ARRIVAL AT KUNSAN: The MGCIS-1 was assigned to Kunsan AB (K-8) from Pusan on 18 October 1951 under the command of Lt. Col. William T. Herring. Its job was to handle the Ground Control Intercepts (GCI) to track aircraft in their sector. In any potential enemy aircraft was identified, the job of the MGCIS-1 was to vector UN aircraft to intercept enemy aircraft in the western sectors...especially concentrating on possible air attack from China. In the beginning days of the war in 1951-1952, there was a great fear that Kunsan would come under an air attack from China.

The MGCIS-1 was first situated on the seaward side of the base very close to the sea. Joseph Smuts said, "From conversation with guys that were there prior to the relocation there was only one site talked about on K8 and that north of the East/West runway out toward the western end and a bit before you got your feet wet or muddy in the Yellow Sea." It was located between the rice paddies and the sea -- right on the edge of the Yellow Sea. The sandy soil held very little vegetation and supported stands of scrub pines on both sides of the facilities. The area was directly in line with the current Gas Station near the dearm area. In the aerial photos, the land was built up and accessed from the main base through a road between the rice paddies. It appears that most of the buildings were tin quonset hut structures. There was a cluster of scrub pines to the north and south of the unit buildings. There were roads leading north and south from the site, but these were most likely for perimeter guards.

(NOTE: Though Korean-War.com lists the "MGCIS-1 Ground Control Intercept Sqdn" under "Marine Aviation," the history of the MACS-1 of MCAS Yuma (on the internet in 1999) noted the unit only coming as far as Pusan after the Marines' "tactical withdrawal" from North Korea. (Marines NEVER "retreat" but instead have "retrograde movements.") In the MACS-1 history, there was no mention of K-8 at Kunsan. We have no explanation for this incongruity. The MACS-1 (MCAS Yuma) is now behind the ".mil" domain "firewall" preventing further civilian access. We have attempted to contact the unit through the Leatherneck Museum and the Delta Detachment MACS-1 at MCAS Miramar without result.)

F-84 Parking ramp (1952) (Courtesy John Locke) The photo is looking north towards the main base with the Yellow Sea to the left. Between the F-84 parking area and the scrub pines were rice paddies. There were buildings on both sides of the scrub pines in the background. We believe the MGCIS-1 buildings (not shown in this photo) were on the right of the scrub pines.

Aerial view of Base (1952) (Courtesy Hans Petermann) The photo was taken through haze and had to be enhanced to bring out details. The orientation is the north to the left and south to the right. The runway is towards the right side of the picture. In the center of the photo are the parallel roads of the Officers BOQ area. The bottom of the photo is the mudflats on the Yellow Sea shoreline. To the lower right directly on the shoreline is the area for the MGCIS-1. (The scrub pines shown in the picture above are out of view to the right in this picture.) There were rice fields between the site and the main base -- as well as to the north of the site. The built-up road entered main base in an area near the Army tent city of the 808th EAB. This photo shows this connecting road to the main base.

The MGCIS-1 was assigned to Kunsan AB (K-8) from Pusan on 18 October 1951 under the command of Lt. Col. William T. Herring. However, from October 1951 through February 1954, there were ten commanders of the MGCIS-1. The commanders seemed to rotate in-and-out more-or-less on a monthly basis. It seems that the position was a means to "fill the ground command square" for flying officers. The commanders with the longest duration were Maj Fred A Steele (28 Mar 52 - 16 Aug 52); Lt Col. Wallace G. Wethe (15 Oct 1952 - 2 Feb 1953); and Lt. Col. Howard Brown (23 Jun 53 - 17 Dec 53).

Dennis B. Lowe wrote, "My father is retired USMC 1st Sgt John G. Lowe. During the Korean conflict he was assigned to US Mar GCIS-1 from August 1951 to Sept 1952. He was the squadron Sgt Maj for the squadron at the time and helped set it up near Kunsan in Nov 1951 on the peninsula north or north east of the air base. His memory is still excellent for someone 79 years old, especially considering more than 50 years have passed. ... We are currently working with Lt Christopher Hill in documenting some of these items. ..."

