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Intermission Stories (9)

Posted by GP

In 1950, The U.S. was not prepared for a major conflict again. The shortage of logistics personnel was so great that the 8th Army had hired 150,000 Japanese to perform functions at depots and ports; and it takes more than the foot soldier to handle a war. Approximately 31.5 million tons of matériel was shipped from the States and The Japan Logistical Command in Yokohama had the job of moving that to Korea. On top of these functions. the US needed to teach the ROK Armies and for this task they developed the Korean Military Advisory Group. (KMAG)

SFG Frank Imparato, RA Infantry Advisor, KMAG, sharing the HQ w/ Col. Walker from the 2nd Battalion

SFC Frank Imparato

SFC Imparato was one of the Army’s new pioneers in the US Military Advisory Group to South Korea, known as the KMAG. He was called upon to demonstrate a variety of talents – patience, tact, linguistic ability and superior professional knowledge – he had to make a supreme effort to understand people and traditions vastly different from his own. The KMAG worked side-by-side with the ROKs in all phases of military life, Infantry, Artillery, Signal Corps, etc., and was one of the few advisory groups to operate in both peacetime and war. They were an integral part of the 8th Army.

Frank Imparato enlisted in 1945, took boot, basic and bivouac training and then WWII was over. Most of the trainees were scheduled for occupation duty overseas to replace the veteran troops, but Frank was ordered to remain as an infantry instructor. It was during his last year of enlistment that he received orders to report to San Francisco for debarkation to the Far East and he shipped out on the General William O. Black with about 2,000 other soldiers.

It was not until the 5th replacement depot that he realized he was headed for North Korea. In Seoul, he boarded a C47/C54 with other G.I.s wearing parachutes. (timeline would fit with the 187th RCT). They landed at K-50 airstrip located around Yang Yang and Mundon-ni in the Punch Bowl sector. (regular readers here know just how dangerous the Punch Bowl was.).

Logistics at work

He was at first somewhat beside himself to be assigned to an all-Korean outfit rather than a US one, but that was his orders. Frank was responsible for approximately 200 US military personnel consisting of cooks, motor pool, signal corps personnel, Marine spotters and the Air Force radio jeeps (to keep in touch with downed pilots). ” One US pilot of a P-51 Mustang radioed for help. His plane’s electrical and hydraulic system was pretty much shot up and he was unable to lower his landing gear. He was directed to land at K-50 airstrip. He came in low and fast from a distance, skimming and thrashing through rice fields to attempt a belly landing. He finally came to rest cross wise on the air strip. His engine was practically torn out and you could see the P-51 had cracked in half. The pilot was shaken, but not hurt. There was a considerable number of aircraft damaged by small arms and artillery fire …This was a common occurrence.”

Broken plane spoken about.

On several occasions, Frank was in the company of generals and commanders, all to discuss overall combat status and situations. He made quite a few visits to M*A*S*H* units – a sight he would never forget. He returned to the States and was discharged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, February 1953 – 6 days shy of serving 7 years.

Frank says, “I do pray mostly every night that I made a safe return home from Korea with a wealth of information, experiences and memories. To all Korean veterans — KIA, MIA, POW, the able and disabled veterans I say – God Bless them all.”