Seventh Infantry Division - Yearbook (South Korea)

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the month of February. The Korean market was com- pleted and formally opened at Camp Casey and a Com- bat Leaders School was organized to provide two weeks of specialist training in Infantry branch skills for grad- uates of the I Corps NCO Academy. The Division also donated 852,977 to the March of Dimes and 542,166 to the Red Cross during the early months of the year. On April 19, the Division entered a formal twenty- week training cycle to prepare for the battalion firing tests. Battalions were rotated from their positions and tested one at a time, supported by a 105 mm artillery battery, a 4.2 mortar platoon, a tank platoon, an engi- neer platoon, an air control platoon and elements from service companies. The months of May and June were highlighted by almost continuous visits from VIPs. On 1 May, the Divi- sion assumed responsibility for conducting the orienta- tion tours of 8th Army installations by personnel of the Far East Air Force and the 7th US Fleet. By 30 June, over 100 Far East Air Force Officers had toured the Division in four two-day trips which included visits to an infantry defensive position, an infantry weapons and firing display and an armor demonstration, an inspection of a Fire Support Coordination Center, a visit to an artillery position and observation of the Air Control Team in action. On 18 May, Major General Edmund B. Sebree as- sumed command of the 7th Infantry Division relieving Major General Lionel C. McGarr, who assumed command of the United States Caribbean Army. The same day, Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson, Under Secretary of the Navy Thomas E. Gates, General John E. Hull, Far Eastern Commander, General Maxwell D. Taylor, 8th Army Commander, and Lt. Gen. Blackshear M. Bryan, I Corps Commander, all visited the Division and attended a briefing. Governor Fine of Pennsylvania, Governor Shivers of Texas and Governor Thornton of Colorado made a visit to the Division and ate dinner with I Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment, and enlisted representatives from their respective states. Throughout this period, the Division continued to assist the Korean people through participation in the Armed Forces Assistance to Korea Program. The ulti- mate goal of the AFAK program was, and still is, to provide assistance to the people of Korea in the rehabili- tation of their country. The Division constructed com- munity-type projects-buildings, schools and stores. As the program expands, more and more material will be AIR FORCE NAVY VISITS Air Force-Navy orientation visit.

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,uf 31 is as. wif? QQ' 5' W ww 'Q' Alfie' -lt One of the proiects of the Armed Forc ,W 0 'Rf' es Assistance to Korea Program. Assistance was given to the Korean people, in the many buildings constructed. :if G2 K- as my g ,gkakgif ,t uf- -im sn- Jrsf' Y X, fi ,, if fi., its Uv 3 553355755 f q I 1.9 2 in J fi rdfiiw 'J at 'f ilig f If px KW 11 X . sion executed the relief of the 25th US Infantry Divi- sion on the MBP. For the remainder of the month, Divi- sion men Worked on improving defensive positions With- in this sector. The Division Band, meanwhile, had returned to the unit after having participated in the lst Marine Division Operation Comeback during which they had played continuously for more than eighteen hours near prison camps at Panmunjon. In February, Operation REDWING saw the transpor- tation of 630 men of the 17th Infantry Regiment from the Camp Hovey area to forward assembly points at MBP Switch. The Division had also absorbed more than 2,000 officers and men from the 45th Division during Partly constructed building for Hope Village. N nmgmmd or f, Jiri is .-

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made available to the troops in Korea for this purpose, based on estimates prepared at the beginning of the pro- gram. We had fourteen projects. We built a two-room primary school, an aid station, a storage shed, school furniture and playground equipment for the kids. We landscaped and stocked a fish breeding pond. And we initiated a farm resettlement program in addition to construction work. In the beginning phase of this proj- ect, 107 South Korean farmers were resetcled and pro- vided with scrap canvas and lumber with which to build temporary housing and were provided with hand tools, plows, oxen, fertilizer and seed rice. By 30 June, 126 acres had been cleared or planted and on that date the 13th Engineer Battalion QCJ assumed the mission of constructing frames for permanent housing for the farmers. The village was named Hope Village by its benefactors-a name which symbolized the newly-won freedom and the prayers for the future of everyone. The Division had come a long way since the cease fire the year before. War memories no longer were as fresh in the minds of the men who had fought the Reds on their terms and won bitter peace. We had made great steps in Winning the hearts and the respect of not only the Korean people, but the whole world. On 4 July, 1954, another colorful chapter was added to the history of the 31st Infantry and the Division. On that day the traditional Shanghai Bowl was returned to the regiment for the first time since the start of the Korean conflict. The bowl had been presented to the regiment at Fort McKinley on 5 July, 1932, by Lt. Col. A. D. Davis, who had served with the regiment when it joined the 4th U. S. Marine Regiment during the Sino-Japanese War. Its mission was to protect the lives and property of Americans in the Yangtze area. For its service the 31st had received the Yangtze battle stream- er, the only battle streamer ever awarded by the Ameri- can government during peace time. The bowl had been purchased in Shanghai along with 66 matching cups, one for each of the regiment's officers. It was purchased to signify the close bonds which had united the officers together during the emergency in China. The Bowl had a glamorous history. When the 31st Regiment had remained at Bataan as the backbone of outnumbered forces in 1941, the Bowl was buried between the mouths of Milinti and Navy tunnels to insure its safety. With it were 65 cups. With the fall of Corregidor, the 31st had been removed from the roll of active units. In September, 1945, Captain Earl E. Short, who had buried the bowl and then been taken prisoner by the Japs, was released from prison camp. His first job was to return to the hiding place and re- cover the Shanghai Bowl and cups. General of the Army George C. Marshall personally dispatched him on the job. Three months later, the Bowl was uncovered by a special team assigned to find it in the shell-torn reaches of the battered island fortress. Now it was returned to the 31st. Near its base was the inscription: Presented to the 31st Infantry by U. S. Army Troops in Shanghai, China, in 1932. But now the 18-inch silver bowl, with the dragon handles supported by Chinese lions, was more than just a symbol of cooperation years ago. It represented the combined efforts of men from all over the world who had fought together against a common enemy.