"The Marriage of Helicopters to Minesweepers"

Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy, the naval theater commander for the first two years of the war and the chief of the United Nations Command Truce Delegation Team, upon his departure from the Far East stated (in part): "During the-last ten months of my tour in the Far East I was fortunate, or unfortunate, enough to face our common enemy across the conference table. If there are still those in the Free World who believe that the.enemy can be moved by logic, or that he is susceptible to moral appeal, or that he is wining to act in good faith, those remaining few should immediately disabuse themselves of that notion. It was a mistake to assume, or even hope, that the enemy was capable of acting in good faith. Future textbooks can set down the maxim that the speed with which agree- ment is reached with the Communists varies directly; as the mil-itary pressure applied, and that the worth of any agreement is in proportion to the military strength that you are able and willing to apply to enforce it."

During more recent years, I was a duck hunting buddy of C. Turner Joy Jr. Capt. USNR RET. One day while hunting from a cold steel tank, which was buried in a levee of a rice field near Marysville, California, I asked Turner a question. I asked how come his father was chosen to be the senior United Nations negotiator against the communist delegation at the Korea Truce talks? The "commies" were all Army Generals and it was basically an Army war, so how come a Navy Admiral represented the United Nations? He said that, primarily, his father was chosen because he had done three tours in the Far East. He did not speak Chinese or Korean, but did understand the oriental mind and their type/ or lack of logic. Additionally, he was Commander Naval Forces Far East (COMNAVFE) when the war commenced, and was more knowledgeable than any other senior officer as to what had transpired during the first couple years.

At the beginning of the Korean War there were only two helicopter squadrons in theUS Navy. Helicopter Utility Squadron One (HU-1) was home ported at NAAS Miramar, California. Miramar had been a World War II temporary Marine Corp Air Station. With the introduction of jet aircraft to the fleet, Miramar's long runways were suitable and had plenty room for expansion. The buildings consisted of flimsy war-time wood construction and some metal quontset huts. HU-1 was allocated an open nose wooden hangar with work shops attached, three 1 story quontset huts, and a macadam landing pad that had more patches than the orginal asphalt. We had about 26 Officer pilots and about 15 enlisted aviation pilots (A/Ps) who were Chiefs and a few 1st Classes. All of our approximately 20 aircraft were Sikorsky H03Ss. Every detachment that was sent out for temporary duty consisted of 2 pilots (usually an Officer and an A/P), 4 enlisted aircraft mechanics, 1 radio technician, and 1 metalsmith. Aircraft carriers, when operating, had first priority on getting a TAD chopper crew. Battleships or cruisers that had an Admiral (the flag) aboard had second priority. Other cruisers, ice breakers, survey ships, etc. got what was left-if there were any available. When the war commenced, I was on an ice breaker with A/P Jack Farwell -north of Alaska in the ice. On our return trip we picked up an H03S and crew of Lt. Robert Carleton and A/P Robert "Pappy" Jenks and their maintenemce crew from the oil exploration fields on Alaska's north coast. There also was another detachment aboard the Hydrographic Survey ship Norton Sound at that time. During the first year of the war every pilot and every H03S was sent to Korea; and some of the pilots put in a second tour during their HU-1 attachment. Only the skipper did not go on a detached tour; and even he "big dealed" a set of orders to go out and visit as many detachments as possible "for our morale purposes". HU-1 was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation during that war, and we earned it.

Helicopter Utility Squadron Two (HU-2) was home ported at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. I didn't report to HU-2 until 1957, so my knowledge of their status in 1950 is "heresay". They occupied the old Blimp hangars and their facilities were not as dilapitated as HU-l's at Miramar. HU-2 provided Helo. detachments for East Coast ships and HU-1 provided them for the West Coast ships; so initially HU-2 was not involved in the Korean War. HU-2 had Sikorsky's H03Ss, Bell's HTLs, and some of the new Piasecki's HUPs.

General Mac Arthur had predicted that the War would be over by Christmas 1950. His predicted date could have been very close except: On 5 November General Mac Arthur informed the UN of the presence of organized Chinese units in Korea. It was still not clear whether the Chinese troops had joined the North Korean People's Army to prevent its annihilation and to prolong its resistance, or whether a large-scale intervention by Red Chinese was forthcoming. It was in fact a large-scale intervention by the Red Chinese Army. Early in December, American and United Nation forces were trapped at the Chosin Reservoir. Surrounded by Chinese - 20,000 US Marines and Army infantrymen began a bloody withdrawal from this area in northeast Korea to reach the port of Hungnam. There was a mass amphibious withdrawal of our troops and supplies from Hungnam and Wonsan on the east coast and Chinnampo and Inchon on the west coast. The UN forces were driven back to what was eventually stagnant trench warfare at basically the 38th parallel, by the overwhelming Red Chinese Army.

