Germany comes to Korea…

The Hanjin Germany, that is, and she’s carrying your motorcycles to Long Beach.   Every newspaper we received today (and that’s four of them, folks) led with a story about the dockworkers ‘ strike settlement.  Things are looking good as the Germany takes on more cargo in Pusan.

I was based in Korea for all of 1975.  I’d love to go back today just to photograph the place.   It was an awesome adventure for a young man 40 years ago.

I lived on a missile site on the Yellow Sea coastline waiting for the bad guys (we thought they were bad guys back then) to launch from points west.   That little town called Gunsan on Korea’s west coast (actually it’s Kunsan, just like Busan is actually Pusan) was where our Hawk site stood guard.

Here’s a photo of yours truly and my platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant Coleman, from August 1975…

Here’s another interesting photo, and I wish I could remember this kid’s name…

The dog was Demetrius, and he was a killer.   My platoon had a squad of MP sentry dogs, and those things were tough and mean.   They were trained to do two things:   Grab a bad guy by chomping down on his crotch and pulling him down (that was the first thing) and ripping his throat out if he attempted any resistance (that was the second thing).   It’s hard to imagine a dog doing the first without the bad guy resisting, so the story would not end well if you were the dog’s target.   From the Army’s perspective, releasing a sentry dog against a bad guy was an application of deadly force (legally, it was the same as shooting someone).   My platoon had six of these dogs.   The dogs were trained to obey only one handler; when the handler left the Army, his dog had to be destroyed.

This particular dog handler (the guy in the photo above)  was a nice kid who was a photography nut, and in particular, a Nikon enthusiast.  This guy voluntarily extended his stay in Korea because he could buy Nikon lenses for less than they cost in the US.   That made an impression on me.   I was using a little cheap 110 film Minolta (that’s what the two photos above came from).   My dog handler’s photos were professional quality.  It made an impression and the Nikon name stuck in my mind.   It’s why I use Nikon gear today.

Good times back then, folks.    Better times today.