23. My Last Days in Korea, December 1951 - Page 2
A Sorry Sight
The other GIs had fancy uniforms pressed to a fine degree. They even had creases
sewn in the pants. Their helmets were chromed, as were their belts and all metal
fittings. There was not a single inch in my uniform that did not have a
wrinkle. But I had one thing they didn't. I was going home. The Lt. saw me
and declared that I was the sorriest soldier he had ever seen. All too true.
But I was going home. He stopped in front of me and asked what was the serial
number of my weapon, something any good soldier would know. I told him I
didn't know, that they had just handed it to me a few minutes ago. He then
asked me what the muzzle velocity was. I laughed and said that I didn't even
know what kind of weapon it was. He looked most disgusted and walked on.
The Trip Home The next day I got aboard a train for Pusan. When I looked around the train I noticed a number of bullet holes in the train car. Someone said that on the way people sometimes took pot shots at the train. Shortly after arriving in Pusan I boarded a Japanese ferry to Japan. We slept on rice mats in little cubicles. We arrived in Sasebo and from there took a boat to the USA with a stop in Hawaii. We stayed in Hawaii for about 2 hours to let some GIs off. I eventually got home on December 24th about 20:00 hours.