I am working on a book about the life of grandfather, Cpl. Mahlon C. Weaver, G. Co. 7th Cav, with a large portion of the story focused on the time he spent serving in Korea (February 1951 - November 1951). I am looking for anyone who may have served alongside him or relatives of those who did. I will give a brief outline of his story below. Please email me if you can add ANYTHING!
Mahlon C. Weaver was drafted into the Army in September 1950 and went through basic at Fort Knox. There are two friends he made here who he mentioned quite a bit in his later life and in his letters to my grandmother at that time: William Wittreich and Jack Turk.
In January of 1951 he was sent to Camp Stonemen where he spent one month before finally being shipped out to Korea on January 30, 1951 at 9:00 pm.
In February 1951 he was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division.
Sometime in March, he became the G Company's runner.
By May, in one of his letters, he says that he became the runner for the 2nd Platoon. At this point, he considered himself very lucky because he had one of the "safer" jobs "compared to the guys that are in the platoons" as the Command Post is usually 500 feet behind the front line elements.
In the middle of July, the 2nd Battalion went to Kaesong with General Ridgeway as honor guards while a peace treaty is discussed. When they weren't on guard duty, he said they had to "be working our area, making sidewalks and driveways and plant trees."
He spent five days in Japan on R&R between August 18 and August 28, 1951. None of his letters say who he was with, just that of the other four men, two were married and two were single. He spent time with the two married men, and, according to my grandfather, they drank a lot of Japanese beer and "it's a wonder we didn't all land in the guard house." **I would love any details anyone can share about this specific group or even general thoughts about what R&R was like in Japan.**
From September on, he was the acting Commo Sgt. for G Company.
On September 27th, he wrote: "Sometime between now and the 5th of October the whole Battalion makes a push to get this high ground just out in front of us. They’re some of our old patrol bases that we were on way back in June, but while we were at Kaesong the 3rd Division took them over and the [Chinese] rank them off. Now it’s up to this Battalion again to get them back.”
After October 1st, he didn't write my grandmother for 10 days. I know now that some of the fiercest battles he saw took place during this time -- notably October 3, 1951 when G Company jumped off to take Hill 418.
Two of his best friends, Robert C. Kayleigh from IA and William Wittreich from OH were among the KIAs that day.
October 10, they returned to Battalion reserve with only 60 men left int he whole company.
My grandfather told a story that, I believe, fell during this time period of October 1 - October 10. He always said it was about a month before he got hit (November 13, 1951). Here's the story as it was recently told to me:
The month before he got hit, they were taking some hill again -- he had no idea for what -- and they were all getting pinned down, running out of ammunition. He and the others thought this was the end. In the middle of the gunfire, a priest in full garb approaches them with a tray for communion. Bullets are flying past as he asks the group: Who wants to take communion? They all did.
On October 24, in reserve, he "lovingly" mentions their Regimental Commander with the name "Ring-mount Dan." I believe with was Colonel Gilmore. Any information that can be shared about him would be appreciated.
On October 26, my grandfather was given a new job: wireman. From then on, whenever they moved to a new place, it would be up to him to get all the lines laid and keep them repaired.
By November 1951, he was close to being rotated out. On November 4, around 11:00pm, when the Chinese broke through the British to G Company's left, they were sent to help them out, but the Commanding Sergeant kept my grandfather behind. He was too close to rotating out.
Unfortunately for my grandfather, rotation slowed down dramatically because 1st Battalion lost over half of their from November 5-10. Any information about the fighting that took place during this time period would be a great help.
This is what sent my grandfather back out again.
On November 13, near Magoria, a 9 man patrol was going out and they had to have a radio man with them to operate the radio. My grandfather was a still a wireman at that time, but the Commo Chief asked him to go, so he went. They were only out about two hours when they walked into a bunch of Chinese mines. 4 were killed, 7 wounded. The South Korean guide in front of my grandfather took the brunt of it and was killed.
**Please share any information you might have about the other men who were part of this patrol**
My grandfather came to for an instant on the pod of a chopper. That was it until he came to in 8055 MASH 5 days later. The doctors there were Milton Weinberg, Easterday, Innis, Burgoyne, Secret, Cuttle, Lucas and others. The nurses: Kiley, Koenig, Lundahl, etc. The commanding officer was Colonel Beeler.
**If any of these medical professionals or their family members can share stories about the 8055 MASH, I would be forever indebted to you.**
