HOW IT WAS! KUNSAN AIRBASE OTHER UNITS (1951-1954) 808th - 809th - 841st EAB Page 2 of 2

1952: Repairing the runway

At the height of the Korean Conflict, the runway was in use by three squadrons of 3rd Bomb Wing's B-26s, three squadrons of the 474th Fighter Bomber Wing's F-84s, and the Marine VMF(N)-513 Marine nightfighter aircraft.

The taxiways were tarmac (psp covered with 1 1/2 inches of tar-macadam mix). The F-84 pilots referred to these as "tarholes" in summer. The fully loaded F-84s left ruts in the tarmac. Finally, the abuse of the round-the-clock bombing missions became evident by April 1953. The runway was deteriorating rapidly again. An F-84 pilot from Taegu commented that K-8 was the only place where he ever landed on HALF a runway -- the rollers and graders were in work on the other half.

808th EAB Extending the Runway:

Kunsan AB: 1952-1953 (Click on map to enlarge)

Aerial view (1953) (Courtesy Roy McPherson) (Click on photo to enlarge)

Aerial view of Flightline (1952) (Courtesy Hans Petermann) (Click on map to enlarge)

Runway landing (1952) (Courtesy Hans Petermann) (Click on map to enlarge)

Ted Tollin of Buhl, Minnesota wrote in the Korean War Project site: "Under this Korean War subject, I would like to see the SCARWAF units listed. SCARWAF stands for Special Category Army With Air Force. We were Army troops attached to the Air Force. Usually Aviation Engineer Bn's. My unit was the 808th Engineer Bn at K-8 (Kunsan) Airbase. We kept the Air base up and running." He added later, "I arrived at K8 in January 1952. I remember two EAB's on the base. The 808th and the 809th." Ted wrote (in a letter to Ellie E. Price), "I was drafted in 1951 and after basic and advanced training was sent to Korea. After a boat ride to Yokahama we took a train to Ashiya airbase. Then we flew to Pusan and then up to Suwon. (K13). Then we took an open air jeep ride (boy it was cold) down to Kunsan. This was January of 52. I started out as a cook in H & S Company. I didn't like that and after a few months I asked for a different job and got into a line platoon and drove a dump truck. I liked that a lot better." He continued, "We had a rock crusher going and we would haul gravel to where they were extending the runway. And for awhile I picked up the Garbarge in Bn area and hauled to the garbage dump in Kunsan. I was told that during WWII, K-8 was a Japanese Air base. Anyway I spent all of 1952 at K-8." (Note: The base was built on an island that was reclaimed by the Fuji Company around 1932. The Japanese had a pilot training base at Kunsan between 1938-1945. Go to Kunsan Aerodrome to learn about the Japanese Base.)

But there was evidence of the suffering of the Korean people all around. Ted wrote, "When I drove that truck to the garbage dump one day, we found a little boy there looking for food. He had frost bitten feet. we took into our company and the medics fixed him up. He stayed with us and regained his health. We called him Johnny. I always wondered what happened to him."

Ted continued, "At K-8, The main unit there was made up of WWII B-26 bombers. After awhile the the First Marine Air wing moved in with Jets. Our tents were pretty close to where they parked the jets. Every time the jets cranked up, they damn near would blow our tents down. We didn't see any fighting in our area. I think in 1952, the war was pretty much stabilized." (NOTE: The "B-26 bombers" were the 3rd Bomb Wing and the "First Marine Air Wing" was the VMF(N)-513 "Flying Nightmares".)

He later wrote, "I was thinking about Korea the other day and it came to me that no one mentioned those darn tent stoves we used to heat our tents. Sometimes it would get so cold that the diesel flowing thru the line to the stove would freeze and we would have get up and try and thaw out the line. Anyway that made me think of this poem that was sent to me by a buddy a long time ago. He was an MP in Japan and Korea during the war. He told me this poem appeared in the Pacific Stars and Stripes around 51 or 52. I Can't confirm that and the author is unknown."

CHRISTMAS IN KOREA

It was the night before Christmas and all thru the tent
was the smell of fuel oil (the stove pipe was bent)
The shoe packs were hung by the oil stove with care
In hopes that they'd issue each man a new pair

The weary GI's were sacked out in their beds
and visions of sugar babes danced in their heads
When up on the ridgeline there rose such a clatter
A Chinese machine gun started to chatter
I rushed to my rifle and threw back the bolt
The rest of my bunker mates woke with a jolt:
Outside we could hear our Platoon SGT Kelly A hard little man with a little pot belly

(For the rest of the poem go to Poems and Songs on the Korean War Reference Page.)

