William Beals

my name is William Beals i was born in

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carpenterville oregon 1931 the 20th

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(February what ) february 20th

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(did you go to school in Oregon)

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no (where did you go to school and what)

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i came to California when I was three

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years old and I went to Montebello

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Unified School District I went through

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all the school and I couldn’t wait until I got

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the heck out of that school

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district and you know what stupid thing

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I did I went to work for the railroad

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I got laid off too many times and my

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sister-in-law Lorraine which was my

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brother’s wife said go down for an

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application at the school district cuz she

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worked at the school district so I put an

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application in and they called me for

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interview and who did I see but mr.

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kemp was the dean of boys which I had

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knew and I was the seventh one in line for

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the job when I came for the job and I

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went to the school district and I went

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to work for him after I was trying to

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get the heck out of there so I went back to work

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and I retired from the

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school district for what 30-34 years

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(what did you work there) I was i started

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out as a gardener and then I operated

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a tractor and a truck at one time and

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then I went into lawn mower repair (what

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about your family) my dad just died at

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96 years old (wow and your sibling) I

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moved up here more or less I lived in

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California I moved up here more or less

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because I wanted to go deer hunting and

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stuff in utah so you know what

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happened all my family moved up here

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my younger brother moved up

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my sister didn’t she’s still in

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California my older brother he

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moved up here and died and my brother

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Jack he he moved up (your older brother)

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yeah I got an older bought Tom he’s my

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older brother he was what four years

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four years older (so he’s the one was in

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Korea) no he was not in Korea (who was in the

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Korea together with you) Bob my

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brother Bob (tell me about Bob) two years

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older than i am and I’m 83 so

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he’d be 85 maybe something like

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that and (so how did you come to go to

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Korea when when were you were you drafted

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or enlisted) no it’s a sort of a funny

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story I wanted to join the army a friend

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of ours was David Norton and he

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was in Korea at the time when the

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war started and he got killed and

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so I told my mom I wanted to join the

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army and she says no she says why don’t

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you join the National Guard like your

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brother did and I my dad said oh you

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know what he says you can always if you

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like the National Guard you can always

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transfer over to the army but anyway

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1950 in September I was in the National

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Guard for two months and we got activated

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and went to camp cook california

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for six months then I went to Japan for

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a year and then I went to Korea (when

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were you activated) 1950 50 yeah (what

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month do you remember month) was it sep-

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tember I think it was September (so

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what was your specialty) well in the ar-

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tillery

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I was a number two man for the for the

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gun and the number two man feeds

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the ammunition into the chamber and when I was doing

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that see you got to put your fist like

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so well I had my fist like that shoveling it

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in and on the firing mechanism and

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there’s two half moon deal well my thumb

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got caught in there and it tore my

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thumbnail off and they the sergeant took

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me to the medics to have it done and I

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had it all wrapped up and everything

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they looked all over to see if they

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could find my thumbnail and they could never

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find it but anyway in the artillery they

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teach you how to do is set the fuses and

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everything on on the thing (you said you

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didn’t know anything about korea is that

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true when you were left for Korea) where

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I went when I went to Korea (yeah did you

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know anything about Korea) well just

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what I heard on the news and stuff you

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know didn’t really know anything about it

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(you really didn’t know) well all I know

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is fighting and killing going on (you

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arrived in Incheon) yeah (when did

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you arrive) oh I don’t remember the date

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1950-51 I think it was last part of 51

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we came in the late afternoon and we

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landed in inchon and the first thing I

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noticed the railroad had a union pacific

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switch car there and and and the

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second thing I seen was a house with a

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big high fence all the way around it and

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it had broken glass sticking up all over

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heck

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and then we we got in this train

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that the windows was all broken out and

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the wooden boxes we had to sit on and

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we went so far and then they put us on

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trucks and took us up and they took us

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in this what you call a hospital tent

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and they had the stretchers in there and

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we had to lay down and what they taught

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us was take our uniforms off and put it

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in the bottom of the sleeping bag and

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put shoes on the outside well when we

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went in there it was muddier than heck

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and they had (do you remember where it was)

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I don’t know where it was that they

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don’t tell you nothing they says go

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and you go but anyway they had two butane

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burners blowing at both ends and during

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the night the butane went off and my

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boots was in the mud and it froze and I

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had to take a bayonet and chip my boots

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off out of the mud so I could get them on and

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then after we left we went up and I

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seen an old cannon with wooden wheels on

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the side and we went we relieved the 24th

