As the winter progressed, I saw cold in a way I had never seen it before. The temperatures steadily dropped to a minus 30 degrees and the north winds seemed to grow stronger with each hour. Everyone began searching for ways and means to protect themselves from the elements. Our wool long johns were covered with as many layers of clothing as we could carry to provide bulk-layered protection against the knife-like winds.

Some of the more innovative Marines cut arm and leg holes in the sleeping bags and wore the bags as body suits. If the wearer did not tie up, or cut off, the trailing foot section of the bag, it took on the appearance of a tail and the Marine clad in the garment bore a strong resemblance to the Godzilla critter.

Our leather shoes were replaced with steel soled insulated boots that came to be named "Mickey Mouse" boots after the Disney comic strip character. The boots were warm and water proof but could not breathe and the perspiration build-up made it necessary to frequently change socks. The "freeze drying" of our socks quickly became a accepted routine. The damp socks would be allowed to freeze, shaken fiercely to rid the material of ice particles, then placed next to our bodies inside the parkas to allow them to dry in the event they were needed again before they could be laundered.

The political situation caused the Korean War to become an outpost type war with relatively stabilized front lines. Both sides constantly probed for weaknesses and conducted scouting and harassment actions. To the north was a "no-man’s land" that exposed the Marines directly to enemy fire, but south of that line the situation was similar to a winter encampment populated with canvas pyramidal tents heated with crude homemade kerosene devices. The tents were more comfortable than the bunkers, but the single layer of tent canvas provided only minimum insulation against the extreme cold.

Ingenuity flourished as the Korean winter became more severe. While on duty in the unheated bunkers, the discomfort index was reduced by heating rocks during the day and snuggling up with them as the temperatures plummeted at night. We quickly learned which type of rock better retained heat and what type of rock had a tendency to explode when heated. The carefully selected rocks became prized possession and some of the Marines jokingly gave them feminine names.

Everyone dreaded the necessary call to nature and put it off until it became almost unbearable. It required exposing a part of the body to conditions that would not only cause great discomfort but could inflict frostbite. To ease this annoyance, canvas covered outhouses were built but they were too temporary to be heated. A five-gallon can of gasoline was placed in each outhouse and some relief from the cold was obtained by pouring a small amount of gasoline into the hole then dropping a lighted match to ignite the fuel. The burning fuel would temporarily warm the area and make the situation a little more bearable.

This technique usually worked well when properly applied, but more than one misguided individual had the misfortune of thinking that if a little bit of fuel would do a little good, then a larger quantity of fuel would better serve the situation. The consequences were sometimes disastrous.

The frozen ground did little to encourage the digging of bunkers and foxholes, but "incoming" artillery had the effect of turning all of us into "wannabe" moles. Each and every time we moved into a new area, the first order of business was to "dig in." I recall one rather humorous situation on a cold dark night when we were extremely tired after we had been moved several times and had the feeling that we soon would be called on to move out again. Every one was putting minimum effort into the "digging in" and you could hear the slow paced "chip..............chip.................chip" of the entrenching tools. Without warning a parachute flare exploded immediately overhead and lit up the entire area.

Everyone held their breath and froze in position until the flare slowly descended to the ground and the last flicker died out. As soon as we had regained the relative safety of total darkness, we were overcome with an effort to get underground as quickly as possible, and a new surge went into the effort of digging. The sound of the slow paced chipping of the entrenching tools was replaced by a velocity much akin to the sound of several two cylinder John Deere tractors traveling between tin sheds.

Vehicles were especially vulnerable to the winter conditions. Not only would the oil take on a gelatin-like state, the cold would completely kill the weaker batteries. Some units had "slave kits" that ran heated water though the engines, but in other cases, the engines of the vehicles had to be started and warmed frequently to maintain their utility value.

Every Marine recognized that his rifle must function perfectly each time it was needed, and because it was necessarily carried in a muzzle up position, that open muzzle had to be protected from freezing snow and rain. Any ice formation in the rifle bore during firing could create a high back pressure that would cause the action to explode and possibly blind, or disable, the shooter.

All the methods employed to protect the bore of the rifle had to be on the exterior and could not cover the front rifle site. We found that the cap from the GI issue foot powder can fit snugly over the muzzle of the Garand rifle and would not interfere with the travel of the escaping bullet. Scraps of raincoats and ponchos worked well when properly tied. The thin aluminum wrap that sealed our out-of-date "C" ration cookies fit neatly over the muzzle but the most unique protection for the muzzle was the government issue condoms which were all too plentiful. This last method mentioned is sometimes seen as a "tongue-in-cheek" thing in the Hollywood movie productions of combat situations. Only persons actually watching for the detail will notice it.

Most of the rivers had "ice" bridges constructed across them to allow the vehicles to cross without having to pass through the watery currents. Pumping several layers of water over a particular area until the ice became thick enough to support traffic formed the ice bridges. We recognized that spring was on the way when the engineers could no longer maintain the bridges and the vehicles began falling through the structures.

As spring arrived, our division moved from the mountainous area in the east to an area north of Seoul and close to the Kaesong and Panmunjom peace talk community. Each of our trucks left as it was loaded, but I elected to remain and ride "shotgun" on the last truck to make sure that nothing useful was left behind.

The weather was pleasant so I climbed on top of the canvas-covered load and found a spot that provided both some comfort and a defensive position in the event of an unexpected ambush. It was the first time I had really had the opportunity to "rubber neck" and see what the peaceful countryside looked like. The scenes in the cities we passed through told a different story because Communist forces completely destroyed them as they were being driven out.

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