Fort Meade Md. 52

Dear Readers,,,Very tired tonight,,,Interesting week at TCC Tues wear a sherrifs badge and bandanna,,,wed red white and blue day,,,thurs wear a shirt with TCC on it and today Hawaian theme I wore a shirt with palm trees ect and I got a plastic pineapple mug to drink out of plus that thing they put over your head??  next week back to regular clothing,,and friday is wear red for the troops in Iraq and afganistan...Phillip Meyer S/sgt ret

                                                                            JMJ
Fort Meade Md.
Army Hospital
Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret.
                                                                 Hospital June /July 52
 My first days in the Army hospital were filled with days where first I was hot then I would get cold,
I was in a ward all filled with Malaria patients, One day a nurse made fun of me..Her remarks not very nice..But when she left it was she who was mocked by the patients....A period of the time in the hospital was spent getting rid of the worms had to take pills we nick name football and basketballs.They were big
and if you look closely they did resemble a football or a basketball.....At one point I was able to get out of bed and go to the hospital mess hall.I was in for a shock,As I passed a container of food I found my sense of smell was much stronger. I could not take the smell so I went outside the mess hall and ate on the steps
As time went on my sense of smell went back to normal,Now I was offered a job to show movies to patients.They put me in a class to learn how to operate the movie projector,.So a couple of times I showed movies also learn to play pinochle with other patients....Then when they thought I was better I went back to my company.I found items from my footlocker had been stolen while I was in the hospital,,
                                                                 2053rd Supply Co.
I got my first chance to go on pass.It turn out to be an adventure.There was three of us hitch hiking.A car came to a stop it look like it took a long time to stop.We got in the sun was going down,..As we took ff the driver a young man said he has problems with the brakes so "Please tell him a few blocks ahead of time where we wanted to get off..Then as he put on the lights the radio came on..when he played with the radio
the lights came on..The car made all type noises..We were driving in a nightmare,We reached town there was a street that seem empty we said stop here.A couple of blocks later the car stopped and we got out..
My next pass I called a relative of my Foster parents, The first ones I had.She sounded sweet on the phone.So all spruced up I went to her house.As she open the door her little dog bit me..And for her nothing came of my date,,
One night I thought I had not said the rosary in a long time..( A prayer),Once I started I thought about going over seas again so I put in my paper work,,,I would be going to Europe,,,
Phillip Meyer S/Sgt Ret..

Back from Korea 52

Dear Readers,as i hitch hike around to go places.The driver of a car looked at my Honored CIB and said your CIB and a dime will get you a cup of coffee..so much for CIBs (Combat Infantry Badge)...The stay in the hospital was interesting,,Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret..

                                                                                JJ
Gainesville/Cedar keys Florida
May 1952,,,Phillip Meyer S/sat ret
                                                                      May 52
After the dinner we were free to go home.I got paid and caught a train to Gainesville florida,,While I was in Korea they never sent me a letter or a card,...But I went back,,They lived in a trailer park,..When I arrived I slept on a couch.Then I went to Cedar keys to see the girl I liked,Her name :Joyce Frank" Her father lone  me a jacket so we could go on a date,What a disaster.She told me to get in a car the back seat..Up front two other boys as they drove around the Island she was kissing the boy in the front seat..When we got back to her house,I went back to Gainesville.Then my Foster Mother told mer she had spent all the money I had been sending home in an allotment,So all I had was what I had been paid,,I told my Foster father I was going to New Jersey,,The way I said it I think he knew I would never come back again..
In New jersey I got united with my sisters Mary and Flora..The first time I saw Nelson he was sitting at desk
with a book he was studying ,,Nelson took me fishing by a bridge..We were close to the bridge and I heard a car back fire,I near most fainted,The sound brought back memories..So I got united with my Mother ,sisters and brother.After a couple of days I reported to Fort Meade Maryland to the 2053rd Supply Company

                                                                     Fort Meade
   I was a PFC and I had been assigned to a warehouse where new soldiers came to get the cloths issued to them,,I worked in the shoe dept...Most of the time a soldier new the size of his shoe and the boots would fit him,,In the mean time on the company street I met soldiers from the 5th RCT coming back and they told me how lucky I was,,They had gone on a hill called "Heartbreak ridge" They said each day a American soldier was wounded or killed.it was a very bad place,All was going well when one night I had a strange nightmare
object in my dream were to big or to small,,A small string felt like a rope..nothing was the true size it was supposed to be,Then I reported for work.I started to feel sick.I lay down on a large bag of clothes.The Sat came by me and ask what was wrong.I told him how I felt ..Then he said//"get this soldier to the hospital he has malaria guess he must have seen it many times, The ambulance came and took me to the hospital.
After I had been checked the conclusion..I had Malaria,tapeworm,round worm,and hookworm all at the same time...I was sick,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Phillip Meyer S/sat ret.  

