My Forgotten War by Bob Gebert ’51

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Bob Gebert ’51

Bob Gebert was in “A” Chemical Warfare Service at A & M and was in Tau Beta Pi and the Engineering Council. He graduated in June 1951 with a BS in Chemical Engineering and a commission as an Army 2nd Lt. He began work for Du Pont, but soon received orders to report for duty at Ft. McClellan, Alabama on August 10, 1951. First, together with Pete Ross ’51, he graduated from the Company Officers Course. That was followed by the 4.2 Mortar Officers Course. Bob and Pete were among the elite graduates designated for duty with the 2nd Chemical Mortar Battalion (The legendary “Red Dragons”) in Korea. On January 19, 1952, they received orders for Korea.

The following are excerpts from his written story of his experiences in the front lines of the Second Mortar Battalion in Korea as provided by his son, Terry Gebert ’77.

MY FORGOTTEN WAR
“TO KOREA

We were to report to Camp Stoneman Personnel Center, Pittsburgh, California no later than 10 Feb 52. Pete and I arranged to travel out there. Pete had a deal with a used car company to drive a car from Austin to San Francisco and get expenses paid so we would have our travel pay to spend as we wished. We went to Port Arthur for Ted Hotchkiss’ wedding before we left and then on the way out we got to spend the day in Van Horn, Texas waiting for some parts to be bussed in since the Oldsmobile’s fan assembly had cratered on us out in the West Texas desert.

We arrived in San Francisco and had five days to spend and learned that every building front in San Francisco had a bar in the rear. Enjoyed the Top of the Mark in particular.

We then reported and got on a DC 6 and flew about 12 hours to Hawaii and spent 4 hours at Hickam Field. We were required to wear our woolen uniforms so Oahu was not too pleasant - we basically took a shower and then got back on the plane.

Another 12 hour flight to Midway and we had breakfast and then took off for another 12 hour flight to Tokyo. When we were approaching Tokyo, the male steward told us to fasten our seat belts and everyone did but him- we had bench seats at that time. He then pointed out the window and there was He then pointed out the window and there was Mt. Fuji, fairly close by. Suddenly we dropped about 400 feet and stuff fell all over. He hit the ceiling but no one was hurt. This was my first and only significant experience with an air pocket.

After 5 days we got on a plane and flew to what was then the capital of Korea. Flying over Korea it looked like I had always expected outer Mongolia to look - barren and sort of red-brown. Around each of the villages you could see a big circle where they just kept going further and further out to get their supply of firewood. It looked bleak, desolate and uninviting.

After landing we noted that the big piles of hay coming down the road were Koreans with A-Frames working as a hay truck. This was their main shipping mode.

Then we were put on a train, issued a rifle with no ammunition, and told there were snipers occasionally. We took the train overnight to somewhere in the vicinity of Seoul.

Then we took a truck to the Second Mortar Battalion Rear. We were introduced to the people there and found out they eat very well in Battalion Rear. The steaks seemed to stop there on the way up to the front. Since there were three Aggies, Armstrong, Ross and myself, we were split up. Armstrong went to Able Company, Ross to Baker and I went to Charlie.

This was in February and we were in a tent with cots and a number of army blankets. The stove was a potbellied fuel oil stove and we got it so hot you could practically see through it. We were still freezing, sleeping on those cots with those blankets. It was really a miserably cold night and I couldn’t sleep. We had arrived in Frozen Chosen.

NATIVE CHARLIE RED

Then I went up to Charlie Company, 1st platoon, (Native Charlie Red), was introduced around and then went into the officers’ bunker and started unpacking my duffel bag. Almost immediately, I hear all sorts of small arms fire. I think I just got here and I am going to get it after 30 minutes at the front. I look out the bunker, which faced to the rear, and saw that everybody in the platoon had small arms and was shooting at a deer about a hundred yards away that was trotting through a mine field. The deer calmly trotted over a hill and was gone. Well, I felt some relief then but I thought, boy if that had been the Chinese, that platoon of mine can’t hit anything. They had acquired lots of extra weapons to no avail.

