Title
Bill Biehler interview with Zoey Reisdorf and Bill Feis
Subject
World War, 1939-1945-Iowa-Oral histories
Description
Biehler is the only Korean War veteran interviewed. He was an MP working in the motor pool by a happy accident. On the way to Korea, he was able to sit in the co-pilot's seat. He experienced a fast train in Japan, where they did some training.
Publisher
Buena Vista University
Date
3/17/2011
Rights
These oral histories are available for personal, non-commercial, and educational use, provided that a credit line reads: "Courtesy of Buena Vista University Archives, Storm Lake, IA." Prior permission from the BVU Archives is required for any commercial
Format
video/mp4
Language
English
Type
Moving Image
Identifier
Interviewer
Zoey Reisdorf, Bill Feis
Interviewee
Bill Biehler
Transcription
Bill Biehler
Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:00] Today is March 17th, 2011, and we're interviewing Bill-- Bill Biehler at the communication center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Biehler was born October 26, 1928. My name is Zoey Reisdorf and I will be interviewing along with Bill Feis.
Bill Feis [00:00:18] So you were a Korean War veteran.
Bill Biehler [00:00:21] Mm-hmm.
Bill Feis [00:00:21] Were you drafted or volunteered for the service?
Bill Biehler [00:00:25] Draft.
Bill Feis [00:00:25] What year were you drafted?
Bill Biehler [00:00:27] 1951.
Bill Feis [00:00:29] Which branch of the service did you serve in?
Bill Biehler [00:00:33] Well, I started out in the infantry and for-- for a fortunate mixup stuck me in the MPs on Korea. I worked in the motor pool. [chuckles]
Bill Feis [00:00:46] So, what-- what kind of training did you-- did they put you through after you were drafted? What was your training experience? Where did they send you and what did you?
Bill Biehler [00:00:57] Fort Leonard Wood. I trained heavy weapons infantry. That's why I said I was lucky I got where I did.
Bill Feis [00:01:05] Yeah, I imagine so.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:07] Do you remember anything specific from your training?
Bill Biehler [00:01:10] Oh, yeah, from my training? Well, we always-- you go to Korea, you set up in an area, have a bunch of tents that you lived in. They're squad tents usually 10, 12 men. The MPs had their tents, and we were in the motor pool, so they had to dress up, you know, look flashy. We in the motor pool looked like mechanics, and we kept-- kept gas there. So they [unintelligible] the gas and oil for the vehicles. And also overhauled or repaired any-- what we had was a whole bunch of Jeeps. Not a whole bunch, we had barely enough, but they were made in World War-- they were World War II Jeeps 'cuz they come out of Japan and they weren't [in] very good shape. So, you know, we fixed 'em up, painted 'em up and did all kinds of things. And they had a frame that went over the back axle. It usually broke right in the middle and we had a torch, an acetylene torch, and I welded a lot of those. Just keep the thing going.
Bill Feis [00:02:29] Did you-- did you go-- were you in Korea for a period of time?
Bill Biehler [00:02:35] Nine months--
Bill Feis [00:02:37] Nine months--
Bill Biehler [00:02:37] Ten months, I think.
Bill Feis [00:02:38] Was that 1951?
Bill Biehler [00:02:41] '51, '52.
Bill Feis [00:02:44] And you worked the motor pool-- [crosstalk]
Bill Biehler [00:02:47] Yeah, the whole time. I-- I can give you a little story on getting there, if you want'a.
Bill Feis [00:02:55] I would love to hear it.
Bill Biehler [00:02:56] Well, we left the states and went by train from Fort Leonard Wood to-- well, we caught a bus there but anyhow-- out of Kansas City we took a troop train all the way to California. Camp Stoneman, California by the south route. Took us three days. [laughs] Anyway, we finally got to Camp Stoneman, and then we set there for two weeks waitin' for orders to leave. Well, we got our orders and guess what? It was a United Airlines passenger plane. So we fill it full-- all troops except one guy. And we flew to Japan. Tokyo. [laughs] I-- I don't know [unintelligible] the pilot turned around, "Does anybody want to sit in the co-pilot's seat? He's tired. Wants to sleep." Well, I jumped at the chance, I sat in the co-pilot's seat all the way to Hawaii because Hawaii's our first stop. Well, in those days, you had to fill up with gas then. [That] was a lot of fun.
Bill Feis [00:04:17] Did he let you fly the plane?
Bill Biehler [00:04:19] Well, no, it was on automatic pilot. [laughter] They did have that then. All I could do is look out the window and see the ships going down there. We didn't fly or-- flew about 10,000 feet in those days. It took us all day to get to Wake Island, and I don't know if you ever saw a map. Wake Island [is] just like a boomerang. This is a runway. And this is runway and a little spot on the edge here for [unintelligible]. It was-- there was nothin' there. And we landed there, and the Air Force fed us. [Unintelligible] on the plane and sent us on. So then we landed in Tokyo, and we had to go camp-- [I] forget the name of the camp, but anyway, we spent-- was it two weeks-- processing there. And then we took a train a fast Japanese train. They's pretty good. Even in those days. And we went from the north island to the south island. Sasebo. From Sasebo, we went to Posan. [Unintelligible]. And we got there and they put us on a train. I guess you could call it a train. It was [the] most beat-up train I ever saw. It was a steam engine. The cars had been roughed up, windows-- not all the windows fit. Had a little potbelly stove in the corner where [you could] heat up some food. But anyhow, we took-- that took three days to get up to Seoul. It was only about 500 miles. [laughs] That's how long it took. We finally got to Incheon, it's where we ended up. That was the base for the 24th Division. When we got to Division-- Division rear does all the bookwork. And I still believe there was a kid from San City that I knew that put me in the MPs. Can't prove it. [laughs] But if he did, he did me a heck of a favor. And he saw my MOS [Military Occupational Speciality], which was "mechanic", so instead of being an MP, I ended up as a mechanic, which was great. We had a decent bunch of guys. Some of 'em weren't so nice, but we got along and [I] spent my whole tour of duty with the MPs in Korea. I can tell you a lot of stories about what we did.
