On my 19th Birthday, November 27th 1950, the Chinese entered the war in Korea. My unit the 581st Signal Radio Relay Company had a radio station operating on the coast of North Korea for communications with the First Marine Division trapped in the Chosin Reservoir. We were isolated in a remote area with no other UN units within 50 miles. We had to stay until the Marines had successfully fought their way out of their trap. Mao Zedong had announced to the Chinese people that he had the Marine Division trapped and he was going to kill them all. Eventually the Marines fought their way out coming out with their dead, wounded and hundreds of Chinese prisoners. We could then leave our position and get out if we could.

At last over our radio came the word we could leave our position and evacuate to the south if it were possible. We quickly loaded our gear onto the trucks and trailers. We had two 3/4-ton trucks with trailers and a jeep. We were about 24 men with 12 being Signal Corps and 12 Republic of Korea Soldiers who were guarding our station. The whole town turned out to see us go and they were very sorry to see us leave. They had been very helpful to us in the operation of our station. We said a quick goodbye and hurried off. We had to travel north to get to the main road to the south and we needed to get there before the Chinese who were rapidly advancing. The UN forces to our north had been mostly wiped out by the Chinese.