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This letter was written by a Marine who was with the First Marine Division. He was in Korea at the time he wrote the letter, in 1952. Some excerpts from the letter……….

Well not too much to say as usual. It seems as thought the g**ks have it in for our survey section. We lost another man yesterday. He got a little shrapnel in the chest. Nothing too serious though. It seems as though we just get our instruments set up and they start letting

us have it. The trouble is that they have us so well suneyed?? in that they don't waste any shells to get in on us, so we can't hear any going over us to let us know they are adjusting on us. We can just hear them for about a second and that's all. We had a little more excitement last night than usual. A B-29 had motor trouble and caught fire over the front lines. It crashed by one of our out posts and caused a few casualties......So far we've found 4 of the crew members...... 

This letter was written by a soldier in the 3rd Infantry Division, who was in Changdong Korea, at the time he wrote the letter, in 1952. Some excerpts............

Just a few lines to say I am alright and hope you are the same........I got a very nice hair cut today for 3 cents, tell uncle Nick he will have to come to Korea for a 3 cent hair cut Ha Ha...... 

Written by a sailor serving aboard the USS Mcdermut, during the Korean War, in 1951. From the letter……It’s really been hot over here for the past week. I never sweated so much in all my life. Yesterday and today we were handling stores and ammo. The small arms men handled all the ammo today there were only four of us that carried the small arms aboard. And we worked from 7:30 in the morning till 3 this afternoon. The boxes weighed 67 lbs. apiece and we carried them from back aft all the way up forward. And stowed them in the small arms ammo compartment. It is 3 decks down. Then I went over on the tender and stood in a line one hour for some Gedunk. That is ice cream. And when I cam back I was on a working party handling stores.
I am up on the O-1 deck catching what little breeze there is an writing this letter. I received a letter from you today and was glad to get one after working all morning…….We pull out tomorrow and I am sort of glad. I think I would like to be at sea again for awhile. We don’t have as much work to do. But we don’t get as much sleep. And stand a lot of watches……The ship looks in good shape again. It is all painted and ready to go. I was ashore again yesterday after working hours. Jackson came back and asked me if I wanted any money. He gave me three bucks so I got 1080 yen and went ashore. That is the last liberty in this place. And I don’t care if I never see this place again. All I want to see is the states……..We are docked out in the bay about a mile and as soon as we got close to the shore you can smell it. But I still like to get off the ship when I can……I saw our old Chief today. He is on the Tingey docked right next to us. Every time he see’s me he talks to me……..The latest scuddle butt. We are going to Okinawa, then Formosa, Hong Kong, and I don’t know where else………

Written by a Marine with the 1st Marine Division, during the Korean War, from Korea, in August 1952. It is written on First Marine Division letterhead. From the letter……Well this is the last letter you’ll be getting from me for quite a while. They jumped us up another day and we’re leaving at 3 o’clock tomorrow morning. As soon as I get in the states I’ll give you a phone call. The guys have really been razzing me. About all I do is pace up and down. They say I look like a steam engine for as many cigarettes as I’ve been smoking lately……..I guess those last packages of pepperoni you sent me are lost or one of those clowns in the rear decided he needed it more than I do. I’d like to catch the guy. I’d wring his neck. It looks like we’re going to get the $45.00 a month combat pay. The only artillery men that get it are the ones that have at least 6 days a month under fire……….The “Army is going to start using the flak jackets we use. I suppose they’ll be using our thermo boots this winter too. I guess the marines are the guinea pigs for these new ideas coming out. Those flak jackets are worth their weight in gold. They’ve saved a lot of lives so far…...