Bill Feis [00:07:29] Well, sure. Well, yeah, and I think, you know, you've said quite a bit, and I think we might have some things that-- that we want to ask you about.
Bill Biehler [00:07:37] Yeah, go ahead. That'd be great.
Bill Feis [00:07:39] When you arrived in Korea, what did you know about the war up until that time? And how did you feel when you arrived? Were you scared? Were you excited? Was it a sense of adventure?
Bill Biehler [00:07:49] I wasn't scared. We knew there was a war, but I-- I just didn't pay any attention. I wasn't too shook up about bein' there. And we got on this ol' train-- well, that was-- you could tell it had been in a war because it was [in] so bad shape. And there's little kids along beggin', ya know, every time you stop. Every once in a while, we'd stop because the track was-- they had nasty people who would mess up the track for 'em. [laughs] And we finally-- it took us three days on that old train to get up to Incheon is where we went. We got up there, and they decided that we'd been sittin' on our butts for a month, which really, you count 'em all up-- to a couple of weeks here, a couple of weeks there-- By the time we got there, we had we haven't done anything at all except sit around. So they decided they were gonna get us back in shape. So we [chuckles] set up our pup tents. It's the only time we used a pup tent. [To Zoey] You know what a pup tent is? Well, it's two halves of canvas, they call 'em shelter halves. You carried one, the other guy carried the other half. You put 'em together and hold 'em down like that. That's where you slept. It wasn't very big. You could sleep in it. Well, when we got to Incheon, they didn't have any place to put us, they stuck us out in the middle of a-- oh, I don't know what it was, a big warehouse thing and we slept under-- under our-- we didn't even set up a tent, we just slept under the canvas. And then they-- then they sent us to the-- our unit, 24th Division. And then they said-- they put us in the-- when they went-- that was the headquarters, and they put us in the-- that was four of us, I think, went to the motor pool, which-- I-- I was tickled to death. Yeah. I hadn't seen any fightin' up 'til then. When we got up there, though, we could hear it north of Seoul. That's when the Chinese came in. They chased 'em all the way back to Seoul. You could hear 'em, shootin' and firin' up there. We finally got 'em stopped. They ran out of food, [chuckles] pushed 'em back. So we-- we'd have an area, probably be there a month or two, and then the-- the infantry shoved the Koreans back and then we'd move up. And-- make-- establish another camp. We did that three times, I think.
Bill Feis [00:11:05] And so when you were near-- you were near the front, and you followed the Army as it--
Bill Biehler [00:11:12] Yeah, I tell you-- how you-- we knew it was American. We weren't far from the meds-- medical company, and we knew where they'd been fightin' because all the ambulances come roarin' down, and a-- a helicopter you see-- 'member in the-- lessee the name of the movie-- in that show? Well, we had those. They'd come in and drop a guy off. And we knew we were fightin' up then. But then it'd quiet down. Wouldn't be anything going on for maybe two, three weeks. War is funny. You never know what's going on. You wonder-- sometimes we wonder how we ever won a war. [chuckles] It's like the one that's on now.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:05] What was your attitude towards the Chinese?
Bill Biehler [00:12:08] Didn't know 'em. They were-- they were nasty because their-- what they did, they'd take civilians when they were trying to take a hill. They'd take civilians and run 'em in front. No weapons or anything. 'Course we'd shoot all them because it's all-- thought they were the enemy and then they'd [the Chinese soldiers] come in over the top of. Not very nice. So we had to shoot them. We had-- we had one incident that was after-- this war went on for a while. The Chinese-- we actually licked the Chinese. Shoved 'em-- They came south so fast that they ran out of supplies and-- motor sergeant-- one day he was-- he took the Jeep out and he was ridin' around just lookin' over the countryside and he-- [chuckles] this-- this soldier waved him down, had on a Chinese uniform. So he stopped. This guy, Oanna (sp), he was a big Hungar-- Hungarian from Ohio-- he-- he-- nobody else did what he did. I would've shot the guy, but he-- he just stopped. The guy-- he didn't speak English, but he managed to get through to Oanna that he-- he was hungry. And he pointed up in the hills, and he had a whole squad of men up there that were hungry. They didn't have any food. So he lines 'em and takes 'em down-- [chuckles] we had a CIA camp not far from us that interrogated prisoners. He took 'em down there and turned 'em over to the CIA. [laughs] These guys all had guns. Damn fool, he could 'a' got shot and-- Just stories like that.
Bill Feis [00:14:21] Well, what else do you remember from your time there? What-- what sorts of other things do you think about when--
Bill Biehler [00:14:27] Well, you heard of Bed-check Charlie?
Bill Feis [00:14:32] No, I haven't.
Bill Biehler [00:14:34] It was a small airplane and they'd fly over low or not-- not real low, but enough to-- they-- they'd drop a mortar shell. Harassment's what it was. And they hit a few of guys out on the ground. They never got-- never hit us. They never came over us. Of course they-- they'd-- we'd shoot 'em down if we could 'cuz it was a small-like Piper cub airplane is what it was. And then one time we were just out in the yard, and we heard they had Navy planes that were strafing and they would go up and strafe and then come back over us 'cuz we were right behind the front lines. [chuckles] And we heard this one go over and went bang, bang, and smoke come out of his engine. Uh-oh, he's hit. [Unintelligible] airplane goes down. It goes over the hill, and a big puff of smoke comes up. We thought, Oh, my. He'd parachuted out and here's his parachute comin' down, so MPs had to get him back to his ship. He was off on one of the Navy ships. They probably charged him for that airplane, I don't know.
Bill Feis [00:16:09] So after you were there, as it came time, did you know when you were going to leave, when you-- when you got there? Did you know you'd be there nine months or--
Bill Biehler [00:16:18] Yeah, they had a point system. And you had to be there so many months to earn the points, and when you got so many points, four points or something like that, then it was your turn to go back to the States.
Bill Feis [00:16:31] Did you count the days?
