Tag: Camp Red Cloud

Here is the latest from the Stars & Stripes on the closing of Camp Red Cloud:

The Indianhead Division officially moved its headquarters to Camp Humphreys, some 40 miles south of Seoul, last week, becoming the last major command to do so, after the Eighth Army and U.S. Forces Korea. The grand opening of its new headquarters building, which will also be called Freeman Hall, is scheduled for next month.

Camp Red Cloud is on the northwestern edge of Uijeongbu, which was home to the real-life unit that inspired the popular TV show “M.A.S.H.” The base was originally known as Camp Jackson but was renamed in 1957 in honor of Medal of Honor recipient Cpl. Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.

But the shuttering of facilities is only the start of a lengthy transition process, including the capping of utilities and fuel tanks, negotiations over environmental cleanup requirements and other issues related to the status of forces agreement between the two countries.

“It’s estimated that the earliest that CRC will be able to be returned to the [South Korean government] is sometime in January/February 2020 if all of that process goes through and there are no issues,” said Paul Hubbard, the garrison’s lead base-closure analyst.

Hubbard said it has taken between three and 15 years to hand over other bases that have been closed due to disagreements over obligations for environmental cleanup and other issues.

The land will be turned over to the Defense Ministry, but city officials say they’re hoping it will be developed as a security-themed park.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I seriously doubt that Camp Red Cloud will be handed over by 2020 because I really think the anti-US left in South Korea will claim all kinds of environmental pollution like they have done in the past to delay closing vacated US bases and try to get more money out of USFK.  However, their biggest goal this time will be to cause antagonism in the US-ROK alliance.

Here are a couple of prior articles I wrote about Camp Red Cloud that I recommend everyone read if you haven’t already:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2005/05/profile-camp-red-cloud-south-korea/

https://www.rokdrop.net/2012/10/the-true-story-of-how-camp-red-cloud-south-korea-got-its-name/

Soldiers lower the U.S. flag during the closing ceremony for Freeman Hall, the headquarters of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, at Camp Red Cloud in Euijeongbu, north of Seoul, on Oct. 16, 2018, in this photo provided by the division three days later. The unit’s command has been relocated to Camp Humphreys, a sprawling complex about 70 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)

Much like the closing of Yongsan Garrison, Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu is getting closer to closing as well:

Soldiers stood in formation as the garrison’s colors were cased Thursday in a ceremony officials said marked an important step toward closing this Korean War-era base and reducing the U.S. footprint north of Seoul.

The inactivation of Camp Red Cloud, which remains home to the 2nd Infantry Division, was a largely administrative move aimed at consolidating resources as the Army steps up much-delayed plans to move most forces to its new hub in the southern half of the country.

But Col. Brandon Newton, who served for the past two years as the final garrison commander of the area that includes Red Cloud and Camp Casey, stressed the process was well underway.

“The details of the way that we return bases are more complex than just the casing of the colors,” he said in an interview after the ceremony on the parade ground. “We’re certainly on the lead edge of what I would consider the vacating of Camp Red Cloud. Vacating and closing a camp is about a year’s process.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read much more at the link, but according to the article the 2nd Infantry Division headquarters is going to remain at Camp Red Cloud for quite some time due to (drum roll please)……… building delays at Camp Humphreys.  Anyone shocked by that news?

By the way for those wondering how Camp Red Cloud was named I recommend reading the below link:

https://www.rokdrop.net/2012/10/the-true-story-of-how-camp-red-cloud-south-korea-got-its-name/

A Night of Drinking Turns Into Murder

In the early morning hours of Saturday, August 21, 1999 Sergeant First Class Jeanne Balcombe was on duty at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea.  She was a platoon sergeant in the 55th Military Police Company doing what every good Non-commissioned officer does, enforcing standards.  She was conducting checks that night when she saw one of the soldiers in her platoon who appeared to be drunk and was underage to be consuming alcohol.  The soldier had been drinking with the 20-year old, Private First Class Jacob M. Bowley who also a member of her platoon.  The soldiers had been on a four-day pass and SFC Balcombe removed their pass privileges and brought the underage soldier to the Camp Red Cloud medical clinic to have his blood drawn to test for alcohol.

