Darrell D. McArdle

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Darrell D. McArdle: My name is Darrell D McArdle. Darrell is spelled D A R R E L L McArdle M C capital A R D  L E.

Interviewer:  Mc capital A.

D:        A R D L E.

I:          A R D L E.  Yes.

D:        Okay.

I:          What is your birthday?

D:        December 23, 1926.

I:          You said 26? So how old are you now?

D:        I right am 89 right now.

I:          So you are going to be 90.

D:        I’m going to be 90, 90 in December.

 

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I:          Wow! I do not see much wrinkles in your face, what’s going on? What do you eat?

D:        Beef steak. Meat and potatoes.

I:          And that give you no wrinkle?

D:        Ya, guess so.

I:          That not fair. I eat the same thing and have wrinkle.

D:        Oh, you got any wrinkles.

I:          Wow, amazing 89 years old.

 

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I:          So, when the Great Depression occurred in 1929 you were

3 years old. Right?

D:        Right.

I:          Where were you born?

D:        I was born in Elkorn, Nebraska.

I:          Could you spell?

D:        E L K H O R N

I:          E L K H

D:        H O R N Elkhorn.

I:          Nebraska.

D:        On the family farm.

I:          Farm, so what did you do there?

D:        Well, I was born there.

 

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I:          Did you take care of the animals there or did you do?

D:        Well, I was that comes later in my life. Uh. Uh. I was born there and then I grew up in the Waterloo, Nebraska area where I attended grade school and high school.

I:          When did you graduate from high school?

D:        I graduated from high school in 1945.

 

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I:          45. Wow so what did you do. That was that the year World War II ended.

D:        Ya, well I graduated in 45 and I was drafted into the army then. Right out of high school.

I:          What do you mean? The war ended but you were drafted again?

D:        Ya I was still drafted. The Japanese were still fighting yet.

I:          Oh, I got it.

D:        And I took basic

 

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infantry, basic training at Camp Hood Texas and when our training was over they shipped us to Fort Ord California to go to the Pacific.

I:          Mmm.Hmm.

D:        Then the next day they changed our orders and we travelled by troop train all the way to Camp Shanks New York and got on a boat and went to La Hoy France.

I:          France.

D:        Ya.

I:          Huh.

 

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D:        And then by the end of that in Germany and I served with the military police in 3rd Army in Germany in 46 and while I was with the 3rd Army MPs in Heidelberg I uh I was a member of the 3rd Army Color Guard that went to Luxemburg for Memorial Day services and a month later I was told

 

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to report to the train station and I boarded a train under Lieutenant General Lucian K Truscot who during World War II was a Commanding General of 3rd Division and the 5th Army in Italy and he was retuning to the States because of ill health. So, I was on his private train as a security guard from Heidelberg, Germany to Naples, Italy and back.

 

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I:          So it’s like uh you were in the army tour agency.

D:        Ahh.

I:          You were all over the world.

D:        And then I.

I:          From the farm boy Nebraska

D:        Ya.

I:          And you went to France, Germany, Luxemburg, Italy and back again.

D:        Ya.

I:          How was it? What did you think of it?

D:        It was wonderful. We spent 5 days in Rome courtesy of the United States Army, and it never cost me a dime.

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I:          And it was an honor to accompany the General, right?

D:        Ya. Right.

I:          And then what happened?

D:        Well, I returned to the States in ah November of 1950, I mean 1946 and I was discharged from the Army, but I joined the Army Reserves and I served in the Army Reserves

 

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for a while and then I reenlisted in the army and then I was stationed in Tokyo, Japan.

I:          So, when you were drafted you belonged to the army not the marines?

D:        Army. Yeah.

I:          Okay And then you reinstated and went to Tokyo again?

D:        Well, I got out but I was in the army reserves.

 

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I:          Yup.

D:        But then I reenlisted in the regular army.

I:          Yup.

D:        I was assigned to the 725th Military Placed Battalion in Tokyo, Japan.

I:          Mmmhmm.

D:        And it was there that I served from March of 1949 to September 1950 when my company was transferred to10th Core and we were part of the invasion

 

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fleet that landed at Incheon September 15th.

