581st Radio Relay Co.
in North Korea (1950)

Our First Radio Station in North Korea

My team has been selected to put a relay station on the top of this hill. I didn't know its number or even where we were. It is October 1950 and we are near Iwon. Here is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we earn the big bucks Uncle Sam is paying us (almost 3 dollars a day). I remember thinking, "We are supposed to put a station up there?" A relay team like ours has about four tons of gear and only five enlisted men and an officer. And officers don't do any of the work. We have to set up a base camp pitching our 16 by 32 foot tent to live in. We then must get a minimum of gear to the top.

Two transmitters, two receivers, a power generator, gas, four antenna kits, personal gear for the two that will have to stay on top, a 16 by 16 tent for them, food, etc. We need help to get everything up there. Someone has to be at the bottom at all times and someone has to stay at the top. So after that there is only three people to travel up and down with the gear. There was no trail to the top, you just get up the best you can. Today I shake my head in wonder that I climbed so many hills with heavy loads with such enthusiasm.