Soldiers getting caught underage drinking in in Korea is very common and there was nothing unusual about this incident until PFC Bowley barged into the medical clinic shortly before 4 A.M. with a gun.  After PFC Bowley had his pass privileges removed by SFC Balcombe his anger boiled over and he was determined to get back at SFC Balcombe.

On the night Balcombe was killed, she caught Bowley and another underage soldier drinking. Balcombe took away a four-day leave pass from Bowley and made the other soldier submit to a blood-alcohol test.

Messer testified that Bowley was angry the pass was taken away that night.  [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 29, 2000]

To exact his revenge he needed a weapon.  Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) Corporal Suh So-so worked as a military policeman in Bowley’s unit and was on duty that night which meant he had his 9mm pistol on him.  Corporal Suh who had no reason to suspect an attack from a member of his unit, was taken by surprise when Bowley approached him and then viciously attacked him.  PFC Bowley left Corporal Suh on the ground badly beaten and then took his sidearm.  Now that he was armed Bowley next headed to the Camp Red Cloud medical clinic to confront SFC Balcombe.

Camp Red Cloud Medical Clinic via Bruce Richards’ webpage.

SFC Balcombe who was unarmed at the time tried to intervene to stop the gunman and in the ensuing confrontation she was shot three times by Bowley to include once in the head killing her.  After the confrontation, Bowley repeatedly said, “She took my pass away!”  Investigators also believed that Bowley was attempting to shoot the soldier having his blood drawn because he told SFC Balcombe that Bowley was the one that provided him with the alcohol.  However, the confrontation SFC Balcombe had with Bowley provided enough time for others in the clinic to flee.

Other witnesses recounted grisly details during the first day of the hearing for Pfc. Jacob Bowley, who pleaded guilty last week to murdering Sgt. 1st Class Jean Balcombe. Balcombe, 33, worked for 1st Platoon, 55th Military Police Company, at Camp Red Cloud.

Capt. Edward McDaniel, officer in charge of the medical clinic, testified that Bowley silently walked into the facility on the morning of Aug. 21. Another soldier asked Bowley what he was doing, McDaniel said.

“Moments later, he reached behind his back and pulled out a weapon,” McDaniel said. “He pointed it in the direction of Sgt. Balcombe and (Sgt.) Huh.

“I was screaming, ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot.’ ”

McDaniel and Sgt. Huh Dong-pil, a Korean soldier assigned to the 168th Medical Battalion, heard three shots. Huh, who said he was within two arms’ lengths of Balcombe, escaped into a nearby room.

“The situation was very bad and dangerous,” Huh said. “I was in a panic.”

Blood seeped under a door in the room where he hid, Huh said. After two more gunshots, he said he heard a “gurgling” sound and Balcombe’s breathing.  [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 26, 2000]

Bowley after the murder fled in a military police Galloper Jeep from Camp Red Cloud.  At the exit gate for the camp he brandished his gun at the gate guard to let him through.  The Galloper was later found parked near the Uijongbu City Hall.  Bowley then made his way via train to the southeastern city of Busan.  Once there he attempted to withdraw cash from an ATM at the Yangjong-dong branch of the Seoul Bank branch in the city.  A Korean national at the bank saw the suspicious looking soldier and reported it to the police.  Bowley a short time later was apprehended by Korean police at 11:40am at the bank.  At the time of his apprehension he was cooperative as he was taken to a police car, but once in the police car he tried to pull out the gun he had concealed in his waistband.  A scuffle with the police ensured and they were able to disarm him.  Even during questioning Bowley was out of control and had to be restrained to his chair by the Korean police.

Stars & Stripes newspaper Aug. 22, 1999.

The Trial

PFC Bowley was charged with murder, aggravated assault, and five other charges after the killing of SFC Balcombe.

Stars & Stripes newspaper Sept. 2, 1999.

As the case went to trial PFC Bowley decided to plead guilty and his defense lawyer asked the judge to show leniency during sentencing blaming drinking caused by the stress of being in Korea for his actions:

During her closing statement, defense attorney Capt. Donna Hansen said
Bowley’s guilty plea showed he had taken responsibility for his actions.
In asking for a 10-year sentence, Hansen said Bowley had the potential
for rehabilitation.