I:          So, you were a part of 10th Core.

D:        Ya.

I:          Could you give me the specific unit?

D:        10th Core Military Police Company.

I:          10th Core. Oh. And then you were in Incheon Landing?

D:        Ya it was at Incheon Landing.

I:          Tell me about that, when you landed when you were approaching Incheon, what did you see? What was it like?

 

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D:        Well. On our way from Japan to Korea we uh encountered a typhoon.

I:          Typhoon. Yes.

D:        And it, a lot of guys got sick we had a lot a South Korean troops on the boat with us and they all got sick because they never been on a boat you know and it ah

 

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in fact we had radio trucks and stuff on deck and it broke the chains and the cables and stuff and it all went overboard.  And I remember on September 15th I don’t at the time I didn’t know what the date was. But I went out on deck that morning and I looked around and all around us was

 

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Navy ships transferred. Everything had come together during the night you know and that’s when the invasion started that morning when the Marines landed at Wobegon Island.

I:          Mmm.

D:        And after Seoul or Incheon was uh secured, we went ashore then and my squad was uh

 

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in charge of clearing snipers and picking up stragglers.

I:          Mmm.

D:        In the Incheon area. And then.

I:          How was Incheon? How was Incheon?

D:        Well uh.

I:          Did you see Korean people?

D:        Ah.

I:          Did you see some Korean people?

D:        Oh ya we saw lots of Korean people?

I:          How did they look?

D:        Well, they were all bed dragging their clothes and they were poor you could tell you know that they had suffered

 

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you know. And uh then after the uh when the marines went through Seoul. Then uh Seoul was returned, the capital was returned to uh the South Korean Government. We pulled out then and it was just like the marines and everybody went back to Incheon and got on a boat and went around to Wonsan,

 

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North Korea where we landed and when we got there we had to wait to unload but in the mean time the South Korean Division had captured Wonsan so when we come ashore, we walked you know there was no fighting or nothing when we come ashore.

I:          It was easy.

D:        Ya it was.

I:          So from Wonsan where did you go?

D:        Well we landed in Wonsan and

 

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we stayed there and that’s where we lost two of our first casualties. We lost.

I:          Ahh.

D:        Were killed at Wonsan.

I:          Was it from North Koreans or?

D:        Well they hit a their jeep hit a landmine. Ya.

I:          Oh okay.

D:        And then from Wonsan we moved up to Hamhung and then on the 27th of December uh not December. November.

I:          Mmm.

D:        The 27th of November

 

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uh there was 40 MPs from our company was ordered to the Chosin Reservoir for uh traffic control on the main supply route.  Well November 27th that night the Chinese attacked.

I:          Attacked yep.

D:        And we found out we were surrounded.

I:          Where were you at the night?

D:        At?

I:          Where were you?

D:        We was at

 

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the Funchilin Pass.

I:          Ok. Funchilin.

D:        Pass. And then after that we uh we didn’t have no uh uh.

I:          This is the map. This is the map and you can find the Funchilin Pass in the right bottom there. Right bottom. Funchilin Pass right?

 

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D:        Ya.

I:          Do you see that?

D:        I’ve got to put my glasses on.

I:          Yeah. Yeah. In the right right down corner. That’s where you were on November 27th.

D:        Yeah.

I:          Wow.

D:        But we had MPs during before that morning Lieutenant Van Buskirk who was our officer

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in charge of us he uh he uh took 7 MPs to Hagaru-ri and there were 6 at Kot-ri and subbed in at the pass and a couple further down so we had MPs wherever there would have had to be road control you know because the road was all one-way traffic.

 

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There was no two-lane roads.

I:          Right.

D:        So, you had a.

I:          Very narrow.

D:        Oh, ya very narrow just wide enough for a truck.

I:          Only a truck.

D:        Ya.

I:          Ya.

D:        So, you had to then uh with that get on the November 30th we escorted a convoy of 20 trucks with some 7th Division

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members that were forced to go to Koto-ri.

I:          Koto-ri yes.

