Freedom’s Voice The Monthly Newsletter of the Military History Center 112 N. Main ST Broken Arrow, OK 74012 http://www.okmhc.org/

“Promoting Patriotism through the Preservation of Military History”

Volume 8, Number 6 June 2021

United States Armed Services Flag Day at the MHC Days of Observance

The month of June has several Armed Services Days of Observance. We believe the most important are D-Day on June 6, Army Birthday and Flag Day, both on June 14.

MHC Memorial Flag Plaza

On Saturday, June 12, the MHC held its annual Flag Day commemoration. BG Tom Mancino (U.S. Army, Rtd.), Presi- Birth of Our Nation’s Flag by Charles Weisberger dent of the MHC, served as Master of Ceremonies. After the invocation, given by Keith Browne, the American flag was raised and Miss Natalie Dupree sang the national anthem. Museum Hours and Admission Fee That was followed by the raising of the service flags. Janet Viel and Mary Harandy of Blue Star Mothers Chapter 5 of Broken Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 – 4:00 Arrow presented a Gold Star flag to Mr. David Role in memory Saturday: 10:00 – 2:00 of his son. Dr. Everett Piper, the keynote speaker, gave a pow- Closed Sunday and Monday and Federal holidays erful address emphasizing the unity rather than the diversity Adults – $5.00 of the United States. He also stressed that with the Constitu- Members and Children under 18 – Free. tion, Americans, “we the people”, had created a covenant government rather than a hierarchical one. Miss Lauren At- For more information, call (918) 794-2712. wood closed the program singing “God Bless America”. We offer a very big “thank you” to Dr. Piper and the other www.okmhc.org program participants as well to Keith Browne, who organized the event and the volunteers, who set up the site. We espe- cially appreciate everyone, who came out to enjoy the event.

Miss Natalie Dupree sings the national anthem.

BG Tom Mancino (US Army, Rtd.) and COL Paul Roberts (US Army, Rtd.) raise the 45th flag.

Willard Parrish (rear), Vietnam War recipient, and Keith Grimes (USAF, Rtd.) raise the American flag.

Dr. Everett Piper delivers his address.

Mary Harandy (speaking) and Janet Veil, President of Blue Star Mothers, Chapter 5, presented a Gold Star flag to Miss Lauren Atwood closed the program with “God Bless America”. David Role in memory of his son.

MHC Benefit Golf Tournament

On Friday, June 4, the MHC held its sixth annual benefit golf tournament at Battle Creek Golf Club. The weather was perfect; the course was in top shape, and everyone enjoyed themselves. We are most appreciative of the many sponsors, who made the tournament possible: Bill Whitescarver Real Estate, Broken Arrow Golf and Athletic Club, Bryce A. Hill Law Office, Floral Haven Funeral Home and Cemetery, George Hedrick, Jason Hadrava (Epic Wealth Management), BG Jim Wasson, Kathleen Garringer, Ken Collins (Young Living), Lil’ Links, Metro Appliances & More, Oklahoma Army National Guard, Ron Roark Insurance Agency, Security Center, Inc., Ste- ve Bruner (Bruner Investments), Stoney Creek Hotels, BGs Tom Walker and Ged Wright, Tulsa Federal Credit Union and Tulsa Teachers Federal Credit Union. Susan Thesenvitz and Janet Viel at the Blue Star Mothers table

As always, we give a big “thank you” to Battle Creek for being a superb host, the players, without whom the tourna- ment would not have happened and all the volunteers, who made the tournament function smoothly. The following photos are a random selection of tourna- ment activities and player action.

Susan Virdell, Jean Bailie and Tracy Henry at the registration table

Cathy Johnson and Michael Tarman at the payment table

(Tournament photos by Tracy Henry) Memorial Day around Oklahoma

Tournament Winners

Peter Plank visited an old friend.

The white tees: Ken Collins/Young Living Team – members were Ken Collins, Darren Collins, James Simms and Dennis Roberts.

Memorial Day at the 45th Infantry Division Museum – Oklahoma City

The silver tees: Ron Roark Insurance Agency Team – members were Mark Harper, Steve Sewarengin, Tom Fischer and Jim Ingram.

Congratulations to the winning teams!

