a small village, but had at least 8 clubs back in the 60s and early 70s when the camp was occupied full time by US troops.
Bruce,
Looking at those pictures gives a great idea of what St. Barbara was like (I’m assuming the camp is now the ROK military camp that abuts the airfield)? The range facilities look like they’re kept up (I noticed range towers near some of them), but I’ll bet most units just roll down to Rod Range to shoot small arms vs. trying to coordinate with the ROKs. Cool! My offer is still on for the street shots if I get that job!
Matt
Matt,
Would love to see anything you can get from the area. The big thing about Cp St Barbara was the 8 inch and 175 mm Arty units that were there, a Battalion of each, plus the St Barbara Artillery Range that was at the north end of the camp. All the 1st Cav, 7th Inf, and 2nd Inf div, and I Corp Artillery units did all there firing there.
The small village was like a large Recreation Center, since the locals treated the GIs very well. I had 4 tours in Korea, and the time at St Barbara was the best of them. I walked the road from there, up past Rod Range, on the back road to Uncheon, called Unchon-ni back then. Nice scenery
i spent three or four days out at G228 in early 2009 for crew drills. it was pretty overgrown at the time. google maps shows some development on the parking apron and nearby that wasn’t there four years ago. sorry no landmark photos, but we took a group picture.
Robert A. Headlee (1SG, USA Ret.)
3:04 am on July 9th, 2014 14
Wow, this brought back a few memories! I was there serving as Apache Troop 1SG Dec 96-Dec 97. Not sure if this is the right forum for a question, however here goes. I Squadron photo was taken at the Korean Training Center during one of our Gunneries. I believe it was mid summer / early fall and was shot between the snack bar and ready line. The photo included the 4/7 Command Group standing in frount of and on top of an M1A1. I would love to have a copy for my collection. I PCSed before I could get a copy. Thanks for listening and loved the site. ‘GARRY OWEN’
The heart of United States Forces Korea is without a doubt Yongsan Garrison, which is appropriately located in the middle of the city that is at the heart of the entire nation of South Korea, Seoul.
Seoul is a vibrant and massive city with a population of over 10 million people. In the middle of this megalopolis is the expansive USFK camp Yongsan Garrison. To put the location of Yongsan Garrison into perspective imagine a 630 acre foreign military base in the middle of Manhattan in New York. That is what Yongsan Garrison is like.
The camp wasn’t always surrounded by such dense urban sprawl. It was originally constructed as an Army garrison during the Imperial Japanese colonial period of Korea between 1904-1945. In fact some of the older buildings that remain on Yongsan can be dated back to the Japanese colonial period. When the Japanese built the Garrison is was located south of Seoul which was mostly farmland at the time and close to the Han River. The Han River was where boats from the Yellow Sea would travel up to deliver goods to Seoul. This was also convenient for transporting military supplies and personnel as well to the garrison.
Old Japanese brick prison administration building picture via Army-Technology.com.
Interestingly enough the Yongsan area was actually used even prior to the arrival of the Japanese colonial forces as a military area for foreign armies due to its closeness to the Han River. In the 13th century the area was used as a garrison for the occupying Mongolian Army as well as in the 16th century by the invading Japanese samurai as part of the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea. Prior to the Japanese colonization of Korea in the 20th century the area had been used by the Chinese military as well who set up a headquarters in the Yongsan area in 1882. Due to its foreign military history it is easy to see why many Koreans have mixed feelings about the location of US troops at Yongsan Garrison.
Regimental Bachelor Officers’ Quarters; later Imperial Japanese Army Hospital; now JUSMAG-K Headquarters.
During the colonial period, Yongsan Garrison would remain under Japanese control until it was handed over to the United States military with the surrender of the Japanese Imperial Army at the end of World War II. The garrison was used by US military occupying forces until 1948 and after the withdrawal of the occupying force, the garrison was used by the US military’s Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG) soldiers that advised and helped train the Republic of Korea (ROK) Army.
In June 1950 with the start of the Korean War, Yongsan Garrison was captured in less then a week by the invading North Korean forces. With the September 1950 Incheon Landing Operation led by General Douglas MacArthur, Yongsan would be recaptured by the US military to only be lost yet again a few months later with the Chinese entry into the war. By March 1951 the US military and their allies had recaptured Seoul and Yongsan Garrison once again from the Chinese. Considering the amount of warfare the garrison saw during the Korean War it is amazing how many of the old Imperial Japanese buildings actually survived the conflict.
