Tag: USFK

Note: You can read more from the ROK Drop featured series “A Profile of USFK Bases” at the below link:

(Note: This is a guest posting from ROK Drop reader Steve McGee that served in Korea when the below incident happened.)

It was a normal day on March 6th 1970 and in the evening one of our guys had to pull guard duty at the motor pool at Camp Red Cloud.  The camp is located in the city of Uijongbu, South Korea.  The slicky boys would try to steal parts from the trucks if not the whole truck. It was fenced with barb wire at the top but they would still try. Earl Harms checked out his M-16 and two clips of live ammo that night and headed to the motor pool. Around 10:00pm he came through the barracks and I waved at him as he passed back by on his way out. The next morning we got up and headed for chow. After chow we went to work at the motor pool.

Camp Red Cloud’s main gate in 1966.  Picture from Flickr user Ottmar.

When I got there some people who had arrived early were already talking about not being able to find Earl. The motor pool was the old wood style with bays on one end and offices at the other with an OVM equipment room loft above the offices. The bays were high for the trucks which made the offices and OVM room two story. There were three offices, an outer office, a middle generator office and the tool room and a desk. The loft OVM room is where we stored extra equipment. The tool room had a ladder on the wall that went up to the OVM room. You could also access the OVM room from the bays.  In the outer office we had file cabinets and desk. His M-16 was leaning up against the file cabinets and the clips were laid on top. We started a search for him and some went out to check the grounds. I had a key to the tool room and went back and keyed the door. I sat down for  a minute at the desk and picked up a comic book.

When I sat down I looked up and noticed the sliding wood door to the tool room was slightly open and the light was on. I figured maybe he went up there and was sleeping. I went up the wall mounted ladder and slid the door open. There I found Earl hanging from the end of a rope stark naked. Why he was naked I don’t know. There was a five gallon gas can that was tipped over beside him. His clothes were all piled neatly just a couple of feet from him. His hand behind his back. I have tried over the years to zero in on my memory to see if his hands were tied. I froze in shock. I fell backwards off the ladder and landed smack on my ass. I jumped up and went running out screaming he’s dead, he’s dead. SGT Corey caught me outside and shook and slapped me. I had run by everyone one else as they thought I was nuts.

They took me next door to the other office and left. I remember sitting there watching an ambulance and MP’s rolling into the motor pool. After awhile the ambulance left. The MP’s and people still all over the place when they realized where they left me. They took me to the dispensary where I don’t remember a whole lot of. I remember seeing a doctor then I left with two guys with me. As we walked out the back door there was the ambulance with the back doors open and a black body bag inside. I did not find out until years later when I got my records that they had drugged me up pretty good. I do remember that I had two guys that went with me no matter where I went. To the bathroom even. I called them my shadows. I don’t know how many days after it happened my shadows told me the brass wanted me down at the motor pool. I told them No. They almost carried me down there.

Picture of Camp Red Cloud in 1966. Picture via Flickr user Ottmar.

When we got there we went in the outer office and they sat me in a chair. I remember there were MP’s, some officers and the CID. I should say here that he had just re-enlisted and was married to a Korean national, thus the CID. They started asking me questions and then opened a brief case and took out 8×10 glossy black and white pictures of what I already had burned in my mind. It was him hanging and where they had cut him down. I flipped out again and ran out of the motor pool with my shadows running after me. I never went back there again. I transferred to another unit until I left Korea. Earl was a friend and he drove the 5 ton wrecker and we use to make runs to the different units. I still have pictures of him in our year book. No one ever talked to me about it nor did I get any counseling. I was never told the end results of any investigation. I went on to spend 18 months in Germany with the 8th infantry division motor pool.

Since I got out I never talked to anyone about it. I have had PTSD and back problems from the fall off the ladder for which I am now totally disabled from. back in the early 80′s after joining the VVA and through the first councilor I ever talked to about it, we got my medical records. By chance I found a friend that served with me there. His name was Gerald. He lives just a short way from me. I had to have my wife call him and afterwards she says that he doesn’t know much more than me. He was the second one up the ladder after me and I did not know that. He said that he thought that it had to do with something sexual.  I started posting in the web site, Korean Tour of Duty and ROK Drop  about the incident to see if anyone I served with at that time could tell me more than what I knew.

This last year out of the clear blue I get an e-mail from Earl’s niece. She lives in Nebraska where the family is from and she had read my post as she was looking for answers to.  After several e-mails I told her what I knew. Earl’s mother is still alive and in a nursing home. The family does not believe what the Army report says. The funeral was held and Earl’s Korean wife came over for it. The funeral home director told the family that there were bruises on his body around his shoulders. Debbie ask if it would be alright if her uncle (Earl’s brother) could call me and I said sure. He did and after I told him he just said thanks and hung up. The mother must have a report from the military but she is not sharing it and Debbie is not wanting to ask her for it yet. Only family can get the official report until 60 years after the incident then  it opens to anyone. I was never told if it was suicide, a sexual thing or it was murder. Sure would like to know.