Soldiers of B Co., 2nd BN, 2nd Artillery stand ready in the rain to fire a 21-gun salute in honor of Memorial Day at Fort Sill.

This Month’s Featured Artifact soldier in the 5th Provisional Company. Upon his arrival in the Philippines, he was posted to Fort William McKinley and as- signed to B Co., 31st Infantry Regiment. He wasn’t in the Philippines long. In August, the 31st Infan- try was ordered to Vladivostok, Russia, as part of the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia. This was during the Russian Rev- olution and war between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and Whites (anti-Bolsheviks) was raging. The AEF’s mission was to guard the large quantities of supplies and railroad rolling stock, which the United States had earlier sent to the Russian Far East as aid for the war against . They were also tasked with helping rescue the Czechoslovak Legion, which was being blocked by the Reds along the Trans-Siberian Rail- road.

PVT Archie A. Ice wrote this letter at Vladivostok, Russia, in 1919, while he was serving in the American Expeditionary Force, Siberia, to his cousin, Miss Eula Lee, in Tulsa. See his story below. Mr. Paul A. Roales donated this unique artifact.

A World War I American Soldier in Russia

31st Infantry Regiment in the field near Vladivostok

The AEF in Siberia quickly grew to more than 7,000 men including two full , the 31st and 27th, volunteers from three others and several support units. The 31st was assigned to guard the Trans-Siberia Railroad from Vladivostok north to Nikolsk-Ussuriski, a distance of about sixty miles. The survivors of the Czechoslovak Legion were successfully evacuated, but the mission was otherwise a failure as the Bol- sheviks soon defeated the White armies and gained control of the country. After the Armistice ended World War I, President Wilson ordered the mission terminated. PVT Archie Ice was among the troops organized as the 18th Casual Company aboard the USAT Thomas that departed Vladivostok in 1919. st He was not to return to the 31 Infantry, but rather to be sent Archie Andrew Ice and his wife, Gladys Katherine home for discharge. Thomas arrived in San Francisco in No- (Jones) Ice – date and location unknown vember, and PVT Ice was discharged on December 31, 1919. Ice returned to Tulsa, where he received employment with Archie Andrew Ice was born at, or near, Vinita in the Cher- Patterson Steel Co. as an ironworker. He married, began a okee Nation, Indian Territory, on February 1, 1899. The 1910 family and remained in Tulsa until early 1942, when he moved census shows the family living in St. John, Kansas, a small town to Compton, California. He probably went to California for of a little more than 1,700 people located northwest of Wichi- employment in better paying war work. Archie went to work ta. They later located in Tulsa, where Archie graduated from in the shipyards at San Pedro, while Gladys found employment Tulsa High School (later renamed Central High School) in 1918. at Douglas Aircraft as a riveter. The family’s last home was in He was inducted into the U.S. Army on January 29, 1918. After Long Beach. Archie Andrew Ice died in Los Angeles on Decem- basic training, Ice was ordered to the Philippines. He departed ber 13, 1972. We could find no burial information indicating San Francisco aboard the USAT1 Sheridan as an unassigned that his remains were likely cremated.

