Upland sergeant and the loss of two friends in the war within a few months of arriving in korea. The project was underwritten by south koreas ministry of patriots and veterans affairs. Harold bill christiansen. I worked for the American Legion over 50 years here. Before that, i worked for the rare was railroad 10 years, and i was in the military for two years active, and two years with the guard. I came back, went back to the 1958, i guess it into the legion in 1962 and i worked there until i was 65. I am 85 now. I always like the legion. I have worked with them many years. I take care of their honor guard. All of the military funerals we have. The. Ke care of thats about it. How many siblings do you have . Harold i have four children. I have a son and in town. We have two daughters in rochester. And we have a soninlaw. We have a daughter in ohio. She is a registered nurse what is it . Twoyear college, anyway. It has been a while. They are all married. One of them is not married right now. They have been married and have families. We have quite a few grandchildren. Nine grandchildren and eight greatgrandchildren. We have a big family. How old were you when you enlisted . Harold 18. What was the date . Harold june 16, 1948. My friend and i were working warehouse and another friend in the guard came by and said you guys should join the guard, it is a pretty good deal. Parttime, good work, a check every month. We had about 10 or so. Night and itmonday was like three hours. Had two weeks of camp in the summer time. In north minnesota. Trained with classes and and in the parking lot drilling. There were a lot of classes, calisthenics and things like that. We did that until we were called service inlar january of 1951. New we were going in in december , the korean war was that year, about 1950. They waited until after the christmas holidays. 1951. T in january 16 of we marched down to the depot and loaded into a train and eventually we got down to alabama and that is where we were stationed. Here with about 50 of our strength as far as personnel , and we fueled up down there with draftees and recruits. We trained again. Summer. All fall, they started asking for people to go overseas they did not ask, they told us. We got a lot of our people we recruits and draftees we had trained, thats where they went. They started asking for sergeants. Thats when i got it. Usre were quite a few of that went about that time. Andnt with a Sergeant Mckay sergeant mattson. Wegeant mattson had a car so drove back here. We had it was like 10 days to report to california. Back. Came we were here as long as we could. My first plane ride was that, we flew out of minneapolis to san francisco, the three of us. We got into camp stillman, we were not late but pretty close. There i had an aunt and uncle in oakland so they got us a couple of times and took us. We were there a week or 10 days, i suppose. Orders started getting that we would be shipping out. We would check the Bulletin Board each morning to see wh en. They went on one ship and i went on another. They left before i did, a day or fasterore, but mine was so i got to japan before they did. We landed in japan. Right close to tokyo. At camp drake is where we were stationed. Just a temporary station. We knew weses on were going to korea, of course. They orientated us on the expect. Ns and what to they told us most of it. Were on a train across japan and we went through another city on the north end of japan, and we were there maybe two days, three days maybe. We rode on another ship that took us to korea. We went into some different ships again, we were not on the same ship. It has a very high tide, the highest in the world. It was all leveled, you might say. Piers. Ks or the Landing Craft went to shore. One at a time, there were quite a few of them. There, there was no resistance. We got onto our train. A lot of us had to stand up. S was 50 miles maybe to eoul. Thats where the third Replacement Company was. We were in the third replacement orders oftil you got what unit you would bnp we knew we were the Third Division but we were not sure which regiment or company. Company a ofd to the seventh regiment. My other two guys got assigned to easy company, the seventh regiment. The other got assigned to fox company, seventh regiment. We were all in the same regiment. We were in and got assigned to move up. They came and got us at night. Everything was at night, you know. And they tookre us in as far as they could take us. Line division was on the then. I remember how scared we were. Small arms fire, you could hear artillery and flashing, and thinking, this is going to be something. We were met down below the by a korean rock soldier. We had korean rock soldiers with this. I was one of the first ones in able company, and so me and some of the guys went up to our assignment. Guys, easy company and fox company, the same night. We were in a combat situation, which at that time was pretty quiet. You could hear small arms fire and things. There was always artillery. Got some time in the rear. We had maybe a week or so and back. Like division time. Im trying to think of the word and i cant they it. Say it. Anyway, we got back out of the blind and into some action, was november. It got overrun. Fred is when [sobbing] he was killed. [sobbing] [indiscernible] that night, the chinese his company was overrun by chinese. Artillery andt of he was killed by a direct hit. Like a hole in the ground with sandbags on top and everything. I did not find out for sure until later, but he was killed that night. Had to defend ourselves, you know. We finally got the chinese off that mountain. Killed. As got more or less to establish the same line we had before. December,fine until came out there. We had a lot of patrols. To go on patrol, you had to go through a minefield. They were marked and if you were careful, nobody would make a mistake. It happened that they were going through and joe was a master sergeant. He was following the lieutenant. The lieutenant had people in front of them, the lieutenant stepped off of the path a little bit and stepped on a mine. Andlieutenant lost his leg joe got hit really bad that was in december early bad. That was in december. Those two guys i went over with, and less than two months, they were gone. Then i was promoted from