Atomic Bomb Explosion
(U.S. Army Photo)

Reason Nuclear Alert in Korea: The reason the unit stood nuclear alert in Korea all those years -- instead of in Japan -- was that there was the Japanese "peace" constitution to contend with -- as well as a vocal protest movement (Zen Gakurin) against nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. According to the NRDC Bulletin, "The United States removed non-nuclear bomb components from Japan in mid-1965, more than a decade after their initial deployment. The precise circumstances of the withdrawal remain classified. During the late 1950s, the Pentagon had hoped to cure the Japanese of their "nuclear allergy" so that they would accept ongoing nuclear weapons storage on their territory. But by 1965, Pentagon officials apparently decided that the allergy was too difficult to cure. In any event, U.S. bombers and warships continued to use bases and port facilities in Japan for routine transit of nuclear weapons, which was permitted in a secret codicil of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty."

On the other hand, the Korean government never raised any arguments against nuclear weapons being stationed on their soil. The reason was that Korean President Syngman Rhee was entirely dependent upon U.S. aid to keep his government afloat. To illustrate how high-handed the U.S. operated in Korea during that time take the fact that the U.S. operated with no SOFA agreement in Korea until 1963. It was a perfect match...the Korean government -- as corrupt as it was -- had its palms greased with American aid. It accepted without protest anything the American military did as its very existence depended upon the good graces of the U.S. The Korean people were too busy scratching out an existence in their devastated country to bother with higher issues like nuclear weapons being on their land. The Koreans did not have an "allergy" to nuclear weapons as the Japanese did ... and may have secretly applauded the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima for their deep-seated hatred of the Japanese colonial days.

The U.S. simply unilaterally ignored Section 13d of the Armistice agreement and introduced the nuclear weapons on Korean soil. After Syngman Rhee was deposed in 1963, the policy of nuclear weapons being on Korean soil continued without protest as the economy was still almost entirely U.S. funded. The defense strategy for called for the early use of nuclear weapons in case of a North Korean breakout -- either from missile or artillery -- and the twelve ROKA and two U.S. divisions in South Korea keyed their defense plans around this. A recently U.S. Government declassified document showed that in 1952, it was realized that the forward positioning of COMPLETE nuclear weapons were essential as "delays bringing the weapons to bear on a target were considered unacceptable in a fluid situation." The document also stated that they realized that there were "political and psychological considerations offered deterence to foreign concurrence." In other words, nobody really wanted the weapons to be stationed on their soil. Psychologically, the Japanese had a distinct "allergy" to the weapons on their soil. (NOTE: Curiously, this same document has a chronology of deployments broken down by country -- in alphabetical order. "South Korea" is not listed...though there are blacked out entries that could possibly be the country.)

Atomic Demolition Munition
20 kilo-ton destruction in a small package
(From "Where Were They" by Norris)

In Korea's Place in the Sun, A Modern History by Bruce Cummins, 1997, (pp478-479) it states, "On January 14, 1957, the NSC Planning Board, at the instruction of President Eisenhower, "prepared an evaluation of four alternative military programs of Korea." A key question was "the kinds of nuclear-capable weapons to be introduced, and the question of storage of nuclear warheads in Korea." In the ensuing six months of discussions, Secretary of State Dulles agreed with the Joint Chiefs of Staff that such weapons should be sent to Korea. There were two problems, however: the armistice agreement and Syngman Rhee. A subparagraph in the agreement (section 13d) barred both sides from introducing new types of weapons into the Korean theater. Radford simply wanted unilaterally to suspend section 13d, since in his view it could not be "interpreted" to allow nuclear weapons. Dulles, ever the legalist, conditioned his support of the JCS proposal on the provision of "publishable evidence confirming Communist violations of the armistice sufficient to justify such action to our allies and before the UN." The problem was that the "publishable evidence" was not satisfactory, because the communist side had not seriously violated section 13d. It had introduced new jet aircraft, but so had the United States, and neither innovation was considered a radical upgrading of capabilities. Nuclear weapons were quite a different matter. This bothered the British, but the United States went ahead in spite of their worries and in June 1957 relieved itself of its section 13d obligations."

