Any of you dummies know how to type?

Today my mom and I visited the cemetery where my dad is buried.  My dad has been gone for five and a half years.  I miss him so much.  My dad had an amazing memory for stories from his childhood and young adulthood.  I regret that I didn't write down more of them.  An acquaintance recently asked if my dad served in the military, and I remembered the story of how he landed his particular assignment as a young draftee in the Korean War.  I interviewed my dad and wrote this story for a family newsletter over twenty years ago.  And I'm so glad I did, because I wouldn't have remembered all the details that he told me at the time.   

This is a photo reproduction of a drawing of my dad that is dated October 17, 1954. 
Given the artist's signature and the date, I'm assuming this was done while my dad was on leave in Japan. 

My dad was drafted into the army on his 20th birthday, Christmas Eve 1952.  He remembered how hard this was for his mom, being Christmastime.  On January 26th, my Dad reported to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  There he went through training - infantry, combat engineering and carpentry.  After basic training, my dad and the other soldiers took a train to Washington State.  He told me about a bus trip to one of the Aleutian Islands before setting sail for Korea.  There was only one tree on the whole island, with a sign posted next to it - "Adak National Park."  I just googled "Adak National Park" and found that Adak National Forest contains exactly 33 pine trees.  Apparently Christmas trees were planted to cheer up troops stationed there during World War II, but the climate wasn't conducive.  According to the link:  "At one point, there was only a single tree left. It was at this time that the sign that reads "You are now ENTERING and LEAVING The ADAK NATIONAL FOREST" was placed here on a whim by soldiers in the early 1960s."  My dad's account suggests that the sign was there prior to the early 1960s.  Further reading tells that the site is now a National Historic Landmark for its role in World War II.   

From the U.S., my dad and the other soldiers sailed on a troop ship carrying 2,000 people to Pusan, Korea.  On my dad's way over to Korea, a cease fire had been signed, but the negotiations went on long after that.  Upon their arrival in Pusan, the troops rode in a truck to the engineering battalion.  They were to work as combat engineers, setting up bridges and other structures.  But when they got to the battalion, the Battalion Adjutant asked if any of the recruits knew how to type.  Although I don't have this in my written account, I clearly remember my dad quoting the Battalion Adjutant as saying, "Any of you dummies know how to type?"  My dad was the only one to raise his hand.  He had taken two semesters of typing in high school.  The adjutant told him to report to the Administration Area, which my dad referred to as "just a Quonset hut with desks."  The next day, my dad was handed the "Universal Code of Military Justice" and told to type the entire book, which was as large as a textbook.  He remembers that it took him two to three weeks to type the book.  That's all he did seven days a week for those few weeks.  Because he was serving in a combat zone, there were no days off - not even Saturdays and Sundays. 

When my dad finished typing the book, the adjutant told him that he was now going to be the battalion legal clerk.  That meant that he was the court reporter on all trials and also served as a resource person for the defense attorney.  My dad remembered that they usually assigned the defense attorney duties to the "new officer on the block," and the prosecutor was often more experienced.  They didn't really want the enlisted to win.  My dad sat in on all the trials and disciplinary hearings.  He was responsible for recording the testimony, every word of who said what.  This was without the help of today's modern technology.  He went to the trials equipped with plenty of legal pads and pencils and took down everything in his own version of shorthand.  The next day he typed up the report, and then it went to headquarters for officer approval.    

Because of my dad's court reporting skills, he was sent on a temporary assignment to the Demilitarized Zone for "Operation Glory."  This was the process whereby the North Korean-Chinese forces and the South Korean-U.S. forces exchanged bodies.  My dad sat in a tent and prepared lists with the names of the deceased.  Another temporary duty included going to an island off the southern tip of the peninsula that was used as a POW camp.  There were not any prisoners there at the time.  He was there to take inventory before the island was turned over to the South Korean government.  While serving in Korea, my dad took a couple of R & R trips to Japan.  He was in Korea a total of one year, ten months and twenty-two days.  He was drafted for the usual two years, but was let off early for having served in a combat zone and in order to be home in time for Christmas 1954. 

My dad was always glad that he learned how to type; it saved him from more dangerous military duties.  Maybe that's why he encouraged all seven of his children to take typing during high school.  When my siblings and I were in high school back in the 1970s and 1980s, none of us knew how big a part of our lives personal computers were going to be some day.  But given that reality, we're all grateful that we learned how to type. 

Thanks, Dad!  We love you and miss you every single day!