D:        But they couldn’t get to Koto-ri because between the pass and Koto-ri that was all controlled by the Chinese.

I:          Chinese.

D:        So they unloaded the trucks and the men joined Colonel Drysdale British commandos and they fought their way to

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Koto-ri and we turned the trucks around and when we got to the uh where the bridge went over   the water ducts that went from the reservoir down to the power plant it had been blown a hole in it. So, there was no way to get the trucks. Lieutenant Van Buskirk and I found some timbers were strong. We laid it across the hole

 

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and I directed the traffic across those timbers to safety. We got all 20 trucks out and they went on. And the next day I was escorting an engineer Lieutenant.

I:          Mmm.

D:        Because we had to make sure the road oh pass was open every day.

 

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And then we come under fire and uh when we got up to the top of the pass and we got out of there we lost one Jeep and I went back before we left and retrieved a 30-caliber machine gun off of that Jeep to keep it from falling in the hands.

I:          Was it north of Koto-ri?

D:        No, it was south of Koto-ri.

 

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I:          South of Koto-ri. Yeah. Yeah.

D:        And then on we went back to pass and in about five days later we were relieved by another MP platoon and I went back to Hamhung.

I:          Mmm.

D:        In a company area then on the 14th of December.

I:          December yeah.

D:        They flew 60 MPs out in a

 

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C650 for transport to Pusan.

I:          Yep.

D:        And we were to we formed the convoys of the 1st Marine Division and the 3rd Infantry Division as they were coming from Hungnam we formed the convoys outside of Pusan and then we sent them to the staging areas. So they could wherever they were going to go you know. And then we linked

 

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on the 28th of December we rejoined our company which had come out by boat up from Hamhung and from then on we just worked our way up the center of Korea from Wonju to Taegu to Hongch’on and on up and on in mid

 

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May or April, I can’t remember which.

I:          Mmm.

1. Our company was downsized, and we didn’t pull any more active combat duty. We just pulled duty around Cor Headquarters and my job then changed from squad leader to I run the prisoner of war camp.

 

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I:          I see.

D:        Until I come home.

I:          Where?

D:        Well, wherever we move we build a prisoner of war camp. My job was to take care of the prisoners and go up to the divisions. Pick them up and bring them back. We had intelligence outfits that were bivouac right next to us they would interrogate them.

I:          Right.

D:        And once they were done with them, they shipped them south to the big PW camp.

I:          Yeah.

 

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Who are the majority of the prisoners North Koreans or Chinese?

D:        Well, we were getting about to save both.

I:          Okay.

D:        Yeah, but a lot of your Chinese prisoners they didn’t know where they were. I’ve had them tell me that during World War II they fought with Americans in China, and they didn’t know they were in Korea you know and course most

 

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of them were hungry and everything that you know but up at the reservoir you know they just froze to death up there that you know they did have no shoes or anything. I got you probably seen pictures to of them you know no shoes on and three big blocks of ice and stuff like that. So I was there till well what was the last place

 

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we moved to before I come home was Changyon yeah that was back in North Korea just across the 38th parallel.

I:          Mmm.

D:        And I left my unit on the 14th of October to come back to the States and I got home just before Thanksgiving

 

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that I had spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. And then I reported for duty at 65th MP Platoon 5th Army Headquarters in Chicago where I stayed until June. Then I got discharged quick that was the end of my army career.

I:          Mmm. Wow. How did you

 

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remember all these things?

D:        You never forget some things.

I:          You are the only one I think tell me the names of the cities like Taegu, Wonju, Hongch-on, Inchon. You know this is unbelievable memory span. You know. Wow I am very impressed. So, tell me what was the most difficult thing when you were in Chosin Reservoir?

 

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D:        The cold.

I:          Cold. Many people, many veterans told me about the coldness, and I know I am from Korea and I’m in Syracuse right now, so I know cold. Describe the cold before your daughter.

D:        One night we had a big squad tent where we all slept in there on the ground, so we were just like peas in

 

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a pod you know close together and we had 2 potbellied stoves. Oh, they are about this big around about this high and they burn diesel fuel.