1 Transport

Sixty-three years ago, I was the sole survivor of the eleven-man crew involved in a B-17 formation collision, February 12, 1944, near Mill Creek, Oklahoma. I was a tail-gunner assigned to Crew 853 (four officers and six enlisted men) undergoing phase training at the 395th Combat Crew Training School, Ardmore Army Air Field, Oklahoma. The following is an account of my experiences at Ardmore and as a tail-gunner flying out of England. On February 11, 1944, the rumor was that we had only two more training flights to go before going overseas. We participated in a low-level bombing demonstration. We actually became a crew on a troop train traveling from Salt Lake City, Utah to Ardmore. The men on the train were given numbers, mine was 853. We went from car to car calling out the number until we found the other nine with the same num- ber. We gathered in the car where our pilots were, got acquainted, and as enlisted men were told what to expect. Not knowing our destination, we traveled four days and nights arriving at Ardmore in the middle of the night. We quickly began our three-month intensive training phase which included air-to-air towed target and air-to-ground gunnery practice and simulated bomb raids, some as far away as Santa Fe, New Mexico. Bombardiers used smoke bombs to record and improve their accuracy. during the base "open house" held that day. We were awakened early on February 12, hurried to the chow hall, then to supply where we checked out a heavy leather flight suit, Mae West vest, and parachute. From supply, we went to the briefing room, where our mission for the day was discussed. We loaded on 4x4s and were taken to the flight line where we pulled the props through, then the engines of our B-17, No. 42-30481, were started. We taxied to the runway and waited our turn to take-off. Our mission for the day was to fly to Matagorda Bay, just off the coast from Corpus Christi, Texas. We fired at tow targets for several hours, then headed back to Ardmore. As I recall, there were thirteen B-17s flying in close formation. One B-17 with officer instruc- tors brought up the rear and advised the pilots as to what to do. We had been flying at 20,000 feet this day, and as we neared home, we began to descend and turn at the same time. This is a dif- ficult maneuver for a large plane to accomplish, especially if in close formation under turbulent air conditions. We had a crew of eleven on-board. One of our regular crew of ten was absent due to sickness but we had two extras on this flight, an oxygen instruc- tor and a bombardier instructor. Being the tail gunner, I had a clear view of all the planes behind us. We were flying in a very close formation with planes on both sides and in the front and rear. We had let down to approximately 15,000 feet. when the aircraft (42- 30752) on our upper left slid into us. The two right engines cut our plane into two pieces just behind the radio room. The front of our aircraft went straight up for a brief moment knocking off the Plexiglas nose of the other plane which pushed us under them knocking off their ball turret. The pilots of 42-30572 managed to regain control, although heavily damaged with two right engines inoperable, they flew the 15-20 miles to the Ardmore base and landed safely. As for me, I heard the loud crashing sound over the noise of the engines, then just as quickly there was no engine noise, just the sound of the wind. I didn't realize it immediately, but I had been thrown several feet backward from the tail-gunner's seat toward the front of the aircraft. Fortunately, my chest chute had also been tossed backward and ended up beneath me. Recognizing that I was near the tail-gunner's escape hatch, I opened it slightly and saw that we were in a spin, not knowing that the front of the aircraft was gone, but realizing that we were going to crash. I opened the hatch, stuck my feet out and clipped my chest chute to the har- ness which I was wearing. I wiggled my way out the narrow opening, let go, fell for a while and pulled the rip cord. I thought the chute would never open. I was on my back looking up and wondering how far it was to the ground when the chute opened. It jerked me into an upright position and I realized I was still a good distance from the ground. It was about 5:30 in the evening and I realized I was coming down on a railroad track. Looking a bit farther down the track I saw an oncoming freight train that would meet me at about the same place and time that I would reach the ground. I slipped to one side and landed in a grove of pecan trees just as the train went whistling by. I was upside down and tangled in my shroud lines, when a man, young woman and a bird dog ran up to help me get untangled and out of the tree. The dog must have thought I was a raccoon as he kept wanting to get at me. The man and young woman who had rescued me asked if I would like to go into Mill Creek and sit down. They took me to Mill Creek and left me at the drug store. An elderly woman asked if I would like to go to her house and have something warm to drink. While we were there drinking hot tea, the army arrived. I ran into the street and hailed down a MP in a jeep. After convincing him as to