581st Co. in South Korea (1951

Dunkle and Noll at Hill 610

Here are two of the stalwart hero radiomen after a stint of three months on the top of the Hill 610. Dunkle was a neat guy and a hard worker. I remember that I enjoyed the freedom of being on my own with nothing to interfere with my studies of learning the Korean Language. I had begun to learn the language at another station. I had met a Korean who had spent 25 years in Mexico some 25 years before and could speak Spanish but spoke no English. I had taken Spanish in school and learned Korean through our mutual language. I would ask him, "Como se dice?" How do you say this? I built up my vocabulary bit-by-bit and learned grammar as well. I learned how to conjugate verbs.

That way I could indicate past, present and future tense as well as interrogative and negative. It was fun. I was in charge of the Korean laborers who worked for us each day. How do you pay 100 workers and make sure they get paid only once. Some would try to get in line again and again. At first I would have them write their names and that worked for a while until they found out I couldn't read their writing. I noticed that many people had a name that looked like 7 1/2. When I asked someone told me that was Kim. 7 is the letter kiak and is pronounced as a K. The I in 1/2 was the letter I as in eel. The 2 in 1/2 was the letter mium and was pronounced as an M. That started me and I got all the letters and practiced for many hours each day until I could read as well as any Korean.