Info on Hisotry Detachments
From: Ed Cochley Email address
Subject: 6th Historical Detachment
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 09:36:06 -0500
The 6th Historical Detachment was one of several such
detachments organized by the Army in 1950 to record actions
during the Korean War. I had been in the Infantry during my
previous service, but had taken typing and shorthand in
business school, 1948-50, and was assigned to this
detachment because of this.
Each detachment consisted of one officer who was a writer in
civilian life, a stenographer/typist, and a jeep driver.
We were organized in Camp Atterbury, IN, shipped to Japan in
Feb., 1950 and assigned to the only part of EUSAK still in
Japan, the 8th Army Historical Section, Yokohama. We were
the first such unit to arrive in Japan. We went through
training, most of which consisted of interviewing wounded in
the Tokyo General Hospital. Our officer, Lt. Wm. D. Magness
did the interviewing. The battle of Chipyong-Ni had just
taken place, and most of the people we interviewed had been
wounded when a convoy had been trapped by the Chinese and
badly mauled. Some of the men we interviewed had been badly
wounded and this was my first actual experience with the
disfugurement of wounds in battle; I remember one young man
who had been hit in the face and had a huge wound diagonally
across his face. I also remember his big smile when he
talked to us.
Being the first such unit overseas, as the other units came
in, we assumed the responsibility of training the new ones
as they arived. We would give them about a weeks training,
then ship them off to Korea. The purpose of each unit was
to go to the reserve areas, and as a comany or regiment
would be pulled off the line, interview them about the
events that occurred while they were on the line and write
this up for the Army History.
With us being the first unit overseas, we spent all our time
in Yokohama training the others.
We were all reserves. We were alerted in July to go to
Korea, but two days after the alert, we all found out that
the reserves were being released from active duty, so as far
as I know, none of the original members of the detachment
ever actually set foot in Korea, although we all received
the US and United Nations Korean War medals, and the Korean
Unit Citation.
With this past year being the 50th anniversary of the war,
my wife and I went to Washington DC to an Elderhostel called
"Memorial Moments". We attended the President's address at
Arlington Cemetery, the Navy Memorial Concert that evening
on Pennsylvania Ave., and the US Army Tattoo on Wednesday
evening. Although I never set foot in Korea, I feel very
attached to that era, and it was just luck of the draw that
I was not more involved. If I hadn't gone to business
college and taken the shorthand and typing courses, I would
probably have found myself back in the Infantry.
The Army Tattoo on Wed. evening in DC was particularly
moving, and I had trouble holding back the tears when they
asked all the Korean War veterans to stand to be honored.
I had also contacted the Military History Division in Ft.
McNair, Washington, and they asked me to visit them, as they
were interested in the formation of the various historical
detachments, so I had an interesting afternoon there, being
interviewed, and reading some of the reports that the 6th
Historical Detachment had written after I left it.
Hope this information is of some help to you. Let me know
if you have any questions.
Ed Cochley
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