Bill Biehler [00:16:33] Oh, kind of. We had R and R one time. That was-- since we were in the MP Company, that was a little different. We had three GIs had killed somebody, killed some civilians, and they had been arrested. And they had to take 'em back to Japan, put 'em in the prison back there. Well, since we were motor pool MPs, we had to take 'em back. So we put 'em out in a fence and stood over 'em with rifles until it got time to go in and we got [unintelligible] where they haul, you know, [unintelligible] wounded. These prisoners, once they're in the air, they couldn't do anything anyway. Once we got them back to Japan, I sure wouldn't want to be one of them. They weren't treated very well.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:17:46] What do you remember about the weather?
Bill Biehler [00:17:49] You live in Iowa? Same weather. Colder than the devil in the wintertime, hot in the summer. Really was. It was almost identical, only we had mountains there. Not very big ones, but-- and valleys. We-- or when we moved someplace, we'd move into these valleys. And it was kinda nasty. It's kind of bad. They'd take a big bulldozer [and] level off all the rice paddies so it was level. So this poor people, we'd have to rebuild them to, you know, to raise rice again. We ruined that country. When I got there, was just like climbing in the moon, you know, everything's shot up and trees are shot up. Wasn't-- wasn't a nice place at all.
Bill Feis [00:18:50] Did you have much contact with South Koreans?
Bill Biehler [00:18:54] Yeah. That's-- that's another story. Well, they-- we hired-- the MP Company hired a lot-- quite a few of 'em. A couple of 'em in the kitchen. And one of them gave haircuts, and see, the MPs had to look nice. So then, we had two mechanics in the motor pool and the one guy, he was-- he was a lazy ass. Conniver. Get away with anything he could. He spoke a little English, that-- that's how he got around. But anyway, the other one, Lee Chun Yung (sp), and he was a great guy. And a heck of a good mechanic. He and I got along just real fine. That's-- I knew those two guys. So that's-- that's-- that's how my Korean [unintelligible].
Bill Feis [00:19:58] You've mentioned that the-- that the country was really shot up. Were there are places you went and did you notice, being from Iowa, did you look at the land and did you-- did you think about how it compared to Iowa?
Bill Biehler [00:20:15] Well, it really didn't compare because it would be mountainous and valleys where we were. And they-- they had crops and stuff in the valleys, but not very big fields, you know. But they certainly had enough to live on. And of course, we shot it all up. It was a mess, and, actually, it was-- kind of-- the mountains ended just about at the 38th Parallel. That's where the fightin' ended, and south of that was fairly level. It was-- we-- we never got into any fights. Oh, they tried to scare us one time because they-- they said they were shootin' artillery, so they-- [chuckles] we had to bury our tent. Ever bury a squad tent? Well, Oanna, the guy from Ohio, was pretty sharp. He got a bunch of Koreans and gave 'em our-- our C-rations they we didn't-- nobody wanted anyway. You know, the candies and-- they had to dig that hole. It didn't take 'em long, four foot deep. So we lived in that for a couple of months. Well, they were still in it when I left.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:22:12] How did you guys entertain yourself while you were--
Bill Biehler [00:22:19] Well, we had Clark Gable come and see us. Oh, that's kind of a story, too. Our MP Company was supposed to transport one of the girls up to the-- where they had their show. And this guy, this guy, his name was Ronnie Pierson (sp). We called him Mabel. He was a character. He-- he was also an alcoholic, but he-- he was funny. And so we designated him to drive the girl up to the front, and he got back, "Well, how'd it go?" "Well, she invited me in, but I didn't go." "You son-of-a--" We called him about every name in the book. [laughter] But we did-- that was, you know, entertainment from the-- what'd they call themselves? Can't even remember now.
Bill Feis [00:23:24] Was it the USO?
Bill Biehler [00:23:26] Oh, yeah, it was the USO.
Bill Feis [00:23:26] Did you get to see Clark Gable? Did you--
Bill Biehler [00:23:31] Yeah. We went up and-- see, Mabel had to stay with this girl.
Bill Feis [00:23:38] Poor guy.
Bill Biehler [00:23:40] Yeah, and he got so drunk one night. This was in the middle of the winter, and he rolled off his-- his-- his-- we were on, you know, just-- you-- you've seen the bend in the fold-up beds and well, he-- he was laying next to the outside of the tent. He [chuckles] rolled off'a that thing and landed in the snow bank outside, in his sleeping bag. We just left him out. [laughter] Figured he'd wake up sometime, ya know? Oh, I did get into a little trouble. [I don't know] whether you'd be interested or not.
Bill Feis [00:24:33] Well, why don't you tell us about it?
Bill Biehler [00:24:33] We had RA, in other words, it was regular army. It was-- he was alcoholic and a mean son-of-a-gun. No sense whatsoever. And playin' poker one night. You know me, I was new at that game and won all night. He got really upset, and he stuck a .45 in my belly. Wanted his money back. [Unintelligible] I gave his money back. The rest of the guys talked him out of shootin' me. [laughs] That's as close as I come to gettin' shot.
Bill Feis [00:25:27] That's close enough.
Bill Biehler [00:25:27] Yeah. [chuckles]
Bill Feis [00:25:31] When you got close to going home, how did that-- how did that feel when-- when you got the-- when you knew you had enough points and--
Bill Feis [00:25:40] Real good, except the only thing wrong with it was in-- it was in February, the latter part of February. And the weather was like it was here. Colder than the devil. We got in a semi truck, you know, if you get stuck, truck here. Anyway, that's what we went down to-- to the air field that was in-- oh, was it Kimpo Airfield? Everyone went down there to get the plane to go home. No, no, we didn't either. I got that wrong. We went to Incheon. We had to get on a ship to go home because we had-- the bay there was so shallow ships couldn't get in. Oh, maybe a couple of miles out, you had to get in a barge. Go out to the ship and get on this ship. That happened to be a Navy ship, and everything went fine there. Only, when we were in that truck goin' south, to this port where this ship would be, which was Incheon. And they-- they were still fightin' up there up north. This plane come whizzin' down right at us, and I thought, Oh, boy, we've had it. It was one of ours. Fortunately, he recognized us before he [laughs] before he let go. That's about as scared as I got.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:27:32] So what happened after you went home?
