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Lynn Harold HahnWhitehall, Michigan "That first day in the mortuary, I recall that my main thought about the body was that it was the loved one of a family and that they did not know yet that their loved one was dead." - Lynn Hahn, 148th Graves Registration
[ KWE Note: There are many photos in this memoir... |
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Memoir Contents:
DedicationThis interview is dedicated to my wife, Beatrice. I met Beatrice in 1950, and fell in love with her. Within a year, we decided to get married, knowing that there was a war in Korea and that I was a prime candidate for the draft. We decided to get married three months before I left for the service. I was blessed with a mate who was very supportive and loving throughout my two years of military service—a time when I needed those attributes dearly. She also encouraged me to think about going back to college when my term was up. Near graduation from college, we started our family with the birth of our son, and later our daughter. Our children are now married, and have families of their own. Between them, we have five grandchildren. Beatrice and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary on September 28, 2001. During my tour of duty, I wrote to my wife, and she to me, nearly every day. She saved the letters that I wrote to her. Most of the descriptions and quotes concerning my experiences and observations are excerpted from these saved letters and other artifacts that she has kept all these years. I know that these items refreshed my memory many times so that what is written below is as I saw things at the time. They also helped to provide a better chronology. She has granted me permission to use the letters, for which I am grateful. BackgroundLynn Harold Hahn was the eldest child of the four children born to Charles B. and Estella J. Martin Hahn. He was born August 7, 1931, in Beaverton, Michigan. The family lived in the towns of Gobles, Martin, and Buchanan, Michigan while the children were in grade school. Mr. Hahn was a Methodist minister, and Mrs. Hahn was a minister’s wife who raised the children and did her share in the churches in which her husband served. Lynn attended grade and junior high school during World War II. Like all schoolchildren throughout the nation, he and his classmates collected paper and metal of all kinds for the war effort. Both the schools and the Boy Scouts promoted these collection efforts. "I recall our garage was used as a collection station," Lynn said. "It was nearly full of newspapers and cardboard which would then be picked up and taken away by a big truck." The Hahn family was affected by rationing, too. "I remember sugar was rationed, although it was probably a good thing for health reasons, as I did have a sweet tooth," he said. "Gas, tires, and shoes were also rationed." After junior high, Lynn attended Clare High School in Clare, Michigan, and graduated in 1949. He loved to participate in sports, and played varsity in at least three sports while attending that small school. "I have continued to be involved in sports all my life," he said. Besides sports, Lynn was also interested in the girls at Clare High. Because of that interest in the opposite sex, he and some other boys decided to take a typing class due to the large number of girls in the class. "Taking typing significantly affected my experiences in the Army," he said. Later in this interview, our readers will understand why this was so. Lynn’s education continued outside of the confines of the school walls, too. He held a part-time job in the local drug store as a soda jerk, as well as doing janitorial work and odd jobs. For two summers, he worked on a dairy farm where he helped with haying, milking, manure care and spreading, and odd jobs. "Both of these jobs were very educational for a young high school boy," Lynn said, "because they taught the ways of business and hard work. Both businesses were owned by persons who were willing to train, but who expected good performance." After high school, Lynn attended Alma College in Alma, Michigan. He had not yet formulated any plans for his future. "I had no idea what I was interested in except to play sports," he said. "I went out for football, basketball, and baseball, which meant that I was involved with sports all year long." Lynn made varsity on the baseball team that year, but he didn’t study much. "As a result," he said, "I was placed on probation at the end of the first year. I was not ready for the rigors of academia, and decided that I had had enough school. I quit school." He ended up working in a house trailer factory with the grand starting salary of 95 cents per hour. "This also was an education concerning hard work and low pay," he said. "I worked on the assembly line, in an office responding to potential customers (typing), and eventually went on the road assisting an expert in repairing the defective trailers built by the company." About the time he began the factory job, the Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950. "I knew little about the Korean country," recalled Hahn. "I believe I understood that Korea had been divided after the Allies’ post World War II war agreements. The war received considerable media coverage, and I believe there was concern that National Guard and Reserve units could possibly be called to active duty. The media coverage was by newspaper and radio. Television (black and white) was just coming on the scene in our area, but we did not have one until about 1955." Even after the news reached the United States that North Korea had taken nearly all of South Korea, the war still seemed distant to Lynn Hahn. "Then, in September," he said, "came the landing at Inchon by the US X Corps and the rapid advance by the U.N. forces. It appeared the war would be over soon. I followed the news in the newspaper and radio, but I did not think that I would be in the war in Korea. I felt it might be over quickly. At my age, I did not think about having to go to war." In the fall of 1950, while working at the trailer company, he met Beatrice Ruth Allen, his future wife. "She and her sister were walking down the street in downtown Alma," Hahn reminisced. "My friend and I asked them if they would like to go for a ride. There seemed to be some attraction at first, and we met often after that." After some courtship, they decided they would get married around the middle of 1952. "As weeks went by, we began to move the date up," Hahn said. "By the summer of 1951, we increasingly wanted to live together, and we were sure that I would be drafted, so we decided to get married in September. Looking back, it was quite a thing to do knowing that we would be separated for most of two years, as well as understanding that war was going on and that I possibly might not return if I had to be in it. Indeed, after I left for basic training, the only time we saw each other was for a few days visit she made to Fort Lee, Virginia, during my Graves Registration training, and then a few days between training and being shipped overseas to Korea." Hahn explained that at that time period, the government drafted men who were married, had no dependent children, and had received no previous military experience. The fact that a married man had a wife to support meant nothing to the draft board. When draft-age men in Michigan gathered at a collection area in Detroit, they were taken to a large auditorium. "I’m guessing there may have been up to 300 of us," recalled Hahn. "We were told that there was a need for 50 of us to volunteer for the Marines. If there were not enough volunteers to fill that quota, they would pick from among us. I was not particularly interested and, strange as it may seem, there were at least 50 who volunteered. This was my first break in the service." For Hahn, a series of subsequent "breaks" during his tour of duty in the Army put him in the right place at the right time to survive Korea’s combat zone. Lynn Hahn began active duty on January 3, 1952, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He and other inductees were bused from their hometown of Alma, to Detroit, Michigan, and then on to Ft. Custer, Michigan. At that time, Custer was used as a distribution center as well as a discharge center. Lynn said that his folks seemed to understand that he was being drafted under the system of our government. At the bus station, the family did not talk of war. "War" was not a term used when referring to Korea in those days. "Our nation did not declare war in this case," Hahn said. "We called it a conflict. Aside from the South Koreans (men) we were the major supporter with men and money. Now it is 2001. We still have not learned that if we are going to war, the Congress should declare war. Vietnam was a case in point where we let the Administration run the war. I hope that we are not now letting ourselves into another "war"—this time in Iraq--without the official declaration required." On the day that he officially entered military service, Lynn wrote a letter home to his wife. It read, "This morning we got our papers sorted so we could start to come over here to Ft. Custer. We left Detroit about 4 o’clock this evening. When we arrived here, they gave us a pep talk about our enemy, Communism. After that we had supper that wasn’t too bad. After that we learned how to make a bed, army style, and how to recognize an officer. Then we took an ice cold shower, and I mean ice cold. We will be here for 5 to 7 days and no passes." A month later, Lynn was still taking cold showers. He wrote home on February 6, "I washed my clothes last night in ice cold water. They didn’t look too good, but they did smell better. I also took an ice cold shower. I didn’t get much cleaner, but I smelled better. As yet, I have heard nothing about my stay around here." Military TrainingIt would be December 16, 1953, before Lynn became a civilian again, but because of the simple fact that he knew how to type, he had the opportunity to see his new bride again most weekends while he was in basic training. "I had been at Custer a couple of days waiting to be sent someplace for basic training when I was called into an office," Hahn explained. "They said my records showed I had typing in high school. They told me that I was needed to help in an office on the base. The next thing I knew, I was helping to type discharge forms for soldiers who were being discharged. Some of the soldiers were actually being flown from Korea to Ft. Custer because their discharge dates were pending. I was told that I would be kept at Ft. Custer for no more than 30 days, at which time I would be sent somewhere for basic