Then one of the men, a smart ass in one of the mortar crews, asked me if I knew anything about the mortar. I didn’t light into him but I sure felt like it. I guess he had had a number of officers with no mortar training at all. I had had extensive mortar training and everything except of course combat experience with it.

The men did not wear their helmets in the mortar pits and insisted they interfered too much. I did not like this but did not force the issue.

This platoon was all from Alabama. There was one black in the platoon and he was getting the expected treatment. He wandered around and was very sloppy - he didn’t tie his boots nor button his fatigues and really looked bad. After a couple of days of this, I called him into my bunker and gave him the best ass chewing I have ever given anybody.

Two days later he came up to me and said “Lieutenant, I’d like to go up on the hill with you.” This really shocked, surprised and pleased me after the chewing out I’d given him. I really gained a lot of respect for him. He did shape up and started acting like a soldier. I’d already promised another young man to go up on the hill with me. Never did get to take the black soldier up with me but would have.

We were facing the Chinese and there was a short cease fire which gave the Chinese the opportunity to move up supplies unimpeded. So it was rather quiet up on the hill - we just sat up and watched and really couldn’t see much and couldn’t fire.

A house boy immediately appeared for me. He started running to the front of the chow line when chow was brought up from company rear. He got very disturbed when I told him officers eat last. House boys were handy for washing clothes, clean up, etc.

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GUNNERY OFFICER

Shortly thereafter I took over as gunnery officer. My predecessor was a nice guy that apparently had a run-in with the S3 and was ready for something else. He moved to another company. He was impressed with the fact that I came in and took over immediately. I presume he was not trained and had to learn the hard way.

During this time I had become very good friends with a warrant officer named Cooney. He was at company rear and came up when he wished on their 5 o’clock milk run for mail and what have you. After we became good friends he made a point to always come up.

One day, 12 Aug 52, a 120 mortar round hit right beside their jeep after they had left the 3rd Platoon. It killed him and Lt. Pearce and wounded the two enlisted men sitting on the other side of the jeep. I really felt bad because he was coming mainly to see me. I then got real serious about killing North Koreans.

A World War II vet, who had made all the combat jumps with the 82nd Airborne, was up on our northern OP. The next evening he saw lots of targets so we fired at them for hours as he kept finding more and more. I had an ammo allotment which I exceeded since I noticed my predecessor had not fired up his. I basically pulled on his ammo allotment. The Battalion S3 later chewed me out good for exceeding my allotment. He said it was not retroactive. (We later heard that the North Koreans had to replace their regiment after that shoot.)

I think it was Major Timberman who chewed me out and we also had a little discussion about whether a mortar was an area or a precision weapon. Despite the excellent shooting by our guys, I pointed out it is primarily an area weapon.

Our ammo was believed to be WWII leftovers.

Propellant for the 4.2 consisted of a charge of up to two five and one half (25and ½) sheets of power. They were thin, square and had a rounded hole so they would fit over the “shotgun shell” and were cut so they could be removed. Distance was controlled by changing the number of sheets or the CHARGE as determined by the FDC (Fire Direction Center).

On rare occasions a sheet would come off and wedge between the round and the mortar barrel leading to a stuck round. The procedure to free it consisted of taking the barrel off, turning it over and slamming it against the baseplate. This appeared to be dangerous but was not. In order to arm the round it needed to be fired, come out of the rifled barrel and make about one and a half turns. The gun crews were too skittish to do this so they always got me. It was easy to free the shell.

Ross was loaned to Charlie Company for a short time. He was in the third platoon when a jeep was out during the day and was hit at the road branch. He went out and helped the wounded return and earned the Silver Star. Our 82nd Airborne veteran wrote it up.

I remember Ross being up on the northern OP when there was a fair amount of patrol action. We used both telephone and radio for communication. Wires were laid on the ground and frequently cut by incoming fire. Our linemen would go out, find the break and repair it. That night we lost telephone contact. Our lineman was burned out and preferred not to go out that night. Since we had good radio contact, I told him he could wait until early morning. He was gratified.