“What Jacob Morgan Bowley did is wrong, but he is not evil,” Hansen
said. “Punishment is a must, but the degree of punishment must be
tempered.”

Heavy drinking and difficult duty in Korea put stress on Bowley, Hansen
said. The murder represented “an aberration to the real Jacob Bowley,”
she said.  [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 31, 2000]

Bowley also took the stand pleading for leniency as well blaming stress and drinking for what he did:

Pfc. Jacob Bowley testified at his sentencing hearing Friday that he wished he could “erase this nightmare” begun when he fatally shot a military policewoman in a fit of rage.

“I wish I could stop the suffering I’ve caused, but there’s no going back,” said Bowley, who pleaded guilty last week to murder in the Aug. 21 shooting of Sgt. 1st Class Jeanne Balcombe, 32, of the 55th Military Police Company at Camp Red Cloud, South Korea.

“All I can do is say that I’m sorry, but that will never be enough.”

Bowley made the statements during unsworn testimony, meaning he could not be questioned by government prosecutors.

Unsworn statements carry less weight in court during deliberations.

Bowley said he wishes he knew why he took a gun into the medical clinic at Red Cloud and shot Balcombe to death. Balcombe belonged to the same unit as Bowley.

“I shot an MP,” Bowley said. “I shot my platoon sergeant. I have to live knowing that I could do something like that.”

Bowley said he had a drinking problem, and alcohol “was pretty much the only way I could find to release (tension).” He said he tried to enroll in a treatment program, but that noncommissioned officers in his company wouldn’t let him. As a result, his drinking continued, Bowley said.

Reading from two prepared statements, Bowley apologized to the slain woman’s husband, Michael Balcombe, who flew from McMinnville, Ore., to attend the sentencing. But Bowley said he felt he could someday become a productive member of society.

“Still, I beg for mercy,” Bowley said to Col. Ronald White, the military judge. “I ask that I have another chance for life. Sir, I ask you to give me that chance.”  [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 29, 2000]

It must have worked because the judge in the case, Colonel Ronald White sentenced Bowley to 56 years in prison, but he was given the possibility of parole after 10-years.  Bowley wanted another chance at life and the possibility of parole left that opportunity out there for him.

Why Did He Do It?

The violence perpetuated by Bowley seemed to be out of character for him if you believe what his friends and family from his hometown in New Hampshire had to say:

Bowley’s father, Freeman Bowley, who lives in Henniker, N.H., told The Associated Press his son was “just a wonderful kid. He loved the Army. He was having a great time.”

“All I’ve heard was there was some kind of altercation at the base where he was at . . . and one person is dead. And it’s not Jacob. And he’s involved in the questioning somehow,” he said.

He said his son has been serving at Camp Red Cloud since November and was planning to go into the criminal justice field after leaving the Army.  [Stars & Stripes – Aug. 24, 1999]

Others in his hometown called him a “teddy bear” and a “gentle giant”:

Other testimony Thursday came from numerous people who knew Bowley from his hometown of Hillsboro, N.H. All said they were shocked to learn of the murder, many describing Bowley as a “teddy bear” and a “gentle giant.”  [Stars & Stripes – Jan. 29, 2000]

Clearly the so called “gentle giant” had some lingering anger management issues that was made worse by the drinking and drugs he was doing while in Korea.  In 2007 while confined at the Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, Bowley wrote a letter that was published by a Buddhist publication called Mindfulness Bell that discusses his anger and substance abuse issues and how Buddhism helped him address these problems:

I was confined in the summer of 1999, twenty years old and more a prisoner of my own deep inner fears than the walls around me. Wrapped up in the great speed of the world, I had been able — with the help of drugs and alcohol — to maintain in my mind an impressive illusion of control. Here in prison the reins were clearly not in my hands; I knew no way to keep up my speed. Forced to stop, or at least slow down, I had to face the bitter truth: my will did not rule the world. This disappointment was too much for me to contend with day after day so I closed my eyes in anger. I would rage against the whole world until it consented to the perpetual gratification of my senses.  [Mindfulness Bell]

You can read the rest at the link, but Bowley in the article said that he would like to become a monk whenever he is released.