At the outbreak of the Korean conflict the Valley Forge (CV-45 ) was the only US Carrier in Korean waters. Eventually it was relieved to return to San Diego, by the Philippine Sea (CV-47 ) and the Leyte (CV-32) Which arrived from the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean on 3 October 1950. The "Happy Valley" arrived in San Diego on December 1 for an overhaul, but she was ordered returned to duty immediately, following the Chinese intervention into the Korean War. The carrier remained in port five days, one hour, and eight minutes. During that short stay the Chief of Naval Operations requested that HU-2 provide twelve pilots, twenty-five crewmen and eight H03S helicopter's be made ready for airlifting from NAS Lakehurst to NAS North Island. ASAP The eight helicopters were disassembled and crated; they and the the crews were transported to San Diego in five cargo planes, and they arrived ten hours later. The choppers were reassembled aboard ship and flew off when the Valley arrived, again, two weeks later in Asian waters. Now HU-2 was also involved, and commands such as Mine Squadron Three (MINRON 3) got much needed Helo. detachments of their own, and did not have to borrow them from the Battleships and Cruisers.

Before 1 October 1950, the helicopter was primarily used for sea air rescue (SAR), "eyes in the sky" observation platforms, and as transports for priority personnel and cargo. On that date the wooden-hulled minesweeper Magpie was sunk by an anchored mine. While flying the USS Helena's (CL 50) helicopter, Lt. Harry W. Swinburne (from HU-1) was searching for survivors from the sunken Magpie and discovered two moored mines and was able to take photographs of them.

On 3 October Worcester's (CL 144) chopper pilot, A/P Chief B. D. Pennington (from HU-1), sighted several moored mines in the Wonsan area. From that day onward the helicopter had a welcome place on the mine warfare team. This would be the first instance in naval warfare of an organized and combined effort between surface ships and a helicoper to locate a minefield. Patrol seaplanes and lighter-than-air ships had been used in some instances and with varying degrees of success during World War II. It didn't take long to discover the value of the helicopter as a mine-hunting platform. If the sea was not rough, if the direction of the sun rays was right, if the water was clear, and if the pilot was wearing polaroid sun glasses, you could see the mines very easily.

In spite of our Armies having retreated back to the 38th parellel, the Navy still controlled Korea's entire coast line. Battleships, cruisers, and destroyers continued to bombard coastal railroads, tunnels, truck convoys, and other military targets. False amphibious landing feints were performed, periodically, to keep the enemy guessing as to our intentions and thusly tying up their troops-away from the battle line. In conjunction with these "Big Brother" operations, the little minesweepers were busy constantly. In many instances the mine fields that had been harvested, had been reseeded aqain during the nights. North Korea's Wonsan Bay was the most ideal location for a return amphibious assault; and it was swept by mine sweepers continously. When I had my first flights with the Wonsan minesweepers, I felt like General Custer at The Battle of The Little Big Horn when he purportedly said, "Look at all those _______Indians >" I said, "Look at all of those _______anchored mines." There seemed to be no end to them;

The LST-799 was the flagship of (COMMINRON 3) she probably traveled more sea miles than any other ship during the Korean War-back and forth between East Coast Korea, West Coast Korea, Sasebo Japan, and Yokosuka Japan. After the Hungnam evacuation LST-799 returned to Yokosuka for a conversion, which was designed to make it into a helicopter base for minespotting helicopters and a tender and supply ship for minesweeping boats and ships. Now there was space topside to handle as many as three helicopters, but it usually had only one. Later, SCAJAP LST"s Q-007, Q-009, and Q-012 (manned by contracted Japanese crewmen) were also converted for this purpose. During the war there v/as always an "Angel" chopper in Wonsan Bay on either an LST, Battleship, or Cruiser. East coast carrier aircraft always knew that they could parachute or water ditch near a Wonsan "Angel". K-3 air force field was "Bingo" for planes with hung ordnance, faulty tail hooks, or a need for an overnight R & R. LST-799 (the first ship of the US Navy to serve as a helicopter carrier in wartime) rescued 24 aviators between March 1951 and November 1952, most of them while operating in or near the Bay of Wonsan.