training. I was actually granted leave to go home on most of the weekends that I was at Ft. Custer. The office that I worked in was commanded by a captain from Indianapolis, Indiana, who had served in World War II, and who had been reactivated when the Korean War broke out. He had a family and business, and he was quite bitter about being reactivated." As it turned out, Hahn was held over at Fort Custer for nearly 45 days because his typing services were so badly needed. "The officer finally told me they could not keep me there any longer, and he asked where I would like to take basic," Hahn said. "I had no idea, and told him so. He said that the Quartermaster was the place to go, and he recommended Ft. Lee, Virginia. I remember going with him to a building where basic training assignments were made. The officer asked the sergeant about my status and was told I was scheduled to go to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. The officer asked if it was okay to change that and send me to Ft. Lee. The sergeant took my card out of the Ft. Campbell slot and put it into the Ft. Lee slot. Very simple and another nice break for me." From Ft. Custer, Hahn and other draftees were flown by plane to Ft. Lee on February 21. He said in a letter to his wife, "We left Ft. Custer about 3:30 in the afternoon and had a nice plane ride. There isn’t much to a plane ride except it hurts your ears. I had trouble hearing things for twenty-four hours after the ride. Anyway, we took a bus from there to here. We got here about 6:30. That’s pretty good time." After some short processing that included learning what was expected of them, they began to learn how to march. While assigned to a temporary company awaiting assignment to a permanent company, the new trainees received a set of instructions that they were told to check constantly during the training period. "It will serve as your guide in doing your part to maintain the tradition that the American soldier is the best trained soldier in the world," the instruction sheet read. There was a long string of items on the list of instructions that trainees were expected to know by the time they completed their training:
On February 23, Lynn was assigned to a permanent company, where he was issued a rifle, bayonet, and tent. After that, he and the other new arrivals drilled and marched for about four hours. Lynn wrote home that Fort Lee was a nice camp. "The weather is fine. In the daytime it is nice and warm, but it gets pretty chilly in the evening." Sometime during the first couple of weeks of basic training, Hahn and four or five other draftees were called into an office and told that their school records and test scores qualified them to be trainees for Officer Candidate School. If they were interested, they would be sent to OCS, and if they made the grade, they would become officers. "I recall asking questions," said Hahn. "Where would we train and what kind of training? I remember they said about 96% of those qualifying would go to Infantry Basic and become infantry officers. I asked where one would go after completion of training, and was told that it would probably be Korea. I then remembered the officer who was in command of the office at Ft. Custer who had been recalled to serve after he had served in World War II. I was told that once you become an officer, you would have long-term obligations, including being activated simply by Presidential Order. Since I was not excited about being in the military, I respectfully declined." Instead of OCS, Hahn underwent eight weeks of infantry basic training and eight weeks of a Quartermaster function. In infantry basics, days were definitely regimented. "As I recall," Hahn said, "we were awakened by loud music over a loudspeaker about 5:00 a.m., at which time we had a few minutes to dress and fall out in the street in formation. Instructions were given for the day, and then we did calisthenics and ran a few miles. When we got back, we tidied up the barracks and then went to breakfast, which by this time was appreciated. With all the energy burned up, we were always hungry. As I recall, the food was generally good and we had a good mess staff. In fact, our mess hall was picked as the best in Ft. Lee, and the commanding general came to eat with us." Hahn said that, around the beginning of April 1952, they began feeding the men less in preparation for their bivouac. Col. C.C. Holcomb, commanding officer on the base, had early on told the new recruits that the U.S. Army represented a cross section of American youth. "They bring with them their likes and dislikes, their strengths and weaknesses, and collectively they represent the opinions, the strength and weaknesses of our country," he said. One of the weaknesses that some brought with them was poor hygiene habits. "I was athletic so that showering in front of others was no big deal, but it was apparent that some of the soldiers were shy and it was not easy for them," Hahn said. "Those types usually made it to the showers when they could smell themselves. We did have one person who refused to take a shower, and after a few days he began to smell up the area around him. Several of us who bunked near him eventually told him he must take a shower. After no action on his part, he was threatened, and eventually we had to physically take him to the shower. We then set up a schedule that he knew he must comply with." Infantry training consisted of all those things that had been listed on the new trainee instruction sheet. Hahn said, "Training was intense, combining physical fitness with the rules of war, first aid, map reading, the details of fighting, knowing your weapons and how to use them, strategy of fighting, using your senses of smell and vision, use of bayonets, grenades, rockets, foxholes, camouflage, communication, anti-guerrilla, scouting and patrolling, and many other subjects." Squeezed between this training was the daily cleaning, as well as the weekly scrubbing down of the walls and floors of the barracks on Friday evening; special details to keep the latrines clean; and regular policing of the grounds outside. Lynn said there was little to no free time, except on Sunday. "I did, however, do my best to find time to write to Beatrice whenever I could," he recalled. Lights out was generally at 9:00 p.m., unless training went later in the evening, so Lynn penned letters to Beatrice, "by the light in the latrine." The infantry training instructors were strict. Lynn recalled that early in his training, one of the instructors told the draftees, "You had better give your heart and soul to God, because from now on your ass is mine." He said that the instructors were always looking for something they felt was wrong so that they could met out punishment. "They had the authority to be strict," he explained, "and they left no question that they were in control. When we fell out in formation in the morning, they sometimes read to us the court martial results at the camp. I remember one case where two soldiers were on duty to clean and repair the furnaces in the WAC’s barracks. They had drilled a hole through the wall between the furnace room and the women’s shower room. They had been caught and were sentenced to the brig for a time. " Hahn also recalled that frequently after some very tiring physical workouts, the trainees were marched to an auditorium to watch training movies. Woe to the weary who fell asleep during the movie. "You would be very tired," he said. "And inside where it was warm, your eyes would get heavy and dozing off was easy. They had cadre equipped with long, wooden sticks walking up and down the aisles. If they saw that you had dozed off, they used the stick to whack you on the helmet hard. It was a rude awakening." There were times when the instructors used corporal punishment to keep the recruits in line. Hahn recalled that there was one soldier in his platoon who had trouble staying in step while marching. "For some reason, he just couldn’t stay in step," he said. "One of the cadres put him at the rear of the column, and then stomped on his heels when he got out of step. Sometimes he would stumble because it was hurting him physically. I felt sorry for the soldier, because I felt that he was really trying. He just had a problem with staying in step. He never did really become proficient, and, in fact, the platoon leader gave him some detail (such as barracks orderly) during Saturday parades so he would not participate. Someone out of step showed up like a sore thumb." There were other infractions, but because most of the draftees wanted to do a good job and be prepared, the mistakes that were made were generally minor ones. Lynn improperly fell out in the ranks once, for which he got two hours of extra duty scrubbing the mess hall floors. Once he put a letter to his wife in his jacket pocket. One of the officers noticed it and took it without a word. The letter was mailed on to Beatrice, and the unspoken message in the cadre’s eyes was clear to Lynn Hahn. In most cases, discipline was given out on an individual basis, but occasionally a platoon as a whole was disciplined with no free time, or had to clean the barracks if inspections or performance was not up to snuff. As to Lynn Hahn, he said that he felt he was a good soldier who tried to do what he was told and who tried to learn what was being taught. He didn’t make waves. A couple of times, trainees went AWOL, but because of the reading of the daily court martial results, it was impressed on the men that going AWOL could be serious. One or two didn’t make it through basics. "In my letter to Beatrice dated March 11, 1952," Hahn said, "I indicated that a lot of the soldiers appeared to have physical defects. I can only surmise that many of the soldiers sent to the Quartermaster were those who had some type of physical problem. There were two cases where I believe the men didn’t make it through basics. One man actually had a clubfoot and had difficulty making it due to his inability to run or to march well. They actually requested that he be given some type of medical discharge, but he refused at first, insisting that he wanted to try to keep up. I understand that he eventually was given a discharge. Another man only had one eye. I believe he was also given a discharge. I could never understand how these men even got drafted, considering their conditions." Church was both mandatory and optional during basics, according to Hahn. "Chapel was required twice during our basic," he said. "After that, attending the chapel services was voluntary. I still do not understand why chapel was required twice. As I recall, most did not take advantage of the opportunity when it was a choice. Instructors were not breathing down our necks at chapel. I attended chapel whenever possible. The chaplain in our area sent a letter to Beatrice indicating that he had met me, and gave encouraging comments and support. He also indicated that the officers at the post stood by at all times to be of service to us." For Lynn Hahn, infantry training was physically exhausting. "You were always under pressure to perform under duress," he said. He also recalled that nearly every aspect of training involved viewing a training film first. Then there were proficiency tests. "We had to qualify with the firing of our rifles," he recalled. "I was not a good shot because I seemed to be very sensitive to noise. When we were qualifying, we had to stand or lie next to others shooting at the same time. Just when I was ready to fire, a neighbor would fire, which caused me to flinch. We had a proficiency test at the end of basic. Failure to pass could mean taking basic over again. I did quite well on the final test." However, the biggest test for Lynn Hahn above all during basics was being away from his new wife. "I missed my wife dearly, which tended to be on my mind a lot," he said. Beatrice
