European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 10, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse South korean army functioned under even More primitive conditions. Neither Force could match the soviet trained North koreans he said. In Korea Lindsey was assigned to a Ranger platoon attached to the 27th regt part of the 25th inf div. The regiment was trying to establish a parameter Belt around Pusan the principal port located in the Southeast Corner of the country. A it was hell to know you had no place to go except to swim the South China sea a he said. He stayed in the Pusan area until Early september then returned to Japan to Hook up with the 187th combat team part of the 11th airborne in an attempt to Rescue american pos the regiment of about 2,000 men parachuted North of Pyongyang the North korean capital. The enemy however had already made a Quick Retreat taking their american captives with them. The american soldiers held the position for about four weeks until other american forces arrived in Pyongyang. Lindsey was wounded in the buttocks and legs by shrapnel when a dog stepped on a mine. He was evacuated to a swedish ship. Twenty Days later he returned to the Battlefield. This Lime he was part of the 38th regt of the 2nd inf div in a mountainous area about 40 Miles South of the Yalu River near the manchurian Border. It was Early october and optimism prevailed. His unit had encountered Only Light resistance. Quot that s when we were told wed be Home by Christmas a he said. Meanwhile they failed to realize that some of the prisoners they d captured were chinese. It was Only a prelude to what was about to happen. In Early november 300,000 chinese swarmed across the Border. Quot they were More guerrilla fighters than the North koreans very adept at encircling a Lindsey said. Quot they were powerfully trained and they also blew whistles and horns. The instruments at first baffled the americans. Quot some people thought they did that to terrorize but they used them As signals because they had no radios a Lindsey said. 5&s Kan Gaorge fighting in sub Zero temperatures the chinese hemmed in Many units making Retreat impossible. Some american units were wiped out. The chinese used their Superior numbers As human Waves to overrun american positions Lindsey recalled entering a Valley South of Kaeson where a Battery of the 9�?~wth Field arty had been attacked. Quot the guns were still bin Ning. The bodies were still there. They lost 65 to 71 dead out of about 150. We found a minimum of 500 chinese dead that had ambushed the guns Quot he said. The Valley came to be called Quot never die Valley Quot named after the Call sign of the 9�?~wlh. There were other horrors Lindsey cannot forget. "1 came across some of my Good friends with their hands tied behind their backs Cut open in the Middle and their private parts stuck in their courtly hot old Linda by Harold Lindsey today and in 1951, second from left with fellow korean War soldiers. Mouths. They had been shot in the Backol i lie Lindsey was wounded again in july i�?~>51 in the Iron Triangle the heart of the enemy Supply Channel in the Vicinity of the 38th parallel. He took shrapnel in his left shoulder. The wound was his ticket Home. He returned to Seattle in september i�?~>51 As a 21-year-old master sergeant. He received a hero s Welcome. Lindsey was awarded the purple heart the Silver and Bronze stars and the combat infantry badge. Lindsey who As recently As two years ago had a piece of shrapnel removed from his leg said he has to regrets about his 31 years of military service. A i fought a War. I did what i thought was my responsibility Quot he said. "1 Don t Teel it the korean War was fought Meierotto a riverboat Gamble paid off in Nam by j. King Cruger Mediterranean Bureau in 1%6 and one year out of High school 19-year-old Vern Meierotto did t want to farm and did no to want to continue doing piece work on a factory Assembly line. He also knew that his local draft Board would soon scoop him up. Quot it was the height of the Vietnam War. My family did no to have the resources to Send me to College so i knew it was the service for me a recalled Meierotto now 44 and a Navy lieutenant commander in Naples Italy. Meierotto left his farm Home in West Point Iowa and the Drudgery of his Job at a pen factory and joined the Navy. Quot Why the Navy Well to see the world and because i had an Uncle who had served in the Navy during world War ii Quot Meierotto explained. Following Boot Camp Meierotto was immediately assigned to the White River a Small gunship shelling the vietnamese coast. The while River was armed with a live Inch gun and eight rocket launchers. Quot it had a Flat Bottom and Rode miserably at sea. There w Ere 130 of us aboard and except for the skipper we All lived in one compartment a a he said. Quot we would shoot All the ammo we had in three Sas Gary Miller it. Cmdr. Vern Meierotto in Naples Italy. Days pull into a port like Cam Ranh Bay spend eight hours reloading and then go Back to sea and Start All Over he then shifted to duty aboard a Small boat patrolling hostile Waterways a Rivers and canals in the Mekong Delta. Preparation for the River tour was an 11-week course in gunnery and survival training at Mare Island naval shipyard Calif. The 86 people in his class were divided into Crews of five men to a boat. The boats were called armoured troop carriers and were converted mechanized Landing Craft 5<> feet Long. The High sided boats were Armor plated. The Barge like Landing Craft ordinarily were open topped but for their roles As armoured troop carriers had been outfitted with flight decks to allow helicopters to land aboard to evacuate casualties the boats were known As the worlds smallest aircraft carriers. The Craft were armed with a pair of 20-millimeter machine guns and a grenade launcher. Quot it his Craft was like a floating armory. We would Trade rations with the army for shoulder held rocket launchers. We ended up trading for .45-caliber pistols and ak-47 assault titles too Quot Meierotto said. The Craft of riverine patrol so 13 would sortie from its Home base at Dong Tam. More than 100 Miles South of Saigon to find harass and destroy guerrilla Type insurgency units. Sometimes his Craft patrolled with c Ashodian mercenaries aboard. Quot they were paid by the number of ears Liev brought Back a Meierotto said. While the Days were quiet and Given Over to travel the nights were perilous. Meierotto s boat was in combat half a dozen limes in 11 months. Quot it was always at night and the lights were Over in less than three minutes. His first taste of combat occurred during his first two weeks on patrol when the boat came under rocket and Small arms lire a a rocket came in under the High deck and killed a corpsman. He never knew what hit him. Meierotto said. A after that i realized How dangerous >1 is to he alive. You sort of wondered who was going to gel it next hut you did no to think about it Loo much Onti Niimd on Page to it november 10. 1991 sunday a Page 5
