- The Complete Trench Art of Randy Rabenold
- Randy Rabenold and the Bulldogs - Part ONE
- Randy Rabenold and the Bulldogs - Part TWO
- Memorial Day Speech dedicated to the "Bulldogs" at LAMS - May 2013
Surviving that winter in Korea was tough. By Korean standards it was one of the coldest winter in the previous thirty years.
According to Marine Corps records, Randy Rabenold, Tom
Cook, Charles Zaccone, Wally Norsworthy, Tom Fortson, Ernie Daum, Dan Hartfiel,
Sam “Frenchie” LeBeau, Sandy Scaffidi, Tom Watso, Tad "Jack" Yamaguchi and Ray “Nuny”
Rabenold were all together under the same command in December of 1950.
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| The First Provisional Marine Brigade Flag seen here on right: The Provisional reverted back under the command of the First Division by September of 1950. |
As intense and demoralizing the fall and the start of winter had been, including the losses at the Chosen Reservoir and the brutal
weather up to then had been, the Christmas season did present a turning point
for the war effort and for our servicemen.
On the morning of December 23, General Walton Walker
of the Eighth Army was thrown from his jeep and died later in the hospital of
head injuries.
Up until then, many in the Corps questioned Army leadership and were dismayed by their lack of performance. Some higher brass in the Corps expressed their resentment over their men being sacrificed due to the Army’s lack of
proficiency.
Walker’s death was of course unfortunate. However it did provide for General Matthew
Ridgeway’s succession. Previous to this
time almost all accounts point to a serious “mission vacuum” among the
leadership of the Eighth Army.
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| "Sexy" the First Division Mascot, The most traveled dog in the Corps: Born in China, taken to Guam in 1949, marched with the Division Band in Guam, taken to Camp Pendleton 1949-1950, recruited and taken to Korea by Bob Neubert, made the Inchon Landing, protected the Kimpo Airstrip, barked at Bob Hope at Woson. Lost at the Chosin in December 1950. |
Subsequently essential things like proper equipment
and winter clothing began to flow as well as some tactical achievements
heretofore unseen under Walker. Chief
among the tactical changes was getting our servicemen off the roads where they
were sitting ducks and getting them on the offensive by infiltrating and flanking
enemy positions in the hills.
To Rabenold and his friends this meant that they would be increasingly stationed on remote outposts along ridge lines with miles of open space between them and the enemy also now posted along the opposing ridges.
To Rabenold and his friends this meant that they would be increasingly stationed on remote outposts along ridge lines with miles of open space between them and the enemy also now posted along the opposing ridges.
Colonel John Michaelis of the
Twenty-seventh Infantry called it “magic, the way Ridgeway took that defeated
army and turned it around…a breath of fresh air…what the army desperately needed.”
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| First Marine Drummer Jack Watso poses with his machine gun in this Marine Corps photo showcasing his commendation in the field. |
A long and difficult peace process was initiated by
December 1950. China most likely
overplayed their newly forming military clout by rejecting initial cease-fire
talks. Additionally the process was
cumbersome and vexing as both sides attempted to save face. All this while thousands of our men suffered and died.
The Following has been paraphrased from the First Division Historical Diary from early 1951: On 31 December of 1950, the 8th Army
directed the First Marines to secure and patrol a defensive perimeter around
Pohang along the coast toward the northwest to Andong, securing the main supply
road (MSR) along Yongchon via Uisong to Andong.
They were also to secure a command post in that vicinity.
Around 18 January 1951, the Division encountered about 500
troops from the North Korean 10th Division five to 10 miles
northeast of Andong with the Seventh Marines taking about 15 KIA among other
casualties.
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| Jack Watso receives his commendation ribbon in the field at Korea in early 1951 from First Division Commanding General Oliver P. Smith. |
A major encounter occurred with the Third Battalion of the Seventh Marines at Topyongdong area near while the First Battalion of the Seventh Marines found about 200 enemy near the high ground of Hill 466. On 24 through the 26 January, encountering resistance with hand grenades, small arms fire and light mortar. The Second Battalion of the Seventh Marines moved from Pohang in support. Around 250 enemy were reported killed.