The unit had a fairly large inventory of mechanized vehicles from graders to dump trucks to steam rollers with each company having their own motorpool. Roland Reed of Modesto, California , then a Corporal, wrote, "I received my training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri. We were in the 6th army when sent to Korea some were sent to the 808 and some to 809. I was there in 1952-53, and ran the A Co. motor pool. We had to rob parts from worn out trucks, to keep our trucks running." This seems to be the same story with all the units of cannibalizing from other vehicles or units to keep things running. One incident that he remembered was "At the motor pool we received a 12-ton tank retriever. We serviced it for work duties. A lieutenant took it outside the base ran into a "honey wagon." You know what those are? Poop was all over that truck. He never lived that down."

Roland also remembers a lot of planes crashing and exploding around him. He wrote about some F-84 flightline explosions, "One day I was in "A" co. motor pool. They were fueling planes behind us. All at once, fire broke out blowing one plane after another. Parts were flying. We all jumped on a jeep and left promptly. After that they sand bagged between planes."

Another example was when "fighter jets would take off at same time one would take off just ahead of the other. One of the pilots pointed to other pilot..."Fire!" He jumped out and ran. It blew up with a big hole in the runway. I've seen that." This took place at the end of runway near the labor office. Jim Armstrong, a crew chief with the 428th Fighter Bomber Squadron remembered this incident also. He said, "Another explosion I was fairly close to when it happened and was unable to find mentioned was when an F84 fully loaded with fuel and bombs caught fire as it was about to take off. I saw the pilot jump clear of the plane and run away, the crash crew came up to the aircraft and then a bomb exploded. From what I heard, there were several crash crew members killed and injured." The crash crew members were Korean nationals hired by K-8.

Roland remembered some B-26 crashes too. "Some crashed into the water. One bomber landed in the water reservoir." He later wrote, "One crashed in the water reservoir, not the rice paddies. It was close by because I walked over to it after the crash site was cleaned up. One bomber I believe crashed at the end of the runway into the Yellow Sea."

By the fall of 1952, the 808th EAB had moved its operations back to the seaward end of the east-west runway in order to build the new north-south runway. When the 841st arrived from Osan, they were situated on the main base side of the north-south runway construction and would have to drive around the north end of the runway construction to get to the worksite. The U.S. Air Force in Korea states, "Other engineers began work on another 9,000-foot cement-concrete runway at Kunsan Airfield, which would be completed in the autumn of 1953." As the runway was being built in the reclaimed areas of rice fields, there were innumerable problems with drainage and filling the bed with crushed rock.

Company A of the 808th EAB:

Walter Bienieki in front of B-26 Dennis the Menace (Dec 53) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

Company A area in Tent City (Dec 53) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

1953

Building the New North-South Runway:

Stone crusher at quarry operation (Dec 53) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

Concrete paver and finisher on new strip (Dec 53) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

According to Walter R. Bienieki of Chepachet, Rhode Island (of the 808th), vehicular accidents were common sights on the unimproved roads around Kunsan AB. This was especially true during the winter months when the frozen roads became sheets of ice.

Ellie E. Price of Charlotte, N.C. recalls, "I remember seeing an unusual thing when the 841st was building the North/South extension across the rice paddies. One morning a D8 Caterpillar was buried up to the exhaust after being left overnight in the runway extension area. I don't remember how we recovered it except that a tank retriever, winches and much help from other large equipment was used. Large pumps were operated continually during this time for drainage. I suppose that centuries of rice production had occurred in this area and being so close to the sea it's a minor miracle that the extension itself didn't sink." (Note: Actually Kunsan Airbase was built on a reclaimed island back in about 1932. The base itself was built in 1938 after the polders (rice field areas) had been filled in. Thus those rice fields were only about 20 years old.)