who I was, he got permission from his superiors to take me to Ardmore Army Air Base. He drove so fast that I asked him to slow down. He laughed that I was concerned about a jeep accident but slowed down. Arriving at the base, we went directly to the briefing room where the crews were still assembled. We came through the back door behind the podium where COL Donald W. Eisenhart, the base commander, was asking questions about the crash. The MP final- ly got Eisenhart's attention, who asked what we wanted. After learning who I was, he asked if I was OK. I explained that I had hit a limb with my foot and my ankle was swelling. He picked me up, put me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, placed me in his car and drove me to the hospital. The nurse checked my ankle, and said I was going to spend the night in the hospital to get some rest. I told them I wouldn't stay. After a friendly argument, the Colonel took me to my barracks. After he left, I hobbled out- side to the shower building, cleaned up, put on my dress uniform and went to Ardmore. I already had a date scheduled with my girlfriend, Jesica Barnett. She was disturbed that I was late but after deciding I wasn't telling her a big story, she was all right. The following day, I was told to report to the orderly room, where I visited with four or five officers who told me to take a week off to visit with my parents in Duncan, Oklahoma, about seventy-five miles west of Ardmore. I asked if Dixie Mason, the other sur- viving crew member, could go with me, and they agreed he could. When I returned to the base, the commanding officer gave me four choices as to what I could do. I could remain on the base as a permanent party, take an honorable discharge, re-enlist as a ca- det or go overseas with another crew. I asked if Dixie could be on the same crew and was told he would be. I will always be grateful to Lieutenant Dick Buttorff who put Gail "Dixie" Mason and me on his crew after transferring two crew members. We flew a B-17 to our assignment in England by way of Grand Island, Nebraska, Grenier Field, New Hampshire, Goose Bay Labrador, and Iceland to Prestwick, Scotland. At Prestwick, the officers and enlisted men were separated. The officers went to Thur- leigh, Bedfordshire, England. The enlisted men went to "The Wash" a shallow bay area off the Northeast Coast of England, where we practiced gunnery for ten days. We were reunited with our pilot and copilot at Thurleigh and learned that our navigator, 2LT Olin O. Odom, Jr. and 2LT Bertram Krashes, our bombardier, had been shot down a few days earlier. I found out after the war that both had been captured. We were assigned another navigator and bombardier and started missions as a crew. I flew eight missions with Buttorff and was without a crew for six weeks, when crews were reduced to nine men. During this time, I flew on makeup crews. I was assigned to Baxter's crew, and we flew as a lead aircraft for most of the missions. I never knew the crew very well. I stayed in the barracks that my first pilot Buttorff's crew was in. It wasn't because I didn't like the Baxter crew, I just didn't get close to any of the men. Buttorff's crew and myself had become the oldest crew in the barracks because many of the others had been shot down. I flew four "all out mis- sions" to Berlin, Germany, 3,500 planes in the air at one time – planes as far as you could see. We bombed Peenemunde, Germany, where they thought the Germans might be working on an atomic bomb. I thought the tremendous explosion from the bombing was going to reach us at 35,000 feet. The last nine missions were alternate flights to , Germany, four times and to Leipzig, Ger- many, five times. Twelve of the B-17s were from our unit the 306th Bomb Group, 1st Air Division, Eighth Air Force. We were flying lead and from my vantage point, I saw nine of the twelve planes of our group go down. We were hit by flak between our two right engines knocking both of them out of commission. The inside engine hang down at a 15-degree angle; the outside one could not be feathered. Baxter and the copilot did a miraculous job in getting the badly damaged B-17 back to England and landing safely. The ambulances met us and took us to the hospital. We stayed overnight, although none of us had been injured. They gave us a good checkup, and we were granted a seven day "flak-leave" which I spent in Scotland. When we returned to the base, we were told after about a week that we were going home although we had not completed all of our missions. We had been through enough. My trip home was on an old victory ship, where as one of twenty-five, we guarded 900 German prisoners. There were fifty-four ships in the convoy, including the Queen Mary. We encountered a storm which made most of us sick and added some time to the 14-day trip. The prisoners, with us as guards, were shipped by freight train to St. Louis, Mis- souri. From there, I reported to Ft. Chaffee, Arkansas, received new uniforms, etc. and took a 30-day leave October 15, 1944, to my hometown of Duncan, Oklahoma. After a short time at Santa Ana, California, I was reassigned to Amarillo Army Air Field, Texas, where I signed up for the B-29 gunnery training