"Right now, we are creating a map of the camp including all the perimeter machine gun pits and security bunkers, the operations center, administration buildings (chow hall, shower, squadron HQ, etc), and barracks. We are doing this for the period the camp was in transition from sand dunes and scrub grass, to when he left in '52. The map we have so far is in very good shape with extensive detail, but should have some second check for accuracy. This is, after all, all done from memory. ..."

"Based upon my father's memory, and your map, it appears the squadron was located on the small promontory due north of the air base on the north west corner of the Kunsan peninsula. There was a road not fully shown on your map, except as a dead end, which continued north nearly to the Yellow Sea shore before turning west into the camp. ...'

"... his descriptions of some of the equipment and problems they experienced may lead us to determine what was going on. For example, the squadron not only provided ground control support for fighter missions, but also provided return route control for bomber groups. Apparently, the position of the camp on the Yellow Sea, and some of the experimental hardware they were using provided excellent communication with units on bombing missions all the way to the Yalu river. His description of one of the antennas installed in mid 1952 indicates a UHF dipole antenna with a ceramic coating to preclude corrosion from the salt air. The unit was also used for periodic cryptographic intelligence as the China coast was directly across the sea. As a result, there was some quasi-friendly word play between the Chinese and US."

The following are the recollections of John G. Lowe dealing with initially setting up the MGCIS-1 locations at Kunsan, as dictated to his son, Dennis B. Lowe. Sgt Lowe's story begins after most of MGCIS-1 had regrouped at Pusan after the debacle in North Korea of '50-51 resulting in X Corps and 8th Army falling back across the 38th Parallel. Parts of the MGCIS-1 remained at Cheju-do Island and in the Naktong delta. The main unit had set up on Changsan Mountain overlooking K-9 Airfield (Pusan East) and Pusan Harbor. The unit was there from 3 Mar 1951 - 17 Oct 1951.

"Once the allied armies had fought their way to the outskirts of Seoul, HQ decided to place MGCIS-1 at Kunsan. Most of the unit remaining after the first winter in Korea (about 60-80 officers and men) arrived in early November (10th???) 1951. Master Sgt John G. Lowe arrived the next day from Japan as Squadron Sgt Major (Marine air squadrons called the senior Enlisted person the Sgt Major, even though this was best described as similar to a ground units First Sgt).

At this time there was nothing. The planned camp was on a peninsula about 8 miles by road from the USAF base at Kunsan. In a direct line, it was maybe 5 miles. Between the mainland and the camp were extensive rice paddies, perhaps 5 miles deep and 3 miles wide, providing an excellent field of fire from possible attack. The soil was sand, with very little vegetation, not even grass. There were perhaps 5 scrub pine located in the area.

Master Sgt Lowe arrived in Kunsan in a WWII TBF (Torpedo Fighter Bomber, the USN still used the TBF as a light carrier capable scout, recon, observation unit. Something of a puddle jumper). With the personnel he had forwarded from Japan, this brought the unit strength to approximately 6 officers, and 175 enlisted men.

There had been snow within the previous 3-5 days, making the ground wet. This actually helped the initial setup. The first goal was to get basic living conditions for everyone. This meant pup tents to sleep in, and a large wall tent with oil burning stoves as a warmup tent, allowing everyone time to cycle through about every 4-6 hours. The temperatures at this time were about 35-45 degrees F in the day, and 18-25 degrees F at night. The wind was always coming off the yellow sea, only a few hundred yards away. The joke was that it was so cold, more planning went into going to the latrine than setting up the camp. The troops had good cold weather gear, including heavy arctic sleeping bags and inflatable mattresses. Each person was typically dressed in thermal underwear, heavy wool trousers and shirt, fleece lined utility trousers and overshirt, and a heavy arctic parka with gloves and hood. (My dad still has the old parka, which he used in winter operations to the day he retired in 1965, and on a 1998 camping trip to the Alaskan tundra).