Fortson said, “On January 23rd, my regular
enlistment was up, and I became a member of the C.O.G. Club, ‘at the Convenience
of the Government,’ I was the fifth guy in Korea to be there that I knew of in
this club.”
Disheartening to Fortson, by mid February of 1951, eight
men were sent home due to the rotation system with over 650 men expected to
leave after that. He explained the
system in part, saying “You got a point for every three days in Korea, points
for medals, and for previous overseas duty.”
Over the next several months, most of the First Division Marines who had been in Korea since August and September of 1950 would be rotating home.
Besides the points system, the Marine Corps
implemented a “one winter policy” in part due to the brutal first winter our
men endured. And with spring on the
horizon, the men knew their time in Korea was drawing to an end. According to Don Blauch, “you put in your
two-weeks on the line, and then you had one week back in reserve.”
The Chinese and North Koreans used the winter time
extensively placing mines. In the hillsides
these mines became highly erratic in the spring. The terrain was safe while the ground was
frozen, perplexing the men who walked over it in the thaw, mines exploding
where it was once safe to walk.
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| Tom Fortson on a warm day in July of 1951 at an outpost in Korea. |
Tom Fortson remembers moving up to Pohang in
mid-March of 1951. “We were in an old
wooden school building which caught fire one night and burned to the
ground. I lost all my personal gear.”
By March the days were getting a bit warmer but the
nights still well below freezing. One
highlight though for Fortson was getting to see the Supreme Commander, Douglas
MacArthur at the front line on March 19th.
By the end of March, the First Division Bandsmen
were guarding the Command Post at Chunchon when word came that a major spring offensive
from the Mongolian Cavalry was imminent, placing them at “100% alert.”
“We expected the sound of bugles and charging
horsemen at any minute.” The attack
never materializing, Fortson somewhat disappointingly wrote home that “the only
sounds of bugles I ever heard in Korea came from our own the field musicians.”
Then there was the bombshell of MacArthur’s
dismissal on 11 April 1950. The Truman
administration was content with reestablishing the status quo ante of the 38th
parallel as opposed to Mac’s idea of total war of going into China and the use
of nuclear arms.
On 17 April 1951, Fortson wrote home: “The Spring of
1951 was hazardous on all personnel. The
thawing ground was setting off mines indiscriminately, all hell broke loose.”
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| A view from Tom Fortson's outpost at Honchong in the Spring of 1951. |
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| A view from Randy Rabenold's outpost facing the hill of Fortson's previous shot. To see the complete collection of Rabenold'strench art, click here. |
“We had just set up our Command Post tents when
someone stepped on a land mine just a few yards away. Before the dust even settled, Navy Corpsmen
were tending to the wounded. A Chopper
flew in and one of the most serious of the wounded was strapped on a stretcher,
then strapped to the landing pod and evacuated to the base hospital. We lost a lot of Marines in this area and it
was the first time I saw a chopper in action.”
Korea was the first theater of war to put jet
aircraft and helicopters into combat action.
This took something for the forward air observers like Don Blauch to get
used to.
He started the war with the slower moving propeller
planes. Spotting targets for jets Blauch
needed to select landmarks far ahead of the intended targets for them to be
efficient with their bombs and 20-mm cannons.
To facilitate this transition the military rotated pilots onto the
ground alongside the forward air observers like Blauch.
Contacts with these pilots caused Blauch a surge in
popularity among the men. While alcohol
is strictly forbidden upon U.S. Navy ships, the “Commonwealth” ships of Canada
and Britain had a far more liberal policy toward spirits. The weekly rotation of pilots kept Blauch and
the rest of his outpost stocked with Canadian Seagrams VO. Soon, visiting officers and other men found
out why Blauch’s tent was so popular to visit.