When her husband left to fulfill his military obligation, Beatrice continued to live in the apartment, working in the Billing Department of Consumers Power Company, the main utility company that provided electrical and gas services in the Alma area. Despite the distance between them, the couple stayed close during his time in the Army through the letters that each wrote to the other for nearly two years. Before he left, they discussed how they could get through the service time—planning and saving in preparation for their life together after Lynn returned from his stint in the Army. Graves Registration TrainingWhen his eight weeks of infantry training was completed, Lynn Hahn had another lucky break. "There was a need for trained Graves Registration personnel, and there was need to fill a class," he said. With no leave between infantry and advanced training, Lynn moved his duffel bag of possessions from one area of the camp to the Company Q area. Before beginning their training, he and the others who were scheduled for Graves Registration training resided in this company until the Graves Registration School was filled to capacity. They were given about ten text books, and began a review of what their next eight weeks of training would include to become Graves Registration Specialists. Much of the learning involved reading and class work. Though many years have passed, Lynn still has a lesson plan for the third week of training. It gives a reasonable review of the type of subjects that were involved. "Along with preparing for warfare," he said, "the specific classes for Graves Registration included subjects such as map reading, personal effects, identification of the dead, battlefield collection and evacuation, etc. Map reading was important in order to define location of temporary burial or cemeteries, and to be able to read maps provided by fighting commanders as to last location of suspected or known deceased." He said that identification of the dead involved being familiar with the major techniques used by Graves Registration specialists. "For example," he noted, " we were expected to know the value of teeth for screening to determine whether the remains were American or Oriental. Most all Americans had fillings and a dental record. Most Orientals had no or few fillings. The dental record of American servicemen was the single most useful record for identification. The shape of the skull was another important indicator of culture origin. We were required to be able to assemble a complete human skeleton. There were actual human bones used for this training, in which we were required to lay out the body bones in their proper place." The trainees were also shown what was involved in battlefield collection and evacuation. The technique of transferring the remains of American soldiers from the battlefield to a rear Graves Registration collecting station for burial was new to Korea in 1952. The very important aspects of personal effects handling were taught to Hahn and the others to assure that a deceased soldier’s effects were accurately and properly transferred and accounted for at all transfer locations. "Survivors of the dead needed to be confident that their relative’s effects were intact and complete," Hahn said. The recruits were tested each week on what they had learned to date in their training. "Failure to pass three of the week’s tests disqualified a soldier for future training, and resulted in probably being sent to infantry training," Hahn recalled. "I usually did quite well, getting B’s or better." He said he found the subject and the classes interesting; the instructors very good; and the atmosphere relaxed. "It was like being in school," he reminisced. "I had seen only one dead person prior to being in the Army, and that was at a funeral." Graves Registration Training and his subsequent duties in Korea would soon change his experience level with the dead. In the Graves Registration training, the troops visited a mortuary near the camp where Hahn and the others observed a deceased person there. Classes started at 7:00 a.m. and lasted until 4:00 p.m. Hahn said that most of the instructors were sergeants with World War II experience. "I was very impressed with their knowledge and ability to teach," he remarked. "They were organized, spoke clearly, and with authority." Some evening-hour studying was necessary to prepare for the next day’s classes, but after that the men had some free time. "During some of the weeks, there was field training such as preparing a temporary cemetery," Hahn recalled. "We were bused once to the National Cemetery at Gettysburg to review the development of that cemetery. I recently presented a talk about the "Handling of the Dead" at Gettysburg during the Civil War. It was a disastrous situation where about 7,000 were killed in three days, and there was no formal procedure for burial." Out of the classroom, the Graves Registration trainees at Fort Lee learned the major procedures for battlefield collection. "We split up into four groups," recalled Hahn. "Group 1 were the "bodies". Group 2 located the bodies and did the processing (filling out standard GR forms which included all pertinent items about the remains). Group 3 were the littler bearers who manually transported the bodies to a collecting point. Group 4 was the collecting point where bodies could be buried." Hahn is pictured below in training at Ft. Lee, learning how to establish a cemetery.
Because Graves Registration training was much more relaxed than infantry training had been, the men frequently got liberty. "I pretty much stayed on the Fort," said Hahn. "I could go to a movie or play ball. Most of what was needed, including entertainment, was provided. Some soldiers who came from homes in the East did go home on weekends. Some of those may have had problems getting back or took liberty and were AWOL in meeting the morning inspection. My recollection was that they usually came in late, but had excuses which were accepted. A few who could afford it had wives (or friends) who stayed in housing off camp. Soldiers could get night passes. I was blessed to have Beatrice come to Ft. Lee for two weekends and the week, and we stayed off site at Petersburg in a hotel. I was able to leave the Fort about 4:30 p.m., but had to be back for classes before 7:00 a.m." With a war going on in Korea, it seemed logical that the 1952 graduates of Ft. Lee’s Graves Registration School would be shipped to the Far East. "There were rumors that many of us would go to Europe to help maintain established American cemeteries," recalled Hahn. "We were quite naïve. When we got our orders to report to Ft. Lawton, Washington, something did not seem logical. It looked like we were heading for Korea." The Korea-bound soldiers were allowed a few days to go home en route to Ft. Lawton. Lynn originally had planned to get an airplane reservation for home, but he and others with similar ideas found out that the government had other plans. They were required instead to take a train. "It was explained that soldiers in the past had reported late to their destinations, and their excuses were that they had made their own arrangements and that for many reasons their chosen transport did not get them to the debarkation destination on time. So the Army tried to eliminate that excuse by putting men on a train with its destination to the debarkation site. They didn’t care what you did in between. In fact, they said to retain unused tickets for a future refund. So we were loaded on a train late in the evening. I stayed on the train until it reached Cincinnati, Ohio, where I got off and took my chances on getting a plane to Lansing, Michigan. I was lucky because I was put on standby and it turned out there was one seat available." After a few days at home with Beatrice, Lynn flew from Lansing to Seattle, Washington, and on to Ft. Lawton in proper time. Hahn remembered, "It turned out that once I got to Ft. Lawton, those of us who had gotten there on time had to wait until latecomers made it. As I recall, those who were late got a little extra duty, but I am sure they felt it was worth the extra time at home. Very discouraging." Duties of a Graves SpecialistWith his training behind him now, Lynn Hahn’s official title was Graves Registration Specialist. The duties for a soldier with the Military Order of Specialty (MOS) number 4980 were outlined in Handout 130.579H1, dated December 1951, from the Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, Virginia. The duties were as follows:
