Korean War Era
U.S. REVEALS CASUALTIES From Kyoda—AP, Washington, July 3—“The Army Sunday announced its first official casualty list of the Korean campaign.”
“It named 11 officers and men missing after the crash of a transport plane carrying them from Japan to South Korea.”
“The announcement gave no details except to report that the plane was believed to have been lost while attempting to land.” A casualty list followed.
S. KOREANS HONOR DEAD International News Services SOMEWHERE IN KOREA—July 7—The bodies of the 23 Americans killed in the crash of a C-54 transport plane were honored by every Korean village through which they were carried by burial parties.”
“Every town village along 85 miles US Army Paratroopers Drop into North Korea
out of harm’s way. As the North Koreans forged into South Korea, the South Koreans had no defenses and were literally unprepared and overrun. In their hasty retreat, they chose to destroy anything that the North Koreans might use to their advantage which included all communications / radio equipment. This is where the ham operators stepped up to get communications back to Tokyo. But it took hours to accomplish this. It also took hours for a response to come back and in the course of that time, the situation had always changed so differently that the directives were irrelevant. After several evacuation missions, we now know that the mission on JULY 28 was to fly in 11 Army communications personnel and equipment for establishing a more effective and efficient method of communications with those in charge in Japan; to those who were trying to coordinate a response to events while awaiting official directive from the Commander-in-Chief of the United States. There are actually two different “official” accounts of what happened that day. Regardless, the outcome was the same. One account was that the South Koreans had placed heavy
14 VETERAN FAMILY NETWORK h AUGUST 2011
equipment on the runway of the destination Air Base in Pusan to keep the North Korean MIGS from landing there. As the C-54 Skymaster approached the air base, it was necessary for them to circle, allowing the South Koreans time to remove the heavy equipment and clear the airway for their landing. In that time, one account says that the C-54 with Air Force crew and Army communications personnel was strafed by a North Korean MIG. The plane went down.
A second account is that the weather was abysmal. And in an effort to maneuver the transport and cargo to its destination, conditions were such that visibility was impossible and equipment working erratically. The plane crashed into the side of a mountain in Pusan. When the wreckage was reached, the plane had missed clearing the top of the mountain by 19 feet. And the truth may be a combination of both. All aboard were killed. Mr. Maurstead’s book includes a chapter entitled “The Crash”. It took some time to get personnel and equipment up the mountain to search the wreckage and retrieve their bodies. Mr. Maurstead includes in his book several accounts of the first casualties including newspaper clippings.
route had honor guard lining the roadway. Peasants even left fields to bow to trucks which carried bodies.” “In the village where the bodies were
first brought for identification and to be put on trucks, Koreans built a small altar which they decorated with Korean and American flags.”
CASUALTY LIST Time Magazine July 10, 1950 1st page “It was a typically American set of names. There was a Tomlinson, a Kiezanowski, a Morrissey, a Rolek, a Brown and a Selig. They came from all over the country: Westfield, Mass.; Oakland, Calif.; Warren, Ark.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Aitkin, Minn.; Clearwater, Fla.; Baltimore, Mrld.” “There were 15 in all, four officers and eleven enlisted men, on the first casualty list issued by the Army. The men were lost in the crash of a transport en route to Korea.”
FROM KORWALD REPORTS (Korean War Aircraft Loss Database) KORWALD Loss Incident Summary Date of Loss: 500630 Tail Number: 42-72649 Aircraft Type: C-54D Wing or Group: 374th Trp Car Wg Squadron: 22nd Trp Car Sq Circumstances of Loss: Destroyed by NKAF bombing strike at Suwon, Korea
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