Bill Biehler [00:27:36] Well, it was true about the Korean vets. Nobody cared. Nobody paid any attention to us. The only good thing was a lot of guys get free college. You know, everyone, the government would send you to college.
Bill Feis [00:27:59] Why do you think that was that Korean War veterans got forgotten? I know the Korean War itself is called "the forgotten war". Why do you-- why do you think that is?
Bill Biehler [00:28:08] Well, just got over the Second World War, they were tired of war, I guess. And this is-- we were a little different because we were drafted. Now, this last war, I think most of 'em were National Guard guys they sent over there, which I thought-- I thought the National Guard is supposed to protect us here, not-- not-- but that's the way it was. Most of the guys were there when we got there were our age. In other words, they were in the 24th Division. 24th was a Hawaiian division, and that was their headquarters. Hawaii, and they were the first ones they sent into Korea. And when they got there, I wasn't in on this one-- they almost lost the island-- lost the war because the Koreans came at 'em, they didn't have nothin', nothin' to stop 'em with. They finally got enough stuff to stop 'em right on-- right on the outskirts of Pusan, I guess. And that's the city-- that's the port city on the bottom end of Korea. So that was-- that was a close one, but they finally got enough stuff to-- I think-- I think probably they did it with air power because we had air power.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:29:40] What was your reaction to the armistice agreement?
Bill Biehler [00:29:45] [Unintelligible] Didn't amount to anything. We still have how many troops over there? Thousand? More 'an that.
Bill Feis [00:29:59] 41,000.
Bill Biehler [00:30:01] Yeah. They're sitting there doin' nothin'. [chuckels] That gets awful boring. [crosstalk] -- train--
Bill Feis [00:30:17] No, go ahead.
Bill Biehler [00:30:18] Well, that's all they did was train.
Bill Feis [00:30:23] Did you write to anybody while you were in the service? Did you? I thought that might be the case.
Bill Biehler [00:30:29] That was my mistake. [laughter] See, she's in checkin-- checkin' on me so, see, I'm going to say anything. Our-- our letters were, well, I tell you my letters were the type that she threw 'em all away.
Bill Feis [00:30:53] Did you write anything? Would the military let you write anything? Would they try to censor the mail--
Bill Biehler [00:30:58] No.
Bill Feis [00:30:58] --to make sure that--
Bill Biehler [00:31:02] No, they didn't censor at all. [You] could write anything you wanted. [chuckles] In fact, at our motor pool, we had a girl, and I think she was in Cleveland or someplace. She was a dancer. Somebody got her name. It was on-- in Stars and Stripes. So we started writing-- this Oanna, character, he was. We started writin' to him-- to her. And we just couldn't wait 'til we got her letter back. Pretty saucy.
Bill Feis [00:31:48] You have some very good stories.
Bill Biehler [00:31:52] Well, I don't know. [I] don't have too many more.
Bill Feis [00:32:01] When you-- and I'm going to-- I'm going to back up just a little bit, just for the last-- [crosstalk]
Bill Biehler [00:32:05] Yeah.
Bill Feis [00:32:06] When you started, and I have to give credit, this is a question, actually, that-- that Zoey had. When the Korean War started and before you were drafted, what did you think about when the war started? Did you did you think it might be another world war that was going to happen? Or how did you feel about it when it-- when it started?
Bill Biehler [00:32:28] Well, I think we pretty much knew it was just a-- I s'ppose-- Truman's-- it was Truman's police action, don't you remem-- Do you remember that? S'pposed to just go over there and shoot the hell out of 'em and come home. Didn't work out that way. None of our wars have since. [chuckles]
Bill Feis [00:32:49] You're right about that.
Bill Biehler [00:32:53] But that's what-- that's what-- you know, that's what everybody thought. 'Course, the 24th Division got sent in there and got the hell-- well the 19th, you know, a division is divided into regiments. The 19th Regiment was almost annihilated in-- in-- in that first go-round. And they did kill a lot of men in that war, almost, almost as many as World War II, and it only lasted two years. And that's-- it's amazing to me this war we're in now [we've] been in it seven years? And it-- it's a totally different war. They hide in holes, why in the Korean War, why, you had two lines and attack each other. Lose a few men and maybe-- maybe take a hill or some damn thing, and that'd be it. Fact [is] we got up to almost North Korea and the Chinese border before-- before the Chinese came in and kicked our ass. Really-- they really-- I talked to a tank driver that drove all-- all day and all night. Froze his feet. He was in-- we were going over to Korea, he was on the ship goin' back. It was very nasty for those fellas. Lost a lot of men on that.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:34:45] Did you ever think that there wasn't going to be an end to the war, that we weren't going to win?
Bill Biehler [00:34:53] Well, when they had their talks, you know, they kept doing it, kept doing it. And you just knew that nothin' would ever come of it. You'd hope it did, but it didn't. MacArthur-- that's when MacArthur-- do you remember? You guys don't remember that probably. MacArthur wanted to go into China. He was going to take on China with an atomic bomb or something. Harry Truman fired him. That's when Captain Harry was a captain in the Army. MacArthur was a general. The captain fired the general. [laughs]
Bill Feis [00:35:41] How did you feel about that when you-- when you heard that Truman had fired MacArthur? What was your feeling on that?
Bill Biehler [00:35:50] Well, of course, we hardly ever knew what-- you know, got really news about what was going on. Thought-- we thought it [was] all right, I think 'cuz we knew MacArthur was gung ho. He's gonna-- he's gonna do anything to make MacArthur look good. We didn't like guys like that.
Bill Feis [00:36:22] Well, last-- we have one more question for you, and it's just kind of a general question. What are you most proud of with your service in the Korean War? What-- what do you think of that gives you the most pride when you think about your service?