According to Ft. Lee classroom handouts, to carry out the duties of a Graves Registration Specialist, the soldier assigned to that duty had to possess the following special qualifications: "Must be able to read military and topographical maps, photomaps, and military and conventional signs and symbols. Must be able to prepare topographical sketches and map overlays. Must be able to conduct burial services in a solemn and reverent manner. Must be familiar with available disinfectants and fumigation and their use in preventing infection and spread of contagious disease. Must be familiar with military honors rendered at the grave and with other military funeral procedures. Must be familiar with methods used in established cemeteries to make the graves of both known and unknown dead, and with method used to record location of individual graves." Once a soldier acquired these skills learned in Graves Registration Specialist training, he was qualified for the following positions: Senior Graves Registration Specialist, Grade E-4, Corporal; Graves Registration Specialist, Grade E-3, Pfc.; and Assistant Graves Registration Specialist, Grade E-2, Private. According to Hahn, after corporal came sergeants. There were quite a few in a graves registration company. Voyage to the Far EastLynn Hahn left the United States for Far East duty from Pier 97, Seattle, Washington, on July 20, 1952. He recalled that there was a small Army band there to wish them well as they pulled away from the pier. "I recall that a couple of soldiers actually got sick before the ship moved away from the dock," he said. "I felt that it was silly to get sick, but later I found out what seasickness was all about." The small ship that Lynn boarded for Korea was the Pvt. Sadao S. Munemori. The 500-foot long troop transport was named after a Japanese-American World War II hero. It was a converted World War II victory ship. "Our compartment was right at the water level," Hahn recalled. "We could hear the water slapping against the wall of the ship. The wall actually moved some under the pressure. Our compartment contained about 250 men. The bunks were four high with just enough room to slide in to for sleeping. There were stairs going up to the main floor where the latrines were. The compartments were generally hot and stuffy. Various odors permeated the area. Showers were available, but the water was salt water. That was no way to shower and feel clean. The soap would not lather; rather, it stuck to the body and especially to body hair. I am not sure how many soldiers were on board, but the number of between 1,000 and 1,500 comes to mind. I only saw Army personnel on board the ship, but when we were transported from Japan to Korea on a different ship, there were about as many Marines as there were Army soldiers." Not long out to sea, the new Graves Registration Specialist from Michigan no longer scoffed at those who got sick. He succumbed to the illness, too. "I had never been on a large ship before," he explained. "I felt that I would not get sick, but after one day out, the weather got rough. I saw many others getting sick, and still I thought I would get through it. However, on the next day I came down the ladder to my compartment and saw three soldiers on their knees puking into a can. By this time, the odor of throwing up was overwhelming, and I could take it no longer. I was very sick the next day, and then slowly recovered. I had never been seasick before. You throw up everything in your stomach and you still have the heaves, even though there is nothing to come up. The ship’s staff came around with crackers and encouraged us to eat, but that was the last thing we wished to do. On the third day, the weather improved and my stomach settled down. Then I became very hungry and ate everything available. More than half of the soldiers on the ship got sick. This disrupted the entire schedule and became of general concern to the ship’s staff." When the second day at sea also brought rough weather, the tiny ship was tossed about in the ocean. "The waves were large enough and our ship small enough," recalled Hahn, "that the front and rear of the ship left the water as a wave was crested. I recall that the ship’s propeller actually left the water and caused a mighty vibration on the ship. This constant up and down, along with the propeller shudder, was enough to make a majority of the ship’s occupants sick." Hahn said that one memorable thing that happened during the voyage had to do with the urinal located on the main deck on the inside wall between two openings. It was about 12 feet long. He said, "As more soldiers got sick, some threw up into the urinal. As time went by, the screened-off drains clogged up and the urinal began to fill with urine and puke. In the bad weather, the ship rocked, and the stuff in the urinal began to slosh from one end to the other. If you happened to walk into the door opening at the time the stuff slammed into the end of the urinal, you could get a shower of the stuff. It was not pleasant." He said that the use of the toilet was also a challenge. "There was a series of several stools on the outside wall of the ship. Since the floor of the ship descended from front to rear, the evacuation of refuse was accomplished by having a pipe connected to each stool in the series, with water continuously flowing from the higher to lower-level stools. As the ship rose and crested a wave, the water flowed quite well. But as the front of the ship got over the crest and began to fall, the flowing water caught the edge of the toilet connection and the water splashed your rear end. It was always cold, so we quickly learned to raise ourselves in anticipation of the water giving us a cold flush." There wasn’t much entertainment on the ship, with the exception of gambling using cards and dice. The longer they were out to sea, the more soldiers there were with no money due to their losses. Lynn Hahn lost his money a different way. "Unfortunately," he said, "I was the victim of theft. I got up one morning and had to go to the bathroom. My wallet was in my shorts, and I thought I would slip it under the pillow. When I got back, the wallet was gone. I felt sick because all of my money, identification, pictures, etc., were gone. I reported the theft and really asked only for the return of the non-money items. It never did show up. I later had to secure new identification papers and, of course, had to wait until my next pay period for money." A typical day on board the ship sometimes included reading the ship’s staff-issued newspaper, which reported news and a travel status. One day, they crossed the International Date Line. "That is where you lose a day, but hope that you will return some day and get it back," Lynn said. Another day, he met two guys from Michigan—one from Saginaw and the other from near Coleman, which is close to Clare, where Lynn had attended high school. Lynn knew the brother of the soldier from Coleman. Beatrice Hahn received a letter which her husband wrote to her on July 23, 1952, as the ship sailed closer to its destination. In it, he told her that the Munemori was 721 miles from Seattle, and traveling about 15 miles per hour. It also described Lynn’s typical day. "We wake up and go to breakfast," he said. "Then we loaf until about 8:00 a.m. We then all go up to the top deck so the other decks can be cleaned. Then we wait for lunch. In the afternoon, we usually have a fire drill. We then loaf until supper, and loaf some more until bedtime. There is not much you can do with soldiers packed in like sardines." Once during the voyage, the "sardines" got to get off the ship. "We did not go directly to Korea," explained Hahn. "On the sixth day out we actually stopped for part of a day in the Aleutian Islands on the island of Adak. This island is about halfway to Japan. This was an extraordinary event because of the beauty of the islands. There were many small, as well as some fairly tall, mountains that just rose out of the ocean. As we approached Adak, the ship moved very slowly between these mountains. An occasional white cloud obscured the tops of the taller mountains. The day we were there, the ocean’s waters were perfectly still, almost like glass. The view of the mountains with their green foliage about halfway up their height, and then barren to the top, along with their reflection in the water, made it one of the most striking and beautiful things I had ever seen. We actually docked. We all got off on the dock and did about an hour’s worth of physical fitness exercises, then got back on the boat and continued our travels. The word was that we picked up fresh water and also left off a soldier who it was reported had had a nervous breakdown and needed medical attention." The ship’s next stop was Yokohama, Japan. As it neared Japan, the troops learned the debarkation procedures that were to be followed when they left the ship. "On August 3, we docked in Yokohama at about 3:00 p.m.," Hahn said. "It was about 7:00 p.m. before we got off the ship. We then took a train to Camp Drake, which was about 35 miles from Yokohama. We arrived at about 11:00 p.m., and we actually did some processing. We checked our records and then were given $20.00. It was nice to have a little money. We checked our shot records, and then changed the $20 into military script that was supposed to be good only at army exchange stores. We were asked to donate money to two things: fifty cents for the Japanese K.P.’s, and a dollar for Japanese-American orphans. The latter were babies who were fathered by American soldiers who did not accept responsibility for their care after they were born." By the time this processing was completed, it was about 2:30 a.m. Because Lynn’s wallet had been stolen on the ship, he had to get his picture and fingerprints taken for identification cards. "I got to the barracks at about 3:30 a.m.," Lynn recalled, "only to be wakened at 4:30 a.m. to go to breakfast. This day we were issued rifles and heard lectures about Korea and the United Nations. They tried to explain to us why we were going to Korea. They showed us on large maps of the world the area controlled by the Communists and how they were expanding their control. We were told that if we did not stop the Communists in Korea, they would be in Japan next and eventually could make the whole world Communist. The next day we went to a rifle range and fired our rifles. We were then issued bayonets. That evening, we had a parade for the colonel in charge. After that we had mail call, and there were letters which had arrived from home." On to KoreaMost of the time at Camp Drake was spent waiting for orders. "On the fifth day of August," Lynn said, "we turned in all of our clothing except for fatigues, underwear, and socks. We were issued two blankets, mosquito netting, a cartridge belt, first aid packet, mess gear, etc. This activity suggested that we were heading for Korea. That evening, they read off the names of those shipping out at about 6:30 a.m. for Korea. We were told that we would depart by ship from Yokohama, and head for some port in Korea. The ship was larger than the one we came across the ocean in. It was called the General John Pope." He recalled that the ship was very crowded and the heat was terrible. "It was on this ship that I spent my 21st birthday," Lynn recalled. The date was August 7, 1952. He wrote to Beatrice, "I have never seen so many men in such small a place. Everybody is running into each other. The chow on this ship has been terrible, and to top it off, we have to stand up to eat it. They have so many to feed they don’t furnish chairs. I took a saltwater shower today, but it didn’t help much. I feel as dirty now as before."