machine gun squad to platoon sergeant. Which, in charge of double platoon, 40some men. We did not have a lot of patrols so we had to assignment sometimes to go on patrol. Assign men sometimes to go on patrol. It didnt happen every time but we had to assignment maybe every maybeweek assign men every other week to go on patrol. One night, i remember they motor with them, and assault motor, we called it, to go on patrol. They were going to establish outposts out there. With sometook turns of the guys and told them, you went last week, you go this week. His name was chico, it was his term. Homes supposed to rotate and i said, you dont have to. I want to and he got killed. Softly] i had to identify a couple of them and one was him. [crying] it is a bad part of war. That, i was kind of winter had set in and it got cold and the chinese got kind of down and we did too, of course. Our biggest concern, for a lot of it, was keeping warm. We were never in range of anything. We were in holes in the ground, we have a picture of it. Sandbags, which outside. Er than being but sometimes when we went on patrol, we had to stay out all night and that was pretty tough. , trying to keep warm. I remember one night, we did not sleeping bags and we were trying to keep warm and we kind of piled together like you see animals do sometimes. [laughs] but a lot of patrol was mostly reconnaissance, where you are looking for any action out there , anything anybody was doing. There was contact sometimes. , we were hit once or twice in the wintertime but nothing like we did in the fall. In the spring, we had it was pretty quiet. They had a cease fire about that time. We had about two weeks of that. It was strange for us. We could see chinese in front of us where you could not see them before. They were always underground, you know my hidden you know, hidden. That cease fire was broken, of back onand we went patrols and stuff like that. Just after that, i in may, the first part of may. Me. Me back from excuse you rotated, there was a points system at that time. If you were in a combat situation, you got four points a month, i think. If you got 36 points, you rotate home. I got that. And it finally took the train to pusan. Ship. Onto the we had a shower. We did not get any showers over there. I had three showers the entire time i was there, i changed clothes four times in nine months. When we got to japan, they treated us really well. They said what kind of steak do you want . Rations most of the time. Most of the time they would try to get a hot meal up to us. Would we went down maybe two at a time down the mountain we were on. , which was the ould service what they had, which was quite a treat for us. I had about nine months over there. And my discharge was coming up, back on thek, came eggs from no, i went to yokohama again. Back. K us 15 days to get frisco. D in , the was a van there Salvation Army or some kind of van there. , they hadd uncle posted who was coming on the ship, and they watched for it and they were down there too, which was pretty nice. I was there maybe a week, i suppose. I was loaded on a train again and went back to mccoy, wisconsin here, and was 22, 1952. June except i had it some a few good experiences, not all bad. With, ini had fun japan with my friends. We would go have beer. Strange, we were not expecting Something Like that. Beernt to a place that had , they had liquor. And you would have a japanese girl sitting by you, you know. Course, we couldnt communicate, but she would buy them a beer, probably. Would takeur of us turns. I remember one time, the girl that sat by you would usually take your money and go up to a cashier, they called her mamasan. I gave the girl 20, quite a bit of money in those days, and she forgot to come back with my change. [laughs] that was something, i remember that. We rode in a rickshaw there. Humans pulling you in a two wheeled buggy. Japan was quite an they were because still struggling with world war ii, you know. The country was in pretty bad shape yet. Tots runningttle around without any close on. Clothes on. Forget, anyway. I had a lot of fun in the service. I had a train with the guards. Parties, many good times, and a lot of those guys went overseas. We trained, we had world war ii veterans with us a lot. When i first came in, they were sergeants, they were training us. We were with them, and all of the stories they had, of course. Fun. D a lot of to thep was close florida coast, so we went to panama city. The beaches. My wife, my fiance, came down. Ith a friend of hers her fiance was a friend of mine and he was there too. Gals came down, one of the married and two of them engaged. We had a week with them, that was nice. Of course, we came back here, like i say. When mber those times in florida, the beach, swimming. A lot of fun. Yeah. I was discharged june 22 and we had to come home. It mightve been the last part of april that i left korea. , and itpent some time was 50 days getting back on the ocean. A pretty slow trip. Took three days from frisco to camp ripley. Week at ripley may be a before i was discharged, Something Like that. , one offew of the guys them was in District Division ii, and he was discharged at ripley. Quite a few people were discharged at ripley. It is still used over there a lot. Can you describe a little more what were your duties in korea . Harold before i went . In korea. Harold my responsibility was taking care of the platoon. The platoonas like the out on a line bumpers were it very to some, but they were maybe 10 yards apart or more. Visity i had to go and everyone. Every day. Making sure that everything was ok. To, a patrol was coming up, and i would meet with the officers and they would tell us or we would tell them who is going, if its going to be reconnaissance or whatever. That was another responsibility we had. , we went backe there more like training time because you had to take them out for calisthenics. We had classes. The weapons they carried. Machine gun, rifles. , Something Like that. Every day in reserve, there were still training connected with it. You never quit that. , we hadn it was quiet to see if the men were doing something. They should be cleaning their weapon. Tty important keep that keep that clean. And just generally talking to them. To see how things are. Sometimes somebody