Korean War Memoir by Willard Baseman

My name is Willard E. (Bill) Baseman. I was in my second year of college (which I was attending under the GI bill), when I was recalled from Rochester, New York, as a Private First Class to the army in October of 1950. I had been in the army after World War II and had been discharged as a T-5 (corporal) and for some reason I never did know, I signed up for the inactive reserve, blissfully unaware of an impending war in Korea. I reported to Fort Dix, New Jersey, and traveling by troop train, along with many other ex-Gls, we ended up at Ford Hood, Texas, for a short refresher course and then embarked from San Francisco's Fort Mason on a navy transport, arriving in Japan in January, 1951. We were issued winter gear and traveled by train to Sase Bo, Japan, where we traveled on a Japanese ferry to Pusan, Korea. At that time, we had lost Seoul and the Port of Inchon after the Chinese entered the war in October, 1950. Upon our arrival in Pusan, we were taken by truck to a railroad station, where we were issued a bandoleer of ammunition for our M1 rifles. We then found that some of us were destined for the 7th Division Replacement Company. Sometime after dark, the troop train was ambushed, probably by guerrillas, but no one in our car was hurt. After arrival at the 7th Division Replacement Company, we received some additional weapons orientation, including the BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle), a 30 caliber squad weapon loaded with a 20 round magazine, the 30 caliber M1 (Garand) rifle and fragmentation and white phosphorous grenades. Several of us were assigned to "L Company 32nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT). At the time, "L" Company was holding a defensive line north of the town of Chechon, which was a railroad center and supply depot. I was assigned to the 1st Squad, 1st Platoon; our Platoon Sergeant was Melvin Bell, the Assistant Platoon Sergeant was Moore. My Squad Leader was Neil Shepherd. They were all regular army men who had been in the Inchon invasion in September, 1950, and gone to North Korea and were evacuated from Hungnan, North Korea, in December, 1950, after the Chinese came into the war in October, 1950. The Company Commander at this time was Captain McCaffrey, who later was transferred to RCT Headquarters. McCaffrey was "L" Company C.O. in the attack on Seoul in September, 1950, and led "L" Company in a surprise attack on North Korean troops, where some 500 NK soldiers were killed and numerous guns and vehicles were destroyed. At the time that I arrived at "L Company, we spent the day patrolling or training to work with supporting tanks. At night, we crawled into our mountain sleeping bags, fully clothed with boots on. We were assigned to two men foxholes and maintained 50% alert all night, two hours awake and two hours of sleep. The weather at that time was very cold, particularly at night, and it sometimes snowed and covered everyone with an eerie look. All night, our supporting artillery fired over our heads at the North Korean troops threatening our lines.