Just getting from the ship to shore was a challenge. "This was an experience," recalled Hahn, "because there was a huge tide at Inchon. The ship anchored out in the bay and we got on small landing craft that took us to land. We took a train inland to a place called Yongdong-po. We had canned rations on the train. Of note was the condition of the area and people during the ride. It became apparent that the natives knew the stops. Old men and children begged for food or anything exchangeable as we slowly moved through populated areas. There was evidence of war because permanent buildings were damaged or destroyed. Houses looked more like huts. As we approached the town, there was more permanent housing. There was also a faint, disagreeable odor that turned out to be human waste. This waste was used to fertilize the fields. I would say that my first impressions of Korea were discouraging. I had not seen anything like this—where war had been and recovery was slow." That night, Hahn spent his first night in Korea in a tent. "There must have been an airfield close, because there were planes going all night. There were a lot of soldiers and military activity around. Everything was moving." Lynn Hahn was now definitely in a war zone. History of Graves Registration in KoreaThe first Graves Registration company to serve in Korea during the war arrived on September 12, 1950. The 565th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company then went to work to carry out all the policies associated with taking care of American remains buried in temporary cemeteries at Miryang, Masan, and Taegu. The 114th GR Company arrived in Korea on November 25, 1950. At the end of 1952, Lieutenant Commander John C. Cook, Q.M.C., wrote a detailed overview of Graves Registration in Korea from 1950 through 1952. It appeared in the March-April 1953 issue of "The Quartermaster Review." It appears on the Army Quartermaster Museum (Ft. Lee, VA) web site on the Internet. Hahn said, "In reviewing the history of the 565th and 114th, it is evident there was a desperate need for GRS early in the war to provide services of caring for the dead. Combat and support units were too busy to also care for dead as would be desired. As such, the 565th was placed near Pusan and the 114th near Inchon when there was a lot of action in those places. Note also that in many cases where GRS was not available, the combat and support units cared for the dead on their own, which meant temporary burial near the fighting sites. To my knowledge, the 114th GRS stayed in Korea. I am not sure where the 565th ended up. The 114th was for a time near Pusan and attached to the 32nd Quartermaster Group. Later in 1953, the 114th assisted in the Operation Glory project for exchange of war dead." 148th Graves Registration CompanyThe day after his arrival in the Korean war zone, Hahn and the other replacements traveled on to Seoul to the 23rd Quartermaster Group Headquarters of the 8th Army. Two days later, they traveled by truck to the city of Wonju, which was about 70 miles east of Seoul and in the middle of the Korean peninsula. The 148th Graves Registration Company Headquarters was located just outside of Wonju, about 70-80 road miles from the front lines or about 50 miles as the crow flies. Wonju was a major supply point for the front. It had Engineering, Quartermaster, and Military Police headquarters, as well as a large evacuation hospital. Hahn said that although the major buildings in the town had been destroyed or badly damaged, small temporary buildings had been constructed and some small shops appeared to be wood-framed with scrap metal or cardboard siding. "Around the town it was pastoral," he said. "Rice paddies were all around, and there was some cattle. People seemed to be living fairly normal by harvesting the rice. Children played. We observed a funeral procession go past our compound. The scenery was attractive with the mountains in the north and the gentler hills to the south with the tillable soil nearly all being used for rice growing. I assume wood was precious because there were few trees."
Hahn was assigned to the Company Headquarters of the 148th Graves Registration, rather than to one of the two platoons assigned to the front. In contrast to the permanent structures that housed the 23rd Group Quartermaster in Seoul, the headquarters’ facilities at Wonju were well-established with Quonset huts for all EM personnel and tents for others. It included a supply and motor compound area. There were pole buildings at the 148th, too, but the mortuary and other work areas were tents. A few months after Hahn joined the company, a new, semi-permanent headquarters building was constructed. Outside, Hahn said that there was a flagpole on which the flag flew almost constantly at half mast, whenever there were bodies on the site. A new mortuary facility, also built after Hahn’s arrival, was well-established to process current dead from the front, as well as non-current remains. The headquarters of the 148th Graves Registration Company is pictured above right.
"The company provided GR support from the middle to the eastern front," Hahn explained. "The 293rd GR Company provided GR support to the western front. Two platoons were assigned to the front. With this arrangement, the current dead bodies could be quickly evacuated to headquarters for refrigeration, and then prepared for shipment by plane to Japan. The 148th was also involved in Search and Recovery operations, which meant searching old battlegrounds or plane crash sites for remains. Later on, the company was involved in reburial of enemy dead for repatriation." Because Wonju was the location of a large evacuation hospital, wounded soldiers were trucked or flown in by helicopter as required. Wounded soldiers who died at the hospital were then trucked to the Graves Registration facilities. Hahn was assigned to a very busy place, indeed. Pictured is the Enlisted Men's Quarters of the 148th Graves Registration Company, Headquarters. The photo was taken in the Fall of 1952.
"I still occasionally remember this day," Lynn said. "I didn’t expect to be sent to the mortuary to assist the handling of current deceased after being at the 148th for such a brief time. I also wasn’t sure what I would be doing, so I was somewhat fearful and there was a brief panic time. [The Mortuary and Refrigeration Unit of the 148th is pictured at left.] But once I got in the mortuary, I was instructed quickly what my role was, and I got to it. My feelings about actually handling the dead body were completely new and were not pleasant, but I have to admit that on the times I had to help in the mortuary after that, I got used to it and looked at it as a job that had to be accomplished. There was nearly always a disagreeable odor and in some cases (summer time), it was very bad. The appearance of body wounds was also generally disagreeable. In some cases, the degree of wound(s) made it obvious that death was quick or eminent; where in other cases the wound(s) was small or in areas that you might think should not have been fatal. Often times in those cases, the cause was listed as due to shock." "That first day in the mortuary," Hahn continued, "I recall that my main thought about the body was that it was the loved one of a family and that they did not know yet that their loved one was dead. I still think about that on occasion." In Korea, it was necessary to push those thoughts into the back of one’s mind and get on with the job that needed to be done. "Yes," Hahn said, "as time went on, the job became more routine and I thought less often about individual remains. I have to assume that it was for the good, because if we concentrated on every dead individual who passed through the process, we would become so distressed we would not be able to perform our job. I did not shed tears at the time, but now, looking back at the loss of life, there is more significance. It is easy to find myself tearing at events that bring my mind back to the memories. I also think that as I grow older, I appreciate life more. Knowing about all those who gave their lives for a cause to which I was involved brings out emotions that are close." Search and RecoveryIn the Search and Recovery aspect of Graves Registration at the 148th GR, the objective was to locate American dead from old battle sites. Most of the remains had been from deaths that had occurred at least a year to two years before. In about the first three months that Lynn Hahn served with the company, Search and Recovery was the bigger part of his job. "Our company received battle reports from our Group Headquarters," he recalled. "Those reports explained the location of the battle, the soldier involved, the reports of those who last saw the soldier, and his condition at the time of last sighting. This included a map of the area and descriptions of the terrain. The maps and information were called Field Search Cases, and they were prepared by the Quartermaster Graves Registration officer of Korean Communications Zone (KCOMZ). The maps had grids and landmarks, and on them we could mark off areas covered and the location of the remains that were found. Sometimes the searches were for a specific remains, and other times we were involved in area clearance searches, covering every square foot of a grid on a map. We went to the area and physically walked the ground looking for any evidence of the body or a possible grave. We often found firearms, especially rifle shells and grenades, near the bodies we found." At least one ROK served as an interpreter on the Search and Recovery expeditions. "We not only searched the area in question," said Hahn, "we also talked with civilians for leads, and we dug into old foxholes and bunkers. We had Republic of Korea soldiers attached to our company for assistance, as well as Korean laborers who assisted in digging. The Korean natives were most helpful because they often were aware of battles that had taken place in the area and possible locations of remains. The Korean soldiers with us asked if there had been fighting and if they knew of any dead soldiers in the area. Usually the civilians were not aware of any dead in the area. However, if they knew of any dead, they usually directed us to the location or accompanied us. The soldiers were courteous with the civilians, and the meetings were cordial. We went to that location or locations first and looked for any evidence of skeletal remains or any indications of burial. Sometimes a depression in the ground due to decay of the remains indicated that a body had been buried there. There might be softness in the ground indicating burial. Sometimes there were clothes or shoes exposed in the earth. I don’t recall seeing a cross or marker indicating a burial. I assume that if there had been a burial with a marker, it would have been disinterred earlier." All sorts of temporary graves were discovered during Search and Recovery. "Observations of remains could be above ground (no grave), partially below ground, or completely buried," Hahn said. Usually remains above ground were not complete. There might be only a few bones. The most important find was the skull. Remains that were partially below ground required careful removal of the remains from the ground for examination and removal. Remains completely buried required exhumation and removal. Most of the areas that we searched were on the sides or tops of mountains. We assume that valleys and areas near rivers and streams were populated with native Koreans and any remains would have already been recovered. That means that findings would be above ground or shallow burials because the terrain was very rocky and burial would have been difficult." Generally in the 148th GR Company, finding remains during Search and Recovery missions was rare, according to Hahn. "As I recall," he said, "during my short involvement of actually going into the field for S&R, there might have been less than three recoveries. The most likely chance of finding remains was when there was a battle report that gave battle details like location of temporary burial or last sighting of the soldier, etc." Field searches were the methodical way that GR personnel tried to find remains. Field search cases, sent to the 148th by Eighth Army Graves, included a cover letter, an overlay (map) of the original battle area, a battle report explaining just what happened, a list of the men missing from the battle, and a form to fill out explaining the method used in the search and the results. The GR specialist had to fill out one form for each missing man. "In one of our cases, there were 350 missing, so you can see the terrific job. In the whole company only about two recoveries are made a week on these old battle fields. These are remains from soldiers that have been dead for a couple of years and are only skeletons. They are sent to Japan where they are identified. Identification must be positive, as you can see. This is done by the teeth and bones, knowing about where the man was killed, and by identification media, if found. This is all done in Japan," Lynn wrote in a letter to Beatrice.