Though it was still quite hazardous with mines and
mortar fire, the battles lines were now more static, allowing the men to develop
something of a comfortable routine in the warming spring weather. Luckily for the Bulldogs, the worst for them
was essentially behind them.
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| Tom Fortson on left, unknown and Charles Zaccone of Chicago on right on an outpost in Korea. |
By May Fortson reported home of “good weather...sunny
days.” But a week later wrote of hail
and heavy rains, his foxhole being flooded out.
The warmer weather, and with the Chinese beaten a safer distance back,
allowed for Rabenold’s drawings to take bloom.
There was also a noticeable uptick in letters home by his compatriots.
G.I.s and letter writing have been a long tradition,
replaced today by email and Facebook postings.
Some young women saw writing to our servicemen as a token of their
patriotic duty. In some cases this led to
marriage, as was the case with my Aunt Mildred “Sis” Haas marrying her penpal
Lee Garvin after WWII. But for Rabenold
and his First Marine mates, it was steeped innocence with complete strangers, a
flirtatious pastime.
Randy Rabenold remembers receiving only one letter
from a “sweetheart” back home. It was
from a girl he dated only a few times.
It was a “Dear John” letter according to Rabenold, she wrote to say she
was dating someone new. The pictures and letter here
are a sample of ones sent to Rabenold’s friends during their service time.
In June 1951, Randy Rabenold was stationed near
Seoul protecting First Marines Headquarters.
On one his last days there, a corpsman sent him out with a stretcher,
with bullets whizzing by, he made it back with the stretcher, though the
serviceman they were carrying had passed.
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| A letter to the First Marines from Cecilia Ament from New Jersey. |
Don Blauch wasn’t so lucky, who unexpectedly had his
time overseas extended. On his last day
in the field, Blauch was hit in the back with some shrapnel, delaying his
return stateside due to his recovery in Tokyo.
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| A pen-pal from Texas. |
For most of the men, they were proud of their
service to their country, but were eager to get on with their civilian lives.
Once home both Rabenold and Blauch were stationed back at Parris Island with training responsibilities. At one point the Marines, trying to goad him to re-up his enlistment, sent Blauch for some “cold winter training.” Blauch found this humorous, the winter weather in Labrador paled to the winter he had just spent in Korea.
As Fortson
recalls, as he was leaving camp with his discharge papers approved by the MP
sentry posted at the gate, there was another sentry apparently jealous at
Fortson’s new freedom from service. “There
he was, standing in the middle of the road, giving me ‘the finger’…I found this
gesture to be a proper send off to my civilian life.”
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| Fortson with Sandy Scaffidi at 2001 Reunion. Scaffidi passed away a few years back. |
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| Jack Watso is at far left and Tom Fortson, far right at the 2001 Marine Corps Musicians Reunion at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. |
Tom Fortson:
On January 22, 1952, Fortson returned to his home town of Red Bluff California. He went to work for Pacific Gas and Electric Company (P.G. & E.) as a rod-chainman on a survey crew and later promoted to surveyor. He became a Land Agent, working in land rights, leases, sales, rights of way, and the like. He retired in 1985 moving to Oregon for about ten years. He moved with his wife to Arizona until 2011. His wife died in 2009. He now lives with his daughter and son-in-law in California. They travel extensively having a trip to Africa and New Zealand this summer.Fortson Footnote:
.jpg) |
| Bob Cooper and June Christy in 1948. Said to be "one of the finest and most neglected singers of her time" Christy died of kidney failure at age 64 in 1991. |
Don Blauch:
Donna Blauch ~ 1953-2004
Came back to his hometown and Lehighton like the
rest of the Bulldogs. He worked as a
crane operator building the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He had two children Donna and Don “Duke” Blauch
Junior. Donna was a Vietnam-era veteran,
serving as a dental hygienist in the Navy, and in her role eventually served
President Carter and his family at Camp David and on other occasions. She developed Multiple Sclerosis and died in
the VA Hospital in Wiles-Barre. Don
lives still, though recently widowed.