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

During the period of 2000-2004 USFK servicemembers were subject to a number of anti-American incidents especially after the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident where an environment was created that encouraged altercations with US military members.  Arguably the worst anti-American incident during this time period was the 2002 Seoul Subway Kidnapping.  In September  2002 three USFK servicemembers, Private John Murphy, Private Eric Owens, and Private Shane Tucker were traveling back to Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu from Seoul on the subway system that runs between the two cities.

The three soldiers were sitting in a subway car when approached by a group of South Koreans led by the the 65 year old Suh Kyung-won.  Suh was a long time anti-US activist and former member of parliament in South Korea that had been convicted in 1989 for spying for North Korea.  Suh’s group was handing out flyers critical of the US military and the armored vehicle accident that happened 3 months prior.  They were handing out the flyers to people on the subway as their group traveled to a major anti-US rally at Kyunghee University.

Suh approached the three soldiers and tried to give them a leaflet.  One of the soldiers Private John Murphy refused the leaflet and Suh slapped him in the face and was accosted by the other members of the group.  Suh said he slapped Murphy in the face because he cursed at him.  Suh however does not speak English so how he would know for sure that Murphy cursed at him or not is open to debate.  Murphy said he responded to the assault by Suh and other group members by swinging wildly to defend himself which included punching Suh in the face.  The three soldiers moved to a different subway car and then got off the subway to wait for another train to get away from Suh’s group.  However, the stop they got off on was the one where the anti-US protest was being held.  The three soldiers now found themselves being ”pulled, punched, kicked and spat upon by demonstrators” as they tried to get away from them.  As the soldiers were being beaten and pulled towards the Kyunghee University stadium by the growing mob the Korean riot police who had been stationed near the university for an unrelated event were able to intervene and rescue two of the soldiers from the mob.

The video opens with a one-minute statement by Suh recounting the evening’s events. The next 100 seconds show a chaotic street scene, with squadrons of riot-geared police and protesters running and cursing. Police are running while escorting Owens and Tucker from the mob.

An alarmed Owens and Tucker are seen running to police behind barricades at the hospital entrance.

“We have three friends. We have three,” shouts one of the soldiers.

“One more,” says the other. “Yellow. Yellow shirt. Yellow,” he said, tugging on his own shirt in an apparent reference to Murphy, who wore a school-bus-yellow shirt that day.

The video cuts to a vivid scene between South Korean protesters and riot police. One policeman bashes a protester with his shield, wounding the protester’s face. Other protesters throw items at police and kick them.

“How come you guys hit us to protect Americans?” the protesters scream.  [Stars & Stripes]

Unfortunately the anti-US Voice of People website that published video of the incident has since removed the video from their website, but fortunately the Stars & Stripes published what was said.  I find it interesting how the xenophobia of the protesters by thinking the police would just give up the soldiers who are being beaten simply because of their nationality.  Their friend Private Murphy remained detained by the mob and brought to the stadium to witness the anti-US rally.  There according to the US military he  ”was photographed, videotaped and allegedly forced to make a public statement about the incident on the train.”  The US military also criticized the Korean police for allegedly letting the demonstrators take Murphy with them.

Private John Murphy during his detainment at a anti-US rally at Kyunghee University.

At the rally one of the key statements that Murphy was forced to say was that the US military should give up legal jurisdiction of the two soldiers involved in the 2002 Armored Vehicle Incident back to Korean authorities.  For those that do not know the US-ROK Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) allows the US military to keep legal jurisdiction over servicemembers involved in incidents while on duty.  Since the armored vehicle accident happened while on duty the US military kept jurisdiction over the case.  If the accident had happened off duty while driving a civilian car the soldiers would have been tried in a South Korean court.  USFK keeps jurisdiction for on duty incidents which is a central tenant of all US SOFAs and is one that is included in SOFAs that the Korean military has signed with other countries that ROK Army troops are deployed in.  The 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident is a perfect example of why a SOFA is needed in order to prevent politically motivated mob justice against US servicemembers serving in a foreign country.  The kidnappers of Murphy would later go on to claim that they kidnapped Murphy because they thought the US-ROK SOFA would prevent the police from arresting him.  Even if this was true, this shows how effective the misinformation about the US-ROK SOFA in Korea has been over the years.