The first priority after the basic living conditions was to setup operations. The USAF brought in several truckloads of cement in 80 lb sacks. The Marines, few with any experience in mixing concrete, had to dig out the pit using shovels and muscle for the ops center in the sand almost down to the waterline, a depth of about 8 feet. The cement was then mixed and a floor was poured in the bottom of the pit. As soon as the floor was considered cured (2-3 days), Quonset hut material was received and the operations and control center built in the pit. Immediately afterwards, the electronics equipment including radar, radios, and other equipment was brought in. Several pieces were damaged in shipment, but intensive effort by the technical Master Sgts Wataaja, Vesey, and Dye got the equipment running. The squadron was considered fully operational, if not fully defensible soon after Thanksgiving (perhaps as late as December 10, 1951).

Three concerted efforts then went underway. First was to make the camp defensible. An area approximately 200 yards on a side of a three sided obtuse triangle was laid out, rifle pits, foxholes and concertina wire set down. A platoon of ROK consisting of 4 ROK officers and 45 enlisted personnel arrived and maintained external security. The Marines maintained internal security, and were in fact, ordered to keep the ROK personnel out of the camp. Second was to add some comforts for the Marine personnel. This included receiving pyramid tents and stealing ¾" plywood from the USAF (the USAF turned a blind eye to things like this, knowing the living conditions the Marines were in). 2" x 4" lumber was used to frame the tents to add rigidity and strength. The leftover cement was used to lay a floor for the mess hall and showers, which were built from corrugated steel butler buildings obtained from the Air Force. The third priority was to harden the ops and control center using sandbags. This meant filling enough sandbags and oil drums with loose sand to completely cover the 25' x 60' Quonset hut. One story Master Sgt Lowe tells is watching the young Marines trying to fill the sandbags with a shovel the hard way - lifting each shovel full of sand into the mouth of the sand bag. Master Sgt Lowe, standing there holding his hot coffee could stand it no longer. He put down his cup, and taking a shovel from one Marine, he demonstrated the proper, quick, and easy way of filling a sandbag by laying the bag down on its side and scooping the sand in. Watching this in amazement, one young Marine asked how the Sgt Major knew how to do this. Master Sgt Lowe's response was "I wasn't always a Master Sergeant" made the troops realize their top sergeant had already been there.

All these efforts at improving the camp were assisted by approximately 18 local Koreans led by a young (about 20) man whose identification went on the payroll as Stanley Parke (real name unknown). He was considered extremely bright, with some college, and was instrumental in getting the camp quickly in shape.

Unit security was headed by Master Sgt Lowe, aided by Staff Sgt Robert D. Thatcher from San Diego, who also had double duty as the motor transport head EM (From my father's description, everything was centered on the GCI operations, and anyone without duty in Ops apparently had more than one job). Midnight requisitions were led by Staff Sgt Basil McNulty, who died in Albuquerque, NM in about 1995. Facilities and support engineering (maintenance, construction, water purification, lighting, etc) was handled by Staff Sgt "Muddy" Waters.

Living conditions were pretty good by February, 1952, with the pyramid tents, plywood floors, hot "C' rations, and oil stoves in each tent. This was also about the time the butler buildings showed up for the mess hall and showers."

