Neil Mishalov's
Korean Photo Collection 1968-1969
Copyright © Neil Mishalov
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Anyang, Korea
June, 1968
3 March 2004
Thanks to Mr. Kim Sung Nam for taking the comparison photograph
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I was drafted into the U.S. Army on 6 September 1967, 5 months shy of my 25th birthday. Upon completion of basic training, I received orders to go to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, to be trained as a Guided Missile Propellant and Explosive Specialist (Military Occupation Specialty: 55F20). Redstone Arsenal is located adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama, and at the time, civilian scientists were at Redstone, testing rocket motors for the U.S. space program. When they test fired the Saturn rocket motors, which would soon take the first men to the moon, the ground shook. I was at Redstone Arsenal during the North Vietnamese/Viet Cong Tet Offensive that took place during January 1968 and I was also at Redstone Arsenal during the North Vietnamese siege of the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sahn. I vividly remember watching the brutal fighting on the television set located in the company recreation room. A significant event took place in the East Sea (also known as the Sea of Japan), off the coast of Wonsan, North Korea, during the Vietnam Tet Offensive and the siege of Khe Sahn. That occurrence has been largely forgotten, because of the ferocious fighting taking place at the same time in Vietnam. On 23 January 1968, the day after my 25th birthday, the North Koreans captured the American spy ship USS Pueblo, and incarcerated the captain and crew. Perhaps that's why, shortly thereafter, I received my orders to go to South Korea. I arrived in South Korea on 10 March 1968, and was assigned to the 7th Ordnance Company (Special Ammo), which was part of the 83rd Ordnance Battalion of the 8th Army. We were headquartered in Seoksu-dong, a small village near Anyang, about 25 miles south of Seoul; our mission was to store and maintain tactical nuclear warheads and rockets. The storage facility was located within a high security area about 5 miles up a dirt mountain road from the living area. The weapons were stored in tunnels dug into the surrounding mountains. The MSA (maximum security area) had an infantry company from the 7th Infantry Division living on-site and performing perimeter guard duty, the 260th Military Police Company was doing interior guard duty with guard dogs, and the 7th Ordnance Company (SA), was doing the ammo humping. Shortly after I arrived at my Korean duty station, the Command Sergeant Major of the 83rd Ordnance Battalion, CSM Daniel Nifong, chose me to become the 83rd Ordnance Battalion mailman. I was a very fortunate trooper; I got my own jeep, a Colt 45 pistol, and was told to go to 8th Army headquarters in Yongsan, near Seoul, twice a day, six days a week, to get the mail. No one hassled me as long as I delivered the mail correctly and promptly. In early 2002, Jerry Kotler, a long-lost classmate from Levittown Memorial High School, class of 1960, was sending me digital e-mail attachments of 35mm slide photos he had taken during the 1970's. I was curious how he was converting his old 35mm slides to digital images. He told me he was using an Epson 1250 Photo scanner, and so, the next day I purchased one. All of these Korean and Japanese color digital images have been scanned from the original 35mm slide format using the Epson 1250 Photo scanner, a Macintosh G4 733mhz computer running OS X 10.2 and Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Below are the links to my Korean and Japanese photo collections. I hope you enjoy them.
8th Army 83rd Ordnance Battalion 7th Ordnance Company (Special Ammo) 10 March 1968 - 12 April 1969 |
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