And on another occasion Schrader was up there and things were getting kind of desperate. He insisted on calling in fire on himself. I tried to talk him out of it but I finally did fire on his position. I tried to space it just a little off of him and his bunker so it would minimize the chances of his getting killed. Next morning I went up and found the rounds landed just over the crest of the hill and just down from the crest. Someone coming up the hill would get hit and just far enough down from the crest there was not much chance of hitting him. They landed exactly where I wanted it, about ten yards from him but on the other side of the crest.

He should have gotten some commendation from the U.S. for that but didn’t. The Koreans did give him a commendation letter and he jokingly thought it was because no South Koreans were killed.

There was a tale about an observer sent up to an OP in Able Company. He was asked to report on a certain location. When he couldn’t see it he was told to look through his BC Scope. He responded “What BC Scope?” He was then sent to a smoke generator company since he must have been legally blind.

We had a volleyball net just outside the Fire Direction Center and frequently played volleyball during the afternoon. Frequently, rounds of fire were going overhead toward battalion forward or company rear at that time, but it didn’t bother us because they were usually artillery rounds and it would take a mortar round to get to us.

We did have a few 120’s hit up the hill from us occasionally where we did have a guard post. I always remember at night that if you were awakened by a lot of 50 caliber machine gun fire, you knew a certain big black dude was up there manning the outpost because he fired whenever he thought he saw movement. He was really a nice, easy going friendly guy, but he liked to shoot that 50 caliber and took no chances.

My fatigues were shot full of holes twice. Fortunately I was not in them. My house boy had hung them up to dry on the hill up toward the outpost.

BATTALION FORWARD

I was transferred to Battalion Forward by Colonel Carson about mid or early September of 1952, as Battalion S2 and acting S3 - there was no S3 around or available. (I turned the FDC over to Jones). I had many, many different duties as I had as Gunnery Officer and some were perhaps insignificant most of the time. One of my duties was to inspect the Observation Posts of the three companies.

I was just getting prepared to do so but we had been under heavy shelling and the North Koreans had sent some flyers in about their attacking us. I noted that Col. Carson somehow liked my jeep driver, who was very good, and he was going out reconnoitering during the day and I knew something was going on. I though the S2 should know. My jeep driver did know obviously but I, the Intelligence Officer, didn’t know what was going on.

A self-propelled 155 mm Long Tom would frequently pull up near Battalion Forward at night for the purpose of shelling North Korea Corps Headquarters about 25 miles away. Their Corps Commander obviously detested this intrusion and a tremendous amount of fire was received in return. The muzzle blast of the 155 lit the heavens. It was easy to spot. We received more than our share of return fire aimed at the 155. They were partially armored and the intent was to fire some rounds and get out. However, they seemed to get at least one casualty per trip.

During this period we had two fine linemen who were outstanding young men. A round came in and killed both when they were checking lines on a ridge by Battalion Forward. War is a real waste of good people and it always hurts. When you lose outstanding people it hurts all the more.

At any rate I was getting ready to check the OP’s. I had planned to check Baker Company’s within a few days. I had checked our final defensive fire pattern with the companies. Heavy shelling continued and on September 21, the North Koreans launched a major attack at dark. Four OP’s, two from Able and two from Baker Company, were overrun. In the western Able Company OP, McGeever was killed, in the eastern one the officer did get out and also the western one from Baker Company.

In the eastern OP, Hill 854 (meters), of Baker Company, Lt L’Heureux was captured. Their Korean aide helped save their lives. There was a pretty big problem with North Koreans overrunning that OP because it looked right down on a couple of Baker Company Platoons. They did have to move.

As it turned out, the ROK Division (8th) was backed up and replaced by the 45th Infantry division. They had to fight their way to the top. They did it quickly in the Able Company area but it took several days in the Baker Company area. Ross was acting CO of Baker at this time and had to deal with this situation. Stenger was on R& R.

The US had learned by this time that the Chinese and North Koreans preferred to attack the ROK troops, overrun them and then attack US or UN troops from the sides or rear. They did take action and were in place to back the ROK division up. Had they not done so the 2nd Mortar would probably been overrun and taken heavy casualties.

During a five week period, Lts Woodcock, Pearce and McGeever and WO Cooney were KIA. Lt L’Heureux was captured. Lts Barbor, Turner and Davidson were WIA. This was food for thought. A Lt Vonnegut was riding in a jeep with his carbine by his side with muzzle down. He was shot in his foot by his carbine and got his ticket home.