It continues (p479), "In January 1958 the United States positioned 280-mm nuclear cannons and Honest John nuclear-tipped missiles in South Korea, and a year later the air force "permanently stationed a squadron of nuclear-tipped Matador cruise missiles in Korea." From Peter Hayes Pacific Powderkeg: American Nuclear Dilemmas in Korea, 1991, (p35) it states, "With a range of 1,100 kilometers, the Matadors were aimed at China and USSR as well as North Korea." By the mid-1960s Korean defense strategy was pinned on routine plans to use nuclear weapons very early in any new war. According to the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, in December 1960, "the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff complete SIOP 62. This war plan called for the launch of more than 3,000 nuclear weapons--including hundreds of hydrogen bombs--to attack in the first few hours of conflict 1,000 separate targets in the Communist bloc."

As a 1967 Pentagon war game script put it, "The twelve ROKA and two U.S. divisions in South Korea had ... keyed their defense plans almost entirely to the early use of nuclear weapons."

Nuclear Alerts at Kunsan: The 3rd Bomb Group in the Far East at Johnson AB in Japan traded in its B-26s for B-57Bs in 1957. It stood nuclear alert in Japan and Korea during the height of the Cold War. The nuclear alert was on a monthly rotational basis between the squadrons of the 3rd BW. (Go to 3rd Bomb Wing (Tactical) at Kunsan AB for details of the nuclear alert at Kunsan AB.) It flew the B-57Bs until 1965.

In August 1958, the 3rd BG started a rotation to Kunsan Air Base (K8) with a squadron-strength detachment to stand nuclear alert. This quick-response nuclear alert that would last until April 1964 when the 3rd BW gave up its nuclear alert tasking and returned to Japan to be deactivated.

Monthly Rotations to Kunsan: Robert W. Koeser of Wheaton, Illinois, at the time a Comm/Nav specialist, contributed his special insights of life on the K-8 "C-Pad" (Contingency Pad) and life in general at Kunsan in 1960-1964. He was assigned to the 3rd A&EMS and it was a hectic period for his work. He wrote, "Yokota had 4 squadrons of '57's, the only air refueling outfit in the Far East (KB-50's of the 421st), an F-86D (later F-102) fighter squadron and a recon outfit. So it was many a time we would arrive back in "Yukata Flats", Japan and off we would go to another island or country within a few days (being a com/nav weenie and being "essential" had its disadvantages...). Hell, I was in Nam in 62 and 63 when we only had a thousand or so GI's in-country total."

Pad-C patch (circa 1962)
(Courtesy Robert W. Koeser)

Patch for Martin B-57B (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Patches: B-Flight Patch (with B-57 as LABS); C-Pad Patch; 8th BS, 5th AF, PACAF, TAC patches (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman) (NOTE: Norman wrote about the B-Flight patch, "There were very few issued, as you can see the bomb is flying the LABS and the A/C is the device. Well, it seemed funny at the time.")

Robert W. Koeser wrote about Kunsan, "After the B-57's arrived from Johnson AB and landed in Yokota we began the tasking for our month long TDY's to Kunsan. I was an Airman 2nd and later 1st 30150 (Aircraft Comm. Maint.) with the 3rd A&EMS (Armament & Electronics Maintenance Squadron). This was in the years 1960 thru 1964. I had been stationed with SAC (let us bow our heads) Stateside so this nuclear alert force business was nothing new to me. Or so I thought"

"Several of us were notified that we would be part of the "load teams" when we arrived in Korea and that, because we were electronics types we had the "intelligence" to handle the situation in addition to our com/nav duties. We went for some training on Yokota, but it was almost totally a security session with emphasis on the two man concept (NO one will ever be near a "special weapon" alone - EVER!!!) and other concerns."

Some times there were high-jinxs of the aircrews to break the monotony. Kiyomi Noriye, SMSgt USAF (ret) of Las Vegas, Nevada wrote, "With the B-57s, I was TDY When we finished our commitment there. On the last sortie there our detachment commander made a LABS run right over the control tower, opened his bomb bay doors and dumped a case load of toilet paper, It was beautiful."

