Combat turned political

Trucks picked us up on the beach as we landed in Korea and quickly took us to a railroad station. Surrounding the train on both sides were hundreds of children ages five to fifteen, begging for food. What a pitiful sight! We threw to them all our extra food, but if you were not careful and extended your arm out the window, they could actually get hold of you and strip your rings and wrist watches. This happened to several GI's.

My orders read, "Report to the 2nd Infantry Division, 38th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, 'A' Company." The train pulled out, and we were on our way. However, before the train got very far, it came to a screeching halt. Five of the kids who'd been flocking around the train had failed to get out of the way when the train started up. They were run over by the wheels of the train as they continued to reach up. Korean workers pulled the bodies to the side of the track, then signaled the train to pull out. What a somber feeling came over me as I saw how meaningless the peasant lives were, how the value of life was so disregarded.

I soon found myself in a trench on the front lines of the Korean War, looking out over barren (but fortified) ground in front of me to where the Chinese and North Koreans, with Soviet advisors, were facing us.

The 2nd Division, under General Douglas MacArthur, had at one time pushed north to the Yalu River, winning many fierce battles -- so fierce that several divisions of the North Korean army had run away, leaving equipment and supplies behind them. In the face of this disgrace, the Chinese leaders had put a bounty on each member of my division. If a Chinese soldier turned in the Indian Head shoulder patch (our division's patch), he was paid a "bounty." Thus when the Chinese brought several divisions to face the 2nd Infantry Division, they were ready to strike.

They stormed across the Yalu River and overwhelmed the 2nd Division, who were forced to retreat. Not only did the division lose equipment, supplies and ammunition, more importantly, the 38th Regiment lost its regimental flag (colors). This regiment would not be able to restore its honor until it won several heroic battles. (It returned to Korea only years later, when it was stationed north of Seoul and south of the demilitarized zone.)

After retreating to the demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel, the 2nd Division was able, with reinforcements, to hold and repel the onslaught of the Chinese and North Korean armies. But this meant that every member of the division -- cooks, clerks, truck drivers, medical corpsmen -- were in a fighting position. All the regularly assigned army personnel, along with everyone who could carry a weapon, were on the front line to stop the assault.

This battle had been fought only a few weeks before I entered Korea.

The front line was now open ground, with a few quickly dug foxholes, while we faced a determined enemy, though peace negotiations for a ceasefire were in progress.

In front of our position, American forces had strung rows of concertina wire as far to the left and right as I could see. Concertina wire, in coils about three feet high, contains hundreds of sharp, barbed points. Then other rolls of the same wire were placed on top of the first rolls. On the side of the wire towards our position, a minefield had been laid. Anyone making it through the concertina wire, which was virtually impregnable, would have to maneuver through the minefield to get to our defenses.

Next week: Bert Gividen eventually engages in fierce combat, some of it hand-to-hand. He addresses the question whether combat veterans should speak or write about their experiences.

These excerpts from local veterans are courtesy of the Orem Heritage Committee. Complete stories of the veterans will eventually be put on the Orem City Web site, www.orem.org. Readers aware of any veterans who have written about their military service are asked to arrange to have these archives in the Veterans History Project, Library of Congress. Phone Don Norton (225-8050) on how to do this.