A/P Chief Robert (Pappy) Jenks, crew Chief Paul Slavin, five other crewmen, and my- self departed from Miramar on 15 February 1951 to relieve Lcdr. George Bolt, A/P Chief Richard Brownfield, and their crew who were aboard the St. Paul (CA-73). After traveling via air to Tokyo, we bused to Yokosuka, then bused to Yokahama, then via train across Japan to Sasebo, via train back to Yokahama, and then bused back to Yokosuka. The "powers to be" really didn't know where the St. Paul was located.

While in the Yokosuka PX, I spotted a Captain who I knew was Commander Utility Wing Pacific (COMUTWINGPAC) -HU-l was under his command. I approached him and told him of my plight. "I'll take care of that", he said. The next morning we were in a truck headed for Tachikawa Tokyo Air Base where we boarded an Air Force C-47 bound for Korea. After refueling at Itisuki AFB we landed at Taegu, Korea;, where we immediately boarded another C-47 and were flown to Suwon. We were met by an Army bird Colonel, who said he was a personal friend of the St. Paul's skipper. He "mother hen-d" us with some "chow" and put us in a canvas covered stake truck which drove the last 35 miles in the dark (no convoy) to Inchon. Then by LCM we finally got to the St Paul at 2325 on 7 March.

Many "hairy" sea stories ensued while aboard the St Paul, .to the ship and to us. Early in the morning on 31 March we had our first encounter with the mine searching HU-2 helicopter crews in Wonsan Bay. Lt. D.L.A. "Dad" Whittaker and Lt. jg. John Thornton from LST-799 and Lt. Robert Felten and Lt. jg. ? from LST-Q007 came via an LCVP to a conference aboard the St Paul. They plus "Pappy" Jenks and myself were briefed by the Admiral and his staff relative to an imminent "hairy" attempt to rescue four US Army Rangers and twenty South Korean ROK's who had parachuted into North Korea but were now surround by the enemy at a location 38 miles south and 20 miles west (inland) from Wonsan Harbor. It was hairy! I picked up two Rangers, Felten got one, and Thornton crashed his chopper when he tried to land on a mountain top Korean grave. Result? Thornton and the, one remaining Ranger were captured and spent 3 miserable years in a POW Camp. According to Thornton's (now retired Captain) book "Believed to be Alive" (available at Pensacola Air Museum's store), he received a Navy Cross for this escapade. The twenty South Korean were wearing North Korean uniforms and were shot as spies. (See John Thorntons' book for details) More hairy sea stories followed aboard the St Paul until 23 April when the St Paul left for the States. My crew and helicopter was transferred to LST Q-007 attached to (CQMMINRON 3), which was in Wonsan Bay.

I flew over to LST-799 and reported to (COMMINRON 3) with our orders. Lt. "Dad" Whittaker then followed me in his chopper over to LST-Q007 to check us out on how to operate from that ship. The HU-2 crews transferred back and forth between LST-799 and the Queen LSTs, as needed. Those HU-2 crews had been the biggest "Wheeler Dealer" bunch that I had ever encountered. They had begged, borrowed, or stolen a 30 cal. air cooled machine gun, a Garand 30 cal. rifle, enough 30 cal. ammuntion to fight their own war, 2 cases of concussion grenades, enough food to allow us to eat luxuriously, a movie projector and a supply of films to trade with other.ships, a 2 gallon container of powdered dye marker, plus G.I. issue web belts, canteens, overcoats etc etc. They must have stocked up when Hungnam was evacuated. Best of all, they had worked out an agreement with the Japanese that they would prepare our meals, clean or quarters, and wash our clothes, in exchange for a set number of cartons of US cigarettes, weekly (sea store cigarettes cost $1 per carton then.)., additionally they wanted the privilege of allowing them to see our US movies every night. They loved Woody Woodpecker cartoons. Since this was a non US ship, we also had cocktail hour every night "when the sun set below the yardarm". The exchange rate was one carton of Pall Malls for one quart of Asahi Beer and two cartons for a pint of Sun Tori Whiskey. Our food larder also included a large supply of cocktail goodies. If it wasn't for the fact that we were being shot at all the time, we lived "high on the hog". After "Dad" checked us out,the LST-799 left for Japans; we plus a squadron of little wooden mine sweepers, and four destroyers were now the rulers of Wonsan Bay; until 15 June when we rode Q-007 back to Japan.