The Aftermath

SFC Balcombe was 32 at the time of her early death and left behind a husband Mike Balcombe who was a retired Army NCO and two young daughters.  Her family was living in her home state of Oregon during her one year tour of duty in Korea.  SFC Balcombe was buried in McMinnville, Oregon at the Evergreen Memorial Cemetery.

She was buried with full military honors by an honor guard from Fort Lewis, Washington.  SFC Balcombe had previously served at Fort Lewis and all the soldiers in the honor guard either knew or served with Balcombe there.  Her husband Mike was presented her Soldier’s Medal, the second-highest honor that can be bestowed during peacetime.  The medal was posthumously awarded to SFC Balcombe because of her actions confronting Bowley which allowed other soldiers to escape the medical clinic.  Additionally in front of the Camp Red Cloud medical clinic a marker with a tree was planted in honor of SFC Jeanne Balcombe.  It can still be seen there today.  A final honor for SFC Balcombe was that in 2016 she was inducted into the National Army Museum.

As for Bowley I could not confirm whether or not he was paroled.  However, I was able to find a Jacob M. Bowley that lives in Hillsboro, New Hampshire, that is the same age as the Private Bowley that was incarcerated.

Additionally the Jacob Bowley in the listing is related to a Freeman Bowley.  Freeman Bowley is the name of Private Bowley’s dad as identified in the prior Stars & Stripes article.  So I think it is a pretty safe assumption that Private Bowley has in fact been paroled.  If he has been paroled it seems like pretty light punishment to be in jail for less than 20 years after committing such a horrible murder.  Hopefully he lives the rest of his life trying to atone for taking away a fine NCO from her soldiers and more importantly a wife and mom from her husband and two kids.

Further Reading:

• Officer Down Memorial Page
• MilitaryPolice.com Memorial Page

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha is aboard an Apache helicopter during a visit to the U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Red Cloud in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, on June 25, 2017, the 67th anniversary of the Korean War. (Yonhap)

It looks like some of the silent majority in South Korea have decided to stand up to the currently empowered leftists trying to create a wedge in the US-ROK alliance:

Dozens of South Koreans waved American flags and signs with slogans like “Deploy THAAD immediately” and “Strong ROK-US alliance” during a rally Monday to support the 2nd Infantry Division after several musicians boycotted a recent concert celebrating its centennial.

The municipal government in Uijeongbu organized the June 10 concert at a sports complex in the city, which has long been home to 2ID headquarters at Camp Red Cloud. But several South Korean K-pop bands and other musicians who had been expected to perform either did not show up or declined to play their songs.

The group organizing Monday’s rally, which was held on the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Army garrison, produced a letter addressed to the division’s commander, Maj. Gen. Theodore Martin.

“We, Patriotic Koreans want to deliver our deepest apology about the disruption of the Centennial concert,” the letter read. “We also want to express our sincere appreciation for you and your soldiers’ dedication for the security of the Republic of Korea.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the boycott had to be highly embarrassing to the Uijongbu mayor Ahn Byung-yong who was sitting next to USFK Commander General Vincent Brooks when the cancellations happened.  According to the article the mayor is blaming pro-North Korean leftists and media for causing the cancellation.

The 2nd Infantry Division headquarters will move to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year which means Camp Red Cloud will be closed and redeveloped:

A U.S. military base in Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province will be turned into tourist facilities after U.S. forces there move to Pyeongtaek, the city government said Wednesday.

The U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) stationed at Camp Red Cloud (CRC) is scheduled to be moved to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year in accordance with Seoul and Washington’s plans to relocate the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Pyeongtaek is located 70 kilometers south of the capital.

“We will come up with detailed plans by February 2018 to turn CRC into a tourist complex,” the city said in a release. “Toward that end, we recently commissioned a study to a private, specialized company.”

Once the 628,000 square meters of land are vacated, the city is planning to create a complex in which visitors can learn about Korea’s modern and contemporary history as well as the importance of national security.

The city is also considering using records related to the Korean War, World War II and the Vietnam War, currently stored in a CRC war museum.

After detailed plans are prepared and a feasibility and profitability study is conducted, the city will ask the central government to lead in the construction.