Today most of the brick buildings seen on Yongsan Garrison date from the Japanese colonial period.
After the Korean War, Yongsan Garrison went on to become the home of United States Forces Korea (USFK), the United Nations Command (UNC), the Combined Forces Command (CFC), as well as the home of Eighth United States Army (EUSA). With such commands that are important both militarily as well as diplomatically, Yongsan Garrison is of extreme importance to both the United States and Korea.
Yongsan Garrison Today
Yongsan Garrison is currently home to over 25,000 US military servicemembers, DOD civilian contractors, and their families. In addition approximately 1,000 Korean Augmentees to the US Army (KATUSAs) serve on the compound along with 3,000 Korean civilian employees. Some of the major units stationed on Yongsan or its satellite camps are the USFK headquarters, 8th US Army headquarters, 18th Medical Command, 121 General Hospital, 175th Finance, Armed Forces Network Korea, Corps of Engineers Far East District, 1st Signal Brigade, and the 501st Military Intelligence to name a few.
8th Army Headquarters on Yongsan Garrison.
Combined Forces Command Headquarters on Yongsan Garrison.
Yongsan Garrison is currently considered one of the top installations in the entire US Army by recently receiving third place in the Army Communities of Excellence competition. The recognition is well deserved considering the excellent facilities on the post. The post is divided into North and South Posts which are divided by a wide Korean public road. In recent years an overpass was constructed over this road to allow vehicles to drive from each side of the garrison without having to exit on to the Korean road.
As I said before the facilities on the post are excellent. Yongsan has a very big Post Exchange (PX) and a massive commissary stocked with every type of American food you can think of. The post has most of the popular fast food restaurants as well as fine dining at restaurants located at the four star hotel the Dragon Hill Lodge on south post. The post’s Navy Club also continues to be a popular attraction on the compound. (Update: Navy Club closed in 2015.)
The Post Exchange (PX) on Yongsan Garrison.
An important difference between Yongsan Garrison and most other USFK facilities in Korea is the amount of families that live on Yongsan. Due to the number of families living on the post the installation operates a number of schools and community programs to create a good family environment on the compound. For soldiers stationed in the 2nd Infantry Division without their families it is a strange experience to go to Yongsan and see junior NCOs driving privately owned vehicles and taking their families shopping at the commissary.
Yongsan Apartment Housing.
The majority of the command sponsored families live on South Post or over at Hannam Village. The majority of housing on South Post is in individual homes while Hannam Village is composed of a highrise apartment complex of 1162 apartments that vary between 2, 3, & 4 bedrooms that are a 20 minute walk from Yongsan Garrison. I have heard nothing but good things about the housing on South Post where the majority of senior leadership lives; however I have heard nothing, but bad things about the Hannam Village where mostly junior soldiers live. Not only have I heard and read bad things about the apartments from people who live there, but the Stars & Stripes has reported on it as well. (Update: Hannam Village was closed in 2014.)
Those that are not housed on South Post or over at Hannam Village are authorized to live in an off post apartment. Off post apartments can be very hit and miss in quality and are notorious for landlord sharks defrauding the military and servicemembers out of money.
Dragon Hill Lodge
One of the key attractions of USFK is without a doubt the Dragon Hill Lodge hotel located on the south post of Yongsan Garrison. This massive hotel opened in May 1990 and was constructed using Morale Welfare & Recreation (MWR) funds raised through soldier programs such as the slot machines in operation on USFK camps in Korea. No Congressional funding was used to construct the hotel and to this day the hotel operates through an MWR program called the Armed Forces Recreational Centers. The Dragon Hill Lodge is one of four AFRC hotels across the globe with the others being in Hawaii, Germany, and Florida.
The hotel has 394 rooms and suites that come with queen size beds, sofas, private bathrooms, DVD players, etc. The hotel also has a number of western style restaurants to include fast food such as Subway and Pizza Hut. My personal favourite is the Oasis Mexican Restaurant that I believe serves the best Mexican food in Korea. The hotel also has a massive exercise and swimming facility for its guests. It is also popular for weddings and other large catered functions.
The Dragon Hill Lodge is rated as a four star hotel and for those staying there it definitely deserves its rating. I have only stayed at the Dragon Hill Lodge on TDY orders and have enjoyed every time I have stayed there. However, the one downside of the hotel is its price. Prices for rooms are based on rank and duty status and the average cost for a room is over $200. There are various reasons for the high prices at the hotel, but for soldiers on leave most can get a hotel room for less then a $100.
The Dragon Hill Lodge on Yongsan Garrison.