school at Kingman Army Air Field, Arizona. My final days in service before the war ended were spent at Las Vegas Army Air Base, Nevada, in gunnery training in B-29s. On June 12, 1945, Jessica Barnett became Jessica Barnett McClanahan in the First Methodist Church, Ardmore, Oklahoma, a mar- riage which has lasted sixty Years Note: Personal account from Joseph (Jack) William McClanahan, June 26, 2002. Sergeant Joseph (Jack) William McClanahan was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with several Oak Leaf Clusters for his contribution to keeping America free. Jack flew a total of thirty-two missions on the Buttorff, Baxter and makeup crews before returning to the United States. Cor- poral Joseph (Jack) W. McClanahan became a Sergeant February 12, 1944. While with Colonel Eisenhart that evening following the accident, the Colonel referred to him as Sergeant McClanahan. Corporal McClanahan reminded the Colonel that he was a Corporal, not a Sergeant. The Colonel said, "From this moment forward, you are Sergeant McClanahan”. Thank you, Jack and members of your crew, for what you did for us. The amazing story of how Jack McClanahan was found after fifty-eight years should be required reading. Have a look! The crew of 42-30752, the other aircraft involved in the accident at Mill Creek, included 2LT Verne H. Lewis, pilot, 2LT Frank W. Hunt, copilot, 2LT Knud E. Hogrebe, navigator, 2LT Julius Sussman, bombardier, SGT Harold D. Pepper, engineer, SGT Richard C. Swanda, radio operator, PFC Thomas O. Chamberlin, SGT Farvis I. Brewer and PFC Francis E. Kubic, gunners. None of them received injuries. No member of the above crew ever made contact with CPL McClanahan or CPL Mason, nor did Jack or Dixie try to contact them. Fast Forward Note: The sons of 2LT Knud E. Hogrebe, navigator, and 2LT Julius Sussman, bombardier, made email contact with the webpage author in 2004 and 2007 respectively, after viewing the webpage. The Lewis crew went to England, flying their first mission of twenty-five over Europe on D-Day. An email contact reported that Hogrebe, maybe others of the crew, flew with the Lane Crew, 729th Bomb Squadron, 452nd Bomb Group, flying some missions in B-17 No. 42-97904, "Lady Jeanette". (Editor: See the May 2016 newsletter for the story of Medal of Honor recipient, 1LT Donald Joseph Gott of Arnett, Oklahoma, who commanded “La- dy Jeanette” on her last mission.) Hogrebe remained in the USAF, retiring in 1965. He died in 1992. The pilot, 2LT Verne H. Lewis, became a POW while flying as co-pilot, June 14, 1944, on a mission to Le Bourget, France. This mission involving fifty-seven B-17 aircraft of the 457th Bomb Group is described on the 457th Bomb Group's website as follows: "Plane 42-57979, named "Local Mission," and flown by LT Roy W. Allen, was first hit by the fighter attack, and engine #2 was knocked out. He was then hit by flak in the target area, and the #3 engine was also knocked out. The plane was set afire and left the formation. The crew all bailed out. LT Allen was picked up by the French underground and hidden for many weeks. Posing as a civil- ian, he was betrayed by the French and was taken prisoner by the Gestapo, who treated him as a spy. He underwent rigorous inter- rogation and was eventually sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. After a few months at the camp, he convinced the Germans that he was indeed an airman and was thereafter a POW at Stalag III. He is the only 457th crewman to have been sentenced to a concentration camp. LT Anderson was shot and killed in the air or otherwise killed after he bailed out. The crew was as follows: Plane No. 42-97579, LT Roy W. Allen pilot, - POW, LT Verne H. Lewis, copilot - POW, LT Joseph C. Brusse, navigator - POW, LT Law- rence Anderson, bombardier - KIA, SGT Roy E. Plum, flight engineer - POW, SGT Ernest L. Smith radio operator - evaded, SGT Leonard Henson, left waist gunner - POW, SGT William Goldsborough, right waist gunner - evaded, SGT John L. Miller, tail gunner- evaded.” Additional Information: When combat crews were reduced to nine members, SGT McClanahan was assigned to night guard duty for about six weeks at Thurleigh. The guard detail used jeeps mounted with 50-caliber weapons and had available as personal fire- power, Thompson sub-machine guns, M-1s and 1911A sidearms. They patrolled the base paying particular attention to the many parked B-17s. He later flew as tail-gunner on makeup crews before being requested by LT Baxter to be assigned to his crew that usually flew in the lead position of the formation. Jack considered assignment to the Baxter crew in the lead aircraft as a special privilege. The foregoing article was contributed by MHC Board Secretary Peter Plank. He represented the MHC on Saturday, June 5 by set- ting up a WWII uniform display at the B-17 crash site monument dedication in Mill Creek. The local middle school students started two years ago researching the site and history of the B-17 that crashed there during formation training in February 1944. These stu- dents have now completed eighth grade. Families of the airmen who died were present, along with the daughter of the lone survivor, who parachuted out before the plane crashed.

