McKinley Mosley
Bio
McKinley Mosley was born in Tyler, Texas on August 31, 1932. He enlisted in the United States Army at the age of sixteen after completing the 10th grade. Mosley began his service in the 76th Field Artillery Division as a private, fulfilling roles in both infantry and artillery units. After completing basic training, he was stationed in Japan and later deployed to Korea in 1951. There, he was responsible for guarding air bases in Busan and Kimpo, South Korea. As part of a segregated division that included twenty-five other African American soldiers, he dedicated himself to the protection of these critical airbases. Mosley continued his service diligently until he left Korea in 1952.
Video Clips
Life of a Private During War
McKinley Mosley remembers leaving home at the age of 16 to begin his military journey, starting with basic training. He describes his transition from Fort Riley, Kansas, where he learned infantry skills, to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, for artillery training. He reflects on the valuable expertise he gained throughout this process. He mentions that his journey then took him to Fort Custer in Michigan, followed by a move to California, before he was deployed to Japan and finally to Korea for the war.
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Segregated Units
McKinley Mosley describes his role as a gunner in an artillery unit tasked with protecting airports from potential enemy incursions. He recalls that his unit was segregated and comprised about twenty-five Black soldiers. He notes that the unit was eventually integrated following President Truman's orders to desegregate the military.
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Life in a Segregated Unit
McKinley Mosley describes his experience in an artillery unit that was initially segregated when he enlisted in 1950. He explains that the unit was always in a state of constant readiness. He recalls sleeping on the ground until they reached Seoul, where they finally received cots for added comfort. Notably, their unit never experienced hunger, as they were provided with hot meals every day. He fondly remembers a young Korean houseboy, who was around eight or nine years old, and who helped with the operations in the mess hall.
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Video Transcript
[Beginning of Recorded Material]
McKinley: McKinley Mosley.
Interviewer: Could you spell it?
McKinley: McKinley (spelled out) Mosley Mosley (spelled out)
Interviewer: So, you have all “ley” at the end?
McKinley: Yeah, right.
Interviewer: When were you born?
McKinley: August 31, 1932.
Interviewer: And where were you born?
McKinley: Tyler, Texas.
Interviewer: So, right here?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Tell me about your family when you were growing up, your parents
[00:00:30]
and your siblings.
McKinley: Well, my parents, my mother and daddy, we owned a farm, and we farmed for a living, and my dad and mother had 14 kids.
Interviewer: 14?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Big family!
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: And were you the eldest or youngest, or in the middle?
McKinley: In the middle.
Interviewer: In the middle?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: How many boys and how many girls?
[00:01:00]
McKinley: Seven boys. Seven girls.
Interviewer: Oh, evenly divided.
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: So, it must have been crowded, huh?
McKinley: It was. Well, we own a big farm.
Interviewer: Oh, big farm?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Good.
McKinley: And a big house. So, it wasn’t no problem. We had a lot of cows. Had a lot of chickens, lot of hogs, lot of goats.
Interviewer: So, no shortage of food?
McKinley: No. No shortage of food.
[00:01:30]
Interviewer: Did you work at the farm?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: What did you do?
McKinley: Plow mule, we had mules and horses. Wasn’t no tractors then, just mules and horses.
Interviewer: Right.
McKinley: Mmhm.
Interviewer: That’s it? That’s what you all did?
McKinley: And uh. We would uh. What you call uh.
[00:02:00]
Lay by. You know, you work after so many months, then you lay by, you know. And then when the cotton get ready, you pick cotton…on the farm.
Interviewer: What do you mean you work in your own father’s farm? And
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: For how long you work and then you get away from it?
McKinley: Uh. You work from like about 6 months out of a year.
Interviewer: Yeah
McKinley: Then you
[00:02:30]
harvest your crops.
Interviewer: Yeah
McKinley: You know, you pick potatoes; you pick peas, watermelon, pick cotton. Stuff like that, you know.
Interviewer: So, you had a good time?
McKinley: Oh yeah. Yeah.
Interviewer: You know, 30 to 1932 is just 3 years after the Great Depression.