Even with the projected closing of Yongsan Garrison by 2012 the Dragon Hill Lodge is scheduled to remain a US military property which will mean that US servicemembers will be able to continue to use this great facility even after it closes.
Camp Kim
Located literally across the street from the main post of Yongsan Garrison is Camp Kim. Camp Kim is known to most GIs stationed in Korea as where the Seoul United Service Organization (USO) is located. Going to the USO is the only reason I have ever personally visited Camp Kim. The USO actually runs an excellent facility at Camp Kim and the best I have seen in USFK. Definitely worth checking out if you are a soldier stationed in Korea.
However, there is more to Camp Kim then just the USO. The camp is also home to the Special Operations Command – Korea (SOCKOR) which is the lone US special forces unit assigned to the Korean theatre of operations. The 1st Signal Brigade Project Support Directorate is also located at the camp. This directorate provides a number of technical and communications support capabilities for USFK.
Camp Kim also houses the Vehicle Processing Center for USFK which provides customer service for privately owned vehicles (POVs) of USFK servicemembers and their families. Finally the Korean Service Corps (KSC) is based out of Camp Kim which is a large organization of Korean civilian workers that provide direct peace time and combat support services to the US military in Korea.
Camp Coiner
On the northern part of the land that encompasses Yongsan Garrison is the small USFK installation of Camp Coiner. This camp was named after 2nd Lieutenant Randall Coiner assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment of the 7th Infantry Division who was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for actions taken in 1953 during the Korean War near the village of Sokkagae.
Quonset huts on Camp Coiner. Picture from the Stars & Stripes.
Prior to the US military taking control of the camp from the Imperial Japanese Army, Camp Coiner was used as a garrison for a horse drawn artillery unit. Currently the camp is home to elements of 8th PERSCOM, the 8th MP Brigade, 17th Aviation Brigade, and the 1st Signal Brigade. The camp is relatively small and only encompasses a total of 55 acres. (Update: In the future Camp Coiner will be tore down and become the location of a new US embassy compound.
Far East District Compound
The US Army’s Corps of Engineers Far East District has been based out of the extremely small Far East District Compound a block from Seoul’s massive Dongdaemun shopping district. The land that the compound was constructed on was originally owned by Seoul National University, but with the outbreak of the Korean War the South Korean government seized the land in order for the Corps of Engineers to start operations from the camp in 1951.
Since then with the economic development of Seoul, the surrounding community has swallowed up the small camp which some citizens of Seoul view as a eye sore. It also has been targeted by anti-US protesters from Hanchongryun that burned a hole in the US flag on the post. Recently the camp has been targeted by protesters angered by not being paid for services rendered while working on the project to expand Camp Humphreys.
The Far East District Compound is scheduled to be handed over back to the Korean government as part of the USFK transformation plan which has led to internal Korean fight between the ROK Ministry of Defense and Seoul National University over who really owns the land. Currently the compound is scheduled to close by 2012 and the land will be sold by the Ministry of Defense to the Korean National Housing Corporation. The camp is 142,000 square feet in size and is estimated that each 10.8 square feet in the compound is worth $85,000. The property is worth hundreds of millions of dollars thus making it quite clear why Seoul National University and the Ministry Defense are fighting over who controls the property.
Camp Jackson
Located in the far northern Dobong-gu suburb of Seoul is the small US military installation Camp Jackson. The camp was named after Private First Class George W. Jackson who was awarded the Silver Star during the Korean War. The camp is one of the smallest in Korea but probably has the prettiest back drop of any camp with the massive granite spires of beautiful Mt. Dobong soaring over the camp.
Camp Jackson used to be home to a field artillery Target Acquisition Battery that was assigned about 100 soldiers on the camp. In 1968 on the slopes of Mt. Dobong outside of the camp a continuing gun fight with Korean soldiers against North Korean infiltrators sent to kill Korean President Park Chung-hee erupted and could be heard from the camp.
Today there is no field artillery unit stationed on the installation and instead Camp Jackson is home to the Wightmen Non-commissioned Officer Academy that trains newly promoted US Army E-5 sergeants in basic NCO skills. Camp Jackson is also home to the very unique Korean Augmentee to the United States Army (KATUSA) training academy. Korea is the one US ally that has a sizable number of soldiers that serve side by side in US units. These Korean Army soldiers are called KATUSAs. The KATUSA program was first initiated in the early years of the Korean War to provide US units with translators and local cultural knowledge. KATUSAs continue to provide these important capabilities along with conducting clerical, driving, maintenance, etc. work within their respective units.
