Rock slides were common along the road to Richmond M/W and VHF Radio Relay Site. It was about 16 mi. to our company's headquarters in Taejon from the site. A vehicle was dispatched every day weather permitting to pick up mail, radio parts, rations and Korean site personnel. Many times the vehicle occupants would have to remove rocks from the road that were too large to go over or because the truck could not get around the rock slide debris. Sometime a bulldozer tractor would have to come from our base camp motor pool at Stonestown Compound to open the road back up.

I remember one time when I was driving down the road from the radio site. The front of the truck I was driving got hit with a rock slide and the steering wheel was knocked out of my hands from the power and suddenness of the event. I had no control of the truck because the slid lifted the front of the vehicle onto round rolling rocks which was like trying to steer on marbles.

We were lucky that there was not a cliff on that side of the road to be pushed over but the truck ended up on its side in a big ditch with 2 G.I.'s and 3 Koreans. Some bumps and bruises for everyone but I also severely sprained my wrist from the steering wheel being suddenly wrenched from my hands. I ended up taking a trip to Camp Ames about 10 mi. from Taejon. It was a 7th Infantry Division base and had the only military dispensary in the area.    Hi-Res Pic (207K)