The HU-2 crews had devised a platform to mount the 30 cal. machine gun in the open door on the port side of the chopper. It could be fired from about 260 degrees through 330 degrees off the nose; you had to fly in a skid or hover sidewise out of a head wind for the gunner to see anything. It didn't work very well for shooting at floating mines; the Garand 30 cal. rifle was more accurate, especially from a hover. We made small bags from old newspapers to put dye marker in, and then wrapped rubber bands around them. It was a messy procedure, but it worked to mark underwater mines. Visiting ships thought that we were crazy when we begged for old newspapers and rubber bands; they were not in a bountiful supply. The concussion grenades were in waxed cardboard containers about the size of an old fashioned cylindrical 1 quart ice cream container. They had firing pins just like the steel anti personnel hand grenades. The idea was'to drop them on a submerged mine and explode the mine. Now that sounds kind of "hairy"; you certainly aren't going to do it from a hover. We tried dye marking submerged mines and then made a fast low level bombing run and the crewman threw the grenade at the dye marker. It didn't work!

Perhaps a more potent grenade with a longer time delayed firing fuse might allow the grenade to sink deeper and be closer to the mine, before the grenade exploded. We figured that a floating smoke canister might help keep the sweepers from hitting the mines; but of course we didn't have any. So, we made small wooden floats from old wooden cargo pallets and nailed flattened out empty shiny tin cans to them. That worked pretty good, if there wasn't a high wind to blow them away from the dye marker. WE TRIED; and I'm sure our efforts helped prevent more mine sweeper casualties. (There were.four U S mine sweepers sunk, by mines during the Korean war).

If the weather was decent, we flew every day, We searched for and marked mines ahead of the mine sweepers, gun spotted for the destoyers that were present, scoured the bay for floating mines, and a May Day May Day on the radio took priority to break off our present mission to try and rescue a pilot.

On 2 May, the ship intercepted another "May Day, May Day". An F4U Corsair pilot gave out with a "May Day", telling us he was on his way to water ditch his plane in Wonsan Bay, close by the LST. I got airborne almost immediately and proceeded to wait for him to splash. He made a good landing and we got him in the rescue sling before he could get his feet wet. The pilot was a Marine and we didn't even get his name because we took him straight to a destroyer, where we lowered him on to their fantail. Later that same after-noon and again on 3 May, we received two more "May Days". We scrambled, became airborne and were standing by minutes later. Fortunately, both planes got back to their carriers OK.

6 May proved to be a memorable day. The Commies had been frequently placing float-ing mines in the harbor at night. No doubt, they anticipated that the outgoing tides would float some of these boomers into our ships. Early in the morning the command dest-royer radioed us for help. They had sighted two floating mines, that were in the middle of their four anchored ships. We were asked to try and sink these mines because the ships could not fire at them for fear of hitting one of the other destroyers. Chief Slavin was our best rifleman, so with our one and only Garand 30 calibre rifle, we both went hunting. We found the two floaters and while I hovered the helicopter he shot and sank one of them. Then, he shot at the second mine until he ran out of ammunition. We then marked the area with a dye marker and returned to the LST to obtain more ammunition and also to refuel the helicopter.

(Since there was no intercommunication equipment in the H03S helicopter we were able to make rescues by having the aircrewman place his hand on the pilot's shoulder. He wou' then push forward, backward, up, down,...and a couple of pats for "good" This, method worked very well,especially when a crewman was operating the rescue hoist.)

Chief Slavin and I went back to our hunting ground and he fired some more at the second floater mine. He shot and shot, but it wouldn't sink. I yelled to him, "I know damn well that you are hitting that son of a bitch. Let's go take a closer look." As I eased the bird into forward motion, he pulled back on my shoulder with all of his strengt and yelled, "It's boiling;"

I did a quick stop just in time to prevent being blown up with the rest of that ex-ploding mine, as it raised a column of water two hundred feet high. Seconds later six more underwater mines exploded, most likely from the concussion from the first one. One of the six was directly below the helicopter and although it created a great upheaval ofwater it didn't affect us. We really felt the concussion, however. A sailor on the bridge of a mine sweeper, one half mile away, just happened to have a camera focused on our show and he snapped a picture exactly at the right moment, when all hell broke loose.