The city expects the envisioned complex will be especially attractive to tourists, together with another cultural complex there whose construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The cultural complex will host a Pororo theme park, featuring the popular animated character, and family hotels as well as YG Entertainment’s YG Global K-Pop Cluster. [Korea Times via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but a history complex and a Pororo Theme Park to me seems like it does not go together very well.  Plus Korea already has so many museums that another one in Uijongbu will not drive tourism to the city.  The government should turn the whole thing into a giant Pororo Theme Park which would drive tourism to Uijongbu and further develop that part of the city.  As it is right now Koreans really don’t have a reason to go to Uijongbu and a Pororo Theme Park would give Korean families a good reason to visit.

Talk about a bunch of hyperbole from the mayor of Uijongbu:

The Uijeongbu mayor boycotted a friendship concert at Camp Red Cloud last week after a 2nd Infantry Division soldier allegedly assaulted a taxi driver.

A second incident further exacerbated simmering resentment among local residents at what they see as a never-ending string of crimes by American soldiers, said a spokesman for Mayor Ahn Byung Yong.

2ID commander Maj. Gen. Thomas Vandal apologized in writing and in a telephone conversation with Ahn. Brig. Gen. Richard Kim, assistant division commander for maneuver, met with the mayor.

The soldier, identified by Uijeongbu police as a sergeant, is suspected of assaulting a taxi driver shortly after midnight on Sept. 2 on a road near the base’s back gate. The driver was taken to a hospital after losing control and running onto a curb. No information on his injuries was available………….

Another soldier was accused of flirting with a 26-year-old South Korean woman around 10 p.m. on Sept. 7 at Hoeryong Station, one stop from Uijeongbu, then shoving her toward a wall………………

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say people can’t step out onto the street at night. But they are nervous, and they are scared (of U.S. soldiers),” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

So two minor drunken incidents involving US soldiers means there is a crime wave and Koreans need to run in fear of every soldier they see?  With thousands of US soldiers stationed and rotating through Korea there is always going to be crime committed by US soldiers just like there is crime committed by Koreans.  Has the mayor eliminated all crime in Uijongbu? You know how many drunken Koreans I have seen on the subway push people?  Heck how many drunk ajushis have gotten into shoving matches just on the sidewalks?  Is the mayor going to grandstand and make an issue of that?

What matters in all of this is how these incidents are dealt with.  There is no doubt that the 2ID leadership takes these incidents very seriously and will comply with the SOFA to have them properly investigated compared to if a Korean gets pushed on the subway by another Korean likely nothing would ever come of it.

(Note: This is a guest posting from ROK Drop reader Steve McGee that served in Korea when the below incident happened.)

It was a normal day on March 6th 1970 and in the evening one of our guys had to pull guard duty at the motor pool at Camp Red Cloud.  The camp is located in the city of Uijongbu, South Korea.  The slicky boys would try to steal parts from the trucks if not the whole truck. It was fenced with barb wire at the top but they would still try. Earl Harms checked out his M-16 and two clips of live ammo that night and headed to the motor pool. Around 10:00pm he came through the barracks and I waved at him as he passed back by on his way out. The next morning we got up and headed for chow. After chow we went to work at the motor pool.

Camp Red Cloud’s main gate in 1966.  Picture from Flickr user Ottmar.

When I got there some people who had arrived early were already talking about not being able to find Earl. The motor pool was the old wood style with bays on one end and offices at the other with an OVM equipment room loft above the offices. The bays were high for the trucks which made the offices and OVM room two story. There were three offices, an outer office, a middle generator office and the tool room and a desk. The loft OVM room is where we stored extra equipment. The tool room had a ladder on the wall that went up to the OVM room. You could also access the OVM room from the bays.  In the outer office we had file cabinets and desk. His M-16 was leaning up against the file cabinets and the clips were laid on top. We started a search for him and some went out to check the grounds. I had a key to the tool room and went back and keyed the door. I sat down for  a minute at the desk and picked up a comic book.

When I sat down I looked up and noticed the sliding wood door to the tool room was slightly open and the light was on. I figured maybe he went up there and was sleeping. I went up the wall mounted ladder and slid the door open. There I found Earl hanging from the end of a rope stark naked. Why he was naked I don’t know. There was a five gallon gas can that was tipped over beside him. His clothes were all piled neatly just a couple of feet from him. His hand behind his back. I have tried over the years to zero in on my memory to see if his hands were tied. I froze in shock. I fell backwards off the ladder and landed smack on my ass. I jumped up and went running out screaming he’s dead, he’s dead. SGT Corey caught me outside and shook and slapped me. I had run by everyone one else as they thought I was nuts.