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division and this guy he says I have a

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metal bed with inner tube stretched

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across i bought it for ten dollars so i

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can sleep you (were in the front lines

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fighting or) no it wasn’t we were in the

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rear the headquarters headquarters

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company 115th medical battallion was

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in charge of medical supplies that was

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issued to the guys in the front so in a

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way I I don’t know how close we was to

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the front but I know one day we got

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bombed and I went down to see the truck

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and it was a big truck and the bomb hit in

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the back end of it and wish like a

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wishbone

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(what was your mission) I was in supply

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clothing supply (oh so you you didn’t

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work as artillery second man at the time)

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not in Korea (not in Korea) because when I

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got transferred I went to the Medical

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Corps and I think they wanted to

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separate me and my brother because my

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brother Bob was in the same outfit and

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then we were separated I think about a

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month before i went to Korea (yeah you

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mentioned Bob) yeah (tell me about the

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Bob did you leave for korea with him) no

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he joined the National Guard before I

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did and so he left maybe a month before

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or two months before I don’t know for

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sure (and did you correspond him or did

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you see him in Korea) yeah (tell me about

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those) okay i went to the commanding

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officer and I i said is there a chance

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of me getting a pass to go and see my

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brother in the artillery and he says yeah

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have you got a driver’s license I said

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no I said I haven’t got army drivers

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license but I got a California driver’s

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license he says that’s okay he says you

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go up to the motor pool and you tell the

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sergeant that I said to give you my

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jeep in the morning so he gave me my

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jeep his jeep and I went to see my

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brother (where were your brother) up the

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road a piece i don’t know i think he was

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i would say roughly maybe the artillery

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was always around seven miles behind the

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main line if i remember correctly and so

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i went to see him i got off and i went

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in there and my brother was in the on the

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switchboard he was a wire man but he

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was on the switchboard and

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I talked to him and then I went over to

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see we talked for a while but he was on

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a switchboard and he couldn’t talk too

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much because he kept on answering the

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switchboard and you know how the switchboard is

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you plug in but anyway I seen

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him for a while talked to him then I went

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over and seen the gun crew then I came

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back in and seen Bob and then I got in my

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Jeep and went back (that is it) because it was

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late and that’s all I did (what this two brothers

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meeting in Korea you are the brothers)

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yeah (that’s it that’s it hi Bob) well

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I don’t remember what we talked about I

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asked him what he’s doing he says I work the

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switchboard and stuff like that and he

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told me about one thing that he he see he

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didn’t smoke and I did and he says when

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we had to go to the foxholes I didn’t

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want to get in a foxhole with anybody

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that smoked and he told me that and he

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said there was a big rock boulder a big darned

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one it and was tunneled underneath

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and he says I guess the Chinese or

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somebody was sleeping in that underneath

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that bed rock and he said it stunk like

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heck in there (what was the most

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difficult thing for you during the

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service in Korea) when we got in Korea at

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this one place there was a big mound

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next to the supply tent and it was all

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covered with snow and we thought it was a

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little foot hill or mountain as

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the snow melted they took this they

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found out there was a canvas there and

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they took it off and here was all these

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rifles pistols and stuff and the command

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officer told me he says Bill he says

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these guys don’t know nothing about a

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rifle he says I want you to go and pick

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some weapons out to put in supplies that

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they could handle and that was m1 m2

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carbines and there was some 45s there and

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there’s some grease guns or

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thompson 45s but anyway I had to go and pick

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out the good stuff to put in supply

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and then as I was telling you about when

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we was bombed we went down I went down to look

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at it and there was this truck that was

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wishboned out that the bomb landed in

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back there was blood all over heck and

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about a hundred feet away here was this

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bomb that didn’t go off and you know

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what it said on there US Navy so I

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don’t know if it was our own planes that

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bombed us or if it was an enemy plane that

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captured them some bombs we never

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did find out where it came from (any

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other moment that you might have lost

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your life) well they always ask for

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volunteers for for different details

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and I volunteer for this one detail and

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they had a bunch of infiltrators that

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was supposed to come in and they didn’t

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know where they where they was at so we went up

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i guess it was close to the front lines

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and all we had was carbines and so the

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mountain came down like so and they took

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wood logs across there and they

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filled it up with that and they had

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little deals that you went in there like

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a bunker I guess that’s what you call a

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bunker and we had to go play there and

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so there was an infantry outfit on the

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left hand on their side that we seen

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that came by and we went over and talked to the