Harry Proudman, then a Captain, USMC Reserve aviator, who had been recalled, was at the MGCIS-1 at K-8 and then was the commander of the MGCIS-1 detachment at Chejudo. He wrote, "Prior to Cheju I was a senior Radar controller at MGCIS 1 in Kunsan and before that an aviator at VMO 6." He added, "Yes when I was there MGCIS 1 was right on the beach and the Yellow sea smelled lousy on a hot day..Anti aircraft guns had the priority of the high ground." He added, "I was recalled to active duty early 1952, received refresher flight training at Willow Grove Naval Air Station in Pennsylvania attended cold weather school in Pickle Meadows, Nevada shipped out to Korea January 1953 via El Toro Calif." He would later go on to command the Detachment at Cheju-do (K-40) with the early warning radar there. Its job was to guide the B-29s from Okinawa and then hand them off to the MGCIS-1 to take them the rest of the way into North Korea. He shared a lot of his photos of K-8 that are shown below. He wrote:

"I did get to know a Colonel Burch (sp?) from the air base next to our facility..He was provost Marshall (The head Cop) and befriended me since I too was acting in that capacity for a bit. We had an incident, Two or three of our Marines were off base one night and were challenged by a couple of Army personnel on guard duty which led to a shooting..I cannot remember the details other than no one was killed or wounded..We put together a Brig from a large shipping container rather than let the Army take them then shipped them to Japan for trial..Sorry but I never heard what happened to them..I did take their photos and had copies but do not know where they are now..

We also had girly sans invading the base selling sex for mpc but they were captured and brought in the next morning to walk up and down in front of the men at open ranks.. Several just about lost their breakfasts..The Pocho's then took them I was told by the Col. as far north as they could get them then kicked off the beat up old bus and left there for the South korean army to do there thing. A couple were already pregnant..Maybe some one else remembers this incident early 1953.. "

Right: Front Gate; Left: Company Street


Right: Mosquito Control through spraying from aircraft; Left: Outdoor Theater - Koeheki Meant Coffee Mill in Korean (NOTE: MGCIS-1 call sign was "CoffeeMill")


Sunsets on Yellow Sea


Right: Col. Brown CO; Major Yarberry exec; Lt.Sanford; Left: Gammon-Flynt-Alberts-Kelly-Coogan-Bremer


Right: Kinsey Scheeser Bremmer Coogan RelaxationTime; Left: MGCIS-1 Officers


Left: Decorations Ceremony by Col Brown; Right: Capt Harry Proudman

Right: Officer's Club and Eddie our Bartender; Left: Officer's Club


Right: Pak, our bartender part time and houseboy; Left: Whiskey John Gammon Oaklahoma Cowboy Back Home


Right: Interior Officer's Club; Left: Eddie -- full-time bartender -- spoke 7 languages; suspected communist

"Eddie" I never really knew first hand that he was a communist agent..He was extremely quiet, a good listener very little conversation and spoke several languages fluently including Chinese and Russian.. It did concern us for a while but alcohol was plentiful and dulled the senses..We all did not know a hell of a lot that was secret as far as I know...


Left: Chu and the COs Houseboy; Right: Kim-Suck-Ho and Hong-Sung-do workers

Squadron Picnic

Right: Woman spinning yarn; Left: Eunjaksa Korean shrine in Kunsan


Right: Fishing Port at Kunsan Harbor; Left: Capt Proudman at Kunsan Harbor


Right: Kunsan Harbor; Left: Japanese fishing boats seized by ROK navy


Left: Kum Gang River at Kunsan; Right: Kunsan City

Mrs. Pak's Orphanage -- Many GI babies

The Marines of MGCIS-1 took their security very seriously at this site. At the time, the equipment was considered "state-of-the-art" for the time -- though a lot of it was WWII vintage. The operations were considered top secret. (NOTE: Joe Smuts disputes the "state-of-the-art" designation for the equipment, but that was the hoopla that the 1954 3rd Bomb Wing Welcome Brochure stated.) Being located directly on the Yellow Sea, the group was vulnerable to a sea assault if it should come. To offset this, John G. Lowe stated that a ROK Army platoon provided outer-rim security for the MGCIS-1 -- with the Marines providing for their own inner-rim security.