I:          Mmm.

D:        To heat the tent.

I:          So you were inside the tent?

D:        Inside the tent. Uh huh. That night we put our canteens around those two hot bellied stoves and in the next morning we got up the hot stoves

 

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were still red hot from heat. Yet every canteen that was laying there was frozen solid.

I:          How is that possible?

D:        Well that’s how cold it was. The heat you know you get that far away from the heat and it was freezing.

I:          But you were able to sleep?

D:        Huh.

I:          You were able to sleep?

D:        Sleep oh ya we had sleeping bags.

I:          In that coldness.

 

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Daughter’s Voice:       Tell him how you slept in the sleeping bag dad.

D:        Huh

DV:     Tell him how you slept in the sleeping bag.

D:        Well, what I did is they set up 4 artillery pieces right below us and they fired all night long and I never heard a shot though I was sleeping.

I:          You never heard shot. What’s up?

D:        But then I probably went every day maybe without a 5 full 5 hours of sleep

 

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because I was on the go all of the time.

I:          That’s why I think he doesn’t have much wrinkles. He sleep like a baby in the middle of shelling.

D:        Okay sometimes in the morning you get up, we go out and you go see if it probably snowed. You know and you see

 

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up there you kick it and well if it was hard you knew it was a rock.

I:          Mmm.

D:        But if it was soft you knew somebody was sleeping there but he was all covered over with snow but the snow help insulate. Yeah you know just cuz we got our sleeping bags and our parkas from the Marines.  The Army didn’t have any over there at that’s the way it was.

 

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I:          When you graduate your high school in 1945 did you know anything about Korea? Did you learn anything about Korea from the school?

D:        Never heard of the word. Never studied it in school, you know. You heard of Japan but you never heard of Korea.

I:          Hmm. But you were in Korea for a year?

D:        13 months.

I:          13 months and you had to go through all this

 

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coldness and brutal all this actions and how do you put that into perspective now? Why did it happen to you? Did you imagine that you would be in Korea like that?

D:        No. I thought when I went to Japan I was good, that was easy life. That was great duty in Tokyo. You had all the facilities of you know we had the movie theaters, you had the, PXs, you had

 

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beer halls, dance halls. It was high living you know.

I:          Mmm.

D:        They claimed that’s why when the first troops went to Korea they were soft because they easy life in Japan.

I:          Mmm.

D:        But I then don’t buy that I think they didn’t just have the right training, that’s all.

I:          What was your rank at the time?

D:        I was a Corporal.

 

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I:          Corporal.

D:        Yeah.

I:          And in the middle of your Funchilin Pass and Koto-ri and what were you thinking to yourself? Where, why am I here?

D:        Never give it a thought. Just got up every morning, did what the Lieutenant said. You go up, take to go up on the road patrol, see what’s going on.

I:          Hmm.

D:        We never give it another thought.

I:          You are not afraid?

 

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D:        I never though I’d ever, never entered my mind.

I:          Did you engage in a battle I mean the skirmish with the Chinese?

D:        Yeah.

I:          You, you saw them around?

D:        Yeah, we seen them around.

I:          Yeah.

D:        But I was lucky, I never got, I come close a couple times at Incheon and then up in the Reservoir getting hit but they missed.

I:          They missed.

 

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I:          Have you been back to Korea?

D:        No.

I:          Do you know the Korean Government has a program to revisit?

D:        Yeah, I know they did. I just never had the interest because if I went back there’s nothing there that I remember.  It’s all changed.

I:          But instead you will see unbelievable.

D:        Oh yeah.

I:          Did the new Korea?

D:        Oh, yeah yeah I know that.

I:          Don’t you want to see that?

 

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D:        Because I got the book that the Korea.

I:          We Won Korea.

D:        Yeah, I got that and I give it to, give it to that’s well there was what I got enough of those books to give each one of the members of my company that served over there a book.

I:          Mmm.

 

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D:        Of course, there was a lot of them we lost track of and a lot of them passed away you know.

I:          Yeah.

