317 WAR: Not Forgotten, JOHN JANKE Serving in the Army for three years, Janke arrived in Korea late in the war and worked as a typist in personnel in Pusan. at branch of the service were you in? rwyas in the Army from 1951 to 1954, Tsigned up for three years because at that time all the young men wwere being drafted. ‘They said that if you signed up for three years that when you got out you would get © adischarge rather than be in the reserves. I didn’t want to be in the reserves so I signed up for three years. “Atthat time the Korean War was in full gear. I was sent to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, where we had about eight weeks of intensive combat training, After that I was selected to attend the engineering school atFt. Belvoir, They needed drafismen to design the airstrips in Korea and that is why I was sent there. T {alt fortunate to go there for another six or eight weeks. Most of my battalion was shipped immediately to Korea, and I’m sure that many of them were casualties. After engineer training at Ft. Belvoir, I was transferred into SCARWAF (Special Category Army with Air Force). We were in the 224 Engineer | Aviation Batalion, which was good because we were not connected withthe Army and they left us alone, ~ but we weren’t really connected with the Air Force either. We were an entity by ourselves. We could ~ wear the 5¢ Air Force patch or the Army patch. I was sent to Japan via ship and from there I flew to the - distribution center at Pusan, Korea, Next I boarded an old-fashioned train with my military orders and my olive green government issued duffle bag. We rode up the Korean peninsula and soon I was fast asleep on the train. It was the middle of the night when someone woke me and told me to grab my bag and get off the train immediately. I was disoriented and scared to death. I didn’t know where I was ot where I was going. This was the first time I had seen Asian people and there was no one there to meet ‘me, Soon after, someone in a Jeep did come to pick me up. Driving through small villages and rice paddies we arrived at the place I would call home for the next year. What did you do when you got there? Twas the Company A cletk. Twas responsible for the record keeping of 200 military men of Company ‘A. The service records that I typed documented the personnel records of the men, I worked seven days aweek doing this. On Sunday mornings we could attend a one hour ecumenical church service. We were served by a chaplain in our battalion, Our living conditions were similar to the television show M*A*S*H, Iwas assigned to live in a tent with seven other men. Our tent had a wood floor and an oil stove, We slept on folding canvas cots. itor DC fre Ae Seto batons 8, JOHN318 Did you go through any military training? At Ft, Leonard Wood, Missouri we had eight or twelve weeks of training. We had to crawl undemesiy barbed wire fences while machine guns were being fired overhead. We learned how to throw hang grenades. We had practiced with fake ones and our officer said we should try the real ones. We were told to pull the pin and throw the grenade as far as we could. I had a trick shoulder at the time and | pulled the pin and pulled my arm back and it came out of its socket. I dropped the hand grenade and the officer who was supervising us, picked it up and threw it. It exploded, but if he hadn’t done that I would have been blown up! It’s a wonder I’m still here, Was the training difficult? It was for me because I wasn’t athletic. However, if an officer gave orders to do something, you had to do the best you could. I do not like guns, but I had to learn how to shoot them. We also spent a lot of time cleaning the M-I rifle Did you get paid and how did you use your money? Yes, I got paid about $100 a month. I saved most of the money I eared in Korea. I used it when I entered into partnership with my dad at the bookstore business in Wausau, However, several times during the year I flew to Japan for R & R, which means rest and relaxation, In Tokyo I shopped at the PX (Postal Exchange) purchasing personal supplies and souvenirs. I purchased a pair of brass candleholders for my mother, They made a wooden box to fit the item that you bought so that it could be shipped home. Today, I still have the candleholders and the box. While at the PX one time, I had a malted milk and | cheeseburger....it was the best thing I had tasted in a long time. What was the hardest part of the war? I developed some very good friendships and we were in it together, I wasn’t real crazy about the military training, but didn’t have a choice. I was thankful to God that I didn’t get sent to the battle lines and get | shot up. Can you describe the attitude of the Korean citicen? There were very friendly. ‘There were very, very poor. I was stationed near Taegu, Korea and lots of Koreans would wear army fatigues. At nightfall one couldn’t tell if someone