We painted eight more mines on the side of our chopper that day. Later we would brag a little when we hovered next to the mine sweepers, which only had two or three painted on their smokestacks. (COMMINRON 3) sent a dispatch to (COMNAVFE) the next day detailing our exploits with the exploding mines. He recommednded the use of helicopters in the future eradication of floating mines, we had shot and sunk two additional mines before (COMMINRON 3) received a dispatch from (COMNAVFE) to all Naval Forces Far East that, "Helicopters will not(repeat) will not attempt to destoy mines in the future." So that was the end of that:

l7 May we had another gut rendering day. Five little wooden, AMS mine sweepers and one larger AM, a metal mine sweeper, tied up alongside our anchored LST for a noon lunch and conference aboard the AM. The enemy must have moved in some long range artillery because at the stroke of 1200 hours they opened fire on us. Their first shot was one hundred yards short and the second one was one hundred yards over. The third shot should have been "right on", but it wasn't. Their rounds hit close, but scored no direct hits the mine sweeper crews were scurrying like rats. They chopped their mooring lines with fire axes and hauled their asses out of there. But, good old Queen 007 was firmly at anchor. I yelled to "Say" (our Japanese interpreter) that he should tell the ship's captain to slip anchor and get the hell out of there. Our Japanese deck crew were slowly winching in our anchor, as well as hitting the deck every time a shell exploded nearby. Fifteen minutes later "Say" came back and said, "The Captain was very sorry but, he had already lost two of his anchors and this was the only anchor he had left." I told "Say" to tell the Captain that he would lose his whole damn ship if he didn't get his butt in gear. It took a few more minutes to explain what "getting his butt in gear" meant.

The ship finally got the anchor up out of the water and then it slowly put-putted out to sea. All the way out of the harbor, shells were exploding all around us. Following this panic and rout, Q-007 never entered the harbor again, but stayed anchored on the seaward side of Yo-do Island. I picked up a piece of shrapnel off the deck after the one sided battle. That hunk of steel was as big as my fist, and it had done no damage. I say it was a "one-sided battle", because there were no destroyers or cruisers in the harbor that day. The twenty millimeter cannons which the sweepers carried were no match for those shore guns. You will notice, that the enemy was well familiar with the hours when we "changed the watch", when we ate our meals, and when there was the least amount of combat readiness aboard our ships.

On 5 June, while working with the mine sweepers. I helped prevent the Redstart (AM-378), from hitting a mine. I spotted the mine, when the Redstart was only fifty feet away, on a collision course. The ship swerved at the last moment. The sweepers cut eleven mines during that single sweep. On the 8th of June, I flew to the LST-799 to get transfer orders from (COMMINRON 3) and we left our helicopter in their care. Queen 007, with us aboard, headed for Sasebo, Japan that same evening. Was the war over for us? Wishful thinking maybe; we were sent from Sasebo to Yokosuka via the Japanese railroad. That was the third time that we rode the Japanese.trains across the entire width of the country. My 76 inch long frame did not fit too well in the 66 inch length Japanese "Pullman" train bunks.

While at Yokosuka, I ran into Lt. jg. John Koelsch (from HU-l). He and I go away back, before HU-l, when we were aviation cadet classmates. John and his cohort, Lt. jg. "Dusty" Blades had just completed a six months cruise aboard the Princeton (CV-37). John told me that he had volunteered for another six month cruise, because he had not even seen Korea-since he was on the Princeton all the time. He wanted to be involved in some "action". I told him that he was crazy, "Believe me, it was no picnic in the battle area. You have put in your time, now go home." He was sent out to join Lt. Robert Felten (from HU-2), who was aboard one of the Queen LSTs at Wonsan Bay. Felten's previous partner Lt. jg. ____?_____ had an appendectomy and was sent back to the States.Jpnn was captured, white on a rescue flight and died later of malnutrition, while in a North Korea prison camo. Years later his mother received his (Posthumous) Congressional Medal of Honor.

The war wasn't over for us; we were sent out again aboard the Toledo (CA-133). More gun spotting and more ack ack air bursts; On 7 August, while I was out on an early morning gun spotting mission, I intercepted a May Day call, made to the Toledo. Lt. R. Walker of-VA 702 was ditching his shot up AD Skyratder in Wonsan Bay. When I approached him, he was on his knees, on top of his upside down life raft, paddling furiously with his hands, trying to get away from the north shore. Small arms fire from the shore was pinging all around him. I did not have a crewman aboard, so when I got him into the re-scue sling we hauled our butts out of there quickly. I brought him up on the hoist and into the helicopter, while enroute back to the Toledo.

The Toledo went to Yokosuka on the night of 20 August, and on the 22nd we were on a plane headed for home. World War II ended before I could get into combat, and I felt that I had missed out. After that last seven months, I had had my share of combat, and I was in no hurry to do it again.

Earl "Bergy" Bergsma
Lcdr. US Navy (retired)
a Lt.jg. while in Korea
CHOPPER PILOT # 240