Paul Noll Has to Learn to Read/Write Korean
We Get an Allotment of Korean WorkersOur station consists of about 4,000 pounds of equipment, transmitters, receivers, power units, tents, gas, food, tools and many other items. They have to be carried to the top of the hill where we set up the radio relay station. My team consists of 5 men and we needed help. We got a allotment of a hundred Korean laborers to work for us each day. We would go the local Police Station to get the workers. Because the word got out that we both paid them and fed them most wanted to work for us. After driving them back to the bottom of our hill we would load them up with equipment to be carried to the top. One of our team would accompany the men on the trip to the top.
We Pay Each Worker 1000 Won
One trip to the top took about 6 hours up a 6 mile trail with an climb of about 3000 feet. When they finished their trip we fed them and paid them a day's wages. The Army gave me 1,000,000 Korean Won, which I had to sign for to pay the men. Each man received 1000 Won a day. They would line up and I would pay each man his wages. 1,000 Won amounted to 16 cents US but was good wages for those days.
Well I observed that as soon as I paid them they would get back at the end of the line again. This would not do the job. So that day I marked each hand with a black mark so the could not get paid more than once. I also had them write their name on a pad so I could have a record to show where the 1,000,000 Won went to the Army. I noticed that many men signed their name with what looked like 7 1/12. When I asked about that some man explained that the 7 represented the letter kiak or K in English. The 1 was the letter I pronounced a ee and the 12 was the letter Mium and the English M. So the 7 1/12 was the common Korean name of Kim. After that you showed me your ID card and I wrote down your ID number and your name. If you tried to get paid more than once I gave your name to the police. That could represent big trouble for the workers.