FREDERICKTOWN — Drawing out combat veterans to talk about their experiences is sometimes difficult. Korean veteran Chuck Caywood gives only hints of his feelings about fighting the North Korean Army in the summer of 1953. For Caywood, it was a short war, but brutal, as is all combat.
Drafted in the fall of 1952, Caywood, now living in retirement in Fredericktown, was sent to Fort Brickenridge, Ky., for training. He arrived in Korea in May 1953, going straight into an infantry company. During three months of unremitting combat before the truce, he only said he lost friends in many battles.
He does say that night patrols were tough. Comprised of eight to 10 men with a squad leader in charge, Caywood said looking for signs of the enemy “you never know what you will find.”
“That is dangerous,” he said.
Caywood said his units had good leadership. His infantry company had about 200 men and officers, and also about 50 Korean soldiers mixed in with the Americans. He said the Koreans spoke pretty good English — unless they didn’t want to do something, he added with a laugh.
He also said the North Korean soldiers were aggressive fighters.
“Oh, yeah, they would fight,” he said.
Something which he said surprised him was that “the North Koreans knew we were coming,” when they were pressing an attack.
“They welcomed us with loud speakers,” he said.
Caywood was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division when he landed in Korea, a replacement for men killed or wounded in his unit. The bronze star is the nation’s fourth-highest award for heroism; Caywood was awarded two. He does not say what combat actions resulted in the medals. He also has an infantry badge, indicating he has been in combat.
Promotions come fast for a unit in combat where leaders are wounded or killed, and Caywood won a field promotion to Sergeant.
Then, on July 27, 1953, a truce established the demilitarization zone on the 38th parallel. Caywood still had to fill out his year tour in Korea, so he ran the post office for a couple of months, then was assigned as the company clerk. He finally landed the job of running a Post Exchange. He rotated home to Fort Sheridan at Fort Carson, Colo., working in the battalion headquarters for the remainder of his two years of service.
Following his discharge, he worked 48 years in real estate and the auction business until his retirement. Today, he and his wife, Bonita, live in a home overlooking Knox Lake.