Post; Safety First

wwgrant · May 12th, 2008

Korea
After I got to Korea I was assigned to A Company, 1st Armored Amphibian Battalion. We were stationed at the northern tip of the Kimpo Peninsula. Each platoon was set up like an artillery battery, firing the 75mm howitzers mounted on our LVTAs at the Chinese Army on the opposite side of the Han River. For several months, I was Platoon leader of the First Platoon, which was set up on the reverse slope of a fairly steep hill about fifty yards south of the river bank.
One day we were getting some incoming 76mm fire from the Chinese. Most of the rounds passed over us and landed near the road leading up to our position. About a half hour after the Chinese quit shooting, four truckloads of fresh 75mm ammo arrived. The driver of the lead truck raced up to me carrying a 76mm dud round in his hands.
I instructed him to carefully but quickly carry the dud out of the platoon area and over the nearest ridge line, to set it down very gently, and then run like hell back to my CP.
A few minutes later he returned. He told me he had found the dud lying by the road as they were bringing up the ammo. He had brought it to me (nestled in the seat beside him in the truck) because he knew "military intelligence was interested in these things."
I told him he and his fellow truckers would have been in considerably less danger if he had simply marked and reported the location. And I asked him if he had considered the danger of carrying an unexploded live round in the truck with him -- especially since his cargo consisted of several tons of artillery shells. He replied, "Oh, yes sir, I knew it could be dangerous. But I kept it pointed away from me all the time."

May 12th, 2008
wwgrant Tirones	Post; Safety First Korea After I got to Korea I was assigned to A Company, 1st Armored Amphibian Battalion. We were stationed at the northern tip of the Kimpo Peninsula. Each platoon was set up like an artillery battery, firing the 75mm howitzers mounted on our LVTAs at the Chinese Army on the opposite side of the Han River. For several months, I was Platoon leader of the First Platoon, which was set up on the reverse slope of a fairly steep hill about fifty yards south of the river bank. One day we were getting some incoming 76mm fire from the Chinese. Most of the rounds passed over us and landed near the road leading up to our position. About a half hour after the Chinese quit shooting, four truckloads of fresh 75mm ammo arrived. The driver of the lead truck raced up to me carrying a 76mm dud round in his hands. I instructed him to carefully but quickly carry the dud out of the platoon area and over the nearest ridge line, to set it down very gently, and then run like hell back to my CP. A few minutes later he returned. He told me he had found the dud lying by the road as they were bringing up the ammo. He had brought it to me (nestled in the seat beside him in the truck) because he knew "military intelligence was interested in these things." I told him he and his fellow truckers would have been in considerably less danger if he had simply marked and reported the location. And I asked him if he had considered the danger of carrying an unexploded live round in the truck with him -- especially since his cargo consisted of several tons of artillery shells. He replied, "Oh, yes sir, I knew it could be dangerous. But I kept it pointed away from me all the time."