was Korean or American, ‘The Army made the Korean’s dye the fatigues (that they had acquired) either purple or brown. Most of us had laundry ladies who would take our dirty laundry, socks and underwear and fatigues, down to the reservoir to wash our clothes. They would pound the clothes with little wooden clubs to get them clean, I have pictures of them, The water is cold with chunks of ice and they are pounding the clothes. They got them white as snow and I don’t know how they did that. Drawing by Janke, NE, 22003 DC. fee Ars Sel a a319 you have any Korean friends? “One time we were eating and io, do not. When I was working in personnel, there were veal soldiers that had Korean pirlftiends they wanted to / @SKed what the oe Was. The paperwork was very difficult to process and The answer was rabbit, of these soldiers even had children with these women, "Some Koreans could speak a little English to get by. Some of us Americans attended night classes to "jean to speak Korean. We leamed very basic words and phrases in Korean, What did you drink? " {mostly drank coffee. I never saw any alcoholic beverages, How was the weather? | The weather was very unusual. One minute it could be raining pitchforks and you would have mud up fo your ankles and two hours later the sun would be out and the wind be blowing and there would be ‘squalls of dust, I do remember the smell. When I was there the city of Taegu was so old and backwards, We would get a pass to go to town, we were seven miles out of town, and there were all these humble little houses with clay roofs and stucco walls were made out of mud and straw. The sewage ran down the "carb of the street. The smell was nauseating, | What are your memories of the ocean travel? ‘Ididn’t like the crossings in the big troopships. The ships I was on were called the Breckenridge and the Mitchell. It took about two weeks to cross the Pacific Ocean and a lot of us got seasick, You would stand on the deck of the ship and it would pitch down and then up again about forty feet. It felt best to lay horizontally in my canvas bunk if I was feeling seasick. Our bunks were stacked five layers high. The food lines were long and we might have to stand in line for over an hour. By the time we got to the food, we were be feeling woozy and lightheaded. There were no tables with chaits, The tables were set on posts where you stood and ate. One time we were eating and I asked what the meat was. The answer Was rabbit. I threwup all over my tray and my friend also threwup. When were we returning from Korea to the United States, there were 1,400 men on the ship. The sailors were to be kept busy. They were assigned to repaint the chipped surfaces of the ship. We were several days ahead of schedule so the captain stopped the ship and decided to give us a demonstration of the anti-aircraft guns. Balloons were released so that the sailors could practice their shooting ability. After 20 minutes they hadn’t hit a balloon. There was dead silence for a few ‘minutes until someone hollered ‘give the sailors back their paintbrushes”. What did you do after you got back to the United States? | After landing in San Francisco I had a furlough for a couple of weeks. I returned to Wausau, Wisconsin and became engaged to Delores Witter. PNK, JOHN320 KOREAN war, To complete my three year commitment tothe govemment, reported to Fort Jackson, South Carn ‘was there three weeks. T was then assigned to Camp Gordon, Georgia (now Fort Gordon tobe amit Poligeman, Here 1 wore combat boots and bloused pants and a helmet liner. I was then transfered ig publications and reproductions department, in charge of lesson plans and information for the mit Police. The summer of 1953 I got martied and moved my bride to Augusta, Georgia where we lived ‘gn Post” (military apartments for married couples). My three year tour of duty was completed March 1954 when I received an honorable discharge, Delores and I returned to Wausau, Wisconsin to live” Do you keep in touch with your army comrades? There is one friend from Chicago that I hear from occasionally. He and I worked together inthe personnel tent in Korea, We traveled back from Japan together on the ship. When we landed in San Francisco we were so happy to be back in the United States that we went into a men’s clothing store ang purchased “eivvies” (civilian clothing.) We each purchased trousers and tweed sportscoats and promptly put them on. The only thing that gave us away (that we were military boys) were our big combat bool, keep in close contact with another good friend from Nebraska. He calls often and we see each other ‘once a year, Several of my army friends were groomsmen in my wedding in 1953. After Korea, Janke went into a bookstore business with his father in 1954, Janke was married in 1953 and raised three children, Tivo of his younger children now own the bookstore. yn ©2003 D.C. Evert Area chook Ruble PHN B.C. _