The last Hill 52

Dear Readers..Getting near the end,,and remembering other incidents....Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret.

                                                                            JMJ
Kumwah/Kumson North Korea 52
"L' co. 5th RCT 24th Div
Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret.
                                                                    The last Hill
 We stayed on the hill we had been on for Christmas for a long time.I witnessed something very unusall.
There was fog on top of the enemy hill and artillery was being fired on it,,Then if you can put it that way I saw sound.How can I put it..its what I saw.After the round exploded I saw rings in the fog from the shock waves.,,,,One time the big shells (ours) were hitting the hill to our front,it was :White Phosphorous" a big cloud of white smoke,,but it was the shock waves from the explosion that came across the hill and it was like being hit in the face.....................So one day we moved out.
                                                                  The last hill
   When we got to the top of the hill I looked down the ridge line there was a whole line of bunkers.But I was told with two other soldiers to go down the ridge line to be on an out post.We would be out as far as you could go.So down we went (in the snow),We found a small abandoned Chinese bunkers and.............a dead Chinese frozen in the snow,First problem the bunker very small, We took turns sleeping in it I kept my head at the entrance.The first night we built a fire inside and the smoke got to me I got sick and walk up to the bunkers as I got to the top I slipped in the ice and my carbine broke.So I got an M1 Rifle again.I slept in a bunker that had been abandoned,the next day I felt better and went down to the out post.Now the dead body was on our nerves.As we pulled guard we look down and there was this dead face staring at you.Out to our front was a ring of bodies which I examined would look at there teeth (if you could see them and guess how old they were.Plus down in the valley were the bodies of the Chinese killed at Christmas (across the valley was the previous hill we occupied) As for the Chinese body as I ate I would think..(as I looked on him,)What village did he come from,,did he have a family ect and I nickname him :The Mongolian" he was big.I look at his eyes it look like he was staring at the sky when he died.Finnaly we took out bayonets chop the ice around him gave a push and down the hill he went.I could hear the body hit trees and brush as it went down,Then the day came to leave the hill.I got to top of the ridge line I was the last squad to leave the hill.I heard soldiers saying "Watch out for the,,,,,,,,.I did not get the last word. I sat down and started to slide off the hill as we did in the winter I picked up speed and turn a corner and flew into space and went into many strands of como wire.Here I was tangled in wire and around 3 feet of space under me.As a soldier passed me they tugged to try and get me lose.When I hit the wires my helmet flew off and went down the hill.Our company commander had said he would court martial anyone who lost his helmet.A couple of tugs later I got lose and down in the dark I went down the path.When I reach the bottom of the hill my foot hit something..It was my helmet..So we went south to a village called "Ok bung"..........
Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret

Winter Valley 52

Dear Readers.....Tommorow the 2 Aug ,,the day we attacvked the "million dollar hill"...We had a few wounded but it wasnt until later that I heard about the men who had died on the other side of the hill..We had cover they did not..A black soldier threw a grenade in a chinese bunker that made it possible for the rest of that company to get up the hill......Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret.

                                                                        JMJ

Kumwah Valley North Korea
"L" Co. 5th RCT 24th Div
Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret
                                                                  The Valley winter 51
   We did spend some winter days in the valley even after Christmas (looking for some special papers on that)..Our small tents had been set up and the deep hole under them so the cold wind could pass on top..and not through our tents..The mess tent was close by...out in the rice paddies was the 555 Artillery or as it was called the "triple nickle" by now I was used to the shells being fired off.When we ate it was so cold the food would start to stick to the metal mess kit before we reach the end of the line. One night (Jan 52) I decided I wanted to sleep out side not in a hole.So I got my sleeping bag and put it next to the tent. I zippered the bag
and I could just see a little out of it,In the morning I noticed snow in front of my face.I zippered  the sleeping bag open and I was covered with snow that had fallen during the night....back in the hole again.Max off a hill was just a couple of days,,
                                                                      The Award
 It was a cold sunny day as we stood at attention in the frozen rice paddies.One by one were called up to receive the highest award an Infantry man can receive.(Note not a medal just an award).I received the
Combat Infantryman badge.....Only an Infantryman can receive it and he has to have been in combat.
It is one of the proudest award a soldier can receive,

                                                                      Note
Ten months in Korea.....one letter..........one shower,,,,(I was a lucky one).........Listen radio once..a bout three minutes
No haircut....
Phillip Meyer S/sgt Ret