Engineer Memoirs
Our battalion supported the
Orphanage of some 60 children of varying ages between
and 10 or 12. About 20 children were taught to sing a
by their leader, and every Sunday
these children would be our choir for the church services. Their voices were exceptionally
beautiful. So with the fine minister and with this choir, our church services became well known
throughout the 1st Cavalry Division. Our Sundays became special events to the officers and men
of the battalion. A poor situation soon became a real winner.
In the March 1960 time frame, two things happened. One, I was selected to attend the Army War
College and also for promotion to colonel. This early promotion, even after seven years as a
lieutenant colonel, jumped me ahead of the large hump of lieutenant colonels with a 7 July 195 1
date of rank.
Also, I was able to make plans for my family's next move. I stayed in Korea just 13 months and
was back in the USA by 1 June 1961. The day I left, I was flown to Kimpo Air Base in the
battalion commander's helicopter, an H-13. On leaving we circled around the deck off the
officers' club where all the people were standing, waving goodbye.
May I interrupt you with just a couple of follow-up questions. You described how the 8th
Engineer Battalion had gotten much equipment left that wasn't part of the TO&E [table of
organization and equipment]. Was that, in your experience, fairly common? Does a divisional
battalion, if it's in a place for a while, does it become a lot like a construction battalion?
A ..
I'd say the answer to your question is no, it's not too typical. When you realize that numerous
wartime units in Korea had been returned to the States, a lot of equipment left behind would be
picked up by the units which remained.
Our situation was one of inheriting the stuff from some other place, and there were many things
the engineers could do for the people in the division. The resulting problem was the battalion
wasn't doing what it was supposed to be doing. The 44th Engineer Construction Battalion was
there, and we also had the 36th Engineer Group for corps support. The commanding officer of
the 36th Engineer Group was then Colonel Dave Parker, the same Colonel Parker I had met in
Tokyo at the end of World War II.
Dave replaced Bob
my classmate. The corps engineer was Colonel Roy Dodge. The
and one of his assistants was Colonel Don
Eighth Army engineer was Colonel Duncan
Eister, who had been with me in Tokyo. I mentioned him earlier. He killed himself in Korea. That
was sad, too, because I liked Don very much.
Did you feel that you had, as division engineer, good access to the division commander?
Yes. The engineer battalion was important to General Dodge and also to General Britton. The
signal battalion was important also. You have to understand we had a unique situation. The
battle group pentomic division only lasted a short while, but it aligned an engineer company with
each battle group. The battle groups were relatively small and widely dispersed, so the engineer
companies were important.
I saw the division CG at least once a week at his staff briefings. Also, I had an assistant division
engineer at division headquarters. The assistant division engineer in the 1st Cavalry Division for
part of that time was Captain Miller, earlier commander of Company E. He lived at division
headquarters; I was some miles away from division headquarters with the battalion.
Whenever an important issue came up, Miller would call me, and if appropriate I'd go over and
see the division commander. I tried to see the division commander one-on-one every couple of
weeks, and if he didn't call me over there, I'd go see him. Yes, it was a good relationship.
Now, you may have mentioned this earlier. This was the pentomic division organization?
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