Imjin Buddy Bunker

                          
Hover your pointer over any image above to see where a left click will take you,  but HURRY  back.  

Because there are many other sites for Korean War Veterans to tell their stories, to show their photos, and to make contact with each other, these pages will be devoted to a much more particular group: those Korean War Veterans ("foreign" or "domestic" - "friendly" or "unfriendly") who, like many of us in the 15th ("Can Do") or 65th ("Borinqueneers") or 7th ("The Cottonbalers") Infantry Regiments of the Third Infantry Division, served (before 30 Sep 1952) in combat along the Imjin River and on or near Outpost Nori, Outpost Tessie, Outpost Kelly, Hill 317, or Hill 355, a/k/a Little Gibraltar, Dagmar, and Armistice Hill.

All who visit this page and are even mildly interested in seeing great maps and photos of the Imjin Buddy area of Korea, and/or in seeing the many (mostly very old) photos furnished by the guys in the Bunker, owe it to themselves to take a side trip into the Map and Photo Index below. Clicking the "Can Do" Photo Album link will take you to photos from the albums of the guys in the Bunker. Clicking the Chinese Photo Album link will take you to a few photos snapped on or near "our" hills by Chinese photographers.

Each map or photo is accompanied by "the story that goes with it".

Map and Photo Index

"Our Hills" from Kelly to Nori - Map and Introduction
"Our Hills" 1951-1952 Map       Getting 355 and 317 - Maps and Story

Outpost Kelly (photo)       Outpost Nori (photo)
Captain Pearson's Map     Corporal Key's Map

Winter Line 1951-1952 Map      Imjin MLR Map
65th Inf Rgt on Kelly - Map and History

"Can Do" Photo Album    Chinese Photo Album

Here is an example, of a lighter note and important to me, from the "Can Do" Photo Album:
The POW (and how!) Place (photos and tales)

Imjin Buddy Index
Note: Names enclosed in asterisks (*name* or *name*) have a link (in their entries) to
photos, letters, maps, remembrances, and/or more stories. Red asterisks signify KIA.
Most important to me are the links at the *(Gerald) Dudley Snyder (*8)* entry.

I do not think that war should be explained away but, instead,
 find its place within a troubled heart. Nancy Hawk (2002)

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them. Laurence Binyon (1869 - 1943)

*Sherwin ("Arc") Arculis (#6)*  Gerald ("Jerry") A. Arnold (#26)  *Bill Ballinger (#38)*
*Vito Bellflower (#34)*   *Carlos Betances (#46)*   *German O. Bolen (#17)*
*Don Booth (#76)*    Leroy Bunders (#78)    Norman Burgess (#62)
*Henry H. Burke (#30)*   *John T. Burke (#42)*   *Prentice D. Carroll (#56)*
*Ron Cashman (#44)   *John H. Clark (#64)*   *Richard Coate (#36)*
*Louis B. Conde (#15)*    *Milton V. Crouch (#12)*   Paul Dean, Sr. (#63)
Colin Demaline (#57)   Marcel De Meester (#39)   *Mario DeSantis (#54)*
*Robert Doherty (#35)*   *David H. Dudley (#13)*  *Donald R. Elmer (#69)*
*Hank Edwards (#37)*   Aaron "Art" Ekelchik (#52)   *Charley Ferguson (#20)*
David J. Ferris (#87)    *Ray Flaherty (#24)*    William C. Flippo (#81)
J. Ross Franklin (#75)   William Gardener (#70)   *Jerome Golder (#27)*
*William H. Grover (#9)*  *Arthur P. Hanks (#10)*  Gene A. Hansen (#82)
*(Lawrence) Leland Harper (#65)*   John F. Hatchard (#72)  Victor H. Hauret (#60)
Charlie (Al) Haynes   (#49)*Fred Hofheinz (#14)*   John L. Hollier (#68)
*George Jackson (#47)*   Harold L. Jackson (#7)   Johnny C. M. Johnston (#43)
*Oscar C. Jones (#22)*   *Deroy F. Kammerer (#23)*  *Leroy Keeney (#51)*
*Samuel L. Kellogg (#29)*   *D. Mervin Key (#1)*   *Owen "Reg" Kitchener (#41)*
*George Knight (#55)*   Hans H. Kroeger (#33)   *Richard J. Lawrence (#4)*
Rene S. Marfull (#73)    Alan A. McFarland  (#77)    *James McGlew (#5)*
Charles Mesiar (#71)   *R. C. "Pat" O'Conner (#21)*   *Edwin A. Parrott (#32)*
Frank Pearson (#45)   *Lendon P. Pearson (#11)*   *Mark H. Pease (#53)*
Roger R. Peterson (#31)   George Philipson (#58)    *J. C. Poe (#2)*
Herbert Reiman (#48)   Paul M. Roach (#85)   Dennis Robinson (#79)
*Reginald E. Romeo (#25)*  Pedro A. Santana (#83)  *(Gerald) Dudley Snyder (#8)*
Donald Sonsalla (#3)     Harland St. George (#86)    David A. Strongin (#50)
Carroll Stuart (#80)  *Stewart  Sutherland (#84)*  Paul E. Tardiff (#61)
*Robert "Bob" Tartaglione (#66)*   Ronald Taylor (#18)   *George C. Twigger (#40)*
Kenneth E. Vance (#7)    Sid Vaughan (#28)   Joseph Vos (#67)
*Herbert T. Wilde (#16)*   *Daniel Wolfe (#59)*   *Henry H. Yoda (#19)*

