book reviews and summaries, comments, analysis
Rudolf W. Stevens, Old Ugly Hill
a GI's 14 months in the Korean Trenches 1952-53 DS921.6 S74 1995
Mr. Steven's book has such an innocent tone to it. Acknowledging he was just a small part of a big picture, he wrote this book partly at the urging of his children and grandchildren. The book reads almost as if you were a wide eyed, sniffeling little urchin sitting on Mr. Steven's lap as he shares his whole military experience with you...
- "the train went by a big Mountain in Washington with alot of snow on it. They call that mountain Mt. Rainier."
- "The Japanese children would smile and say O-hi-yo! Thats the way they say hello."
- "on my first patrol I fell asleep and was shaken awake by my own sergeant."
- "on another patrol trying to get a prisoner so we could R&R in Japan, we managed to capture an enemy soldier sleeping against a tree-- only to find he had been dead for a week."
Its not all fun, games and bedside tales in this book. One failed screening patrol that suffered 11 casualties left the author wondering if the military brass 'had enough sense to to get out of bed without breaking a leg." Stevens also refers to the fragging of an unpopular Colonel 'Ortega' (the name is fictitious) with two sticks fo dynamite under his bunk. Like many Korean War vets, he also feels the blood shed over nameless ridges--Old Baldy, in this case-- was senseless. The terrain they could survey from the top of Old Baldy could easily be searched by spotter plane.
Despite some sour spots--the author speaks unkindly about the performance of a 'platoon of Puerto Ricans'-- this is a good story. Ne'er a cuss or swear word to be found. As a sense of gloom and foreboding swept the troops going across the sea of Japan from Sasebo to Pusan, the author glumly reports that 'there sure was a sense that the ship soon was gonna hit the sand'
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