Private Martin E Conlon
US 51213731
Co. D 34th INF. REGT.
APO. 24 c/o P.M.
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL
TO:
Mr. & Mrs. William Conlon
9 Elizabeth Drive
Bethpage, Long Island
New York, USA
July 5, 1953
Pusan1 S. Korea
Dear Dot & Bill:
I hope that you are all fine, everything is OK here. I am not in the same camp that I was when I first came over here. Tuesday night we left from an air base in Japan to head for Tageu, Korea. We arrived there at about 2 A.M. Wednesday morning. From there they put us on trains and we went to the station in Pusan. That air base we were at in Japan was the same one where they had that big plane crash a couple of weeks ago2. They had a lot of the planes, like the one that crashed out in front of the hangars. They were all grounded because of the accident, so we flew to Korea in a C-47. It was the first time that I I ever flew in an airplane, but I didn’t mind it at all except in my ears. They became plugged up when we took off and when we landed.
While we were at the sta. in Pusan, we saw many young children dressed in raggedy clothes looking for something to eat or else they were picking up cigarette butts. Also, while we were there, they brought in two freight cars full of prisoners of war. They must have been pretty important because they had a lot of MP’s there with them.
Through some mix up someplace, they weren’t sure where our company was supposed to go so we all loaded on buses and began to travel around Pusan looking for our headquarters. While we were traveling, we saw many Korean women washing clothes by beating them with paddles against stones along the river bank. We also saw the men and women plowing their fields by using an old wooden plow with an oxen or a bull to pull it along. The UN cemetery3 isn’t very far from our camp and when we passed by it, it looked very beautiful. They had all the UN flags placed in front and along the sides of it.
Finally, at about 2 P.M. Wednesday, we arrived in camp. It isn’t very big, but we have a P.X., movie theater, snack bar, N.C.O. club, craft shop, etc. There is also a basketball court and a place to go swimming, but the water there isn’t very clean. Speaking of water, we can use it only during certain hours of the day because it has to be brought into the camp by truck. Our drinking water is separate from the rest of the water, and we have plenty of that.
Our main purpose at this camp is to provide protection for the ordinance workers. This is primarily a supply depot for the front lines, although we are a long way from there. I don’t think that we should have any trouble unless it is from those escaped P.W’s. The only catch is that we have to pull this guard seven days a week, eight hrs. a day. I guess that I will have to close for now, but I will write again soon.
Love
Ed
Notes
1. Pusan in the south of Korea had been the farthest point of North Korean advance.
2. Ed flew out of Tachikawa. The Tachikawa air disaster on June 18, 1953 killed all 129 people on board a C124 Globemaster that had just taken off.
3. The United Nations Memorial Cemetery is Busan.