This new construction also entailed the relocation of the Marine radar ground control intercept unit, to a hill off-base approximately a mile-and-a-half north. A lot of heavy earth movement was required to "reshape" the hill. The hill was built in levels with the radar at the highest level and the living areas at the lower levels. The MGCIS-1 (Marine Ground Control Intercept Squadron - One) was relocated in February 1954 -- and was renamed the MACS-1 (Marine Air Control Squadron - One). (Go to MACS-1 for more details on this unit.) The photo below was taken from the MACS-1 hill after their relocation. It shows the "Sand Hill" which was the second of two EAB quarries in use. (NOTE: The quarry is still in use, but about half of the hill has disappeared as the materials were used to construct the Kunsan Industrial Complex adjacent to the quarry. The second quarry was closer to the base to the northeast of the North Gate.)

The old concrete runway running east-west became an alternate runway used for emergency landings -- and as an active runway at times. Ellie Price recalls "watching a F84/86 coming in one day on the East/West strip. It was warm and sunny, and as I watched he CRASHED, for some reason. I only saw a terrible plume of black oily smoke going up. Never heard any more about it, or who it was. I also distinctly recall some of those fighters taking off over the yellow sea, which of course would make it the East/West direction."

Working throughout the winter of 1953, the 841st completed the long runway with adjacent taxi strip and parking areas. The 1954 3rd Bomb Wing Welcome Brochure -- under the 841st EAB section -- stated, "We can thank this organization for the large part it played in building our new concrete runway. It came here with its sister organization, the 808th and worked hard throughout the winter to complete the long runway with adjacent taxi strip and parking areas." This new runway pointed in a north-south direction. Craig Hinton a navigator in the 8th Bomb Squadron (L-NI) who flew the B-26s from Kunsan in 1954 recalls this runway as "a North-South runway fairly close to the sea at high tide." Later "improvements" would extend the shore line further out, but the same runway exists till today.

New runway parking ramp looking toward sea (Jan 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)	Dedication new runway (Jan 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

Dedication new runway (Jan 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

C-47 takeoff from new runway (Jan 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

After the runway completion, the 841st EAB was tasked with the upkeep and improvements to the runways as needed. The present runway is in basically the same configuration as it was 50 years ago. Though it has undergone many repairs (especially in recent years with the landing of heavy Korean commercial aircraft and USAF transports), it remains in the same location.

Airfield Diagram (2000) (Courtesy Kunsan AB Airfield Manager) (Click on image to enlarge)

The first elements of the 808th departed in March 1953. Walter R. Bienieki remembers, "We pulled out as a unit and went to Okinawa in March or April 1953." The 808th went first to Kadena, Okinawa to build an officer's golf course and then to Iwo Jima in the fall of 1954 (to upgrade the emergency landing strip as tensions in Formosa heated up). (Note: Ellie Price of the 841st EAB commented later that all the work done on Iwo Jima was wiped out later by a typhoon.) Upon completion of the "new" north-south runway in January 1954, the remainder of the 808th joined its parent unit in March 1954.

Last Day in Korea (Mar 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)	Walter and his truck during pullout (Mar 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)
Tent frame after pullout (Mar 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)	Pullout of Company A (Mar 54) (Courtesy Walter Bienieki)

841st EAB Replaces the 808th EAB:

1954

Ellie Price's Story:

He continued, "I came over on the USS Walker, a merchant marine ship, to Yokohama, then flew from Tachikawa A.B. to Taegu. We then took a steam train up to Taejon and on down to Kunsan. It was quite a ride, all day puffing across the rice paddies, with much evidence of war destruction everywhere. A little Korean girl, about 8 yrs. old was on the train making her living shining shoes, cute as a button. She had a bright personality, would come up and say "Woan booes polish, G I?", "Yeah." "Hokay", then out came the polish and the rag, chika, chika, chika, and the job was done, on to the next G.I.. Who could resist her?"

Ellie commented on the picture above, "I'm sorry that I never knew the names of any of the Korean people I took photos of. The two men in front of the 841st building, (or tent), worked with us in the area and motor pool and we saw them every day. They may have been father and son, but we called them Papa-san and Boy-san. I'm sure that we never gave these men and others as much respect as we should have, although we liked them very much and they did their work well."

"I once bought a new pair of U.S. Army boots from the younger of the two cheaper than I could have bought them at the PX. On the base or in the city, it was surprising what a soldier could get for a carton of cigarettes and a couple of bars of Lux soap. This is probably true of any war-time country. The quality of everything was rated by the numbers, one through ten. Camels, Chesterfields and Phillip Morris brands were a strong "number one," while Kool cigarettes and some cheaper grades of merchandise were "number 'hucking' ten," with strong emphasis on the middle word. (;-)) Once in a while the report would get around that some "slicky slicky" boys were in the area and we'd better watch our cameras and other possessions."