Bill Biehler [00:36:42] Well, we managed to stop the North Koreans. And let the South Koreans go back to what they were doing. And their cities, well, Seoul, it was [in] kind of bad shape. But they-- they rebuilt. Their economy's so much better than North Korea, you can't believe it. Maybe, maybe MacArthur is right. [laughs] But then you get in a fight with China, and that wouldn't have been good. 'Cuz I was told one time if [you] shot the Chinese one at a time as they went in the sea, they'd never end. So, didn't need anything like that.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:00:00] Today is March 17th, 2011, and we're interviewing Bill-- Bill Biehler at the communication center at Buena Vista University. Mr. Biehler was born October 26, 1928. My name is Zoey Reisdorf and I will be interviewing along with Bill Feis.
Bill Feis [00:00:18] So you were a Korean War veteran.
Bill Biehler [00:00:21] Mm-hmm.
Bill Feis [00:00:21] Were you drafted or volunteered for the service?
Bill Biehler [00:00:25] Draft.
Bill Feis [00:00:25] What year were you drafted?
Bill Biehler [00:00:27] 1951.
Bill Feis [00:00:29] Which branch of the service did you serve in?
Bill Biehler [00:00:33] Well, I started out in the infantry and for-- for a fortunate mixup stuck me in the MPs on Korea. I worked in the motor pool. [chuckles]
Bill Feis [00:00:46] So, what-- what kind of training did you-- did they put you through after you were drafted? What was your training experience? Where did they send you and what did you?
Bill Biehler [00:00:57] Fort Leonard Wood. I trained heavy weapons infantry. That's why I said I was lucky I got where I did.
Bill Feis [00:01:05] Yeah, I imagine so.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:01:07] Do you remember anything specific from your training?
Bill Biehler [00:01:10] Oh, yeah, from my training? Well, we always-- you go to Korea, you set up in an area, have a bunch of tents that you lived in. They're squad tents usually 10, 12 men. The MPs had their tents, and we were in the motor pool, so they had to dress up, you know, look flashy. We in the motor pool looked like mechanics, and we kept-- kept gas there. So they [unintelligible] the gas and oil for the vehicles. And also overhauled or repaired any-- what we had was a whole bunch of Jeeps. Not a whole bunch, we had barely enough, but they were made in World War-- they were World War II Jeeps 'cuz they come out of Japan and they weren't [in] very good shape. So, you know, we fixed 'em up, painted 'em up and did all kinds of things. And they had a frame that went over the back axle. It usually broke right in the middle and we had a torch, an acetylene torch, and I welded a lot of those. Just keep the thing going.
Bill Feis [00:02:29] Did you-- did you go-- were you in Korea for a period of time?
Bill Biehler [00:02:35] Nine months--
Bill Feis [00:02:37] Nine months--
Bill Biehler [00:02:37] Ten months, I think.
Bill Feis [00:02:38] Was that 1951?
Bill Biehler [00:02:41] '51, '52.
Bill Feis [00:02:44] And you worked the motor pool-- [crosstalk]
Bill Biehler [00:02:47] Yeah, the whole time. I-- I can give you a little story on getting there, if you want'a.
Bill Feis [00:02:55] I would love to hear it.
Bill Biehler [00:02:56] Well, we left the states and went by train from Fort Leonard Wood to-- well, we caught a bus there but anyhow-- out of Kansas City we took a troop train all the way to California. Camp Stoneman, California by the south route. Took us three days. [laughs] Anyway, we finally got to Camp Stoneman, and then we set there for two weeks waitin' for orders to leave. Well, we got our orders and guess what? It was a United Airlines passenger plane. So we fill it full-- all troops except one guy. And we flew to Japan. Tokyo. [laughs] I-- I don't know [unintelligible] the pilot turned around, "Does anybody want to sit in the co-pilot's seat? He's tired. Wants to sleep." Well, I jumped at the chance, I sat in the co-pilot's seat all the way to Hawaii because Hawaii's our first stop. Well, in those days, you had to fill up with gas then. [That] was a lot of fun.
Bill Feis [00:04:17] Did he let you fly the plane?
Bill Biehler [00:04:19] Well, no, it was on automatic pilot. [laughter] They did have that then. All I could do is look out the window and see the ships going down there. We didn't fly or-- flew about 10,000 feet in those days. It took us all day to get to Wake Island, and I don't know if you ever saw a map. Wake Island [is] just like a boomerang. This is a runway. And this is runway and a little spot on the edge here for [unintelligible]. It was-- there was nothin' there. And we landed there, and the Air Force fed us. [Unintelligible] on the plane and sent us on. So then we landed in Tokyo, and we had to go camp-- [I] forget the name of the camp, but anyway, we spent-- was it two weeks-- processing there. And then we took a train a fast Japanese train. They's pretty good. Even in those days. And we went from the north island to the south island. Sasebo. From Sasebo, we went to Posan. [Unintelligible]. And we got there and they put us on a train. I guess you could call it a train. It was [the] most beat-up train I ever saw. It was a steam engine. The cars had been roughed up, windows-- not all the windows fit. Had a little potbelly stove in the corner where [you could] heat up some food. But anyhow, we took-- that took three days to get up to Seoul. It was only about 500 miles. [laughs] That's how long it took. We finally got to Incheon, it's where we ended up. That was the base for the 24th Division. When we got to Division-- Division rear does all the bookwork. And I still believe there was a kid from San City that I knew that put me in the MPs. Can't prove it. [laughs] But if he did, he did me a heck of a favor. And he saw my MOS [Military Occupational Speciality], which was "mechanic", so instead of being an MP, I ended up as a mechanic, which was great. We had a decent bunch of guys. Some of 'em weren't so nice, but we got along and [I] spent my whole tour of duty with the MPs in Korea. I can tell you a lot of stories about what we did.
Bill Feis [00:07:29] Well, sure. Well, yeah, and I think, you know, you've said quite a bit, and I think we might have some things that-- that we want to ask you about.
Bill Biehler [00:07:37] Yeah, go ahead. That'd be great.
Bill Feis [00:07:39] When you arrived in Korea, what did you know about the war up until that time? And how did you feel when you arrived? Were you scared? Were you excited? Was it a sense of adventure?