All ROK Army draftees that are selected for the KATUSA program after passing rigorous English language tests must attend the KATUSA academy at Camp Jackson. For all KATUSAs this is their first initiation into serving with US soldiers. The NCOs that train both the NCOs and KATUSAs at the academy are of high quality but unfortunately a sexual assault against a KATUSA trainee mired the school’s image a few years ago. Since then the academy has had a clean record and continues to produce great young NCOs and KATUSA soldiers for the United States Forces Korea.
The K-16 airbase is located just south of the Han River in the Seoul suburb of Soengnam. The airbase was actually the old Seoul City Airport which during the Korean War was converted into a full time military base. It received the name K-16 because airfields during the war were given code names. The original name of the base was Seoul Airbase but its codename of K-16 is what stuck and it continues to be identified as K-16 Airbase to this day.
The airbase today is 86 acres in size and controlled by the Korean Air Force 15th Composite Wing who plays host to the US Army’s 2-2 Aviation Battalion and its support units such as the 595th Maintenance Company. The 2-2 Aviation Battalion is equipped with Blackhawk helicopters and only moved to the base in 2005 from their former home at Camp Stanley in Uijongbu. The battalion was moved from Camp Stanley as part of the USFK transformation plan. K-16 also hosts a small security force that is responsible for defending Camp Post Tango located on the base. CP Tango is the primary warfighting center where any contingency on the Korean peninsula would be commanded and controlled from.
The airbase is also the entry and departure point for many VIPs flying to and from Seoul to include the South Korean president and American government officials. However, the thing that K-16 is probably most known for to USFK servicemembers is the nearby Sungnam golf course. The Sungnam golf course is not only popular with US servicemembers but with Koreans as well.
It is important to note that there are no plans to close the airfield as part of the USFK transformation plan to consolidate units around the hubs of Camp Humphreys and Osan Airbase. In fact money is actually flowing into K-16 now with major upgrades to the facilities taking place including brand new apartments for the servicemembers to be housed in.
Camp Market
Camp Market is yet another military installation that was originally constructed by the Imperial Japanese army in the 1930’s as a logistics base for supplies coming through the port of Incheon. Like with Yongsan Garrison, the Camp Market area was handed over to the US occupation troops after World War II. The area was captured by the North Koreans in the opening week of the Korean War and was recaptured in September 1950 with the Incheon Landing Operation. After the landing General McArthur used the area as a logistical base. The camp was lost again in December 1950 with the entry of the Chinese into the war. The camp was recaptured from the Chinese in March 1951.
After the Korean War the area became known as a logistical base for the US Marine Corps and in 1963 the area was given to the US Army which established the Army Support Command (ASCOM) in the area. ASCOM became the main logistical hub for the US military until most of the land and facilities for ASCOM was closed and turned over to the Korean government in 1973. Only the Camp Market area was not turned over and remains a small logistical base for USFK in Incheon.
Today Camp Market is composed of 34 warehouses that has a combined total of 852,495 square feet of storage space to store goods and supplies for USFK facilities. The Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office as well as the Army Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) distribution and bakery is based out of Camp Market to provides products and baked goods to PXs and commissaries across USFK. Approximately 600 civilians work at Camp Market with the vast majority of them being Korean contract workers.
The Future of USFK Facilities in Seoul
As the decades passed in Seoul and the Korean economic miracle took hold of the city, it began to grow at a remarkable rate to where today Yongsan Garrison has been totally engulfed and surrounded by the city. A dense urban environment surrounds the garrison on all sides instead of the farmland that surrounded the garrison when it was first constructed by the Japanese.
This urban development has caused many problems for the US military in Korea because the 630 acres that composes the garrison causes both development and traffic problems for the city of Seoul. The location of the garrison also allows activists groups to easily use the garrison to conduct their anti-US protests at any time.
Recognizing the problems of the current location of Yongsan Garrison the United States military has tried for years to get the base relocated outside of Seoul and has been continually met with South Korean governmental delays to any proposed move. The first proposal to move the garrison was actually initiated back in 1987 with then Korean President Roh Tae-woo. By 1990 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to relocate Yongsan Garrison.
However, in 1993 a new Korean president had come to power, Kim Young-sam who that year canceled the plan move, deeming it to expensive because Seoul was to pay for the cost of moving the garrison. However, it was probably no coincidence that the Korean government also killed the Yongsan move the same year the North Korean nuclear crisis was happening and the nation was on the brink of war with the North Koreans. After war was avoided with the signing of the Agreed Framework talks about relocating the garrison were effectively delayed even further with the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997.