would come up sick. That took a little bit of doing. Would somebody trouble like that, we had to take care of that. Just the responsibility part of it is what it was. That was about it. , theked to my bunker drill sergeant had what was wased a cp bunker, which usually a larger bunker and sometimes it was placed right behind. Where top of the mountain the action was a lot of times, the cp bunker was right in back of it. But we had communication with all of the bunkers. Every night, they were supposed to be a guard duty type thing. We had to be sure that every bunker, there was somebody awake. Sometimes it is easy to doze off and you only have two guys in a bunker or three guys. I had to be sure they were alert. Every to do some of that hour or so, every two hours. It was usually two on and for off was the order. Four off was the order. On two hours and sleep for four hours. The chinese had a way of coming up without making any noise at all. Patrols, outposts run over by chinese and they did not know they were even close to them. They were found still in their sleeping bags. That is bad. Of them were killed right in their sleeping bag. The chinese had a way of hitting and out list outpost and drawing back. By the time we got to the next day, they were gone, you know. They were just that good at that. They were really quiet. They were better at it than we were, but we had all of the advantage of firepower and airpower, more artillery. They had a lot of artillery but not as much as we did. There was more artillery fired in the korean war, i have heard a couple times, than all of world war ii. We had artillery flying over us all the time. A lot of it. Yeah memories. [chuckles] you Start Talking about things like that. The knights got really long sometimes, winter thomas speciale. Especially. E 5 00 untilt dark at the next morning at about 7 30, so 12 or 14 hours of darkness. That we had concertina , and we hadt of us mines inon it, and its. Tin cans sometimes get a little wind and you start imagining things. You would hear it and it would sound like the chinese coming. Guys would get a little quick on their firing. We would start shooting and there was nobody there. [laughs] it was just a precaution. What have you done since sorry, go ahead. Since then . I work in the legion here. I still do a little bit. I take care of the bingo, we have our bingo every wednesday. I play cards every day. That is pretty important. With old friends. [chuckles] but i have worked here for so , and kind of grows on you. If you dont come up here, you kind of miss it. Have you been back to korea on an honor flight . Harold a couple of times. It is really nice. I was back with it was the 50th anniversary of the korean war, i think it was. Our division sponsored it, i think. Everything was all paid for. We had a really good time. We were back in the area where we were a lot of the times. That area. Sights inot of nice korea and it was gratifying to see what theyve done with the country. Ruins. W, we left it in just flattened, most of it. You go back now and they have modern skyscrapers and subways. Seoul, there was only one bridge across the big, black river and now there are 12 big, fourlane, lots of traffic. To northno comparison korea. They have done really well, they are pretty strong as far as industry in the whole world, south korea has done really good. You have probably heard samsung and some of the things they have done. How does it feel to have been part of that . Good. pretty the second time i went over wife went over with the wife. Who else was there . A friend was there and his wife too. The first time was with a Third Division guy, he is gone now. The first time we were over there, it was on a korean welcoming. I was surprised to see that too. But the Third Division trip was the best one. All of theves and things they did for us, you know, as far as sightseeing and things. We saw a lot of area. Weould see where we were, were in north korea mostly, so we could not get up there but we went up to the 38th parallel where most of the mainland resistance was. Mountainee the highest , where we were a lot of times. I could see it, it was about 20 miles away or some thing like that. But i could not get on it. Now,is part of north korea so. Yeah. It was nice to go back and see it. I will not do it again because im too old, but i did it. How did your wartime experiences affect your life . Harold oh, i dont know. Guess i cant say it has really affected my i carry some guilt. I suppose that has affected my life. But, uh, i am pretty proud of what i did. We all are. We stopped communism in that country. Something to feel good about. I dont have anything else as far as affecting my life. Of not i am always thank thankful of not being wounded or killed. I had a lot of close calls over there and i am thankful that i got through what i did. , a war that a lot of people questioned it. And even during the war, even hearinghe time, we were people say we should get out of there, we should get out of there. But it turned out pretty good. I think. With the way south korea is now. Have you seen pictures of how the bunkers have you seen a picture of the bunkers . I havent. Harold i have one there. Have five or six sandbags on top of each bunker and they could take a direct hit from a 60 mortar and survive, you know. But it took a lot of sandbags. [laughs] but they saved a lot of lives. Did you have any piece of wisdom or message to pass on to other generations . Harold i think of patriotism a lot. , i would like to see younger people be more patriotic than what they are. Some of them are. I am not saying everybody. But there are some that are not as patriotic as i think they could be. And that bothers me. , i dont think we will have war like we did before. , but ourave terrorists , itlike we knew the war will not be that way anymore. We will have terrorist war, and that is bad, it i hope the handle generations can that. I am sure they will. Thought we did enough that we would not have this trouble, but he will always be there, i guess. You just cant stop it. History interview was provided by the korean war legacy foundation. For more information on their archives with hundreds of interviews with veterans and photos, you can visit their website. ,his is American History tv exploring our nation