Korean War: May Massacre at Chuncheon

[ott351]

jesus! this thread scared the hell out of me. Good thing for your training and be careful! great work!

[Unforgottenwar]

Well, after (carefully) stumbling upon that 60 year old minefield last year, I took a break for a while. I led the Korean EOD up there where I led them to 5 mines (3-M2s, 2-M3s) and they disarmed them and scooped'em up.

SO, after feeling a little more reassured, yet still catiously, I've been hitting the hills again the last couple of weeks with some fascinating finds.

Last week I went up to Bunker Hill once more where I found 3 DP light machinegun pans, well, 2 1/2 actually. The top lid for one pan, another complete pan, empty and sealed shut due to rust, but the first one I found was still in great shape. I was able to remove the bolt and found 30 live rounds still inside.

The interesting thing also is that it seems that after the fighting, U.S. soldiers tossed the pans down the hill, but realizing that they were still functional, one soldier must've taken aim with his garand and put a round through it to disable it!
I even managed to find the slug that went thru it~ so, a cool and interesting time.

As a side note: the live rounds have been turned in to the local police~!

[LUCKYSTRIKE]

Unforgottenwar, Its Great to see you back, I love this thread of your adventures.Youve again made some great finds, thanks for posting I look forward to seeing the results of your next search.
Remain safe and Good Luck.
LUCKYSTRIKE

[Unforgottenwar]

Hey, Thanks Lucky~~

Talk about adventures, that's exactly why I love doing this 'cause everytime it's exactly that, an adventure! I went to a different area of the same battlelines last Friday and found my very first, significant U.S. find so I was stoked! ha~ Found a "True Temper -1945- U.S." machete. Luckily the markings were facedown from the rain/snow so I was able to make'em out.
Ever see that action movie "Machete"? After finding it, I was going around saying, "Call me 'Mach'ete!'" in a hispanic accent... haha

I was quickly passing through so I didn't give the area a good search, so I'm going back tomorrow in the hopes of finding the sheath.

Have a good one!

[dustyr55]

Reminds me of my time in Korea. I got to spend some time at one of our forward detachments in the Ya Wol-San area. Plenty of shrapnel on the surface as well as all types of equipment remnants, ammunition, etc. I wasn't into militaria collecting then (early 80's), wish I had been.

Dusty

[Datrus]

Very nice thread with lots of interesting finds.

I have been working with mines in the army and can tell you a maybe useful thing. When mines a laid on hill sides in areas with heavy rain, they have a tendency to "travel" downwards, because the soil turns to mud. The moving water also help them. So, if you enter an area described above, with one or more mine fields, you can expect a high concentration of mines on the lower parts/bottom of the hillside. A good thing however about old mines is, that the pressure plates/contact points will be somewhat corroded and not function as well as newly laid mines. Take care friend.

Regards, Lars

[Unforgottenwar]

I was stationed here myself, Dusty. I was sent to Chuncheon's Camp Page in the early 90s and I, too, had little appreciation
for the history of the area until now. Yesterday was the 61st anniversary of Battle of the Soyang River (May Massacre) near
Chuncheon. It was a beautiful day so I went and payed my respects and did a bit of hiking. There really isn't much militaria
lying around anymore, but I do come across unique times from time to time. It's been a while since you were here, but Korea
really has changed a lot~!

Thank you for that info Lars! I did come across one M2 that had traveled as you mentioned and had fallen on it's side. I'll attach
a picture if you like. Since they had been in the ground for so long I felt reasonably safe, but if it was a modern minefield...no
way in hades I would be in there.

[Datrus]

My pleasure. I was about to write they could also turn round and so forth, but i thought it was too much "splitting hairs" Please post some pics my friend

Regards, Lars

[Unforgottenwar]

Here you go Lars~

The first is a M2 that had fallen along with the erosion of the hillside. It was completely covered at first though. Then 20 meters from that I found an M3
with the pressure prongs still juuusst sticking above the surface like the first
one I found. This time I managed to keep my shorts clean~~

I found one more M2 another 20 meters away but someone had removed the
pressure prongs years ago and it was right next to the M2. I would post pictures
of the EOD recovering them, but I was only allowed to take pictures on my word
I wouldn't publicly post the pictures~

Pretty wild, isn't it?

[Datrus]

Sure is my friend. "Just another day walking in the minefield".

Regards, Lars