Bill Biehler [00:07:49] I wasn't scared. We knew there was a war, but I-- I just didn't pay any attention. I wasn't too shook up about bein' there. And we got on this ol' train-- well, that was-- you could tell it had been in a war because it was [in] so bad shape. And there's little kids along beggin', ya know, every time you stop. Every once in a while, we'd stop because the track was-- they had nasty people who would mess up the track for 'em. [laughs] And we finally-- it took us three days on that old train to get up to Incheon is where we went. We got up there, and they decided that we'd been sittin' on our butts for a month, which really, you count 'em all up-- to a couple of weeks here, a couple of weeks there-- By the time we got there, we had we haven't done anything at all except sit around. So they decided they were gonna get us back in shape. So we [chuckles] set up our pup tents. It's the only time we used a pup tent. [To Zoey] You know what a pup tent is? Well, it's two halves of canvas, they call 'em shelter halves. You carried one, the other guy carried the other half. You put 'em together and hold 'em down like that. That's where you slept. It wasn't very big. You could sleep in it. Well, when we got to Incheon, they didn't have any place to put us, they stuck us out in the middle of a-- oh, I don't know what it was, a big warehouse thing and we slept under-- under our-- we didn't even set up a tent, we just slept under the canvas. And then they-- then they sent us to the-- our unit, 24th Division. And then they said-- they put us in the-- when they went-- that was the headquarters, and they put us in the-- that was four of us, I think, went to the motor pool, which-- I-- I was tickled to death. Yeah. I hadn't seen any fightin' up 'til then. When we got up there, though, we could hear it north of Seoul. That's when the Chinese came in. They chased 'em all the way back to Seoul. You could hear 'em, shootin' and firin' up there. We finally got 'em stopped. They ran out of food, [chuckles] pushed 'em back. So we-- we'd have an area, probably be there a month or two, and then the-- the infantry shoved the Koreans back and then we'd move up. And-- make-- establish another camp. We did that three times, I think.
Bill Feis [00:11:05] And so when you were near-- you were near the front, and you followed the Army as it--
Bill Biehler [00:11:12] Yeah, I tell you-- how you-- we knew it was American. We weren't far from the meds-- medical company, and we knew where they'd been fightin' because all the ambulances come roarin' down, and a-- a helicopter you see-- 'member in the-- lessee the name of the movie-- in that show? Well, we had those. They'd come in and drop a guy off. And we knew we were fightin' up then. But then it'd quiet down. Wouldn't be anything going on for maybe two, three weeks. War is funny. You never know what's going on. You wonder-- sometimes we wonder how we ever won a war. [chuckles] It's like the one that's on now.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:12:05] What was your attitude towards the Chinese?
Bill Biehler [00:12:08] Didn't know 'em. They were-- they were nasty because their-- what they did, they'd take civilians when they were trying to take a hill. They'd take civilians and run 'em in front. No weapons or anything. 'Course we'd shoot all them because it's all-- thought they were the enemy and then they'd [the Chinese soldiers] come in over the top of. Not very nice. So we had to shoot them. We had-- we had one incident that was after-- this war went on for a while. The Chinese-- we actually licked the Chinese. Shoved 'em-- They came south so fast that they ran out of supplies and-- motor sergeant-- one day he was-- he took the Jeep out and he was ridin' around just lookin' over the countryside and he-- [chuckles] this-- this soldier waved him down, had on a Chinese uniform. So he stopped. This guy, Oanna (sp), he was a big Hungar-- Hungarian from Ohio-- he-- he-- nobody else did what he did. I would've shot the guy, but he-- he just stopped. The guy-- he didn't speak English, but he managed to get through to Oanna that he-- he was hungry. And he pointed up in the hills, and he had a whole squad of men up there that were hungry. They didn't have any food. So he lines 'em and takes 'em down-- [chuckles] we had a CIA camp not far from us that interrogated prisoners. He took 'em down there and turned 'em over to the CIA. [laughs] These guys all had guns. Damn fool, he could 'a' got shot and-- Just stories like that.
Bill Feis [00:14:21] Well, what else do you remember from your time there? What-- what sorts of other things do you think about when--
Bill Biehler [00:14:27] Well, you heard of Bed-check Charlie?
Bill Feis [00:14:32] No, I haven't.
Bill Biehler [00:14:34] It was a small airplane and they'd fly over low or not-- not real low, but enough to-- they-- they'd drop a mortar shell. Harassment's what it was. And they hit a few of guys out on the ground. They never got-- never hit us. They never came over us. Of course they-- they'd-- we'd shoot 'em down if we could 'cuz it was a small-like Piper cub airplane is what it was. And then one time we were just out in the yard, and we heard they had Navy planes that were strafing and they would go up and strafe and then come back over us 'cuz we were right behind the front lines. [chuckles] And we heard this one go over and went bang, bang, and smoke come out of his engine. Uh-oh, he's hit. [Unintelligible] airplane goes down. It goes over the hill, and a big puff of smoke comes up. We thought, Oh, my. He'd parachuted out and here's his parachute comin' down, so MPs had to get him back to his ship. He was off on one of the Navy ships. They probably charged him for that airplane, I don't know.
Bill Feis [00:16:09] So after you were there, as it came time, did you know when you were going to leave, when you-- when you got there? Did you know you'd be there nine months or--
Bill Biehler [00:16:18] Yeah, they had a point system. And you had to be there so many months to earn the points, and when you got so many points, four points or something like that, then it was your turn to go back to the States.
Bill Feis [00:16:31] Did you count the days?
Bill Biehler [00:16:33] Oh, kind of. We had R and R one time. That was-- since we were in the MP Company, that was a little different. We had three GIs had killed somebody, killed some civilians, and they had been arrested. And they had to take 'em back to Japan, put 'em in the prison back there. Well, since we were motor pool MPs, we had to take 'em back. So we put 'em out in a fence and stood over 'em with rifles until it got time to go in and we got [unintelligible] where they haul, you know, [unintelligible] wounded. These prisoners, once they're in the air, they couldn't do anything anyway. Once we got them back to Japan, I sure wouldn't want to be one of them. They weren't treated very well.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:17:46] What do you remember about the weather?