Ray “Nuny” Rabenold:
Ray met Dolores of Palmerton and worked for
Bethlehem Steel. They had one daughter.
He loved to golf in his retirement and had a long and happy life. And though he had a somewhat humorous story
of nearly being killed by incoming mortar fire, including seeking cover beneath
an American 6x6 which was, unbeknownst to him, stocked to the gills with
munitions, he passed away in January of 2012 almost never speaking of the war.
Dick Carrigan:
Don Blauch, left and Dick Carrigan center chat with another GI friend
back stateside after the war.
back stateside after the war.
Also returning home to marry, Dick raised a daughter
Jill. He recently passed away.
Jack Watso:
Is retired and lives in the Denver Colorado area
enjoying his grandchildren.
Bill Kuhla:
Moved to Florida in the 1960s and remarried. Both he and his with passed away there in the 1990s.Robert "Bobby" Kipp:
Bobby Kipp was the only Bulldog KIA. See Part One for more on him.
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| Don Blauch's daughter served in the Navy during the end of the Vietnam War and served the Carter family at Camp David. |
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| Four Bulldogs at Randy and Ruthie Rabenold's September 1954 wedding: Bill Kuhla, Dick Carrigan, and Ray "Nuny" Rabenold. On the right are Janet Nothstein, Marie Kleinle, and Shirley Wentz. |
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| Men who havent stopped serving: Randy Rabenold, third from right, has served as Adjutant of his local AmVets since returning from Korea. Kevin Long is on his right with Carlos Teets and Kaye Leiby to his left. |
Randy Rabenold:
One of his best memories of first setting foot back
in the States was going to Fisherman’s Wharf with his GI pal Jack
Yamaguchi. Jack’s uncle was a sports
writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.
He remembers the graciousness and excited appreciation when the elder
Yamaguchi told him to order anything off the menu, his treat, a meal Randy
savors to this day.
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| Randy and Ruth with Rebecca and Randy. |
He returned home and availed himself to the GI Bill,
going to Kutztown State College and receiving his Art Education degree. He met Ruth Haas in Spring of 1954, and by
Labor Day they were married. He chose
his closest friends to attend in his wedding, Bulldogs Nuny Rabenold, Bill
Kuhla and Dick Carrigan. Randy and
Ruthie raised six children together: Rebecca, Randall, Rhonda, Richard,
Ronald
and Zach. Zach is the namesake of his
father whose death perhaps saved his life in Korea.
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| Randy and his son Randall in backyard, moments never to be created had he not been spared in Korea. |
Ruthie passed away in August of 2008.
Tadashi “Jack” Yamaguchi:
Yamaguchi served in both Korea and Vietnam. He was known as “Jack” by his Korea-era
friends and “Tad” to his Vietnam buddies.
Prior to his enlistment in 1948 and despite his family living here for
over forty years, Jack was interned at the “Poston War Relocation Camp” for the
last two years of World War II. His
entire family was there including the grandparents of figure-skater Kristi
Yamaguchi. I unfortunately have not been
able to connect a relationship to these two families. Jack said, “I do not lie, I enlisted because
I needed a job.”
Jack
made the Marines his career. I consider
myself lucky to have met and become friends with one of Jack’s best friends in
Vietnam, Marine Corps First Division Band Director Jesse Sunderland. Jesse and Jack were stationed together in Okinawa in 1958-'59 and in the First Marine Brigade band in Hawaii
in 1962-'64.
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| Tadashi "Jack" Yamaguchi gets his shoes shined near Masan Korea. Though he and his family were forced into the Poston Relocation Center during World War II, Jack held no malice toward his country or the Marines. |
Jesse remembers Jack’s sharp wit
well. As he tells it: “We pitched
countless liberties together on Okinawa. Many times we'd go in a shop and as he
talked to the young Okinawan girl clerks in Japanese I'd see their eyes get larger
and larger and they'd exclaim, "Ahh, So?"....Ahh,
SOOO?!”