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lieutenant that was in charge and he says what

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you guys got i said all we got is

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carbines and they were then with the

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half tracks

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and so he gave us each of us i don’t

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know the five or six guys that we went

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there and they gave us hand grenades and

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he said he says do you know how to play

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leapfrog yeah I says i know how to play leapfrog he says

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well you guys do that and go to these

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different places and toss in the hand

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grenades and then the guy in back of you

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can go in there and see what’s going on

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but we did that (was it dangerous) huh (was

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it dangerous) well I guess it wasn’t because we

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didn’t see no Chinese and all we had was

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carbines so we got went back and got

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in our truck and went back to camp the

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man officer came at me one time where he says

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Bill you can go to R&R to Japan

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he says but you only gonna be

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here one more month and then you going

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home and I said well I don’t have no

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money to go anyway since all the time we were

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playing poker and let

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somebody else that has a longer time to

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go because I was going to go home in

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may anyway (how much were you paid at the

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time) that’s a good question I think

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about I don’t know ninety seven dollars

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something like that for a private and I

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was sending thirty-five dollars a month

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home every month (to whom) my mom

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and she was putting it in the bank or

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whatever she did with it and I had a

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1939 mercury car (that you bought with

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that money) no that I had when I

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went in the service and my mom

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it was at the house and my mom wrote me

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one day and said is it okay if Jack my

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brother my youngest brother traded the

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car and got a car

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for him (how was your life in Korea did

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you drink) did I drink yeah well I’ll

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have to go back to Japan we used to go

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and have beer once in a while and when I

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was transferred to Sendai Japan my

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brother Bob came up to see me at the

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base and he had this bag that some guy

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got off the train and left the bag so my

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brother got the bag and he gave it to me

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and there was two fifths of VO in there

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and that’s just a water bag (water bag)

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carry water in it there’s something that

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I picked up in Korea and I think it is to carry

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water we could take it in the

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back and fill it up and see if it

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still works this was in that bag the

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mountain of stuff were all the guns and

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stuff and I grabbed that out and I kept

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it and I sent home my coat now this here

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I don’t know where I got it at but the

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coat was in Korea and an ammunition belt

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was in Korea and I sent

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it home (that coat looks very warm) it is

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warm you know there there’s one thing I

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wish that they would make the kids do in

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United States like the ROK army

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we’ve met korean boys that was in that

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was on missions and stuff last year when

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you have it there

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and when he got well Mormon missionaries

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and I found out this third day I have a

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woman gardener because I can’t mow the

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lawn no more and she has a son that was

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on a mission in Korea now I don’t know I

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wrote a letter we got that we got that

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letter from the Korean government and I

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wrote a letter and gave it to you

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to see if the governor the president

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wanted to get a hold of it and I

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was talking to my

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grandson daughter she’s in the army now and

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she’s in Germany and I told her if

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she ever got to Japan I mean Korea to go

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and see the president of Korea and

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thank her thank him I know it’s a woman

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president now and thank her for the

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letter I got you know I really feel

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honored that the government the Korean

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government or president would thank me

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for being there and I know that there’s

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been a lot of letters sent out for Korean

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veterans and thanking them because I

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have talked to some guys and they said

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yeah we got a letter too I’m really

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honored that the Korean government and

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the korean people i have been to

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different places I’ve been to Disneyland

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I had my hat on that says Japan and

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Korea and they came up and thanked me

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for it and I was at the in vegas at the

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buffalo bills and i was playing

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blackjack and i have a japanese friend

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that we all hang out we went to the

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bathroom and this guy came in he

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asked me he says were you in korea and I said

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yes he said I want to thank your hand my

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granddaughter about being in Germany and

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she’s going to go to Korea she says she

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has a chance of going because she signed

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up for six years and I told her to go

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and see the president now I don’t know

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even if the president would see her but

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anyway if she gets to Korea that’s one

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thing I want her to do (I want to thank

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you for your fight for the Korean nation

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and that’s why we are here and we are

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the strongest ally to the United States

21:57

and very strong economic

22:00

partner to the United States) well the only

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thing I worry about Korea is the North

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might try to start something again and

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all these atomic bombs and stuff now

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what sense you know if you stop

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and think of all the no okay you take

22:20

the First World War and the Second World

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War how many millions of dollars were

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spent on that war on both sides what

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they could have did to improve their

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country (any other message that you want

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to add to this interview) no i just hope

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my daughter granddaughter gets over to

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Korea I would like that