Buck Matthews
A native of Washington, DC, Buck Matthews graduated from Central High School in 1948 and was attending Ohio Wesleyan University when the Korean War broke out.
He enlisted in the United States Air Force in 1950, trained as a ground radio operator, and was assigned to the 18th Communications Squadron in late 1951. He served at both K-10 and K-46, rotating back to the States in late 1952.
Following his discharge from the service in 1954, he spent more than 40 years as a broadcaster, writer, and public speaker.
He worked as a television weather reporter and talk show host for more than 20 years at the NBC affiliate in Grand Rapids, Michigan, before becoming general manager of a Michigan Public Radio station.
He retired in 1995.
You will want to see and hear his previously unpublished photographs and his fascinating recollections of life at Dogpatch during the Korean War.
Dogpatch Recollectons by Buck Matthews
In addition to Morse code, my training had taught me the three basic Air Force tenets:
1 – The Air Force takes care of its own.
2 - If it moves, salute it. If it doesn’t move, pick it up. If you can’t pick it up, paint it.
3 – Illegitimus non carborundum (Don’t let the bastards grind you down.)
“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the tent...Was the odor of fuel oil (the stovepipe was bent).
“…exigencies of the service having been such as to preclude the issuance of competent written orders in advance….”
I never saw it happen, but rumor had it that the Koreans ate dogs. We only half believed it, but that’s enough for GIs.
We did the war as we were trained to do it – happy not to be shot at, also a little guilty. We came into each others lives briefly, then disappeared.
Hiroshima. At first glance, it is difficult to tell that only six years ago, this city was totally obliterated in a matter of seconds by a single mechanism employing the smallest obtainable particle of one element.
I was suddenly filled with regret that I could not bring down a miracle to give them happiness and security again, even while they thronged around me.”
In one of my letters home, I said I thought the main reason for publishing a Pacific edition of Stars and Stripes was to provide us with something to use in the latrine – and I wasn’t talking about reading.
When I was still at K-10, things were still pretty loose militarily.
I still see the hairy knuckles of the cook pouring my ration of water into my aluminum mess cup, and being grateful to get that – even though it wasn’t cold and it was hardly fit to drink.
It isn’t the manner in which they die, but the knowledge that they have ceased to live that strikes me.
In the summer of ’52, while I was at K-46, there were several sightings of strange lights over the end of the runway
A foolhardy Communist pilot drops grenades on sleeping Truckbusters.
My almost sinful romance with the Douglas C-47 Dakota "Gooney Bird."
The river had its day, too. On Saturday night, July 26, 1952, it started to rain and didn't stop until the following Thursday morning. In the first three days of the storm, it rained 15 inches, after which we lost track.
© Copyright 2008 Buck Matthews. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes without permission in writing from the author. Used with permission by BelleAire Press as a tribute to those American servicemen and women who served during the Korean War.