Ellie later wrote, "As mostly draftees, we had only the basic needs supplied but had a great time anyway, at least I did. I still remember how impressed I was at the tremendous amount of work done every day by hard working men receiving the same low pay. The incentive was a sense of duty to the assigned job and a strong American working ethnic. I saw difficult tasks accomplished that I previously would have thought impossible. I once saw a large, shattered flywheel that had been pieced together, jigsaw style, expertly brazed with bronze, then remachined to serviceable condition. One could feel a strong sense of pride in jobs well done and on schedule. I recall seeing a hand painted sign near second echelon motor pool that stated; "The difficult jobs we do immediately, the impossible takes a little longer."

He went on, "Watching men work with heavy equipment was a new experience for me. Korean winters are cold, and heavy diesel equipment had to be warmed up slowly. Small two cylinder "pony" engines, instead of electric starters, were used to start the big dozers back then. The procedure was, "Hand crank the pony engine, (these may have been gasoline powered), with vertical crank, let it warm up for a few minutes, release main engine compression, slowly engage clutch to cranking speed....wait for gauge to show safe oil pressure....reengage compression lever for starting....a low-pitched guttural rumble with lots of white exhaust and another day's work begins." Sometimes on a very cold morning this could take quite a while, but we didn't have to contend with battery problems and burned-out electrical starters."

Ellie continued, "The war had been over for six months and we lived a pretty uneventful life for the most part. One thing happened that was never explained to us. One day our men were issued weapons rather quickly (about May or June) and deployed in a prone position near a rice paddy some distance from camp. After several hours with live ammunition we returned to camp without seeing or hearing anything unusual. I have always wondered if we had a training exercise or something more serious. I was 21 at the time, (66 now), and everything was new and exciting to me. I really think that young men today miss a lot by not being required to serve in our armed forces. The Korean countryside was rather barren and brown at the time with heavily rutted and potholed roads and mostly unpaved streets in Kunsan."

In talking about the life on base as a homesick young GI, Ellie said, "A friend and I purchased a radio together at the PX. The armed forces network sometimes broadcast pretty good music late at night. We loved Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Eddie Fisher, and Frank Sinatra, but our favorite was Joni James, who often signed off with "I'll Be Seeing You." That song, and the soft, intimate way she sang it, often brought tears to our eyes. "I'll see you in the morning sun.....and when the night is blue. I'll be looking at the moon..... but I'll be seeing you." Janet Leigh, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Tony Curtiss, and Gary Cooper were current hit movie stars, and I had never heard of or tasted Pizza or Ravioli."

Korean children in Kunsan (1954) (Click on photo to enlarge) (Courtesy Ellie Price)

Retired farmer in Kunsan (1954) (Click on photo to enlarge) (Courtesy Ellie Price)

After the war was over, supervised visits of Kunsan City were allowed. Ellie wrote, "One summer day, on a trip into Kunsan City, we stopped to watch some type of game being played beside the road. From a distance it looked really strange. Teenage Korean girls were somehow springing high into the air, first one then the other. As we got closer, I was surprised to see it was the same game that my sisters played at home. We called it "Spring-board" or "Jump-board," and these girls were experts at it. A stout plank, about ten feet long and eight inches wide was placed on a center pivot, usually a log a few inches above the ground. To start the action, A girl would stand on one end of the plank while the other jumped very hard on the raised end. This impact would send the first girl flying high into the air, eventually coming down hard to send her companion soaring. These young jumpers were highly skilled and each would be hurled eight to ten feet into the air, coming down at precisely the right spot to keep the action going indefinitely. I have often wondered what this game is officially called and if it is even played anymore." (Note: This is a traditional game for girls called "Naltwigi." It was supposedly started in ancient times when upper-class women were confined to the house and courtyards during the day...and could only go out at night during certain hours. In order to see over the walls during the day, they invented this game. Nowadays this is done by both men and women during traditional holidays like Chusok. Like many other things, the skill of jumping high has been lost as more sophisticated games has attracted the attention of the children.)