The demonstrators that had kidnapped Murphy were from the pro-North Korean group Hanchongryun.  Hanchongryun were some of the most violent protesters duriring the 2008 US beef riots and have a long track record of anti-US and pro-North Korean activity.  This group was actually considered an illegal pro-North Korean collaborator group until Korean President Roh Moo-hyun came to power in 2003 and allowed them operate openly again.  The Hanchongryun members next took Murphy from the stadium to Kyunghee University Hospital where he was forced to apologize to Suh Kyung-won who was sitting in a hospital bed there with a black eye.  Murphy’s time at the hospital was also videotaped.  Here is what Murphy said in the video:

 “I’m sorry. I’m very sorry. I’m very sorry. I’m sorry,” says Pvt. John Murphy to Suh Kyung-won, a former South Korean assemblyman who has accused Murphy of throwing the first punch in a melee that spread from a train car to a sports stadium. Murphy, his palms pressed together and taking cues from a South Korean policeman, tells Suh, “I was swinging. I was not looking … I was scared because everybody was hitting me … I’m very, very sorry.” [Stars & Stripes]

I have seen this video before and clearly Murphy was under duress and even then he clearly states that he was assaulted by the mob first.  After being forcibly brought to the hospital and videotaped Murphy was then released by the mob to Korean police who were actually in the hospital letting the mob use Murphy as a anti-US propaganda prop. Ultimately despite being assaulted, beaten, kidnapped, and forced to make coerced statements, Murphy was charged by the Korean police for assault.

Three USFK servicemembers at the police station after being beaten and abducted by members of the anti-US group Hanchongryun.

After this incident the US embassy and military in South Korea was furious and demanded action by the Korean government against Suh and the Hanchongryun members that were responsible for the beating and kidnapping.  They also demanded that the charges be dropped against Murphy which later they were by the Korean police.  Despite a mob beating and kidnapping of these soldiers, only one person ever received any punishment.  24 year old Yongin University student Koh Min-soo was fined $8,500 and given three years probation for the assault and kidnapping of the US soldiers.  However, the judge presiding over the case said during sentencing that the fight was provoked by Murphy and that Koh was responding to help an older Korean.  This is of course ridiculous when later Korean prosecutors admitted they dropped charges against Murphy because they determined that Suh struck Murphy first and then abducted him. However, defenders of Suh would later say that this was just a cultural misunderstanding:

Reminds me of the subway incident with some USFK soldiers in 2002. In my view the incident was a series of cross-cultural misunderstandings. I’ve met Suh Kyung Won personally on a few occasions and his public behavior over the years does make me believe that he probably touched one of the three US soldiers in one way or another, as he is accused of doing. No responsible public figure wants to be seen with him anymore, and he likes to make a scene and make himself a victim at demonstrations. But a man of his age can physically push a young man around in Korea, or at least do it and not then get a violent response, which appears to be what he got from the soldiers.

Americans think that once someone touches you you are authorized to unleash more than is necessary to merely get out of the situation. Angered by that, the students accompanying Suh dragged one of the soldiers on to the campus of nearby Kyunghee University to make him “apologize.” Well knowing that a US soldier had been taken by Korean students somewhere against his will, the riot police outside the school still chose not to raid the campus and rescue the guy. Like I’m saying, Koreans just don’t think “detaining” someone to make a point is full-fledged kidnapping or hostage taking, and the police, being Korean, knew instinctively that the soldier would be coming back soon enough. It was not worth breaching the unwritten rules of engagement that exists between students and riot police.

I do not think this was a cultural misunderstanding.  Suh and his goons clearly saw an opportunity to provoke an incident when they saw the GIs on the subway.  They took advantage of this opportunity and ultimately got away with assault and kidnapping.  Does anyone think that if the situation was reversed and an elder American man struck a younger Korean and then a mob of GIs pounded on the younger Koreans that people would defend the GIs for this behavior?  Better yet what if the GIs then went and took the younger Koreans as hostages, brought them on to a US military installation and then forced them to make coerced anti-Korean statements to air on the Armed Forces Network?  That is basically what happened and if GIs ever did such a thing it would lead to huge protests and outrage.  Yet when the same thing happens to GIs it is hushed up and quickly forgotten.  Here on the ROK Drop these incidents are not forgotten and hopefully shining a light on these incidents can help other people from becoming provoked into an incident like the one these soldiers unfortunately found themselves in.

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

As I was conducting research of old books about Korea I came upon the memoirs of Lieutenant General Arthur Trudeau who in the 1957 was the I Corps Commanding General in South Korea.

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 in the past has been recognized as the best small overseas commissary in the US military:

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:

• kushibo
  6:08 pm on May 1st, 2012 1

Camp Stanley.

• kushibo
  6:09 pm on May 1st, 2012 2

Oh, wait. This isn’t this week’s “Korea Finder,” is it?

• Flyingsword
  6:11 pm on May 1st, 2012 3

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.

• Donald R. Fox
  7:25 am on May 2nd, 2012 4

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

• Melvin S. Faris
  12:46 pm on June 1st, 2012 5

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.

• Randy S. Ramsey
  4:55 am on June 5th, 2012 6

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!

• William
  9:03 pm on July 10th, 2012 7

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.

• james kelley
  12:59 pm on July 22nd, 2012 8

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

• Gerald Johnson
  11:53 am on August 29th, 2013 9

I was stationed with the 1/15 battery A, in 1971-72. Looking at these photo’s it sure has changed. God Bless all the troops.

• Gerald Johnson
  11:56 am on August 29th, 2013 10

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