Talks to relocate Yongsan did not seriously heat up again until 2003 when US President George Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld pushed the Korean government to relocate the garrison. On January 17, 2004 during the Sixth Future of the Alliance talks, an agreement was struck to relocate Yongsan Garrison to Camp Humphreys which is located about 50 kilometers south of Seoul. A small area of land would remain controlled by the US military at Yongsan to serve as the home for a new US embassy as well as keeping the Dragon Hill Lodge for the use of US servicemembers. The remainder of Yongsan was supposed to be turned into Seoul’s very own Central Park, but business interests and politics may sink this idea.
In my opinion the 2012 move date will never happen. Years ago I believed all the misinformation being put out by leadership about a 2008 move – not anymore!
Great work GI Korea, nicely written. And thanks for including the FED Compound. Most folks don’t even know we’re here.
Just one correction. The Google Earth image for Dragon Hill incorrectly identifies the building. The push pin identifies the First Replacement Company’s facility, Bldg. 4034 which is across the parking lot from DHL. DHL is actually the large “X” shaped gray roof at the bottom of the image (under the copyrights).
And I think you’re right on the final point, Yongsan will likely be a USFK base for the foreseeable future. Any ROK politico with half a brain knows that soon after the U.S. is gone from Seoul and then Korea, either the Chinese or the Japanese will want to establish a foothold. Stability in northeast Asia hinges on stability on the Korean peninsula.
Who can Korea depend upon to be the Hidden Dragon behind her Crouching Tiger? Someday that will be necessary, and I will say, Hell Yes!
These long posts like this one I actually type up as a Word file and leave it saved on my desktop and just slowly add to it over time. Once it is done I just cut and paste it into my blogging program. I have been slowly typing up this Yongsan post for probably about three months.
[…] main logistical support hub at the time and the only remnants of it that remains today is Camp Market. The story initially develops by following Mike’s interactions with fellow soldiers in the […]
[…] … metacomm.co.kr/forum/USAG%20Humphreys%20Relocation… • Found on Google A Profile of USFK Camps in Seoul May 13, 2008 … The US Army?s Corps of Engineers Far East District has been based …. Camp […]
[…] expect to live in back in the states. Even families that are command sponsored find themselves in Yongsan for example living in the Hanam Apartments which I have often heard referred to as “The Ghetto”. This is a […]
I was in the 135th FST and i served in Korea from 1996 to 1997, i will never forget the team of people i met there, if anyone can read this please email me any jobs that can help our soldiers in the duty. I am a US Army Vet, and i am so proud of the work we did there, we took over Mash, i designed the coin for the 135th FST, I would love to hear from anyone there, it really brings back so many good memories. To all those in 121 GH i miss you all…….
Great stuff. I have a picture of Camp Coiner in my collection that will show how the area looked in 1960. I am sure you can not see any of that big hill now, since the area is all high rises now.
I spent 61-62 at Camp Coiner and going to all signal corps sites to set up our carrier communications deuce and a half. any pics of TV hill Uijongbu, Pyontec
I was with MILPERCEN-K at Coiner in 80-81 and USAGY in 84-85 (and even Camp Stanley in 73-74). If anyone has any photos of these locations during these periods, I’d appreciate the memories.
in 1973 K-16 was little more than the small Air Base and maybe 10 farm houses across the road does CXamp Long still exist where I set up communications van on a duce and a half with generator
I was station at Camp Market. It seems surreal that I spent two years there. I was only required one year, but within the first 6 months I extend my tour for the rest of my enlistment. What a weird place. You could run around the installation in less than half an hour and it was surrounded by large apartment buildings. At times it was a lonely place when everyone left home for the weekend. Once you step outside, it was a diffrent world. It seemed I was the only foreigner walking around on that part of the city. I use to get stared at all the time. Alot of shady deals went down at the commisary and at the “club” or casino. Korean women who were married to officers showed up in their BMWs and load their vehicles with beer and other items they would sell of post. The casino was closed for GI’s at 10pm during the weekend, but oddly you could see the Korean national patrons playing the slot machines with the doors locked. The club manager always kicked me out when I showed up with my camcorder!
Greatest time of my life spent @ Seoul American High School,,71-74..Those who hated Korea, never really “saw” Korea, the culture shock of the far east and the pre concieved ideas blind some people.