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: In the city, people didn’t have enough food to eat.
McKinley: Right, I know. Well, we had a lot of food.
Interviewer: A lot of food?
McKinley: But we worked hard, though, no play
[00:03:00]
we worked hard.
Interviewer: When…Did you graduate high school?
McKinley: No.
Interviewer: Well. What school did you go?
McKinley: Up to the 10th grade.
Interviewer: 10th grade?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: And then?
McKinley: And then I went into service.
Interviewer: So, tell me when you joined the service.
McKinley: I joined the service in 1948.
Interviewer: 19, 1940?
McKinley: 1948.
Interviewer: 48?
McKinley: Yeah.
[00:03:30]
Interviewer: What month? Do you remember?
McKinley: Uh, it was something like about August.
Interviewer: So, you enlisted, right?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: What military?
McKinley: Army.
Interviewer: And where did you get the basic military training?
McKinley: Fort Riley, Kansas.
Interviewer: What is it?
McKinley: Fort Riley, Kansas.
Interviewer: Fort…
McKinley: Riley.
Interviewer: Could you spell it?
[00:04:00]
McKinley: Fort Riley, Kansas. State of Kansas.
Interviewer: And what was your specialty? And what was your unit?
McKinley: And out to El Paso.
Interviewer: You went to El Paso?
McKinley: Yeah. El Paso, Texas.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: And uh, my trainer with infantry in Kansas. Infantry in Kansas. And when I went
[00:04:30]
to El Paso, my training was artillery.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: Yeah, big guns.
Interviewer: So, you still received the training in El Paso for artillery, right?
McKinley: Right.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: Right.
Interviewer: And then what happened to you?
McKinley: I was shipped out.
Interviewer: To?
McKinley: To uh, to uh, Michigan.
Interviewer: Michigan?
McKinley: Yeah, Fort Custer, Michigan.
[00:05:00]
I left Michigan. I went to California. I left California; I went to Japan.
Interviewer: When did you leave for Japan from California?
McKinley: It was 19. I left Japan, going to Korea.
Interviewer: Right. When?
McKinley: I left Japan and went to Korea in 1950.
[00:05:30]
Interviewer: What month?
McKinley: Uh. I don’t know exactly what month. It was 1950.
Interviewer: Where did you go?
McKinley: I left Japan and went to Korea.
Interviewer: Korea, where?
McKinley: Pusan (Busan).
Interviewer: So, you…
McKinley: 1951.
Interviewer: 50 or 51?
McKinley: 50 and 51.
Interviewer: You arrived in Busan 1950
[00:06:00]
or 51.
McKinley: 51.
Interviewer: So, you arrived in Busan in 1951. Right?
McKinley: Right.
Interviewer: Not in 1950?
McKinley: No. 1951.
Interviewer: And then what happened to you?
McKinley: We uh (clearing throat), I got stationed there in Pusan at the airport because I was in artillery. We had to guard that air base there in Pusan.
[00:06:30]
I stayed in Pusan about six months. We moved up to, up to Incheon. And uh, from Incheon we moved up ten miles from Korea. I meant up from Seoul.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: Well, at the airbase there in Seoul.
Interviewer: Oh, Kimpo?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Yeah.
McKinley: Mmhm.
Interviewer: So, you always protected air bases?
[00:07:00]
McKinley: Right. Right. I was artillery.
Interviewer: And what was your unit?
McKinley: My unit?
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: My unit was uh, Battery 76 Field Artillery.
Interviewer: 70?
McKinley: 76. Field Artillery.
Interviewer: Of what? What division?
McKinley: Artillery.
[00:07:30]
A. Battery A. Field Artillery.
Interviewer: Right, but did that belong to any division?
McKinley: No, just artillery.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: So, um. What was your job in the artillery?
McKinley: I was a gunner.
Interviewer: Meaning?
McKinley: Machine gunner.
Interviewer: Machine gunner?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: So, you didn’t shoot the artillery, but you were a machine gunner?
McKinley: Right.
[00:08:00]
Interviewer: Did you often fire the machine gun?
McKinley: Sometime, not all the time.
Interviewer: When? When did you fire the machine gun?