He later wrote, "The info you asked about the 3rd's presence at Kunsan may be of no help to you but when I was with the 3rd O.M.S. and going to Kunsan. Our alert facilities were on C-Pad (I think I sent you a photo of an F-4 parked in front of a then fuel cell maintenance building) that was our alert building/maint, hanger for the B-57s." Kiyo is referring to a photo of his F-4D parked on the C-pad in 1971. The hangar he refers to is still in existence.

Kiyo continued, "I think in those days also, we were one of the few outfits that had tail letterings on the vertical stabilizers and identified the aircrafts as such ie: RD as red delta and so on as far as from a maintenance standpoint. originally the B-57s were painted all black but when I worked on them they were dull gray or natural aluminum with the air force markings with nose dome and vertical tips painted according to which outfit the aircraft belong to. 8th was yellow 13th red 90th blue and our B-57c models were painted with green nose and tail anything else I can be of help or I can remember to confuse the issue let me know. The B-57c? they were used for pilot orientation. training etc. I don't recall ever using them for alert though."

Life on C-pad: Bob continued, "Generally, we flew over on C-124's (The "loose formation of rivets"or "aluminum cloud") or the old C-130A which also carried resupplies for Kunsan along with us maintenance types. Once there we were issued special Pad badges and taken to the Pad which was to be our home for 30 days. "Home" consisted of quonset huts. One latrine quonset, one living quarters quonset, one lounge quonset and outside the fence a chowhall quonset. The latrine and living quarters were larger than normal since they consisted of two quonsets bolted together. The living quarters gave each guy about the equivalent of eight feet of length and about four to five feet of width. Some of that space was taken up by a GI bunk and a wall locker of sorts. Air conditioning was provided by opening the windows and doors and by a oil operated space heater, one to a hut."

"The pad itself was double fenced with an area wide enough for a sentry dog and his handler between the fences. There were earthen revetments covered with PSP (perforated steel planking) for the aircraft and a couple of sheds used during turn-arounds (aircraft coming in or leaving). There was a large yellow circle painted on the concrete within which was the B-57. Outside the yellow circle were yellow lines about four and a half to five feet apart. This was where you were allowed to walk. Step outside the lines or enter the circle and the cabin-fevered sky cops would lay waste to you. And they meant it! I saw crash trucks stopped at the gate while the guards checked ID's while we had pucker factors of 9+ waiting."

"The aircraft and the enlisted guys lived together. In fact, one parking spot had the tip tank of a '57 no less than six feet from the side of the quarters quonset. The officers, all flight crews, lived outside the pad around OP's. Everyday, once in the morning and once in the evening we all got together and performed a preflight and a postflight of the aircraft and the weapon. Even if the aircraft had not been run up that day we performed these inspections."

"A crew of enlisted and officer was assigned to a specific aircraft. They included the crew chief, his assistant, the "A" man for the weapon and the two man air crew. NO ONE got near the aircraft without the "A" man. We were on a schedule of six on and one off for the month. A crew all took the same day off. "Roving" crews were used to fill in for the crews that had days off. Being on a "roving" crew was a pain in the neck, because as you will see knowing which aircraft was yours when the klakson went off was pretty handy information. Especially at O Dark Thirty."

Jack Stoob, a bombadier/navigator with the 3rd Bomb Wing (Tactical) sent some pics of K-8 in 1959 that are terrific examples of what existed on the base at the time.

Bottom of the Mark O-Club

Bus in the O-Club Parking Lot

The Officer's Club was called the "Bottom of the Mark" and basically was the "cleaned up" version of the O-Club in the Korean War. The hand-painted sign in the front of the O-Club building marks the parking spot for the Base Commander. The 9-hole Golf Course is in the rear. The location was the O-Club until the 1990s when the kitchen burned and the facility was not rebuilt. In 2001, the building was renovated and reopened as the West Wind Golf Course. The main entrance is in the same location. Another picture is of the bus in the O-Club parking lot that transported the crews to the C-pad where the unit's B-57s were parked on nuclear alert. The individual in the photo with the crew bus is Jim Young, a nav/bomber in the 8th BS.