Bill Biehler [00:17:49] You live in Iowa? Same weather. Colder than the devil in the wintertime, hot in the summer. Really was. It was almost identical, only we had mountains there. Not very big ones, but-- and valleys. We-- or when we moved someplace, we'd move into these valleys. And it was kinda nasty. It's kind of bad. They'd take a big bulldozer [and] level off all the rice paddies so it was level. So this poor people, we'd have to rebuild them to, you know, to raise rice again. We ruined that country. When I got there, was just like climbing in the moon, you know, everything's shot up and trees are shot up. Wasn't-- wasn't a nice place at all.
Bill Feis [00:18:50] Did you have much contact with South Koreans?
Bill Biehler [00:18:54] Yeah. That's-- that's another story. Well, they-- we hired-- the MP Company hired a lot-- quite a few of 'em. A couple of 'em in the kitchen. And one of them gave haircuts, and see, the MPs had to look nice. So then, we had two mechanics in the motor pool and the one guy, he was-- he was a lazy ass. Conniver. Get away with anything he could. He spoke a little English, that-- that's how he got around. But anyway, the other one, Lee Chun Yung (sp), and he was a great guy. And a heck of a good mechanic. He and I got along just real fine. That's-- I knew those two guys. So that's-- that's-- that's how my Korean [unintelligible].
Bill Feis [00:19:58] You've mentioned that the-- that the country was really shot up. Were there are places you went and did you notice, being from Iowa, did you look at the land and did you-- did you think about how it compared to Iowa?
Bill Biehler [00:20:15] Well, it really didn't compare because it would be mountainous and valleys where we were. And they-- they had crops and stuff in the valleys, but not very big fields, you know. But they certainly had enough to live on. And of course, we shot it all up. It was a mess, and, actually, it was-- kind of-- the mountains ended just about at the 38th Parallel. That's where the fightin' ended, and south of that was fairly level. It was-- we-- we never got into any fights. Oh, they tried to scare us one time because they-- they said they were shootin' artillery, so they-- [chuckles] we had to bury our tent. Ever bury a squad tent? Well, Oanna, the guy from Ohio, was pretty sharp. He got a bunch of Koreans and gave 'em our-- our C-rations they we didn't-- nobody wanted anyway. You know, the candies and-- they had to dig that hole. It didn't take 'em long, four foot deep. So we lived in that for a couple of months. Well, they were still in it when I left.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:22:12] How did you guys entertain yourself while you were--
Bill Biehler [00:22:19] Well, we had Clark Gable come and see us. Oh, that's kind of a story, too. Our MP Company was supposed to transport one of the girls up to the-- where they had their show. And this guy, this guy, his name was Ronnie Pierson (sp). We called him Mabel. He was a character. He-- he was also an alcoholic, but he-- he was funny. And so we designated him to drive the girl up to the front, and he got back, "Well, how'd it go?" "Well, she invited me in, but I didn't go." "You son-of-a--" We called him about every name in the book. [laughter] But we did-- that was, you know, entertainment from the-- what'd they call themselves? Can't even remember now.
Bill Feis [00:23:24] Was it the USO?
Bill Biehler [00:23:26] Oh, yeah, it was the USO.
Bill Feis [00:23:26] Did you get to see Clark Gable? Did you--
Bill Biehler [00:23:31] Yeah. We went up and-- see, Mabel had to stay with this girl.
Bill Feis [00:23:38] Poor guy.
Bill Biehler [00:23:40] Yeah, and he got so drunk one night. This was in the middle of the winter, and he rolled off his-- his-- his-- we were on, you know, just-- you-- you've seen the bend in the fold-up beds and well, he-- he was laying next to the outside of the tent. He [chuckles] rolled off'a that thing and landed in the snow bank outside, in his sleeping bag. We just left him out. [laughter] Figured he'd wake up sometime, ya know? Oh, I did get into a little trouble. [I don't know] whether you'd be interested or not.
Bill Feis [00:24:33] Well, why don't you tell us about it?
Bill Biehler [00:24:33] We had RA, in other words, it was regular army. It was-- he was alcoholic and a mean son-of-a-gun. No sense whatsoever. And playin' poker one night. You know me, I was new at that game and won all night. He got really upset, and he stuck a .45 in my belly. Wanted his money back. [Unintelligible] I gave his money back. The rest of the guys talked him out of shootin' me. [laughs] That's as close as I come to gettin' shot.
Bill Feis [00:25:27] That's close enough.
Bill Biehler [00:25:27] Yeah. [chuckles]
Bill Feis [00:25:31] When you got close to going home, how did that-- how did that feel when-- when you got the-- when you knew you had enough points and--
Bill Feis [00:25:40] Real good, except the only thing wrong with it was in-- it was in February, the latter part of February. And the weather was like it was here. Colder than the devil. We got in a semi truck, you know, if you get stuck, truck here. Anyway, that's what we went down to-- to the air field that was in-- oh, was it Kimpo Airfield? Everyone went down there to get the plane to go home. No, no, we didn't either. I got that wrong. We went to Incheon. We had to get on a ship to go home because we had-- the bay there was so shallow ships couldn't get in. Oh, maybe a couple of miles out, you had to get in a barge. Go out to the ship and get on this ship. That happened to be a Navy ship, and everything went fine there. Only, when we were in that truck goin' south, to this port where this ship would be, which was Incheon. And they-- they were still fightin' up there up north. This plane come whizzin' down right at us, and I thought, Oh, boy, we've had it. It was one of ours. Fortunately, he recognized us before he [laughs] before he let go. That's about as scared as I got.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:27:32] So what happened after you went home?
Bill Biehler [00:27:36] Well, it was true about the Korean vets. Nobody cared. Nobody paid any attention to us. The only good thing was a lot of guys get free college. You know, everyone, the government would send you to college.