Ellie remembers a little of the base life in the more relaxed times after the ceasefire. "Yes they did still have a service club there, across the helicopter landing area from where we were. Also a large PX and other smaller clubs where the Aussies liked to have parties. They invited us to some of them and they were a lot of fun. We were at the extreme exit end of the strip with 841st, not far from where the 808th was and pretty near the Yellow Sea. We lived in 8 man squad tents and rode in a 3/4, (or 2 1/2) ton every morning to the motor pool and had to go completely around the take off end of the strip. Saw lots of those B26 bombers still there and F80 and F84 Sabre Jets."

Ellie said, "In 1954 there were still many antiaircraft guns, trenches and foxholes still there. I wonder if very much fighting actually went on near Kunsan? There was a wing of British Meteor fighter jets with Australian pilots and crews when I was there. They were nice, fun loving guys and the twin engine planes were beautiful." (Go to RAAF No. 77 Squadron for more information on this unit.)"

He continued, "The airman's club to the lower right of the 841st is where the Aussies had one of their memorable parties. Being 20 yrs. old and from a Southern Bible belt area, I'd had almost no experience with alcohol of any kind. Though my folks weren't Baptist, we were definitely influenced by that strict culture. I was taught, like many others, that "beer leads to likker, likker leads to irresponsibility, and irresponsibility leads to broken families". So..."don't mess with that stuff!" Big glasses of iced tea, lemonade, Nehi's, Pepsi's and Cokes, (called "dopes" in those days), were about all we dared to purchase."

"So..... when those fun loving Australians invited us to a big party to show their appreciation for our work, I definitely wasn't prepared for the higher alcohol Japanese beer in huge quantities. I still remember the sound of those steel cans popping as fast as we could empty them, and the queer feeling of my buddies supporting me on that crazy, crooked path back to my tent. With the support, (and much laughter) of my more experienced buddies, I eventually made it, with the whole tent slowly revolving about my head. The next morning on the way to breakfast I saw that many came up a little short, and had peacefully finished the night in various roads and ditches."

After the threat from North Korea diminished, the 841st departed in the fall of 1954. Some of the unit joined the 808th in Iwo Jima, while others went to Okinawa or other units. The remainder departed Kunsan in Jan 1955. John A. Carpinelli wrote on the Korean War Project (2004), "Looking for anyone that was at kunson when we packed up the Battalion to return to the US in Jan 1955 (cold & snow) via Inchon and that 19 hour train ride from Kunson. Reassigned to Beale A.B., then sometime in late 1955 we were redesignated as the 856th EAB, and sometime after my discharge in Oct.1955 the 856th was disbanded and the remaining GI's were sent to other units.I under stand some went to Ft. Hachuca in Arizona."

(NOTE: Coleman Shelley wrote on the Korean War Project (2000): "841st Engineer Aviation Battalion is now the 841st Combat Engineer Battalion (C). US Army Reserve HHC and the Battalion HQ is assigned to Miami, FL. A Co, 841st is assigned to Ft Lauderdale, FL. B Co, 841st is assigned to Orlando, FL C Co, 841st was assigned to West Palm Bch, FL., but relocated to Perrine, FL. C Co, took over the duties of D Co, 841st when the D Co. colors was retired...")

The work of the Engineering Aviation Battalions is still debated today. The paper "The US Air Force in Korea: Problems that Hindered the Effectiveness of Air Power" (by Maj Roger F. Kropf, USAF) states, "The Korean War was the first prolonged experience with the runway requirements of jet aircraft in war. The need for long, reinforced concrete runways resulted in inflexibility in air basing, with major impacts on air operations and requirements for aviation engineers to build and maintain suitable runways. The official USAF history notes, 'In two years of war in Korea no single factor had so seriously handicapped Fifth Air Force operational capabilities as the lack of adequate air facilities.'" Even today this topic is hotly-debated as the USAF is still overdependent on large airbase facilities and lack of adequate engineer units to support a theater war.

EPILOGUE:

SCARWAF

Engineer Infomation Bulletin March 1953, Vol. 1 No.2 Headquarters Aviation Engineer Force, Wolters AFB Texas

"When swift jet fighters or huge bombers take off into Korean skies, or when they land after a mission that makes headlines in the next days news, they do so on stout runways built by men who rarely achieve mention in the public prints. Yet those men and their work are vitally necessary before the warbirds can ever take to the air. The story of their achievements is also a tribute to service cooperation between the Army and the Airforce.