Here the dead lie
Because we did not choose
To shame the land
From which we sprung.
We thought life was
Nothing much to lose
And we were young.
                            A. E. Housman, 1936.

The entries begin (with mine) at the bottom of this first page of the IBB and, at the very bottom, you can go on to all the rest of the entries in chronological order. Please browse through the entries.  There you will find links to some great "war stories" and you will not regret your look-see. Two of my favorite memoirs are told in the Baptism of Fire and Memories of War pages.

If you ARE an Imjin Buddy, please click "Imjin Buddy Registry" and fill out your entry form. I hope that others who know of an Imjin Buddy who is no longer with us, or is otherwise unable to make an entry, will do the job for him. Entry #1 (mine, at the bottom of this first page of the IBB) includes information about enhancing your entry.

Links to Brother Units

(9 Jul 2001) Some of the best soldiers who ever wore a uniform and whose accomplishments are forever engraved in the hearts of all of us who served in Korea were in units that did not have the Stars and Stripes as their banner. Some of those good men served in "our" area along the Imjin River and have already jumped in our Bunker; so, here are links to the home pages (or a good alternate I found) of their units. These links are meant to honor those units' other members whether or not they served in "our" area and whether or not, for that or other reasons, they are unable to jump in our Bunker. I also have listed The Glorious Glosters because of their heroic service in another area along the Imjin River which is not so very far from where the guys in our Bunker served. Who knows? Maybe some of them did make it a little north to "our" hills along the Imjin. There are other units with members who belong in the Bunker; and, as soon as one does jump in, a link to his unit's home page will be added here if there is one I can read. Owen "Reg" Kitchener (#41) has emailed me a photo which, I think, well expresses the feelings of comradeship we  all shared in those days. Click on Brothers in Arms for a look-see.

The King's Own Scottish Borderers      The Royal Artillery

The King's Shropshire Light Infantry     The Welch Regiment in Korea

Royal Australian Regiment - Third Battalion

Het Belgisch Bataljon in Korea      The Glorious Glosters

Entry #1 - 10 Dec 2000.

(David) Mervin Key
330 W. 19th St. - Apt. 613
Houston, Texas 77008

E-mail: BunkerBoss
Phone (home): 713 864 5635
URL: Mervino's Hole in the Web

Served in Korea: 24 December 1951 to 25 October 1952 in the 4th Squad - 2nd Platoon - Company A - 15th Infantry Regiment - 3rd Infantry Division - US Army.

The story that goes with it:
The part of my story which I wish to make public will be told on pages of the "Can Do" Photo Album and on my 3rd Division Page, which is one page back and from which I've been temporarily diverted while telling about some tropical adventures and then getting this page underway. Email in private to another Imjin Buddy is a different matter.

If you want a "re-do" of, or "add-on" to your entry or if you wish to add photos, letters, maps, copies of momentos, or other materials to your story, just email the new materials (along with your best descriptive comments) to Mervin Key and they'll get published as soon as I "Can Do". You may send those materials by regular mail also, but it may take me a while to get them scanned and posted.

When you make an entry (or "re-do" or "add-on"), I'll get it posted as soon as possible. If it's more than a few days before it gets posted, you better check to see if the "gooks" got me.

My photo album along with some other stuff, including some "stories that go with it" are indexed in the "Can Do" Photo Album.

To pay a fun visit to the IBB Last Man Club page, click on this little fellow:
Please find us more "Can Do" guys (of any ilk) to jump in our bunker.
______________________________________________________

Back to Buddy Index

IBB - Page Two

When you are through here and decide you want to know more of my misspent youth, you may go to the home page of Mervino's Hole in the Web ; or, you may go to the Window (index) Page or the pages just previous to and just after the IBB. Here are the links to those pages:

Window Page   3rd Division Page    Bridge Page