Billets for Transient Crews

Ambulance and Quonset Hut Structures

The picture is of the billets for the rotating crews. These were the Squadron Commander billets during the Korean War. The one pictured belonged to the 8th Bomb Squadron (L-NI) Commander and featured the "Wheel House" after-hours bar for the squadron. Another picture which we believe is of the clinic area with the ambulance out front. The Clinic at the time was simply a leftover of the quonset hut buildings from the Korean War. The picture taken by Jack primarily for the trailer shown in the center. The trailer with bench seats was hauled by a weapons carrier and used to transport the pilots and navigators to the aircraft.

6175th ABG HQ Building

The above picture is a classic example of the base in transition. The sign is incomplete...with only "617 th ABG" painted on the sign. According to John Moench's book, the exact date the numerical designator changed is unknown, but the sign indicates it must have been around 1959. The door to the left is the Private Entrance of the Base Commander. The entrance is behind the truck.

The following article is excerpted from 90th Fighter Squadron History -- After Korea. The acknowledgements are extended to former 90th pilots John Schaefer and Vaughan Wells.

After the Korean War

"The Bomb Squadron"

On January 9, 1956 the 90th having been renamed "90th Bombardment Squadron, Tactical", in 1955, started converting to the B-57B Canberra bomber. For the next year and a half, the squadron was a mix of the incoming B-57 and outgoing B-26's they used during the Korean War. They practiced rocket attacks, dive bombing, skip bombing, and strafing, and the over-the-shoulder Low Altitude Bombing System nuclear delivery maneuver at Mito range, northeast of Tokyo and at the Koon-ni range on the west coast of Korea.

1LT John Schaefer outside the Kunsan AB Alert Facility. Note the 90th BS patch on flight suit and red dice embroidered on hat.

They were also tasked with a nuclear alert commitment at Kunsan AB, Korea in case of nuclear war. The following is an excerpt from the autobiography of John Schaefer, Major USAF (Ret), former 90th BS B-57 Pilot.

Initially the entire squadron went to Korea for one month. It was winter; fierce cold and the facilities left a lot to be desired. The "alert building" had a freestanding, kerosene heater to keep it warm but no latrine, just an outhouse in the snow. It was no fun getting up in the middle of the night to use it. Eventually an indoor latrine and showers were installed in the alert building but it was bad for a while.

The routine was one day on alert, one day flying a practice mission to Koon-ni Bomb Range and one day off. When on alert we slept in the alert building, which really was a fair size building. We had a lounge room with reel-to-reel taping equipment, which was very popular. We spent many hours dubbing tapes for personal use and I still have them. We also had a target study room. It was a restricted area, for aircrews only, to study their targets of responsibility. Each crew had one target in China and one in Russia to study, such as routes in and out, target photographs, maps, weather for the day, escape procedures if we went down over land, etc. We spent some of each day on alert in target study.

We had a practice alert every day, sometime during daylight hours, but never knew what time it would be. Some of us were napping, fully dressed in flight clothing and usually with boots on. Others might be playing pool, ping-pong, in target study, etc. When the siren blew we actually did not know if it was a practice or the real thing. We all ran for the hallway to grab our Mae West life jackets and sidearms that were hanging on hooks near the door. The navigators ran into the target study room to get the mission folder we used for target study while the pilots ran outside and got onto a flat trailer with bench seats that were connected to the rear of a weapons carrier. All the while connecting the Mae West and sidearm. The navigators came out with the target folders and did the same thing. That was when the navigators said it was a practice or the real thing. Up to that point the pilot's did not know.


90th BS B-57's on the Alert Pad at Kunsan AB, Korea, 1964.

When everyone was aboard the trailer we were towed about 300 yards to the area the aircraft were parked. The ground crews by now had the canopies pumped open, the battery connected and the engine covers removed. The bomb door was open and the bottom half of the bomb was visible. The trailer was towed slowly down the center of the parked aircraft without stopping. We would jump off while it was in motion as it came abeam our aircraft and we would jump onto the ladder and climb into the seat.