Base perimeter east along sea wall (1952-53) (Ron Kunz)

Base perimeter northeast towards MACS-1 hill off-base (1952-53) (Ron Kunz)

Base perimeter northeast towards Sand Hill (1952-53) (Ron Kunz)

Base perimeter north towards quarry (1952-53) (Ron Kunz)

By the time the MACS-1 moved to the hill north of base in 1954, the Marines provided their own security for the hill. By 1954, a ROKAF Security Police unit had replaced the ROK Army guards at Kunsan. However, by 1954, Joe Smuts claims the K-9 dogs was only with the Army on the base. Joe stated, "The only dogs were with the Army on the airbase. I remember stopping by their compound once and watch them train. It was rumored that they had problems with the dogs as they tended to attack Asians. That always seemed logical to me as North/South Koreans all looked alike to the dogs." This is not a racist statement, but rather that the dogs were trained to attack the "enemy"...and any oriental was suspect.

Aerial view (1953) (Courtesy Roy McPherson) (Click on photo to enlarge) The MGCIS-1 is in the lower left-hand corner.

Aerial view of Flightline (1952) (Courtesy Hans Petermann) (Click on photo to enlarge) The MGCIS-1 is in the upper right hand corner.

Herschel (Jim) Cobb was with the MGCIS-1 from 1952-1953 and watched it move off-base. He said he was at K-8 from the Spring of 1953 to the Summer of 1954 as a MGCIS-1 Radar/Radio operator. He stated, "I remember pulling guard duty along the Yellow Sea." He later wrote, "My memories of that long ago time are dim at best. I was a young lad then . Like most were, I enlisted in the Marines not yet 17 years old. I went thru boot camp at MCRD SD March thru June 1952 in Plt. 268. I went to Camp Pendelton D Co. 1st Inf Training Rgt. I was trained as a B.A.R. man."

He continued, "I went to Korea with the 30th Replacement Draft. I thought I was going to a line company. Instead I was sent to K8 to the MGCIS-1. The first thing I remember was a sgt. -- I don't recall his name -- asking me if I could write backwards. Well I said, "Why would I want to do that?" He said, "In order to plot aircraft on the plexiglass board." That was my introduction to Radar Operations. Needless to say I was trained on the job and when I left Korea I was an operations crew chief and a Cpl."

He went on, "Most of the time that I was at Kunsan MGCIS-1 was over by the Yellow Sea. But before I left they moved off-base on top of the hill. I have forgotten most of the lads that I served with. However I do remember a new Sgt Major that came in some time in late 1953. He was old corps, very gungho and an excellent leader. He called all the Jr. NCO's together and lectured us. He said, "Men I expect you all to wear your own stripes. If you can't, turn them in now." He started a basic Marine infantry obstacle course and we had what he called "basic training day" one day each week. This was in addition to our regular duties. All Marines, regardless of any other job they may have, are rifleman."

• Other Units at Kunsan Airbase (1951-1954)
  • 3rd Air Base Group, Headquarters/Photo Lab
  • 3rd AIO Ground Support
  • 3rd Communications Squadron
  • 3rd Maintenance Squadron
  • 3rd Medical Group
  • 3rd Motor Vehicle Squadron
  • 3rd Supply Squadron
  • 5th Motor Transport Squadron
  • 1973rd AACS (Aircraft and Airways Communications Service)
  • 2157th Air Rescue Squadron
  • 76th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion/30th AAA Battalion
  • 77th Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force
  • ROK Air Force Detachment
  • 21st Transportation Port com B/14th Transportation Port com/Det 1 507th Signal Company --Small Army group in Kunsan City that handled the railhead and port facility
  • 808th, 809th, and 841st Engineering Aviation Battalions
  • Marine Air Control Squadron No. 1/Marine Ground Control Intercept Squadron No. 1
    • Page 1: Unit History
    • Page 1: Arrival at Kunsan
    • Page 2: Move Off-Base

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