One of three uniform displays

“Colonel Robert Walker was the keynote speaker, and a US Army Band ensemble played for the crowd. I was proud to represent the Military History Center and the Liberty Jump Team, Inc. in setting up a small WWII uniform display in the reception area.” – Peter Plank

Oklahoma’s Fallen Heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars

2LT Joe Lee Cunningham SGT Buddy James Hughie

Joe Lee Cunningham was born on April 18, 1984, at Fort On February 15, 2007, SGT Buddy James “Doc” Hughie was Smith, Arkansas. He was raised in Kingston (Marshall County), serving with C Co. 1st BN, 180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Oklahoma, where he graduated from Kingston High School in Brigade Combat Team on his second tour in Afghanistan. On 2003. He joined the Army Reserve as a Military Policeman. In that day, SGT Hughie was part of a joint mission with the Af- 2005, he moved to Oklahoma City to attend college. He at- ghan National Army and the 10th Mountain Division. The vehi- tended Oklahoma City Community College and received his cle in which he was riding came under fire from small arms and Associate Degree from Oklahoma State University-OKC. Cun- rocket-propelled grenades. Hughie and his fellow team mem- ningham volunteered to go to Iraq in 2005 where he served as bers dismounted their vehicles and returned fire. After two a Team Leader. After returning from Iraq, he served as a weap- Afghan soldiers were wounded, Hughie, a medic, left his cov- ons instructor for deploying soldiers. In 2008, he switched to ered position to give them medical assistance and was killed by the Oklahoma National Guard, serving eighteen months in the small arms fire. Air Guard before moving on to the Army Guard where he was Buddy James Hughie was born at Carlsbad, New Mexico, on accepted to Officer Candidate School. He was commissioned a October 23, 1981. He and his sister were adopted by their 2nd Lieutenant in August 2010. Cunningham deployed to Af- grandparents and grew up in Poteau, Oklahoma, where he ghanistan in June 2011 as the Executive Officer of B Co., 1st graduated from high school in 2000. More than 600 people Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Brigade Com- attended his funeral at Poteau High School’s Floyd Sherman bat Team. He died in Laghman province on August 13, 2011, Fieldhouse. SGT Hughie was buried in Live Oak Memorial Gar- from a non-combat related incident. dens at Charleston, South Carolina, where his wife had moved. 2LT Joe Lee Cunningham was laid to rest in Kingston Ceme- On September 4, 2018, the air terminal at the New Kabul tery. Compound at Kabul, Afghanistan, was renamed Hughie Termi- nal in SGT Hughie’s memory.

SPC Jeffrey Stewart Henthorn An honor guard stands at SGT Hughie’s casket. Jeffrey Stewart Henthorn was born on December 3, 1979, in Oklahoma (location unknown). He served six years in the Okla- homa National Guard at the Midwest City Armory, and two years in the regular Army with the 24th Transportation Compa- ny at Fort Riley, Kansas, and in Iraq. He died near Balad, Iraq, on February 8, 2005, from a non-combat related incident. He was interred in Arlington Memory Gardens in Oklahoma City.

