stories 9

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     From Jess Akins, ref: 326th CRC, Korea

          (MOS 05H40 Intercept Trick Chief)

    I arrived in Korea in the early part of 1954. The 326th was stationed just North of Seoul and just South of the 1st MP Check Point on the road to Uijongbu. I spent 14 months in Korea and moved to Fushimi Momoyama, Japan in the Spring of 1955.

Memories of the Korean experience are fleeting after more than a half century. They include;

Guard Duty  ( the coldest I have ever been ), Weekend Parties at the club, Taking walks in the countryside and speaking with local families ( farmers mostly ), Hot showers, and  traveling in the back of a 2-1/2 ton truck in dusty terrain. The food was terrible but the Mess Hall warmth compensated for the lousy food.

We spent  endless boring hours, when we were off duty, looking for something to do. 

Several of us built a dam on a small stream in the hills above the camp to back up the water for making a swimming pool. We dumped cases of beer into the pool for letting the cold stream water cool the beer. Trips to the Mess Hall got us soda crackers which were great with canned tuna fish and  Mayo from home, in care packages. Afternoons at the swimming hole were enjoyable with the beer and self prepared snacks.  This was one of the better times.

                           Jess and Korean family

                     Jess and friend at a farm area

                              Local Burial Mound

      Tram station entrance in Fushimi Momoyama

                            Enlisted Men's quarters

         Jess at Camp Stafford, Fushimi Momoyama

    I was supposed to go back to the States in the early Spring of 1955 but opted to extend my overseas tour of duty to go to Japan with the 326th.

That was one of the smartest moves I made. The move to Japan was like going to Heaven. There was real milk and Pizza, to mention a couple of many goodies.  We moved into camp Stafford which had previously housed the 126th Sig. Svc. Co. and the

beginning of the 8610.  I loved this place, never wanted to move. Just a 5 minute walk to the tram station and on the tram, about a 15 minute ride to Kyoto. The country, food and people were great.

I remember a trip to a small island off the coast of Kobe (I don't recall the name). There were dozens of monkeys living wild on the island. We spent days in a thatch covered open beach structure, eating and drinking while trying to avoid the mad antics of the monkeys. They would come down off the mountain and enter our hotel room from the rear to go through our bags, looking for food. Once again, an enjoyable memory.   We moved again to Miho AFB in Southern Japan. In 1958 I rotated back to Fort Devens as an instructor in the ASA school.

            NCO partiers in the club at Camp Stafford

                     In the center is Col Goolsby, CC,

                 First Sgt. Manzi is in the foreground. 

                        Behind him is Ralph Bowles       

                              Main Gate at the 326th