Ijoined the Merchant Marine at 16 (Coast Guard ticket), in 1946. On 1/10/48, my buddy Ken Roach and I were happily recovering from a partyin San Francisco, when we decided to join the Corps. It wasn'ta snap decision, we had followed the Pacific war as kids, which was mostlyabout Marine actions, and had always sort of meant to join up one day. So, that was the day. Except, the Navy recruiting office was first on thehall. The Marine recruiting office was further down, in the hallboondocks. Naturally.
Mebeing in the Merchant Marine, and having kicked all around thePacific for about two years, we stopped in out of curiosity. Weknew the Navy, like the Air Force, was a powerful military force,but the men in them weren't actually military men. I mean, what thehell did they know about real war, anyway. Warm racks, hotmeals, fresh laundry, lots of good liberty ports, easy rates.
Whatkind of life was that? I mean, a real fighting man should spend his tourhunkered down in foxholes. Hanging his dirty beard on the rim. Scratching his mangy butt with one hand while holding his BAR with theother, squinting into the murk for guys trying to sneak up on him. I mean,what could the Navy offer true men like us, the Real McCoys?
Well,we found out. The Chief sized us up with no sweat. After showingboundless admiration for my Merchant Marine sea duty, andKen's incredible brain capacity (him having finished High School),the Chief gave us something called the Eddy Test. Ken missedpassing it by a few points, but I was a half-assed Ham radiooperator, and blew the test away.
TheChief obviously had to fight back his manly tears, that Ken wouldn'tget 14 months of free electronics education, make at leastThird Class, and start on a Begabuck career. Just because of thosefew points.
Oncehe saw Ken was becoming very thoughtful about all this, theChief started getting poetic about my own high score. He said hewasn't good at math, himself. He said he wasn't real sure he'd gradedKen's test right, that if I signed up maybe he'd find Ken had passed,and could get on track for those big-time bucks after all.
Well,to cut it short, Ken and I both did join the Navy, and wentto ET school at Treasure Island, making Seaman First almost straightout of Boots. Ken knocked up a lady early on in the course, and gota Hardship Discharge. I made ET2 on graduation, and never sawKen again.
AtTI, I qualified on basic infantry weapons because I wanted togo into PHIBPAC (Amphibious Forces, Pacific), not the big-ship Navy. I tried out (unsuccessfully) for the 5th Naval District boxing team,and especially liked fighting the Marines, but I identified with themat least as much as my Navy buddies.
Buttwo years later, when I helped pick up the Brigade at Pusan, II wished I had gone the rest of the way down that hall. It may sounddumb, but I wished more than anything in life that I was one of them.
Idid one KW combat tour in PHIBPAC, on the Wantuck. We were at Inchon,made two raids with 41 Commando, cleared mines with UDT1, and did otherstuff. After making ET1, I did a second combat tour on theUnion, AKA 106. After my discharge, I did a third one, as a radarTech Rep with the Air Force (606th AC&W Squadron). At least,we were doing radar Air Control Ops for flights over North Korea, but with the whole 1st MarDiv between us and the CCF.
Eventually,I went to MIT on the GI Bill, and to grad school at UC Berkeley, and recentlyretired after a reasonably successful electronicsengineering career.
But,part of me has always regretted not going the rest of the way down thathall, feeling that I somehow ducked the chance to prove something to myselfthat was very important.
IfI had, if I had paid for a ticket the only way you can, and been with the5th in the Brigade and Inchon and Chosin, maybe I would have been sorry. Most of my ex-Marine friends think I would have been REAL sorry.
Somaybe I should thank God I didn't go down that hall, butam just not smart enough to realize it.
Anyway,at Inchon I wished more than anything in life that I had,and was going in with them. Sometimes I still feel exactly the same way.
BertKortegaard, KW Navy ET1, 798 94 66