McKinley: Uh, maybe whenever a plane come over, you know. When it come, get too close.
Interviewer: So, there was anti-aircraft?
McKinley: Yeah, anti-aircraft.
[00:08:30]
Interviewer: Anti-aircraft?
McKinley: Right.
Interviewer: Machine gun?
McKinley: Right. 50 caliber 40.
Interviewer: Were there many North Korean aircrafts?
McKinley: North Korea? A few.
Interviewer: North Korean aircrafts?
McKinley: A few.
Interviewer: Jet fighter, no?
McKinley: Yeah, they had a called a Yag 9.
Interviewer: And so did they attack you often, or what happened?
[00:09:00]
McKinley: Not too often.
Interviewer: Not too often?
McKinley: Because we had a fighter planes. We had P51 Mustang, and it had a Navy Cassell. And they had, uh, we’ll call that Marine a bearcat, big Marine we kind of called it a big bearcat, and they had, uh, they was mostly
[00:09:30]
before they get in too close, you know. They take them before they get into close, you know, they kept them kind of away like. They never get too close, come and attack the air base.
Interviewer: What was your rank?
McKinley: Private.
Interviewer: Private?
McKinley: Yeah, it was A Battery. They had Battery A, B, C, and D Battery,
Interviewer: Yeah.
[00:10:00]
McKinley: And it was about, let me see. One, two, three, four, five, about five battery.
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: Yeah, you had the gunner.
Interviewer: But I’m, I’m asking you how many black soldiers in your outfit?
McKinley: How many?
Interviewer: Yeah.
McKinley: Oh, uh, mmmm, about 25.
Interviewer: 25?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Were you upset about the segregation?
[00:10:30]
McKinley: No, you weren’t upset about it. It was a way of life. It’s what you have to live with, you know. It was a way of life. You be in it so long, you get used to it, you know. You didn’t pay no attention.
Interviewer: Mhm.
McKinley: No, you know. Well, everybody got along good. Wasn’t nobody mistreated, nothing like that there, no.
Interviewer: No mistreatment?
McKinley: No. No, mistreatment.
Interviewer: Just black among black, white among white?
[00:11:00]
McKinley: Yeah, right.
Interviewer: That’s it?
McKinley: Yeah, right, but uh, later, uh, later it was segregated, you know, we all come in as one, Truman did that, President Truman.
Interviewer: Were there any dangerous moment during your service in Korea?
McKinley: Any what?
Interviewer: Dangerous moments,
[00:11:30]
that you remember?
McKinley: No, I almost got killed by a black tiger one night. (Laughter)
Interviewer: How was life there when you were working in the, um, 76 Field Artillery? How was it? Where did you sleep? What did you eat? How much were you paid?
McKinley: I slept on the ground.
Interviewer: You sleep on the ground?
McKinley: We slept on the ground until we moved up to Seoul.
[00:12:00]
Interviewer: Yeah.
McKinley: And when we got around Seoul, uh, we slept in a bed. We called it a cot, small cots, you know about that high (hand motion) off the ground, yeah.
Interviewer: Yeah.
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: And what did you eat?
McKinley: We ate good. We ate good every day.
Interviewer: Hot meal?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Oh, what kind?
McKinley: Oh, potatoes, beans, meat, you know, steak, pork chop.
[00:12:30]
Interviewer: Steak? You ate steak, too?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Huh, how often?
McKinley: About twice a week, three times a week, it fed, it good; never was hungry.
Interviewer: How much were you paid?
McKinley: Uh, that time I was drawing about a hundred and ten dollars a month.
[00:13:00]
Interviewer: That’s quite a lot.
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: A hundred ten.
McKinley: About one hundred ten a month.
Interviewer: What did you do with the money?
McKinley: I sent it home to my momma and daddy.
Interviewer: All of it?
McKinley: All but about 15 dollars.
Interviewer: And the rest of the money, what did you do with it?
McKinley: I kept it for myself.
Interviewer: You keep it?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: During the war?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: Okay, were there any Korean people working with you?
McKinley: No.
[00:13:30]
Interviewer: No house boy?