On October 15, 1952, Lynn wrote home about some hair-raising tales that one of his Graves Registration buddies related after returning from an S&R investigation the day before. He wrote, "My friend got back from that investigation yesterday. He had a couple of hair-raising tales. He said their truck broke down at night on a mountain pass. Out there, there are no lights or passing trucks. He said that three of them walked about five miles for help. Next morning, they learned that the National Police had killed three guerrillas about ten miles away. Another time they were climbing a mountain and my friend happened to see a small sign just off the path. He said it was lucky he saw it, because the sign said that fifty yards ahead was an anti-personnel mine field. No telling what would have happened if he hadn’t seen it." Lynn also told his wife that the area in which Graves Registration was located was never bothered with guerrillas. "They have lots of them south of us and north of us," he wrote, "but never here, for which I am thankful." Putting the danger of mines and guerrillas aside, collecting the American dead from a new battle site was accomplished by the two platoons from the 148th GR that served just behind the front line. Although he was not involved with collecting the current dead, Hahn understood the urgency of moving bodies from the battlefield to the collection point as soon as possible—for health and morale reasons, as well as getting the body buried or into refrigeration to delay decomposition. On August 29, Lynn sent a letter home to his wife that described a typical day while he was assigned to Search and Recovery. "At six in the morning we are awakened and have to be dressed for reveille by quarter after. Then we police up the area. About twenty to seven, we eat and then we have to be ready to leave the company by seven fifteen. We spend from seven fifteen until usually four o’clock climbing mountains and driving to and from them. We get back about five in the afternoon and eat chow. Then I usually get mail and read it. If I get my mail before chow I always read it first. Then I usually relax for a while and take a shower and shave and clean my gear. It is usually about eight or after when I finish. Then I write to you and hit the sack. If I want to see the movie, I have to hurry too much, so I usually don’t go. Most of them are old ones anyway. Lights go out at ten o’clock. So my days are pretty busy." In addition to this daily routine, guard duty was a requirement every third or fourth day. Hahn said, "Most often the duty was scheduled to give different shifts and usually it was two, two-hour shifts, like 10-12 p.m. and then 4-6 a.m. Guard duty became one of the most hated jobs because it deprived you of sleep. However, you realized that without having guards you could never be sure of your safety when you were not on guard and were sleeping." Besides the guards, Hahn said that the compound area was further protected with barbed wire and trip flares that surrounded the perimeter. The training that Lynn underwent at Fort Lee was used extensively when he got to Korea. He discovered that when he was on Search and Recovery operations in Korea, it was especially important to be able to discern between an Oriental and Caucasian or Black skull and to understand the importance of dental records. "The back of the Oriental skull was flatter," Hahn explained, "while the Caucasian and Black skull were more rounded. Hair color and texture often was of supporting evidence. These differences could be helpful in continuing the recovery process in the field. Obviously, dog tags and personal effects were very valuable identification items. Finger printing was used whenever possible, but was not available on a decomposed remains. I was not a fingerprint interpretation expert, but did take prints on occasion." After he began his duties in Korea, Lynn also understood the importance of being able to make estimates in determining whether the remains were U.S., other United Nations troops, South Korean, or enemy (North Korean or Chinese) dead. Once a preliminary determination of identity was made, Hahn said that positive identification was performed later at the Central Identification facilities in Kokura, Japan. Hahn had a chance to visit the Central Identification Laboratory (CIL) on December 28, 1951. The purpose of the facility was to process remains, identify, embalm, casket and ship the bodies to the U.S. By September 2, Hahn had been at company headquarters for nearly a month. "Although most of my duty was with Search and Recovery," he said, "I had been involved with some mortuary duty, helping transport bodies to the airport, and taking personal effects to the train station. I had also been a guard on the train once to take personal effects to Pusan. My recollection was that the personal effects of wounded, MIAs, and prisoners were sent to Pusan." S&R Becomes InterrogationAbout the middle of January, 1953, Hahn said that Search and Recovery changed to interrogation. "That means," he wrote in a letter to his wife on January 21, "that instead of climbing the hills, they obtain signed statements from the civilians asking about remains. Most all of them are negative, but that is the way the area is cleared, so each one has to be typed up. I would say we have close to three hundred now and are just getting started. The reason for the change is because the mountains would be impossible and dangerous to climb. Also, the ground is too hard to dig, so they wait until spring." The letter also mentioned the fact that Korean women were being hired in the capacity of translator/interpreter/typists. He said, "Something new happened today. They brought in a Korean girl to work in our section as the translator and interpreter and typist. Her translating was very good, but the typing wasn’t too good. They told her to come in Monday to start work on trial. Before we have always had young Korean men (mostly translation and interpreters), as I told you before. Well, we have had three different ones since I have been here. The reason is that they all are being drafted into the army. For a while, we were able to defer them. But recently they are taking all men from seventeen (next month) to thirty. So you can see it would be more practical to hire a girl who could stay. Most all other outfits have women working in their sections, but I never expected it here." Temporary CemeteryAlthough Lynn Hahn was never called upon to do so, there were times when battle conditions in Korea necessitated burying a deceased’s body quickly in a temporary cemetery. That could also mean that there might not have been any formality for recording the deceased’s identity, cause of death, or location of burial. "Hopefully," Hahn said, "the details of the burial and cause of death can be reported by a witness or witnesses so that later on, the body can be located, identified, the cause of death determined, appropriate records developed, and a formal burial performed." He said that where a body had no chance to be buried, it was left to natural decay. "Hopefully at some later time," he said, "the remains can be recovered, appropriate identification and cause of death determined, records developed, and a formal burial performed." A temporary cemetery, Hahn explained (only established once by his company during the time that Hahn was in Korea), was developed when there was immediate need to bury bodies because there was not time, necessary personnel, or equipment to provide a formal body preparation and internment as in an established cemetery. "Generally," he said, "the need for a temporary cemetery is predicated on a need due to a number of deceased and to bury as soon as possible for health and morale reasons. Those who prepared a temporary cemetery tried to secure a plot of ground that was safe, secure, drained well, was accessible, and had reasonable ease of ground breaking. The plot was measured, and individual burial sites determined. Necessary needs were personnel to secure the site, develop a map or description of the area, groundbreaking equipment, materials for marking the grave, writing and recording materials, body bags (if available), and burial bottles. An Emergency Medical Tag (EMT) was expected to accompany the body. The EMT explained the identity of the deceased. Proper medical personnel also stated the cause and date of death, location of death, and other information that might be helpful in the future. Dog tags were used—one buried with the body and one secured to the grave marker. If possible, records were maintained concerning the identity of the body." When asked to explain a burial bottle, Hahn said that, "It was a simple glass bottle large enough to accept a folded and rolled paper record with a seal cap designed to keep the paper dry and inert to the elements. The paper record provided a copy of the information identifying the deceased, listing pertinent military information, cause of death, location of burial, etc. In my work, a burial bottle was seldom used for current U.S. dead because the body was not buried. The major use during my experience was when we were disinterring enemy bodies from temporary graves to place them into an established cemetery in case there was an exchange of war dead with the enemy. The burial bottle located with the body was to be opened, the record reviewed, and then a new additional record added to indicate that the body had been disinterred, the date, reason for disinterment, location of new burial site, and authority for the re-interment. The record was placed in the bottle and buried with the body, and a copy was retained in our files. If the body was intact, the bottle with the proper papers in it was placed in the left armpit. Wrapping of the body was secured to prevent movement of the bottle. Also, if a grave marker could not be immediately erected, a second bottle with papers was placed in the grave (in the center at its head), and was secured to prevent it from washing away by rain until a marker could be