I’m wondering why it never occurred to me to extend my stay in Korea at Camp Pelham in 1983. Had I known how boring stateside duty was (at least at Fort Ord)I would have spent my whole enlistment time in Korea. I clearly remember that moment on the runway..leaving the country..we all cheered when we heard and felt the rubber wheel lift off that runway when we departed. But deep down I felt sad..feeling like I had just scratched the surface of the experience and yet was leaving and would probably never be there again. I’m so grateful for sites such as this where I can check out the scene there a little bit and see the same sort of sentiments from others who served there. If ESL teaching paid a bit more..I’d probably be heading back now.
I think there is a small error about Ascom City in your history. Ascom was indeed a Marine supply point during and for a short time (no pun intended) after the Korean War, but I think it became property of the US Army in early 1954. I went to Korea on my first tour in 1956 on the USS Freeman and we processed through Ascom and boarded unheated trains for Uijongbu. I spent a month in the 121 Evac hospital in 1961 on my second tour and it was indeed at Ascom and I didn’t see a Marine. The Marines withdrew from Korea in either 1954 or ’55 and the 24th Infantry Division took their place. I served with the 7th Div just south of Kumwha.
Richard Sullivan has it right. I went thru there in Feb 1960 also was assigned there July 1962 thru August 1964. It became ASCOM when the seven technical services were combined and consolidated I believe early 1963 to form a depot. I worked on the eventual movement of supplies to Waegwan Camp Carroll before I went to Japan.
Ascom was a supply depot before the Korean War as I was surprised to read on page 509 of Roy Appleman’s “From the Naktong to the Yalu” nearly 50 years ago in his account of the Inchon landing and subsequent liberation of Seoul.
“…During the night of 16-17 September, the 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, occupied a forward defensive position commanding the Seoul highway just west of Ascom City. Behind it the 1st Battalion held a high hill…”
Anyone as rabid about military history as me or someone with just a little curiosity of what happened where they were assigned would find the Army’s official history very interesting.
Ascom was a supply depot before the Korean War thats very true I believe the 24th Infantry Division had it prior to the war but not sure. I actually found a picture showing the Marines moving thru Bupyong Dong about three days ago sent it to my son who was a marine and a avid Korean War junkie. Him and his brother actually lived for a year on that same street while I was in Vietnam.
1st time was 1965 at the Inventory Control Center down by the docks in Saigon. Then I was at Hq,USARV Long Binh 1968,1969. I was pretty lucky tour wise. Also spent two tours on Okinawa, Panama,Hawaii,Korea (two times) and one year at the Pentagon before I retired.
My 1st tour in Korea was 1960 7th Cav Camp Custer. I recall the 1st meal in Korea while at ASCOM was always a steak. Anytime of the day. Beat that junk on the ship.
I arrived in Korea on 5 January 1965 at Incheon aboard the USS Breckinridge bound for 7th Inf Div at Camp Casey. On Aug. 15, 1965, was transferred to Yongsan Garrison for assignment with the 199th Personnel Services Company. Separated from the US Army as SP5, at the 38th Replacement Co., then stationed at ASCOM/Camp Market on 23 Feb. 1966. Was hired as a temp GS3, Clerk-Typist with the ACofS, G5, Civil Affairs, 8th US Army on May 1, 1966. Thus began my civil service career. With the exception of nearly 3 years (Oct ’81-April ’82 and May 2007 – May 2009) I have lived in Korea and worked as a Public Affairs Specialist or Officer for about 35 years. Retired on 30 Sep 2008 at my last Public Affairs Officer position with the US Army Corps of Engineers, Sacramento District, California with 41 years of service (included 2 years of active duty). Worked on Yongsan Garrison for most of my life and living in numerous places in Seoul and now living in Yongin, near the Korean Folk Village.
I enjoy living in Korea and probably know more about this nation than I do about the US. I’ve traveled to almost all of the US military installations in Korea in the ’60s and ’70s and less travel in the ’80s, 90s and later.
Enjoy reading the comments and seeing the photos on the web related to our US military presence in the Republic of Korea. Appreciate the efforts of people like you who post these items of history.
I was never a military brat but I lived with my father in Seoul for many years. My dad worked for Dunham and Smith who supplied the military with food stuffs, electrical goods and you name it. So I was familiar with many of the bases. Especially Osan. I am looking forward to going back to Yongsan where I spent many of fond memories.
Tanks doing gunnery at the KTC. Image via 
US and ROK soldiers train together at the KTC. Image via 
Quonset huts on Camp Coiner. Picture from the 