D:        But then I gave a book to my hometown library and end up Hooper, Nebraska which as where I lived and farmed. I gave them a book for their library.

I:          So, what do you think about

 

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your participation in the Korean War?

D:        Well it, would you join the army you go where your Commander in Chief says you go.

I:          Yeah.

D:        And that’s we never gave it a thought when we go orders out to a ship out to Korea from our Battalion in Tokyo we had guys from

 

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other companies going AWOL to go with us to go to Korea.

I:          Mmm.

D:        They all wanted to go to Korea but there was just the one company that went to the rest stayed in Tokyo but there was 3 or 4 guys they went AWOL and went to Korea with us.

I:          Wow.

D:        And once they got over there well then they was issued orders, they stayed with the company you know.

I:          They crazy, huh.

 

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D:        But I thought well I’ll tell a lot of those young kids I had in my squad they were in the Army for one reason only. They got in trouble at home and the judge said.

I:          You better go.

D:        At that time they could go the army. Now a days they wouldn’t take them I don’ think.

I:          Right, yeah.

D:        But I know one kid,

 

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he passed away a couple years ago, he’s a good friend. He’s in my squadron in Tokyo and in Korea and he was always getting in trouble. Yet when he got out of the Army, and he became a Deputy Sherriff and turned out to be a great man.

I:          Mmm. Now Korea

 

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is the 11th largest economy in the world. It’s the size of Indiana, you know the state of Indiana?

D:        Yeah. Yeah.

I:          Small and you know that Korea was completely destroyed.

D:        Oh, yeah.

I:          Now we have the 11th largest economy in the world. Can you believe that?

D:        Huh, what?

I:          Can you believe that?

D:        Well it’s hard to believe but if

 

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you work, you can do it.

I:          Mmm.

D:        That’s with me I started out nothing after I got out of the service. I got married, started to work for a farmer. First thing I know I am farming on my own and I farmed for 43 years, raised 4 good kids. They all got good jobs, make good money.

 

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I:          And here your daughter with you.

D:        That’s my daughter yeah.

I:          Yeah. So, I want to invite her with you, okay? Could you just stand behind or before, I mean beside could you?

DV:     Yeah.

I:          Yeah.

DV:     I guess.

I:          Yeah. This is rare opportunity.

 

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DV:     I’ll go behind you, make me look skinnier.

I:          Yes. So please tell me what is your name?

DV:     Nancy McLaren.

I:          And you are here with your father, right?

N:        Yes.

I:          Did he really tell you about his story?

N:        Yes.

I:          What did he tell you?

N:        Basically, what he’s told you.

I:          Everything.

N:        Ya.

I:          Ah so why were you hesitant to talk to me?

D:        I don’t know.

I:          Mmm.

 

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D:        You know I had to go to the VA Hospital for doctor’s appointment and stuff and a couple years ago, 4 or 5 years ago there was a male nurse there who had become good friends with me and he had a son that was in the war in Iraq and he said he he don’t want to talk about it.

 

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And I told him that’s the worst thing he could happen to you.

I:          Yeah.

D:        Get it off your chest and you feel better.

I:          Yeah.

D:        That’s why I always talk about it.

I:          And now you’re talking to me.

D:        Yeah.

I:          Yeah. Nancy, Nancy, right?

N:        Yeah.

I:          So, if your father decided to go visit Korea, Korean Government will pay for you too. You have to pay about I don’t know you have to pay a little bit of

 

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half about half airfare otherwise you’re going to stay in the hotel, meals and everything they have a whole program. You can go visit the country that your fight father fought 65 years ago with him. Do you want to go?

N:        If he wants to go, I’d be more than happy to accompany him.

I:          Yeah, that’ll be great. You going to see the Seoul you saw 65 years ago completely destroyed not any longer.

 

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D:        Yeah. I know I see you know that book you know I got you could see what they’ve done.

I:          Yeah. Yeah.

D:        Yeah.

I:          So, what do you think of your father’s?

N:        I’m proud of him. You know him and all the guys you know he’s talking to you and I’m glad because a lot of guys, he had had somebody from his hometown where he’s living at now that wanted to interview him.