erected." A Stabilized FrontWhile more and more burial bottles went into the ground, efforts were being made by the powers that be to stabilize and end the war. "When I was there," Hahn said, "the fighting was stabilized along a front known as the 38th parallel. The war was fighting over hills and mountains. They even had names like Old Baldy, Heartbreak Ridge, etc. Many lives on both sides were lost, and many more men were wounded over these objects. There seemed to be a stalemate and the war was giving in to politics. In the meantime, we were processing the dead from that stalemate. We heard from the South Koreans that they did not want to unify with North Korea, and, in fact, they performed parades expressing their opinions. We then heard of the politics at home. General Eisenhower was promoted to run for the presidency, and he said he would end the war. All this time seemed wasted until eventually there was an armistice signed. That was good, and we didn’t get current dead any more." On November 5, 1952, he wrote to Beatrice, "This afternoon we listened to the returns from the election and to Stevenson’s speech of defeat and also Eisenhower’s victory speech. Let’s just hope that the change will benefit all and that maybe they can clear up this mess over here." Unfortunately, it would take several months more for the warring countries to call a halt to the active hostilities. Many thousands more American men would be wounded, and over 2,000 more dead Americans would be sent home in caskets. Grieving families would continue to receive packages from Japan containing the personal effects of their deceased loved ones. Personal EffectsAs mentioned earlier, the personal effects of wounded, missing in action, and deceased were evacuated from the war zone as soon as possible. "Each man’s personal effects were stored separately and identified as such," Hahn explained. "If the personal effects we obtained with current deceased accompanied the body, the effects were shipped with the body. If there were effects which had come to us without an accompanying body (MIA, wounded, POW), the individual effects pouches were retained for a shipment. The individual pouches were placed in a wooden box and shipped with appropriate guard to Pusan." The wooden box that Hahn referred to were four feet high and eight feet long. When the effects were placed inside, the box was locked and sealed. The rail car was also locked and sealed, and then protected by two security guards. "They were well-protected," Hahn said. He noted that part of the duty of the specialists in Graves Registration was to occasionally go to the Evacuation Hospital to check the personal effects of a remains that had been brought to them. "Every so often," he recalled, "we got these tracers from men who couldn’t locate their effects." That was why it was important to keep a ‘PE card’ record at the 148th Graves Registration. On October 11, 1951, Hahn wrote this message to his wife: "This afternoon we got in a load of personal effects, so I spent most of the remainder of the day typing up my cards. Today a Chaplain came in and needed to know if we had had a body come through that he was looking for. The deceased’s brother wants to escort his body home. His folks also wrote and requested it. Well, we found the man all right, so they knew where to go now. Just one of the stranger things that happens once in a while." Then, less than a week later, he sent a second message home referring to personal effects. He said, "We got another tracer from Percy Jones Hospital in B.C., Michigan, wanting to know what happened to a certain man’s personal effects. We just endorsed the letter and forwarded it on to where the effects went in Pusan." There were three men working in Operations to process all of the paperwork associated with personal effects. Two were private second class, and the other was a corporal. "The rank of the man in charge should be SFC," Hahn wrote Beatrice on October 20, 1951, "and mine calls for a corporal. But nobody is getting promoted and no let up seen. I don’t know why they don’t give promotions, but maybe they will lift the freeze someday and I can get my PFC stripe." He noted that there was a low moral problem in Korea. "Over here," he said, "the G.I. morale is pretty low. I told you that they had raised the rotation points to 38, and it has been rumored that the R.A.’s will be extended for nine months. Neither one would affect me (drafted for two years), but it does a lot of men. They come over here expecting to go home at a certain time. They put faith in the rotation system, and when it is changed, the morale of troops goes down." Low morale or not, the important work of Graves Registration specialists had to carry on. One cold winter day in the middle of December 1951, a Search and Recovery team brought remains down that still had a ring on the finger. "They are supposed to take off all such things at the time of death," Lynn told Beatrice, "but sometimes they don’t so, we have to do it and put the effects in a sealed bag. As you probably know, it is difficult to handle bodies in the winter time. We are having trouble fingerprinting them because they are so stiff. I saw some that were as hard as ice. It is good one way though, because if they are frozen there is no smell or decaying. No matter how they are though, it isn’t pleasant." An example of the unpleasant aspect of dealing with the dead was revealed by Hahn in a letter he wrote to his wife on January 22, 1953. He penned, "About four o’clock we got a call that the Air Force had a body that had washed ashore on the east coast from one of those crashes a couple of months ago. They wanted me to go out to the airfield and get it, so the driver and I went. I don’t know if you know it, but a body that has drowned and been in water a long time is a bad sight and a worse smell. When we got to the airport, I saw the rubber bag and stretcher laying out in the open and nobody around, which isn’t right. As we pulled up, a guy came out of the tent and told us that it was the body. He said that the whole crew of the plane that brought the body from the east coast got sick from the smell. I picked up the papers and we brought the remains back. The smell was terrific, but we get used to it and can bear it." The Mortuary
Generally, Graves Registration received the bodies of current dead within one to two days after death. They were then refrigerated as soon as specialists performed the necessary tests (fingerprints, etc.). "Without refrigeration," Hahn explained, "the body could decompose to the extent that embalming would not be possible or presentable. Refrigeration refers to a large refrigerated room into which the bodies of current dead were stored. The cooling of the body slowed decomposition so that the body could be embalmed within a reasonable time. Bodies were left in the refrigerator until they were transferred to planes that flew them to Kokura, Japan. Refrigeration also allowed for some time to have a full or partial plane load." The above photo at right shows remains being transferred to an aircraft for flight to Japan. On a very few occasions, Hahn assisted in the mortuary for detail work. He also quite often went to the mortuary to obtain information concerning correctness of records, and on occasion went for curiosity’s sake. Every now and then, he assisted in transferring remains from the mortuary onto trucks and then to the airport. "On several occasions I escorted remains to the airfield located just a few miles from our company headquarters," he said. "The current deceased at our facility were taken from the mortuary refrigeration unit and trucked to the airfield and then loaded onto the airplane. Proper records and personal effects were sent with the bodies. On one occasion [December 26, 1952], I was the GR representative and guard for the air trip to Japan." (The trip is mentioned later in this memoir.) One event associated with Hahn’s serving as a witness in mortuary stands out vividly in his memory. "I recall one event that was particularly morbid," he said. "Word from the platoon near the front was that an atrocity case (bodies) was being shipped to headquarters. We were asked to lay out the bodies in the mortuary in positions described as they were found. The case involved (as I recall) three or four U.S. soldiers who had been killed by the enemy in an area where it was observed by our own troops. The enemy had used wire to tie their hands together above their heads, such that each pair of their hands were nearly together, their bodies positioned like spokes away from their hands. They had been bayoneted in the upper body and then grenades placed near their heads and exploded. The bodies were then recovered by our troops. At our mortuary, tables were positioned so the bodies could be placed as originally found. As I recall, photographers took many pictures of the bodies. I believe that some days later we received copies of several of the photos that were signed on by several of us that were witnesses. I understood the photographs and pertinent information were to be sent to the United Nations." Luckily, unpleasant mortuary duties like this were not frequent for Lynn Hahn, because his main job in Korea was that of a typist. Steady Typing