These men are the Aviation Engineers....the men who build and maintain runways, taxiways, parking ramps, drainage systems, buildings, waterlines, roads, and fuel storage tanks that make an airfield a going concern. Most of them are engineers, but some are signal units. All are known as SCARWAF....SPECIAL CATEGORY ARMY with AIRFORCE.

Their story actually begins in 1947 when the Department of the Airforce was established as a separate entity under the National Security Act. The newly constituted Air Force had no engineering units; and the logical result was SCARWAF, Army personnel assigned for special work with the Air Force.

Although this sizeable group of Army personnel performed essential work all over the globe, many newcomers in the service after 1947 apparently never realized this large group existed. Advancement of SCARWAF personnel was administered by the Air Force until July 1951 when promotional control was returned to the Army and the training program was expanded.

Today Aviation Engineer units are organized, manned and given their initial training by the Army. They then go to the Air Force for specialized training, becoming part of the Aviation engineer Force.

The Fifth Air Force's 417th Engineer Aviation Brigade is Headquarters for all Aviation Engineer activities in Korea. Ten Battalions and three Engineer Aviation Groups are serving there. The most outstanding and typical of these is the 811th Engineer Aviation Battalion, first elements of which landed at Inchon just nine days after the invasion of Sept. 15, 1950. Men of that Battalion pitched in immediately and have been hard at work building airstrips ever since.

Their most recent job is considered a CONSTRUCTION MIRACLE of the Korean conflict....a 6,200-foot springboard to MIG Alley, wide enough for two Sabre jets to take off wing to wing, and completed in just twenty-five days!!!! Men of the Battalion claim the elapsed time would have been even less had it not been for the tail end of two typhoons that struck the area, pouring more than six inches of water onto the field. When it wasn't raining the workers sweltered in temperatures over 100 degrees F. mark. The runway is designed to last at least seven years without major repairs. When it is considered that jet fighters land with twice the impact as a four motored piston type transport, that is indeed a long life as runways go.

When Aviation Engineers start a job, they usually spend twenty-four hours a day at it, working under floodlights at night, even foregoing trips to the Company kitchen or messhall. Trucks rush hot food to the men at work.

Sometimes the paving moves ahead so rapidly that the Battalion must borrow extra trucks, and the mechanics must repair their equipment in odd moments snatched from their paving duties. Surveyors work until there is no more light. While completing one-half a runway jets would take off on the other half, only a few yards from the staking or grading or running heavy equipment.

When laying down new strips, the engineers concentrate on completing one half the width in order to make that portion available to the fighters and bombers. Sometimes as in the case of the huge 9,000 foot job, the strips are laid alongside smaller existing strips so that there is no interruption of air activities.

Sometimes the engineers start from scratch to turn a Korean swamp or a jumble of rice paddies into an airfield. At other locations, they rebuild former Korean fields into first class fighter-bomber bases.

The work is never finished. Temporary installations must be replaced with permanent ones. Runways need patching. No sooner had the 811th finished their record breaking runway job than they began work at two airfields on a 4,500 foot asphalt runway job for transport planes, an 1,800 foot taxiway, a huge hanger, and four 3000 barrel fuel tanks and a few radar installations and parking area."

KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea (AFPN) -- More than 900 follow-on forces will call a tent city home at Kunsan Air Base during FOAL EAGLE 2000, which occurs at the end of October, early November.

Kunsan hosts the Air Base Defense portion of FOAL EAGLE, a combined Republic of Korea/U.S. joint field training exercise that occurs throughout the Korean peninsula.

The city will have 85 tents with amenities, including shower and shaving facilities and a recreation tent with televisions and videocassette recorders, Internet-access computers and telephones to call home from.

However, the electricity, water and even the concrete pad the tents are erected on didn't just appear. In fact, the original site resembled a swamp because of heavy rains and typhoons that soaked Kunsan in August and September.

The 8th Civil Engineer Squadron troops have worked long days and countless weekends since the first week in September turning a swampy grass field with puddles of water into a rock-solid foundation for Tent City.

"People don't' see the work we do," said Staff Sgt. Casey Kuhn, 8th CES heavy equipment operator. "All they see when they arrive is a parking lot."

CE troops faced the daunting task of taking the swampy land, displacing water more than 2-feet deep in some spots and pushing gravel into the muddy soil, in some places between 1- to 2-feet deep, Kuhn said. What's more, they could only fill in the layers 6 inches at a time, thereby increasing the overall project completion time because they had to wait for each layer to settle.