 

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Dad wanted him to come up and interview everybody because it wasn’t just him you know it was everybody was involved in everybody’s story and that’s what you’re doing here today. You know your great grandson is 3 months old, he needs to know that, he needs to learn this. I didn’t learn it in high school either, didn’t know anything about the Korean War.

I:          Yeah. So your grandson or great grandson will be able to hear though this interview about you and will know about you. That’s why I think it’s important

 

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but at the same time school high school, middle school teachers will use this in the classroom to teach about the Korean War and how can we have a better textbook than this?

N:        Exactly.

I:          Right.

N:        Yeah exactly.

I:          They need to hear from the veterans you know the neighbor, my grandfather you know all this so I think that’s why we are doing this. Anything you learn from this interview Nancy or anything that

 

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you think is important to say?

N:        No he has talked a lot about it. Of course we accompany his, my husband or myself we accompany him on the reunions that he goes to so we learned a lot from his you know whether it’s the National Chosen Few or the Army Chapter or the 7 20^th Reunion you know we’ve met a lot of neat people and he’s reconnected with people.

 

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You know like he said a lot of them are have passed away that you know he’s with.

D:        But there’s only, what is it 12 MPs out of 216 that served in Korea.

I:          Hmm.

D:        With me that are still alive.

I:          Wow. Altogether 216.

D:        There was 216 in our company.

I:          Mmm. Hmm.

D:        And there’s only

 

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I think 12 left that way.

I:          So, you will have a longevity and you know I think that’s very good and this longevity in your family so that’s very good.

D:        There’s a, I brought along a picture.

I:          Mmm. That show that to the camera.

D:        This, can you see it?

I:          Yep.

 

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D:        This picture shows me and 3 members of the company coming out of the pass to Hungnam in December 5,1950.

I:          Where?

D:        Where, I got it from a former member of the company. In 1987 at a reunion in Fort Hood Texas and he don’t know who took

 

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the picture or where he got the picture, but I got it 37 years after it was taken and who took it, nobody knows.

I:          Where are you there?

D:        That’s me sitting right there in the front.

I:          In the front.

D:        Yeah.

I:          You sure that that’s you?

D:        Yeah, that’s me.

I:          Yeah.

D:        And the other 3 guys are all deceased.

I:          After 73, 37 years.

D:        After 37 years

 

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that picture showed up.

I:          Oh my goodness, oh. Do you have a extra copy?

D:        Huh?

I:          Do you have a extra copy?

D:        What? Why you want this one?

I:          Okay, yeah.

D:        Yeah I got extra copies.

I:          Okay. Great. Thank you, thank you so much.

D:        I’ll put it in here.

I:          Yeah. Darrell, any other message you want to leave to this interview?

D:        No, I just

 

0:36:30

if everybody’s got a story to tell, tell it.

I:          Thank you very much.

D:        I got to member of my squad, he was supposed to, they were somebody was going to write a book about his career and, but I’ve never heard anything. So, I don’t know whether they forgot the book written or not

 

0:37:00

but he a because he was in our company in Japan and in the company in Korea and he was a member of my squad and then he went on and he went to CID school and became a CID agent and he retired a War Officer 3 and then he joined the marshal,

 

0:37:30

US Marshal Service and retired from that. And so, they were supposed to there was going to write a book but I’ve never heard whether.

I:          Hmm.

D:        And I haven’t heard from him in 3 or 4 years, so I don’t know what happened.

I:          But Darrell it is so good to have you here and to hear from you about your service.

D:        Hope it’s, you could use it or to good enough to.

I:          No, there is no good or bad okay,

 

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It is your service, and you were there at the most important time in the history of Korean War.

D:        Yeah.

I:          That’s why we want to record it and preserve it okay and someday somebody will listen to you and learn from you about the Korean War that you fought for, and I want you to know that Korean people are very thankful about the opportunity to rebuild their nation and you should take pride in what Korea it is right now.

 

0:38:30

Right, so thank you very much.

D:        Thank you.

 

[End of Recorded Material]