The airplane was already "cocked," meaning the battery switch was "ON" and the throttles in the start position. Prior to the alert, the battery was disconnected but the ground crew connected it when the alert siren sounded. Because the battery switch was on and ready for engine start, as I was getting into the seat I would reach down and hit both engine start switches, which fired the starter cartridges. Then I would settle into the seat, monitoring the engine instruments during the start while the crew chief helped me into the parachute harness. As soon as the engines reached idle speed and hydraulic pressure built up, the bomb door would close. I'd give the signal to pull the chocks and start taxiing to the active runway.

The alert parking area was at mid-field so either way we had about one mile to taxi, which we did at faster than normal taxi speed. As we got to the end of the taxiway we'd pull the inboard engine throttle back to idle (depending on which end of the runway we went to) and make a quick 180-degree turn onto the active runway. Without stopping, both throttles were advanced to full throttle and we started a take-off roll. At 60 knots airspeed we'd throttle back to idle, apply brakes and turn off the runway; returning to the alert pad. Then we parked, "cocked" the aircraft for another alert and returned to the alert building. We were able to get the time down from when the alert siren blew to the last aircraft rolling down the runway, to five minutes.

My thanks to former 90th pilots John Schaefer and Vaughan Wells for their help with this page.

In addition to the B-57s, the F-100Ds of the 39th Air Division shared the space. Lester G. Frazier, an F-100 pilot with the 531st TFS made a comment about the B-57s that were enlightening in that he considered the B-57s carried "primitive" weapons. At that time, the Air Force had already decided to phase out the B-57s and replace them with the F-100Ds. He wrote, "We shared out Alert Pad with B-57's out of Yakota AB, Japan. The B-57's carried the rather primitive MK-7 Atomic weapon in their bomb bay. The B-57 also had four 20-millimeter cannons imbedded in the wings and one day, while working in the cockpit of a B-57, a crew chief pulled the gun trigger. Since the airplane was on jacks, the squat switches, designed to prevent the guns from firing when the weight of the airplane is on the landing gear, did not work and the guns fired. When a B-57 is on jacks, it is distinctly nose low, so the 20 mm rounds impacted the concrete in front of the airplane, some ricocheting into the headlight of a pickup, while a mechanic lounged against the other headlight, and other rounds smashing into the wing of an uploaded B-57 and setting the wing on fire. A navigator, passing by and using his head, grabbed a fire extinguisher and pulled it over to the wing only to find the extinguisher empty when he depressed the spray bar. Other personnel starting to react found serviceable fire extinguishers and were able to put out the fire. I heard the guns fire, but with a building between the B-57 and me, I did not witness the event and had no idea what was going on. However, outside the containment fence, I could see Korean workers running as fast as possible in no particular direction. There was little likelihood of a nuclear explosion, but if the fire had engulfed the weapon, there probably would have been a conventional explosion with release of radiation. A conventional explosion could have easily set up the entire Alert Pad for additional explosions."

Off-duty Routine on C-pad: Later Bob continued, "When we did have our day off it was a blessing just to get out of the quonsets. To this day I hate playing cards, because that is all we did hour after hour. Pinochle and hearts till it came out of your ears. The lounge hut had a couple of old paperbacks and a TV with rabbit ears as I recall which didn't reduce the boredom a lot. Other than going to the chow hall which was only a few feet outside the fence we were in the Pad and stayed there. (The chow hall fare was not all that bad since it was made in the main base chow hall and trucked over to us. Since we weren't manned for KP, local nationals came with the food to serve and keep the place clean. That is until one of the mandatory local national strikes was called. Then they stacked C ration cans in the chow hall and first in got the best. The bread pudding was pretty cool. We would drive a pencil through the center of two of them, after they were out of the cans, and race them. I even got a can of Lucky Strike Greens, only the really old guys will know what I'm talking about there, and when I lit up it was like det cord! But I digress...)."

"Oh, I forgot to mention that we did have movies brought in. The Roadrunner was the favorite as I remember. It was so bad that the guys would watch West Side Story and hardly make comments!"