"We had to build out in layers from the previous layers each time," he said. Overall, heavy equipment operators laid in more than 6,4 million pounds of large gravel.

More impressive is the site's overall size - 1,000 feet by 150 feet, which doubles the previous tent city site.

Additionally, CE started from scratch as the previous tent foundation no longer existed because contractors building a new aircraft taxiway nearby had to remove it, according to Senior Master Sgt. William Ferenc, 8th CES Heavy Equipment Flight chief.

In addition to the concrete tent pad, heavy equipment operators cut two ditches, one 220 feet long by 2 feet wide for water lines, and another 60 feet long for security forces to lay communications lines.

Ferenc said the scope of the project is impressive under normal circumstances, but add in the excess water from the heavy rains, typhoon recovery and work associated with other projects, the effort became "a heck of a lot larger than the normal scope."

"I am totally impressed and proud of these guys. They took on the tasks even though we could have called in a 'RED HORSE' unit," Ferenc said. "Usually we perform base maintenance. It was a pretty big project for all the equipment operators." RED HORSE units usually come here TDY to perform major construction projects above base support CE work."

"What's more, many of the younger civil engineering troops voluntarily worked extra hours on the project in order to receive training on heavy equipment, such as bulldozer, grater and excavator that they otherwise wouldn't get to operate," Kuhn said.

Although heavy equipment operators excavated to push standing water out, CE's facility maintenance operators worked to bring more water into the site, for showering and shaving that is.

Ensuring tent city residents have basic necessities, such as hot water for showers, facility maintenance operators laid about 60 feet of 2-inch water pipe that will connect to three "Harvest Eagle" bare base shave and shower tents, said Senior Master Sgt. Richard Safonovs, 8th CES Facility Maintenance chief. The water pipe connects the three tents to Kunsan Air Base's water system. Each tent includes 12 stainless steel showerheads and 12 sinks.

"The water pressure will be equivalent to what you get in the base dormitories," Safanovs said. He said the water pressure should be about 20 psi. Water will flow from the base system either through 10,000- or 20,000-gallon storage bladders, or directly to a pump through a boiler to heat the water and then to the tents.

"Having a nice shower is right up there on the basic survival needs, according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs," said Safanovs. "Taking a shower and cleaning up makes people feel better anytime."

But tent city residents would be in the dark without the efforts of still another CE crew, exterior electrics. Electricians ran more than 1,100 feet of electric cable, according to Senior Master Sgt. Brad Bell, 8th CES Exterior Electrics chief.

"Our crews provided a source of power by tapping off the main base electrical line," Bell said.

Electricity, water and a solid foundation for the follow-on forces provides an enormous impact to maintaining morale during the exercise, according to the civil engineer squadron's chief enlisted manager.

"We have to take care of the basics (for the forces) before we take on the mission," said Chief Master Sgt. George Vansteenburg. "If (troops) don't have the basics, then they will not be as enthusiastic to do the job."

Ferenc said he and the CE troops keep in mind the prospective residents who will occupy Tent City when they are working six to seven days a week for FOAL EAGLE.

"I want Tent City to be right for these (forces) who will live here," he said. "I know I wouldn't want to be living and standing in puddles of water."

SCARWAF Engineers
P.O. Box 52
Libertyville, Iowa 52567-0052

NOTE: At the SCARWAF Reunion held in June 2000, James McCoy, President of the SCARWAF Reunion Group (4216 - 65th Street, Des Monies, IA 50322-2814 Phone: 515-276-5354) was kind enough to forward the ROKAF Letter of Appreciation from the 38th Tactical Fighter Group (ROKAF) to the Kunsan AB (K-8) Korean War vets from the 808th/809th/841st on his rolls. His help in honoring these vets was much appreciated.

NOTICE/DISCLAIMER: The content of this page is unofficial and the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of anyone associated with this page or any of those linked from this site. All opinions are those of the writer and are intended for entertainment purposes only. Links to other web pages are provided for convenience and do not, in any way, constitute an endorsement of the linked pages or any commercial or private issues or products presented there. None of this site has been endorsed by the DOD, the Air Force, the 8th Fighter Wing or Mickey Mouse. All Air Force links are publicly accessible through the world-wide web. When eye-witness accounts conflict with OFFICIAL DOD materials, this website opts to lend credence to the people who were there.

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