Bill Feis [00:27:59] Why do you think that was that Korean War veterans got forgotten? I know the Korean War itself is called "the forgotten war". Why do you-- why do you think that is?
Bill Biehler [00:28:08] Well, just got over the Second World War, they were tired of war, I guess. And this is-- we were a little different because we were drafted. Now, this last war, I think most of 'em were National Guard guys they sent over there, which I thought-- I thought the National Guard is supposed to protect us here, not-- not-- but that's the way it was. Most of the guys were there when we got there were our age. In other words, they were in the 24th Division. 24th was a Hawaiian division, and that was their headquarters. Hawaii, and they were the first ones they sent into Korea. And when they got there, I wasn't in on this one-- they almost lost the island-- lost the war because the Koreans came at 'em, they didn't have nothin', nothin' to stop 'em with. They finally got enough stuff to stop 'em right on-- right on the outskirts of Pusan, I guess. And that's the city-- that's the port city on the bottom end of Korea. So that was-- that was a close one, but they finally got enough stuff to-- I think-- I think probably they did it with air power because we had air power.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:29:40] What was your reaction to the armistice agreement?
Bill Biehler [00:29:45] [Unintelligible] Didn't amount to anything. We still have how many troops over there? Thousand? More 'an that.
Bill Feis [00:29:59] 41,000.
Bill Biehler [00:30:01] Yeah. They're sitting there doin' nothin'. [chuckels] That gets awful boring. [crosstalk] -- train--
Bill Feis [00:30:17] No, go ahead.
Bill Biehler [00:30:18] Well, that's all they did was train.
Bill Feis [00:30:23] Did you write to anybody while you were in the service? Did you? I thought that might be the case.
Bill Biehler [00:30:29] That was my mistake. [laughter] See, she's in checkin-- checkin' on me so, see, I'm going to say anything. Our-- our letters were, well, I tell you my letters were the type that she threw 'em all away.
Bill Feis [00:30:53] Did you write anything? Would the military let you write anything? Would they try to censor the mail--
Bill Biehler [00:30:58] No.
Bill Feis [00:30:58] --to make sure that--
Bill Biehler [00:31:02] No, they didn't censor at all. [You] could write anything you wanted. [chuckles] In fact, at our motor pool, we had a girl, and I think she was in Cleveland or someplace. She was a dancer. Somebody got her name. It was on-- in Stars and Stripes. So we started writing-- this Oanna, character, he was. We started writin' to him-- to her. And we just couldn't wait 'til we got her letter back. Pretty saucy.
Bill Feis [00:31:48] You have some very good stories.
Bill Biehler [00:31:52] Well, I don't know. [I] don't have too many more.
Bill Feis [00:32:01] When you-- and I'm going to-- I'm going to back up just a little bit, just for the last-- [crosstalk]
Bill Biehler [00:32:05] Yeah.
Bill Feis [00:32:06] When you started, and I have to give credit, this is a question, actually, that-- that Zoey had. When the Korean War started and before you were drafted, what did you think about when the war started? Did you did you think it might be another world war that was going to happen? Or how did you feel about it when it-- when it started?
Bill Biehler [00:32:28] Well, I think we pretty much knew it was just a-- I s'ppose-- Truman's-- it was Truman's police action, don't you remem-- Do you remember that? S'pposed to just go over there and shoot the hell out of 'em and come home. Didn't work out that way. None of our wars have since. [chuckles]
Bill Feis [00:32:49] You're right about that.
Bill Biehler [00:32:53] But that's what-- that's what-- you know, that's what everybody thought. 'Course, the 24th Division got sent in there and got the hell-- well the 19th, you know, a division is divided into regiments. The 19th Regiment was almost annihilated in-- in-- in that first go-round. And they did kill a lot of men in that war, almost, almost as many as World War II, and it only lasted two years. And that's-- it's amazing to me this war we're in now [we've] been in it seven years? And it-- it's a totally different war. They hide in holes, why in the Korean War, why, you had two lines and attack each other. Lose a few men and maybe-- maybe take a hill or some damn thing, and that'd be it. Fact [is] we got up to almost North Korea and the Chinese border before-- before the Chinese came in and kicked our ass. Really-- they really-- I talked to a tank driver that drove all-- all day and all night. Froze his feet. He was in-- we were going over to Korea, he was on the ship goin' back. It was very nasty for those fellas. Lost a lot of men on that.
Zoey Reisdorf [00:34:45] Did you ever think that there wasn't going to be an end to the war, that we weren't going to win?
Bill Biehler [00:34:53] Well, when they had their talks, you know, they kept doing it, kept doing it. And you just knew that nothin' would ever come of it. You'd hope it did, but it didn't. MacArthur-- that's when MacArthur-- do you remember? You guys don't remember that probably. MacArthur wanted to go into China. He was going to take on China with an atomic bomb or something. Harry Truman fired him. That's when Captain Harry was a captain in the Army. MacArthur was a general. The captain fired the general. [laughs]
Bill Feis [00:35:41] How did you feel about that when you-- when you heard that Truman had fired MacArthur? What was your feeling on that?
Bill Biehler [00:35:50] Well, of course, we hardly ever knew what-- you know, got really news about what was going on. Thought-- we thought it [was] all right, I think 'cuz we knew MacArthur was gung ho. He's gonna-- he's gonna do anything to make MacArthur look good. We didn't like guys like that.
Bill Feis [00:36:22] Well, last-- we have one more question for you, and it's just kind of a general question. What are you most proud of with your service in the Korean War? What-- what do you think of that gives you the most pride when you think about your service?
Bill Biehler [00:36:42] Well, we managed to stop the North Koreans. And let the South Koreans go back to what they were doing. And their cities, well, Seoul, it was [in] kind of bad shape. But they-- they rebuilt. Their economy's so much better than North Korea, you can't believe it. Maybe, maybe MacArthur is right. [laughs] But then you get in a fight with China, and that wouldn't have been good. 'Cuz I was told one time if [you] shot the Chinese one at a time as they went in the sea, they'd never end. So, didn't need anything like that.
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