About a week after we had an officer killed and one captured, the North Koreans were accusing us of chemical warfare on the radio. They noted the crossed retort insignias on our officers. A few days later we were issued crossed rifles (infantry) and then a few months later on the 23nd of January we were officially converted to the 461st Heavy Mortar Infantry Battalion.

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PUNCH BOWL

Next, I learn we are moving. Colonel Carson had been using my jeep driver to scout out our new position. The GI Division, the 40th Division, did not need any additional 4.2 mortars so we moved out and took position behind the Punch Bowl. (It really looked like a huge bowl.)

We were not dug in anywhere and were in tents behind the southern ridge of the Punchbowl. The southern rim of the punch bowl was a fairly straight ridge line. The companies were aligned behind the ridge line with a string of OPs above.

I did then get up to inspect these OPs and it was somewhat amazing that in the third one I walked in was L. T. McBeth ‘51, a fellow chemical engineering graduate of A&M who was in the artillery.

Another incident in getting up to the OPs that I remember was while going up a steep road the jeep transmission cratered. My Sergeant and I hiked up the rest of the way. He was a little pudgy and apparently not in very good shape and, when we got to the top, he tossed his cookies.

We inspected the western OPs a day or two later on a cold, ominous, foggy, cloudy day with no sunlight. A number of Koreans had been killed and were lying around with blankets over them. It was very eerie and surreal. It was not a place you would want to hang around. Death was in the air.

We were operating out of a tent with a wooden floor and rolled up sides. We had an elevated wooden station for the phone. Just to southeast there was a U.S. 105 howitzer battery and apparently the Chinese at this location had zeroed in on them and they were frequently shelling and they shelled near us also.

Most of the people in Battalion Forward went over to the next little valley and started digging in so we would have some protection. I stayed and maintained the communications, etc. After a number of days of this, I was getting tired of having rounds falling close all around.

One noon we were eating and just below us and across the road was a tent full of KSCs who were also eating. I happened to be looking at it and saw a round go into the tent and explode and, of course, then there were Koreans running all over the place. Colonel Carson was down there almost immediately seeing what could be done to take care of the wounded. I gained added respect for him that day.

Nevertheless, after continued shelling I got tired of it and wanted to take a break. I went down to Baker Company Rear where Ross was and we had a few drinks. When you have been under fire day after day for months it begins to wear on you. Infantry goes in reserve but not artillery. We did not go in reserve but our range was so short we were on or near the front lines all the time.

Colonel Carson kept me as late as he could but a replacement for me finally showed. I had told Carson “Well, if you are going to keep me that late, let me have my second R&R.” He responded: “Nope, you just have to rotate back.” So the day I left I noticed Col. Carson was leaving on his second R&R. That did not set good with me but I guess RHIP.

Contrary to flying all the way over, I took ships all the way back. I went out to a ship to take us to Sasebo. It was really great sleeping between sheets. We went back to Seoul and then to Inchon. We waited until the tide was up and went aboard ship which I had not done since R&R. We went to Sasebo and spent five days. I bought a set of Noritaki China (a month’s pay) in Sasebo, shipped it to Mom and then got aboard a troop ship and hurried back across the Pacific. We went south of Hawaii, then north up to Seattle and it took 17 days.”

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Bob returned to Ft. McClellan and finished his two year tour of active duty as a First Lieutenant with a Bronze Star in addition to his service ribbons as a member of the Red Dragons Battalion that included the U.S. Presidential Unit Citation, ROK Presidential Unit Citation, ROK Korean War Service Medal, US Navy Commendation, United Nations Korean War Medal and U.S. Korean War Service Medal. Then he went back to work at Du Pont. After 25 years he left Du Pont to return to Houston, joining the process engineering consulting firm, The Pace Company. Five years later, Bob started his own company in Baytown, Quark Engineering. In 1997 he sold Quark to Texamation and retired to Kingwood. He and his wife, Frances had two sons, Terry ’77 and Randy plus five grandsons Justin, Cody ’12, Austin, Dustin ’18 and Riley. Bob died in 2013 and Frances passed away in 2017.