"Anyway, the day off really was not a full day in the sense that we were off from midnight to midnight. I think, it was more like 16 hours or so. We would get on the Kimchee Express bus and travel a dirt road to town for an OB or two with a charming bar girl to keep us company. When asked where we worked on Kunsan we lied...a bad way to begin a long term love affair I think. That was pretty much it for downtown for us. It was a bit daunting if your day off was in the middle of the week and you were in a foreign town for such a short time, so a lot of us stayed on base and did the golfing, bowling, club or just walked around. The ROKAF had F-86's and a couple of us would wander over to their area (and I could not point it out to you today if you had a gun to my head!) and got permission to look at the old birds. ... Other than that we had no contact with the ROKAF (other than the time a ROKAF F-86 strayed across the parallel and got shot up. For some reason he limped it all the way back to Kunsan and dumped near the runway. We went on FULL alert - I heard they even loaded 50's on T-33's in Japan - until the all clear. Talk about an adrenaline rush!). ... Other than that not much went on during days off. Just not being on the Pad was nice. Getting away from the card games, for me, was the biggest blessing of all."

Later Bob provided some information about the golf course that was now in operation. The course is in the same basic location with the end-of-runway/dearm area right across the street. He wrote, "I remember the golf course well...never had a club in my had and my cute Korean caddy handed me one, I swung that sucker for all I was worth and saw it hook right over the runway into the path of an inbound B-57!!!! I put the club back in the bag, gave her a tip and headed to the Club to do what I did best. Never have had a golf club in my hand since."

Bob parroted an interesting -- but untrue -- rumor that has been rotating around Kunsan for years...and still floats around today. It is the one of the hangar where the American GI's were executed by North Koreans and/or Chicoms and hung up on meat hooks. Nice rumor, but not true. First, there were no GIs stationed at Kunsan in 1950 and all the fighting with U.S. forces was taking place up in Taejon. Second, the ROKAF hangar did not even exist until about 1959. In addition, he mentioned a place called "Marine Hill" which was the rumored site of Marines fighting to the last man on the hill. The truth was that the hill never had any Marines on it. During the North Korean invasion, there were ROK Marines who fought on the Changhang side of the Kumgang river, but no U.S. Marines. During the Korean War, there was a Marine GCI unit, the MCGIS-1 (later redesignated the MACS-1) which was located near the Yellow Sea perimeter. In 1953, it moved to a hill outside the base. Though the tale was untrue, the rumor mills are what make life interesting for GIs -- and now we know that "Big Coyote" (the hill) had another name back then.

Bob continued, "Once in awhile a crew would volunteer to make a burger run to the NCO club. They would take orders for up to 30 burgers, fries and cokes, leave the roving patrol to fill in in case of an alert, and head out. On the way we would ask the sky cops doing sentry duty for their orders too. Into the club we would walk with our Pad-C arm bands and go to the head of any line we wanted (All that power!!!) and order up. The ploy was to order a coke while we waited at the bar. When a couple of sips had been taken the Korean bartender would grab the coke can, put it behind the bar and "freshen" it up a bit. Not too much mind you, but it did bring a smile. When the order was done we would head out once again. One night the flightline bread-truck we were driving suddenly without explanation ended taking us onto the active runway. Kunsan's skycops apparently saw little humor in this and the chase was on. But even with that we did manage to deliver the burgers to our sentry buddies through aerial delivery from the speeding van. We made it to the Pad gate handed them their chow and they let us in. A rather loud argument ensued between the Kunsan cops and our guys as to whose jurisdiction we were under. We heard weapons being cocked (I told you they were a serious lot!) and it became quiet once again."

The mistake of making a wrong turn in the dark would be very easy for someone new to the base as Taxiway Charlie (which leads to the runway) must be crossed to get to the C-pad. If upon coming back, you made the right turn too early, you'd be right on the active runway. Nowadays there are flashing lights and other signals that would prevent this...but this was 1960.

B-57 with Mt. Fuji
(Courtesy Jack Stoob)

Jack Stoob of Arcata, California was a Navigator/Bombadier in the 8th Bomb Squadron (Tactical) from approximately November 1958 to October 1962. He first arrived TDY to Kunsan in Dec 58 and had many opportunities to revisit the Kunsan C-pad because of the monthly rotations circulated between the squadrons.