They took me next door to the other office and left. I remember sitting there watching an ambulance and MP’s rolling into the motor pool. After awhile the ambulance left. The MP’s and people still all over the place when they realized where they left me. They took me to the dispensary where I don’t remember a whole lot of. I remember seeing a doctor then I left with two guys with me. As we walked out the back door there was the ambulance with the back doors open and a black body bag inside. I did not find out until years later when I got my records that they had drugged me up pretty good. I do remember that I had two guys that went with me no matter where I went. To the bathroom even. I called them my shadows. I don’t know how many days after it happened my shadows told me the brass wanted me down at the motor pool. I told them No. They almost carried me down there.

Picture of Camp Red Cloud in 1966. Picture via Flickr user Ottmar.

When we got there we went in the outer office and they sat me in a chair. I remember there were MP’s, some officers and the CID. I should say here that he had just re-enlisted and was married to a Korean national, thus the CID. They started asking me questions and then opened a brief case and took out 8×10 glossy black and white pictures of what I already had burned in my mind. It was him hanging and where they had cut him down. I flipped out again and ran out of the motor pool with my shadows running after me. I never went back there again. I transferred to another unit until I left Korea. Earl was a friend and he drove the 5 ton wrecker and we use to make runs to the different units. I still have pictures of him in our year book. No one ever talked to me about it nor did I get any counseling. I was never told the end results of any investigation. I went on to spend 18 months in Germany with the 8th infantry division motor pool.

Since I got out I never talked to anyone about it. I have had PTSD and back problems from the fall off the ladder for which I am now totally disabled from. back in the early 80′s after joining the VVA and through the first councilor I ever talked to about it, we got my medical records. By chance I found a friend that served with me there. His name was Gerald. He lives just a short way from me. I had to have my wife call him and afterwards she says that he doesn’t know much more than me. He was the second one up the ladder after me and I did not know that. He said that he thought that it had to do with something sexual.  I started posting in the web site, Korean Tour of Duty and ROK Drop  about the incident to see if anyone I served with at that time could tell me more than what I knew.

This last year out of the clear blue I get an e-mail from Earl’s niece. She lives in Nebraska where the family is from and she had read my post as she was looking for answers to.  After several e-mails I told her what I knew. Earl’s mother is still alive and in a nursing home. The family does not believe what the Army report says. The funeral was held and Earl’s Korean wife came over for it. The funeral home director told the family that there were bruises on his body around his shoulders. Debbie ask if it would be alright if her uncle (Earl’s brother) could call me and I said sure. He did and after I told him he just said thanks and hung up. The mother must have a report from the military but she is not sharing it and Debbie is not wanting to ask her for it yet. Only family can get the official report until 60 years after the incident then  it opens to anyone. I was never told if it was suicide, a sexual thing or it was murder. Sure would like to know.

Note: You can read more GI Flashbacks articles by clicking on the below link: 

As I was conducting research of old books about Korea I came upon the memoirs of Lieutenant General Arthur Trudeau who in the 1957 was the I Corps Commanding General in South Korea.

While reading through his memoirs about his time in Korea he provides an extensive and very interesting history of how the naming of Camp Red Cloud in Uijongbu came to be:

Did I tell you the story about the naming of Camp Red Cloud? Well, I think this is worth telling.  My compound there, the corps headquarters, had always been called Jackson Six, which was our telephone exchange.  That seemed to me a rather inadequate name.  I told somebody — my G-1, I guess, or PR officer, whoever it was — to start digging and find some people in this corps who got a Congressional Medal of Honor during combat and let’s name our compound here, our headquarters, for the most worthy.  They came up with several names, and they had a couple of lieutenants.  One of them was the Lieutenant Shea that I mentioned, who had just reported to my division and was killed on Pork Chop Hill.  She was sort of a favorite of mine, because he held the two-mile record at West Point, about 30 seconds faster than I had held it 30 years before.  I had a great feeling for Shea and when I went back home had a review and presented the decoration to his mother.  Shea was one of the names, and there were two or three other lieutenants.  I finally looked this list over and spotted the name of Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud.  I thought that was interesting; what did he do. I got the citation, and Mitchell Red Cloud had done about everything a soldier could do; he charged a bunker and knocked off about 20 of the enemy and finally — even after he was badly wounded, tossed a grenade in a bunker before he died.  So what about Mitchell Red Cloud?  Well, Mitchell Red Cloud’s mother was the daughter of a chief of the Winnebago Indian Tribe.  I said, “Now let’s get hold of all the records we can, and we’ll put in and get this camp named Camp Red Cloud.”  I was thinking of the relationship between a native American and a native Asian.  We did this, and I had a brass plaque made.  I put the brass plaque on a tremendous rock on the more or less flat sloping side in front of I Corps (Group) headquarters, where it is today.  We put it in front, right at our flagpole. On Armed Forces Day, 1957, I decided that we had the authority to redesignate and announce it at the Armed Forces Day meeting.

It was a lovely May day; I had all the Diplomatic Corps, President Rhee and his wife, Ambassador Dowling and his wife, General Decker, I believe, or White — all the Americans.  We had about 150 people that were there for the ceremony and then for lunch at my club, which I had built or greatly extended across the street.  They were sitting there.  General Lemnitzer came over; he was always great because my wife had remained in Tokyo, so he brought her over.  She was sitting in the front row of seats next to Mrs. Rhee.  The President was standing there on one side of this curtain.  I was going to say something about Camp Red Cloud, draw the curtain, and expose this plaque, and then the President was to make some remarks.  This all happened; we pulled the cord and it worked, fortunately, and the brass was there, so I read what the brass plaque said.  Then I said, “How wonderful it is that an American, a native American, an Indian whose ancestors lost their country to us, came over here to fight for the freedom of the native men of Asia.”  I went on and built this one up for a little bit, and emphasized that he gave his life for the freedom of Asian people.  I then turned it over to President Lee.  Well, he said excitedly what a great thing this was.  Mrs. Rhee was getting itchier by the moment because she knew that he frequently went of on tangents, and my wife was keeping her calm, saying, “Never mind everything is going to be alright.”

The President launched into this one.  He said, “Yes American Indians are exactly like Asian people.  I think American Indians came from Asia.”  But then he said, “Why is it that all the time you have American movies over here, you show soldiers and cowboys killing American Indians?  Asian people don’t like to see white men killing American Indians.”  The he said, “Never again will a motion picture be shown in Korea that has the American soldiers or cowboys killing American Indians.”  And they never have, but this doesn’t mean that our compound cannot.  There was quite a “to-do,” Mrs. Rhee was so upset.  I said, “This is nothing.  What he said is true, but this happened more than a hundred years ago.”  Of course to them this could be happening today.  The dates aren’t shown frequently, and they think this is still going on out in the West.  It is bad psychology.

Before I left there to come back to the United States at the end of that year, the end of 1957, I wrote back to G-2 and I said, “Listen, you have got to go out and get me tow of the finest pictures, portraits, grand portraits of American Indian chiefs that you can get for me to present to President Rhee.”  Mrs. Trudeau and I were invited there for dinner at Chung Mu Dae, now the Blue House, with President and Mrs. Rhee.  He presented me with another Korean decoration and then I said, “Your Excellency (or Mr. President), I have a presentation I would like to make to you.”  He said, “Certainly.”  So we went into the next room.  The portraits were on the wall.  I had this all planned with his people bringing him in and then we were going to flip the covers back.  I said, “Mr. President, you remember the day we named the I Corps Headquarters Camp Red Cloud for Mitchell Red Cloud, the American Indian who came to fight for your freedom in Asia?”  He said, “Oh, yes, I remember”.  “Well,” I said, “I want to show you, I want to present to you a pair of portraits of other famous American Indians who are high in our esteem in our country also.”  I’ve forgotten which ones they were, but I presented them to him; he thought it was tremendous.  Goddam it, they looked more like him than he did himself, if he had a headdress on.  It was terrific!

This was a very interesting read and I have to wonder what ever happened to those two portraits?  I wonder if they are still on display in Cheongwadae?

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