PFC Martin E Conlon
US 51 213 731
Co. D 34th INF. REGT. APO. 24
c/o P.M. SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
Jan 19, 1954
Inchon, Korea
Dear Dot & Bill:
I’ve got some spare time, so I guess that I had better catch up on my letter writing while I still have the chance. I hope that you folks and the baby are all fine and in good health. I am in good shape and my foot is all healed up. It looks like there will be a permanent scar on it though.
As you can see by the address on this letter, we have moved to another location. Maybe by the time you receive this we will be on our way back to Pusan again. Our job here is going to be to provide security for these former Chinese P.W.’s that are going to be released either tonight or the 23rd. It appears that we are sitting on a small size atom bomb and if anything goes wrong during this operation, that bomb may go off. We are broken down into 27 man teams called Infantry Escort Teams and these men will be the guards on the convoy coming down from Munsan-Ni. I am in one of these teams and along with eight other men we have to ride in an open 3/4 ton trunk truck with no top and our job is to act as an infantry rifle squad; in case of trouble from an outside source, we will try to stop it. This should be a cold trip because it takes about five hrs. to go up to Munsan-Ni and five more hrs. to come back down. They figure the whole operation should take about three days and we probably won’t get any sleep for from 36 to 72 hours.
As usual, the army had to have a day, a dry run and our group was picked to act as prisoners. We left here at about 9:00 one evening and started out on the long trip. We rode along until we covered about 40 miles and then we stopped for three hours to have chow. They were very nice to us and they let us. Turn in our cold C-rations for some warm coffee and warm C-rations. At three o’clock in the morning we started off again and the convoy promptly got lost to help matters along. After wandering around the countryside, we finally arrived at our destination seven o’clock that morning. We were allowed to trade in our C-rations again, and they also gave us more coffee to pep us up. We stayed here for about half an hour and then we started on the return trip. We stopped once along the way at a rest point that the Prisoners will use and then continued the trip. After we arrived in Inchon, we went through the processing line just like the prisoners, or as they call them here, Displaced Persons will do. After we finished that, the Red Cross gave us some coffee and doughnuts. They figured to take about 500 DP’s in a convoy and each 27 Man Group will be the guards for the entire convoy. There will be eighteen trucks with one guard in each one and one 3/4 ton truck with the other nine men in it.
The place we are staying at is very good in every way except for the food. We are sharing the mess hall with about 10 companies, so we don’t get as much chow as if we had our own company mess. Other than that, everything is perfect. The shower unit is about fifteen feet from our building and it has both hot and cold running water. We have a nice movie theater, church, P.X., and service club. Another very nice feature is that for the first time in six months we are sleeping on real beds with nice thick mattresses. The weather has been good with very little snow. In fact, I think it is probably colder back home than it is at Inchon, of course it is a lot colder up at Munsan-Ni but that is to be expected because it is further north.
Ann said that Joe received his Time magazine so I should be receiving mine soon. Since we have moved to another location, it takes a little longer for our mail to reach us because the Division and Regiment is still back in Pusan. I haven’t gone on R&R as yet because of this deal we are in, but I will go as soon as it is as it is over with. It may be better weather in Japan than I hope.
Well, it’s almost time for chow so I will close this letter for now. Give my regards to everyone and take it easy if you can.
Love
Eddie