When we left the shop I asked Jack what
in the world he was telling those girls, to which he related, “I’m a Japanese
government agent that has infiltrated the U.S. Marine Corps and that someday
Japan would RISE AGAIN!”
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| Jesse Sunderland was director of three different Marine Corps division bands and served in Vietnam with Jack "Tad" Yamaguchi. |
“I
fully expected any day for us to be scooped up by Naval Intelligence and
taken
in for questioning,” Jesse remembered.
Jack put in
his twenty-years, retired and spent the rest of his days taking care of his
wife and daughter, who, like Blauch’s daughter, both developed Multiple Sclerosis. As a widower, Jack enjoyed playing his clarinet
for the infirm and even went to college for philosophy on his GI Bill.
And though his government incarcerated him and fate
dealt cruelly to his family, Jack was never bitter. “I knew in my heart that I was an American,
and nothing or nobody could change that,” he said.
“I always say in the long run everything worked out
for all right me. I was never angry
about it…I always say, when you’re angry, you are your worst enemy.”
Jack left this earth in January of 2012, and though
he has no living descendants his spirit lives on in those who knew him and
know his story.
According to Jesse, Jack always had a magnanimous
way of ending his conversations. From
the depths of his charitable heart, Jack would say, “Keep the Faith.”
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| Jack Yamaguchi (center) was treated to dinner at his favorite restaurant in California just a few months before he died. That's former Marine Corps Band Director Steve Schweitzer at Jack's left. Incidentally, Schweitzer holds the record for playing in most outright and consecutive Rose Bowl Parades at 19, one with a broken foot. |
Post Script:
I was fortunate enough to recently attend the Marine
Corps Musicians Reunion in Camp Lejeune North Carolina. And though none of my Dad’s First Division
compatriots were there, I made many acquaintances and felt the spirit of these
men who served. On the last night,
during the banquet, word came and it was announced that Tom Cook had passed
away.
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| Two Former Marine Corps Division Band Directors and friends of Jack Yamaguchi's: Jesse Sunderland, Steve Schweitzer, and Ron Rabenold at the 2013 Marine Corps Musicians Reunion at Camp Lejeune. |
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| First Division Marine Tom Cook at Camp Pendleton before Korea. |
Once I got home, I had the sad
task of calling Tom Fortson who was unable to attend this year’s reunion. But I was also able to tell him I was able to
make contact with another First Division soldier, Wally Norsworthy of
Louisiana, to which Tom quipped,
“I’m happy to hear about Wally. There’s not too many of us left.”
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| One of two First Division Marine Corps ensembles to entertain the 2013 Marine Corps Musicians Reunion along with former director Jesse Sunderland and Rabenold. |
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| Members of the current Division Jazz band with a few of the many retired Marine Corps musicians who sat in. |
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| Kim Rabenold enjoys a moment with special guest of honor Staff Sergeant Kopetzki, Second Marine Aircraft Wing Band and recipient of the MCMA SNCO of the Year. Sergeant Kopetzki sat in with the Division Jazz band as did many retired Marines. Good music and fellowship. |
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| Don Blauch enjoys a visit from fellow Bulldog Randy Rabenold. These two were the last of the six friends to remain. Blauch died Good Friday 2017. They are among a striking few veterans left of their First Division friends. |
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| Call the Colors Inje, Korea - 7 June 1951 Sgt Charles E. Price of Chattanooga TN, Sgt Donald Close of Sacramento CA, Sgt Robert N. Bland of Harlingen TX and Sgt Graydon A. Landahl of Mokena IL (L to R). |
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| One of several pen-pals who wrote to men of the First Division. This one was from Alabama. |
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