McKinley: One house boy.
Interviewer: One house boy?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: How old was he?
McKinley: About 8 or 9. He’d eat; he got real fat. (Laughter)
Interviewer: Oh, really. (Laughter)
McKinley: Yeah, nice little kid.
Interviewer: You feed him?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: What did you give?
McKinley: Food. Same food we eat.
Interviewer: Do you remember his name?
McKinley: No.
Interviewer: What did he do for you?
McKinley: He would, uh,
[00:14:00]
do a little odds and ends work around, you know. He work in the mess hall like peel potatoes, stuff like that, wash dishes.
Interviewer: So, did you pay him or what?
McKinley: Yeah, we give him a little money.
Interviewer: How, how much?
McKinley: Oh, we give him something like maybe 50 cents a dollar, you know, I mean,
[00:14:30]
in Yen.
Interviewer: Did you like him?
McKinley: Yeah, nice kid.
Interviewer: Nice kid. (Laughter)
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: (Laughter) Have you been back to Japan for R&R?
Mosely: No.
Interviewer: No? You never been, no?
McKinley: No.
Interviewer: When did you leave Korea?
McKinley: I left Korea in 1952.
Interviewer: What month? Do you remember?
McKinley: No, it was in the summer.
[00:15:00]
Interviewer: Uh-huh.
McKinley: Wasn’t no ice on the ground. We left, uh, Japan on an LST, and we stayed in Japan about, we stayed in Japan about three weeks. They have to sort all them clothes out, you know. So they sort they clothes out.
[00:15:30]
And, uh, they wanted me to fly back, but I was scared to fly.
Interviewer: Oh.
McKinley: So, I came back on the ship. That was a bad mistake.
Interviewer: (Laughter) Why?
McKinley: Took too long.
Interviewer: And to rough?
McKinley: Lot of water, yeah, the ocean rough, yeah.
Interviewer: So, you made a mistake?
McKinley: Yeah, I made a mistake. I think about it now sometimes, you know, I say I was crazy. (Laughter)
Interviewer: (Laughter) So, what did you do after
[00:16:00]
you returned from Korea?
McKinley: I came home and got discharged.
Interviewer: And?
McKinley: Then I went to work.
Interviewer: What kind of work?
McKinley: I worked for the city.
Interviewer: What city? Tyler?
McKinley: Uh, city of Fort Worth, Texas. I went to Fort Worth.
[00:16:30]
Interviewer: Um, what was the most difficult thing during your service in Korea?
McKinley: Oh, I never had no problems.
Interviewer: You didn’t have any difficult things?
McKinley: No, never had no problems.
Interviewer: Were you wounded?
McKinley: Yeah, my bladder and my back.
Interviewer: How?
McKinley: I was thrown off my tank.
[00:17:00]
Interviewer: Your what?
McKinley: It’s called a hashtag tank.
Interviewer: Not enemy tank, right?
McKinley: No, the tank I was a gunner, you know, right gunner, and I was thrown off. It ruptured my bladder and my back. I got over a hundred discs in my back.
Interviewer: Have you been back to Korea?
McKinley: No.
Interviewer: Do you know what happened to Korea?
McKinley: I’d like to go back.
Interviewer: You like to go back, why?
[00:17:30]
McKinley: To see how it looks.
Interviewer: Do you know what happened how now it looks now in Korea?
McKinley: They say it look good.
Interviewer: Are you proud of your service?
McKinley: Yeah.
Interviewer: What makes you proud of your service?
McKinley: Trying to help someone else. Trying to help someone else, you know. I was poor. There was people poor, you know, but they was poorer than me.
[00:18:00]
Interviewer: Is there a message you want to leave to this interview?
McKinley: No.
Interviewer: McKinley, I want to thank you for your fight.
McKinley: Okay.
Interviewer: So that Korea is now what it is, okay?
McKinley: Yeah, right.
Interviewer: Yeah.
McKinley: Okay.
Interviewer: Thank you, sir.
McKinley: Thank you, sir.
Interviewer: Shakes hand.
McKinley: Shakes hand.
[End of Recorded Material]