Jack wrote, "My memory is a bit hazy but actually we were not too bored as I remember. There were running poker and bridge games going on all the time. I was a bridge player; at a tenth of a cent a point. An arriving crew would simply take the place of departing crew members' at either a poker or bridge table. Sometimes played up to sixteen hours a day." He added, "Also, towards the end of my tour a nine hole golf course was made available to us, if I recall correctly."

He wrote, "Our daily routine included going to the officer's club for dinner and a movie. The movie was often interrupted by a loss of power." He later wrote that the name of the club was the "Bottom of the Mark." He went on, "I also recall that the only vegetable available there was lima beans. I still can't stand them." During this time, the local produce was fertilized with "night soil" (human waste) and all of local produce was considered unfit for consumption. As a result, on canned "greens" were authorized.

When asked about his general impressions of Kunsan, he stated, "I don't have any real positive or negative impressions of the base. We were all in the same boat and made the best of having to be there. Because of the comradeship of all there, it didn't seem so bad. Of course, we all would have rather been back with our famlies but such was not the case. In fact, I had to be evacuated back from Kunsan to Johnson/Yokota three different times to be there for the birth of each of our three children. Tough on my wife but such was life at the time."

He added later, "I do recall that early in my tours at Kunsan, we all slept in buildings near the officer's club. I'll be sending a picture of one in the future. In the middle of my stint there the sleeping quarters were on the pad itself. In the same building where the poker and bridge games were on-going. Near the end of my tour a permanent type barracks building(s) were constructed and became our sleeping quarters. These were again near the officer's club. I believe these were built about the same time that the golf course was built."

(Go to 6175th ABG (1958) for photos of the base that Jack contributed. The photos are great in that they capture buildings left from the Korean War that would soon be leveled to make way for modern structures.)

Kunsan AB (K-8) above end-of-runway showing the BOQ area (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Kunsan AB (K-8) above ROKAF Ramp (lower right); main base (middle); BOQ area (upper left). (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

ROKAF F-86s at Kunsan (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Photo of farmer with A-frame (Choge) outside of Kunsan AB (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Norman Hartman said, "The Korean farmer held me up for 5 cigarettes in order to take his photo."

Norman Hartman outside the fence line at the Haje fishing village (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Later Norman wrote in Jan 2007, "As far as the flats, we got a day off and checked out a Ford crew cab from the motor pool and just drove around . ... When I was at K-8 the PAD was a total lock down, and you were there for thirty days. Some times if there was no workload you could get permission to explore the rest of the base and surrounding area. We would check out a truck from the motor pool for our local travels. We just happen to be able to drive out to the flats at low tide and we only did this just one time. On this outing is when I took the photo of the local farmer. On this day we also attracted a group of children , ages of 5 - 12 yrs old. As we walked thru the village they ( the children were chanting in a tune of GIGUM !, GIGUMI ! , GIGUM ! ) It took me a while to finally figure out they were wanting gum ! So me like a dumb shit just happen to have a pack of gum on me and figured at least I could make 10 kid's happy, right ! WRONG ! I gave the youngest one a stick of gum and at that instantly the other kids beat the crap out of this poor young kid. That was it , I shut down the welcome wagon and were outta here. On the way back to the truck the older kids were wanting cigarettes, I asked one of them how old he was , he said 12 yrs old ! I told him you are to young to smoke, at that in a true ( THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY ASS FROM THE COMMIES ) he replied F**K YOU G.I.! Upon hearing that we left Dodge City and never went back in two and a half years."

Contingency Pad flightline. Note the double wire fence to side for alert area. Quonset huts in background for maintenance. (1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Norman wrote, "...this photo I believe is of the" BACK LINE" outside of the PAD. As you stated the huts are maint.to support the activities of the BACK LINE, and a U-2 open air hangar was located there also. The way that the shadow is on the ground tells me the wing tip is pointing WEST and it is around NOON time. The tail of the A/C is pointing south. So the Yellow Sea is to the left, of the left wing tip. The BACK LINE was home of about three B-57's from the 8Th & 13TH BS that were used to keep the flight crew's active. The A/C on the PAD were uploaded and were just waiting for a call. No flight ,except for the real thing. The BACK LINE was also home for some F-100's out of Misawa AFB. GREEN HOUSE IS UNKNOWN TO ME. SORRY !