Korean War – End of the War of Maneuver the NKPA, now fighting on their own soil, were putting up a tenacious defense. While the Chinese would readily fall back By June 4, 1951, UN forces had advanced to Line Kansas, a beyond artillery range, the North Koreans would sometimes defensive line that extended roughly along the 38th Parallel to fight to the death to defend a position. Thought was given to the boundary between IX and X . From there, other moving up to occupy the Iron Triangle, but in the end that was defensive lines extended northeast to the Sea of Japan. LTG deemed to be too costly for whatever advantage might be James Van Fleet ordered Line Kansas reinforced to the point gained. The CCF had shown that they would defend the that UN forces could hold it against any attack by CCF forces Tirangle. More importantly, there was no appetite within either then in Korea. There would be no withdrawal south of Line the U.S. government or the military to press much further Kansas. Trenches and bunkers would be reinforced. All po- north. The American public had turned against the war, and sitions would be wired in with a wide apron of wire with trip President Truman was looking for a way to end it. flares, and mines laid in front of the wire. Army engineers On June 23, Jacob Malik, the Soviet Union’s deputy foreign hired several thousand Korean civilian laborers to work on the minister and permanent representative to the , line. All other civilians were removed from the area. Any who made an unexpected radio announcement that a cease fire was remained were to be treated as hostiles. possible in Korea. President Truman was quick to jump on that With UN forces once again in possession of Line Kansas, Van opportunity. Six days later, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent Fleet ordered the commencement of Operation PILEDRIVER Ridgeway orders to make a response by radio in the clear to with the objective of advancing to Line Wyoming, eighteen to the commander of Chinese communist forces in Korea and twenty miles further north. Line Wyoming extended east from simultaneously release the message to the press. Ridgeway the Imjin River through the southern edge of the Iron Triangle was ordered to deliver the following message: just above Chorwon at the southwest corner of the Triangle, then slightly south of Kumhwa at the southeast corner on to “As commander in Chief of the United Nations Command, I the IX-X Corps boundary. The battle line then turned northeast have been instructed to communicate to you the following: to the coast a few miles north of Kansong. I am informed that you may wish to have a meeting to Van Fleet also requested ten additional batallions of discuss an armistice providing for the cessation of hositilities artillery for Eighth Army: five battalions of 155-mm howitzers, and all acts of armed force in Korea, with adequate guarantees four battalions of 8-inch howitzers and one battalion of 155- for the maineenance of such armistice. mm guns – long toms. Artillery had become Eighth Army’s Upon receipt of word from you that such a meeting is great equalizer to offset the much greater CCF manpower desired, I shall be prepared to name my representative. I would advantage. As has been discussed, Van Fleet was a great also at that time suggest a date at which he could meet with believer and practioner of massive artillery fire. As examples, your representative. I propose that such a meeting could take between June 4 and 22, artillerymen fired 89,547 rounds in place aboard a Danish hospital ship in Wonsan Harbor.” support of the 7th Division alone. On June 25, LTG William M. MB Ridgeway, Gen, USA, C-in-C UN Command

Hoge, commander of IX Corps personally pulled the lanyard th The message was broadcast at fifteen minute intervals in that fired the 75,000 shell fired by IX Corps to that date. Chinese, Korean and English over Army, Japanese and South

Korean radio stations and by the Voice of Armica in forty-five languages. The Chinese responded over a Peking (Beijing) radio station on July 1. The Chinese counterproposed that the meet- ing be in the area of Kaesong on the 38th Parallel between July 10 and 15, 1951. The message was signed by Premier Kim Il Sung as “Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army” and Gen. Peng Dehuai as “Commander of the Chinese Volunteers”. Ridgeway acknowledged receipt and accepted. Malik’s message had given both sides a face-saving way to bring the war to an end. In the meantime, the war went on. The subsequent nego- tiations would last for the next two years. In the end, the final demarcation line would be substantially the battle line of June 24, 1951. The war of maneuver was over. For the remainder of the war, fighting would be for this or that hill or position as each side sought to improve its position.

Crew of an 8-inch howitzer of A Battery, 17th Field Artillery Battalion Source: reloads after firing on CCF positions south of Chorwon – June 10, 1951. Appleman, Roy E., Ridgeway Duels for Korea, Texas A&M University By June 24, UN forces had closed up to Line Wyoming and Press, College Station, Texas, 1990. Note: This ends COL Appleman’s ROK forces had closed up to the line extending further east. At three volume history of the first year of the . that point, Van Fleet and Ridgeway needed to decide how much further to advance. CCF lines had begun to harden and United States Army in Korea – 1950-51

2nd Infantry Division elements move through a mountain pass south of Wonju – 1951.

PFC Robert Smith of Springfield, Colorado, (L)) and PVT Carl Fisher of Ponca City, Oklahoma, 27th Infantry “Wolfhounds” Regiment, 25th Infantry Division in the Pusan Perimeter – September 4, 1950.

A Co., 6th Tank Battalion, 24th Infantry Division moves into position for the start of Operation RIPPER – March 6, 1951.

5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division enters Pyongyang, October 19, 1950.

8225th MASH, attached to 24th Infantry Division – 1951

7th Infantry Division lands at Iwon, North Korea – October 1950. Army Birthday – June 14, 1775

“Lest We Forget”

Freedom is not free.

Freedom’s Voice is the voice of MVA, Inc. dba Military History Center, a 501(C)3 private foundation, as a service to its members and supporters. Contents may be reproduced only when in the best interest of the Military History Center. Please direct comments or suggestions to the Editor at [email protected]. Ken Cook, Editor