Company Headquarters was located in Wonju, about 60 air miles behind the main combat front. Hahn said, "One requirement was that the deceased logs had to be typed letter perfect, and about ten copies had to be made of each of them. My recollection is that enough copies were made to satisfy the need for all appropriate army groups to have one. Of course, we kept a file copy, some accompanied the body, and some went to Group Headquarters. I do not know where those records would now be stored. Carbon papers were used to make the copies. A mistake could not be hidden or erased. During the first couple of weeks, I would get down to the last few lines and then I would make a mistake. That was when I generally began to think of mistakes, and that is generally when I made one. But with time, I got so that I didn’t think about mistakes, and it all worked out." When serving in a combat zone, sometimes soldiers had to be innovative to make their life a little easier. For instance, Lynn devised a way to make duplicate copies of documents with a homemade "copy machine." He recalled, "Some of the reports could be mimeographed, but we did not have a machine at our facility. I recalled that I had helped my father, a Methodist minister, make copies of the Sunday church service bulletin using a mimeograph. I asked the sergeant in charge if we could get a mimeograph from our Group Headquarters. He inquired and found out that they could not spare a mimeograph. I asked if we could get mimeograph stencils and ink, because I felt I could have the Korean carpenter hired by our Company carve a smooth circular piece of wood such that gauze and stencil could be stretched around the carved piece. The wood was carved, a handle attached, and we were ready to demonstrate that we could make copies using the homemade mimeograph. We stretched a pad of cotton cloth around the circular base and stapled it tight. The cloth was lightly soaked with printing ink. The typed stencil was then stretched around the cloth and secured. Using the handle to hold the wooden printing press, it was rolled on a clean typing paper to transfer the ink to the paper. It worked really quite well, and the Group Headquarters agreed we could submit deceased and personal effects lists in that form. It saved considerable time." Prior to the creation of this homemade device, they had to go to a company down the road to have their mimeographing done. There were drawbacks associated with the existence of this homemade mimeograph machine, however. Lynn wrote home on November 6, "I told you about this little block of wood I was using as a mimeograph. Well, the Captain liked the idea, and now instead of making eighteen copies of a passenger list, I have to make thirty. I guess it doesn’t pay to be aggressive." Hahn also typed personal effects cards to be kept on file at headquarters, as well as copies to accompany the personal effects. He said that he rarely handled any personal effects, but he did write home to his wife telling her about one incident when he had to handle a soldier’s belongings. On October 2, 1952, he wrote, "First of all, one of the bodies that came down today was found to have some personal effects on his body. You see, when these bodies get here, their effects are supposed to have already been processed. They are shipped right along with the body in a sealed bag. Well, when they found a cigarette lighter and a letter in his pocket, I had to break the seal and put these effects in the bag. The bad part was that the letter was covered with blood, and it wasn’t dried either." Hahn said that the record had to be revised to include the found effects, and the effects were placed in the bag and resealed. In his capacity as a company typist, Lynn also typed transfer records for personal effects of current deceased, as well as for wounded, MIAs, and POWs. In addition, he sometimes filled out dental charts of recoveries, as well as skeletal charts. "My recollection is that we generated deceased shipping lists," he said. "This list included the soldier’s identity (name, rank, ID, Unit, etc.). There were then reports coming with the remains from their units which also included identity, cause of death if known, and personal effects lists. These were passed on with the remains when shipped to Japan." As mentioned earlier, Lynn Hahn had the opportunity to visit the Central Identification Laboratory in Japan while he was serving as a clerk typist for the 148th GR. "There is a very good review of this operation in an article written by LTC John C. Cook, Q.M.C., in "The Quartermaster Review" dated March-April 1953," Hahn said. "Notice that it mentioned that GR operations as of April 1, 1952, made it possible to deliver battlefield remains to the CIL within five days. The facility was staffed with experts in remains identification, using elaborate equipment as well as morticians for the embalming and preparation of the remains for casketing." On the day of his visit to the CIL, Hahn had a temporary break from his usual typing routine. He was taken to the 23rd Group Headquarters in Seoul on December 26, and then taken to the 293rd GR Company for the purpose of escorting bodies to Kokura. After a two-hour plane trip, Lynn’s duties were to take the personal effects from the remains and check every one of them to make sure they were there. "I was assigned to accompany remains from an airport in Seoul to Japan," he said. "This was a pleasant task because you got to have a day or two at the R&R Center." He wrote home to Beatrice, "This morning I got up at six, ate chow and got my things ready to leave Seoul. I got the necessary papers and they took me out to the airport. It’s one of the biggest in Korea, if not the biggest. They loaded on the remains and it wasn’t long before we were ready to take off. By the way, it was zero degrees when we got up this morning. Burr! When I got on the plane I noticed the co-pilot looked familiar. I finally asked him if he was ever in Michigan and he said yes and that he had attended Alma College. His name is Fowler and he remembered seeing me. As a matter of fact I had played a lot of Ping-Pong with him at school. Well, we had a session on the way over to Japan. It took us about two and a half hours to get here. It is quite warm here, which is nice. When we got off the plane, they unloaded the remains and then we started another journey to where I am now, the Central Identification Laboratories. This is where they process all the remains and do the embalming. It is a big outfit here, and I am sure amazed at its size. When we got here we had to take the personal effects from the remains and check every one of them, so by the time we finished it was time for supper." Repatriation of the Dead
On February 4, 1953, the 148th Graves Registration had several dozen enemy remains on hand. Hahn wrote to Beatrice, "Today the Chief of Army Graves Registration called and said we had to have all enemy remains buried by Saturday. Well, we have about 270 on hand, so you can see what we are facing. The officer in charge said we would have to work nights, which we will be doing when not on guard duty." Hahn said that it was the beginning of the program to exchange war dead. "As I recall," he said, "there were discussions about the exchange and our side wanted to be ready in case the North Koreans and Chinese decided to begin the exchange soon." Both sides had to generate a great deal of paper work before remains were released. For instance, on March 3, 1953, Lynn wrote to Beatrice about a typing assignment. "I completed all the paperwork for the shipment of forty enemy remains to be sent up to our forward platoon for burial," he said. "It took about four hundred sheets of paper to send them up." When asked why it took that many sheets of paper to transfer enemy remains, he said he often wondered the same thing. "In my experience, in any effort to process and ship remains, there was a need for all groups involved to have copies of the effort and that the copies be taken from the original. This gets back to the importance of providing reports that have no typographical errors. Transfer of enemy dead required copies of the transfer to all military organizations involved, both friendly and enemy. Remember, I said that learning to type in high school was a blessing for me because much of my army career involved clerical work, particularly typing." Everyday LifeOn his off-duty hours, Lynn (along with some 20 other G.I.’s) lived in one of the four Quonset huts available to enlisted men at the 148th. The hut’s stark furnishings included cots crowded close to each other and cabinets for personal items. Each soldier added his own little personal touches to his cramped living space. "Other support units in the Wonju area normally had tents," recalled Lynn. "I think there was a better feeling of security in a Quonset, as well as less noise. It was hot in the summer and cold in the winter, but everyone was in the same boat, so there was sympathy for all." According to Hahn, the Quonset had a few windows, as well as doors at each end, and these could be opened in the hot weather. During cold months, the Quonset was heated with an oil-fired potbelly stove. Fire drills were frequent.
In contrast, what was not expected was good food—at least not during those first weeks after Lynn Hahn arrived at the company. "I recall that when I first arrived, the Mess Sergeant was a regular Army person," Hahn said, "and the food preparation was not good. For example, water was added to the dried milk and eggs that were supplied. If it was not mixed well, it was lumpy, didn’t look good, and seemed to affect the flavor. The coffee was prepared by dumping ground coffee in a big container containing hot water. There was a special way to make it so the grounds would settle. In this case, the grounds were scattered in the liquid and wound up in your mouth. Dried potatoes were prepared, but if not done well, were lumpy. Food was often not hot." But a few months later, a young draftee who had been a cook at a Howard Johnson restaurant took over in the Company mess hall. "All of a sudden, the food was better because of the preparation," Hahn said. "The milk was much better. He came around and asked if the food was okay. Big improvement. But I do recall that I was eating string beans once and found a large grasshopper in it. When we went on Search and Recovery, we ate canned rations. Whenever possible, we heated the food and I found the rations not too bad." The GR specialists shied away from the native food due to the possibility of bugs and parasites. "When we went on a tour of downtown Wonju," he said, "we saw native food. Women cooked pancakes on the walkway. It didn’t look very sanitary. The fish market was very odorous and not sanitary. We were also instructed not to | |||||||||||||||||