"When I was there the enlisted quarters were on the south side of the PAD and the Flt. crews quarters for PAD C were just further south from us. Anyone that lived at PAD C knows that the Kero heats always ran out of fuel at 0400 or 0430 and how was going to out wait who, to get more fuel ? Answer ! no one . You laid there waiting to go to the chow hall. I will say one thing,the food at K-8 was the best I ever had while in the service of our country, Wake Islands Chow Hall comes in second.

"Yes , when I was there we did have double fencing with stacks of barb-wire, and at times dogs were in the area. The AP's were squirrely and in one case shot himself, just to get out of Korea and the hot pad. There was a wide red line that you did not walk out of or one of these fall on the sword guys would toast you. The secret word of the day would be Black Bear or it would change daily at times. It could be brown bear, polar bear, grizzly bear I don't know , but you better know what bear it was before you got to your A/C or you are dead.

"I preferred to work at the PAD, to get away from all of the action at Fusa. I wanted to just relax with a nuclear device and smell the roses.

I remember when we were flying over Korea on our way to K-8 on Air America"s C - 46's you could look down from 6 to 8 thousand feet at the ground area and see all the battle damage from years ago, It looked like the Korean War was just over last week.

"When I was there, there was a step mountain ( HILL) called Marine Hill as we called it. and was as I have read in afew articales, and was told , American Airman or other U.S.A. personnal were hung upside down and defiled by the North Korean's.in the hangars that were close by." (SITE NOTE: This is one of the urban legends that has persisted until today. The fact is that the Americans (US Army, 3d Btn 63rd Regiment) departed what was called "Camp Hillenmeyer" in May 1948 and turned the camp over to the Korean Constabulary -- forerunners to the ROK Army. When the North overran Kunsan, there were no Americans -- and no Korean constabulary either. Anyone in power fled south to Mokpo and Pusan.)

Flight from Kunsan to Tachikawa on Air America C-46 with Mt. Fuji off the wingtip (7 Jun 1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Boarding Pass for Tachikawa from Kunsan for Norman Hartman (7 Jun 1963)
(Courtesy Norman Hartman)

Norman Hartman said, "I figured the boarding pass would be of interest. In 61 Air America had the contract to haul are Butts around. It was an adventure in flying those C-46's, one night on the way to K-8 we got caught in a typhoon. We bounced around like a BB in a Pea Can, luckily I got to fly the jump set. The rear of the aircraft smelled like the worse bar I was ever in while in Japan. There is nothing worse then smelling recycled Kerin Beer and Aka Dama Wine." Later he noted, "After all of these years, I just noticed that the a/c number on the boarding pass is the same number that is on the wing of Air America's C-46 enroute from K-8.) (SITE NOTE: In the early 1970s, Kalani O'Sullivan remembers the TDYs to Korea where the troops from Yokota would take along their Akadama wine (much too sweet alcoholic fruit juice) to cut the rot-gut soju that was available in Korea.)

After the End of Nuclear Alert: The rotation continued until April of 1964, when the 3rd BG returned to Yokota to begin the process of inactivation. According to Baugher site, "This would ordinarily have been the end of the service of the B-57B with the USAF, with the 3rd BG being inactivated and all its planes being transferred to the Air National Guard. However, the worsening situation in Indochina led to orders for the 8th and 13th Bomb Squadrons of the 3rd BG to deploy to Clark AFB in the Philippines for possible action in Vietnam. As it happened, this move did not take place until August 5, following the Gulf of Tonkin incident in which North Vietnamese gunboats clashed with US destroyers."

After the deactivation of the 3rd Bombardment Wing, the nuclear commitment at Kunsan was continued by F-100s from the 39th Air Division of Misawa AB, Japan from 1964-1967. It was not until 1968 that 475th TFW Det 1 assumed standing nuclear alert at Kunsan.

Martin B-57 Canberra: