HU-1 Unit 19

April - October 1952
Compiled and written by Bill Covington , 23 December 2003

This document was written at the urging of my family who for a long time have encouraged me to record my memories before they are lost. Lost? Thus please understand/excuse the use of the first person approach to the writing.

After the Unit 9 cruise in 1951, Zook, Kyllonen and I decided to go on another cruise together. We volunteered for a cruise leaving in the spring of 1952. A few days before we were to leave Zook went home on emergency leave. Thus only Kyllonen and I, from Unit 9, went on the Unit 19 cruise.

Unit 19 personnel:

Lt Robert P.Cavanaugh OIC Ens T. L. Ray AD1 (Unknown) Replaced by ADC Beach AD2 Frank Dabney AD3 Edward F. Kyllonen ADAN Edward Prince Rhoden AMAN Phillip Brian Burkhalter III AT3 William S. Covington

Present information and my memory.

Bob Cavanaugh Cavanaugh was a very up tight and nervous person, a worrier, which created extra work for the helicopter crew. He was later enlisted personnel officer of HU-1. That must have been a busy and stressful job. I do not remember whether he was a career Navy officer or had been recalled from the reserves. I seem to remember that he was an accountant who had been in the reserves and was recalled for the Korean War.

Ens Ray Ray was a former enlisted man who had gone to flight school and thus had a commision. He appeared to be more comfortable with the enlisted men than other officers. He occasionally went on liberty with us.

AD1 (Unknown) The reason that I do not remember his name is that he was not with Unit 19 very long. At that time anyone (enlisted/officer?) in the Navy with a certain number of months of sea duty, this usually meant being assigned to a ship, would be transferred to shore duty on request. Duty with HU-1 in California was classified as 'preferred' sea duty, since anyone in HU-1could theoretically be sent overseas on 24-48 hours notice. Preferred sea duty counted half as much as actual sea duty. Several 'old time' career men with HU-1 accumulated enough sea duty credit via preferred sea duty that they qualified for transfer to shore duty without ever leaving California. When they got orders to go to Japan and Korea they would immediately apply for transfer to shore duty. I never understood why, when this occured and they were qualified, they were not taken off the overseas orders but I guess it took the Navy time to process the paperwork. This is what happened to the AD1 that was assigned to Unit 19. As I remember he made it to Japan and possibly to the LST with us. Then the Navy had to find a replacement and ship him back to the states.

ADC Beach Beach had been in a comfortable position with HU-1 Detachment 1 in Oppama before being assigned to replace the AD1 on Unit 19. He was bitter about the assignment. He had made chief during WW2 when there were no competetive tests. He was not incompetent but lazy and bitter. He spent most of the time complaining about Unit 19 and about Cavanaugh in particular.

Frank Dabney Kyllonen remembers the first name 'Frank'. Dabney was a second enlistment career Navy man.

Ed Kyllonen 71 W. Blakely Drive Elma, Washington 98541 kyllonen@techline.com Kyllonen got discharged from the Navy shortly after we got back from the Unit 19 cruise. After the Navy, Kyllonen served in and and retired from the Coast Guard. Kyllonen wrote; "I ended up putting an additional 16 years in the Coast Guard. Retired in 1971. The rest of my career was in fixed wing aircraft (B-17, P4Y, SA-16, R5D, and C-130), logged some 10500 hours".

After the Coast Guard, Ed worked as a tech rep for Xerox in Honolulu and in Seattle. He and his wife operated resturants for several years in Eastern Washington. Ed and June have five children, 12 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Ed Rhoden Lake Wales, Florida

Burk Burkhalter North Little Rock, Arkansas

Bill Covington 3916 Carman Drive Fort Worth, Texas 76116-1324 817-244-0252 willscovin@aol.com

After the Navy, I got BS and MA degrees in Physics from the University of Texas. Most of my career was spent working as an engineer for Convair/General Dynamics/ Lockheed-Martin. The primary contracts during those years were the B-58, F-111 and F-16 aircraft. I retired in 1993. Peggy and I have two children and three grandchildren.

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According to HU-1 records from Froling, Unit 19 left HU-1on 16 April 1952. The enlisted men of the unit were flown from Ream Field to Moffet Field, south of San Francisco in a SNB. I assume a couple of HU-1pilots wanted to get in their flight hours and spend a day or two in San Francisco. I think the SNB was assigned to HU-1. From Moffet Field we were taken into San Francisco and put in the Downtown YMCA. We roamed around San Francisco for a few days but we did not have enough money to do much.

After several days we were taken to Travis AFB for a MATS flight to Japan. When the flight was announced, the personnel assigned to the flight got in line at the gate to board the flight, with the officers going to the head of the line. All personnel of HU-1 must have had a fairly high travel priority because boarding of the flight was by travel priority. Since we had higher priority, other personnel including Air Force officers, were told to stand aside to let us on first. This caused much grumbling.

The MATS plane was a DC-4 (R4-D), a four engine propeller plane, and was configured with three seats on each side of the aisle. Three very narrow seats. The flight from Travis to Honolulu was about 10 hours. We were on the ground about two hours while the airplane was serviced. We then flew another 10 hours to Wake Island where we were again on the ground about two hours The third flight was again about 10 hours to Haneda Airport near Tokyo. About midpoint of each the flight, we were given a box lunch consisting of a cold sandwich, an apple and a cookie.

From Haneda Airport we were taken to HU-1 Detachment 1 at Oppoma. Since the Unit 9 cruise in 1951, the Navy had built a larger facility for the enlisted men. A small section was used for the permanent staff at Oppoma and the main part was a transient barracks for the Navy personnel in the Yokosuka area. The HU-1 operational area was around side of the harbor, probably a mile away.

Early in May the unit was divided. The pilots and the senior enlisted men were sent to Sasebo while Rhoden, Burk and I stayed in Oppoma. We were told by Cavanaugh that that the others would be back in a short time and for us to 'stand by' until they returned. We intrepreted this order to our benefit. We lounged around the barracks and went on liberty as often as we could afford.

The leading chief at HU-1 Det 1 was Ruben Powell. He did not intrepret this situation the same way. After several days he called us in and chewed us out royally for not reporting for work. After that we reported for regular duty with Det 1.

The cowling of the helicopters had to be repainted often to control oxidation. The only way to remove the old paint was to use a strong chemical paint remover and then a steam jet. This was a dirty job which no one wanted. The job was, obviously and regularily, assigned to the three of us. We apparently did a good job. Later, Cavanaugh said that Powell reported that we were some of his best workers. I had much respect for Ruben Powell as a leader and as a person. Powell was a nationally ranked archer. I remember he practiced archery behind the hangers at Miramar, Ream and in Japan.

About 1 June, Unit 19 was reunited in Oppoma. Soon after that we went on a ship for transportation to Sasebo. In Sasebo harbor we were taken from the ship, across the harbor where a PBY was docked. As soon as we were onboard, the PBY took off from the water in Sasebo harbor. We were sitting in the bottom of the plane and it was very unusual, feeling the water beating on the hull directly under our feet. The PBY flew about an hour north and landed on the runway at Itazuki AFB, near Fukuoka Japan.

At Itazuki we were put in a transient barracks and were told that we would be flown to the fleet later the next day. Rhoden and Burk went on liberty that night. The others in the unit were awakened and put on an early COD flight to the fleet. Rhoden and Burk missed the flight. They said that it was a very sinking feeling to walk into the barracks the next morning and realize that everyone was gone. I do not remember the details but they caught up with us within a week or so.

The COD flight landed on a carrier, possibly the Essex. It was unusual making an arrested landing on a carrier although the landing speed of those WW2 torpedo bombers was slow. That afternoon we were transferred, by highline to a destroyer which took us to Wonsan. Kyllonen and I had then made a highline transfer both ways between a carrier and a destroyer. In Wonsan harbor we relieved another HU-1 unit on a LST. This was a Navy LST which was obviously a completely different situation as the previous summer on the Queen LSTs.

The helicopter was there again for SAR and for mine spotting. We were on the LST about six weeks and I do not remember making any rescues and the mines were mostly gone by that time. I do not remember the helicopter flying very much.

The only time I remember being on Yodo Island that summer was once when the helicopter blades needed to be tracked and adjusted to remove a slight vibration. The vibration worried Cavanaugh. The LST was not stable enough so we went to Yodo. I was there only a few hours.

About mid July we were relieved on the LST by another HU-1 unit. We transferred to a tanker for transportation to Sasebo. The tanker was in the Wonsan area to refuel the LST and other ships. We were on the tanker several days while it made stops to refuel other ships. We were passengers on the tanker and the chief bowswain wanted to assign the lower rank HU-1enlisted men duty standing watches and chipping and painting the deck. Some one, I guess it was our officers got us out of these duties. Since we were transient personnel, we were not permitted in the berthing compartments during the day so we spent each day on the deck trying to stay out of sight.

From Sasebo we were taken by bus to Itazuki AFB. We were flown by C-47 from Itazuki to Kempo airport near Seoul, Korea. There were no transient facilities and we spent the night on benches in a Quonset hut at the airport. I do not know how far the front lines were but we could hear artillary fire.

The next morning we were taken by truck through Seoul to Inchon, a distance of about 20 miles. There had been much fighting in that area in the last year and Seoul and Inchon were mostly rubble. I do not think there were any intact buildings remaining.

At Inchon we went onboard a Navy LST. The LST was used to supply several islands on the West Coast of Korea which were occupied by South Korean Marines and a few Americans. We were on the LST overnight and arrived at the island the next morning. There were no docks on the island other than several Korea fishing villages so the LST ran up on the beach. The helicopter crew and the supplies were unloaded over the front ramp.

I remember the name of the island as Pengyangdo. The feature article in the July 2003 edition of the National Geographic Magazine was titled, 'The Two Koreas'. This was the fifty year anniversary of the end of the Korean War. The magazine included a map of the Korean Peninsula. On the map the name of the island is spelled Baengyeongdo. Incidentially the name of the island that we spell as Yodo was spelled with a hyphen, 'Yo-do'. The map explaines that 'do' or 'shima' at the end of a name means island.

From Baengyeongdo, the North Korean mainland was clearly visible, it appeared to be about a mile across a narrow channel. The map shows several miles across the channel. We were stationed in a Marine camp with less than 100 Americans total. We were the only Navy personnel. The camp was in a small ravine with the enlisted tents on one hill side and the officer area on the other side. There were small Quonset huts for the headquarters office, the mess hall and the radio shack. The radio shack hut was on the top of the hill behind the enlisted area. There was a diesel powered generator to provide electrical power to the radio shack and to the camp. The generator made a lot of noise and was shut down at night.

The helicopter was in a larger flat area about a half mile from the camp. We had to walk on a path and on dikes beween rice patties to get to the helicopter. We were told to stay on the path because of land mines but I doubt there were any in this area.

Everyone slept in sleeping bags on folding cots. The toilets were slit trench latrines. There were pressure lanterns for use in the tents after the generator was shut down. The HU-1 personnel were issued Marine fatigues and M1 rifles with ammunition. I do not remember meeting any other Americans on the island but this is a fairly large island so there may have other Americans on the island that we never met.

There were many South Korean ROK (Republic of Korea) Marines on the island. There was a ROK Marine camp about a half mile from the US Marine camp. The ROK Marines were responsible for security of the island. I think the ROK Marines made raids to the mainland. I remember seeing ROK Marines returning to their camp, apparently from a raid, carrying people on stretchers.

There were several other islands, mostly further north, on the West Coast of North Korea that were occupied by the ROK Marines. These islands were closer to the North Korean mainland. I assume these other islands were also used for raids on the mainland.

The reason for the US Marines being on Baengyeongdo was that on the other islands the ROK Marines were supported by a small unit of US Marines to provide radio communications between the islands. Baengyeongdo was the headquarters for these units. The HU-1 helicopter was there was for SAR and for transportation, both American and ROK, between the islands.

The electronics technician from the helicopter unit was required to stand watches in the radio shack. Three Marines and I stood four hour on and twelve hour off watches. Thus for the first and only time I was in the Navy, I stood 4/12 watches, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for more than two months. This got old very quickly. I realise that many Navy personnel, usually aboard ship, regularily stand 4/12 watches and do their primary duties in addition to the watches.

Duty in the radio shack consisted mostly of communication with the other islands and with American and British ships in the area. The communication was mostly verbal but some classified information had to be coded and decoded using a simple key machine. This was not very high level security. The communication between the camp and Korea and Japan was done by the regular Marine operators using the main transmitter and using Morse code with a higher level security code.

The British fleet operated on the West Coast of Korea and we communicated with British ships operating near the islands. It was interesting trying to communicate verbally between the Americans and the British. There were frequent requests from both sides to repeat the last message.

The generator was shut down each evening and after that our only means of communicatation with the other islands and ships was by battery powered radio. These radios were very unreliable. We were scheduled to contact each of the other islands each hour during the night to verify they were still there. Frequently we could not contact them because of the limitations of the battery radios and sometimes because of the weather. In retrospect, there was no need to have the late night watches since nothing was done when we could not make contact. I remember, late at night in the radio shack being, probably the only American awake in the camp and trying to keep myself awake. We had a coffee pot and that helped.

I did not participate in many of the activities of the helicopter unit because of the radio shack watches. I do not remember making any flights from the island. Most of the flights were to the other islands, ferrying American and ROK personnel.

From Froling's HU-1 records: '4 September 1952, Ens. T. L. Ray crashed while attempting to effect the rescue of 1Lt L. G. Strange, USAF. The pilot was fouled in the shroud lines of his parachute and when the water filled chute cleared the water, it blossomed and the additional weight pulled the helicopter, HO3S-1 BUNO 122508, into the water.' I remember Dabney being the crewman on this flight, Kyllonen remembers Beach. No one was injured and all three were rescued by boat. The helicopter was soon replaced.

Kyllonen remembered one of the northern islands: 'The island was occupied by the West Coast Island Defense Element of the 1st Marine Air Wing. They had a short runway. It wasn't well cared for but I remember it was paved. On the east end and up the hill in the trees they had a pretty good sized mess tent. I had eaten there once when I was with Unit 19. This is one place where you always stayed on the trail because of mines. This outfit used to have a bunch of dogs but they only had one left the last time I was there. The pooches didn't read the signs. Frank Dabney and I were on the beach there one day (Unit 19) when all hell broke loose, for a while there I didn't think we were going to find shelter, but we found a hole. This went on for some time. Pretty soon a LCMR came steaming into the area and cut loose with it's rockets. It takes 8 hours to load one of those things and 15 minutes to expend all its ammo. It was really something to see. After that it was really quiet.'

Kyllonen continued: 'A Seal Team operated from the island. These guys would spend the day putting on make-up, cleaning their weapons, then paddle off in the night. From what I've been told they were usually gone about a week. I was there when they returned once. They brought back one of our AF pilots, hands tied behind has back and shot in the back of the head.'

In the main harbor on Baengyeongdo there was a section of the beach that was straight and had only a slight incline. The sand on the beach was hard packed especially at low tide. C-47s landed on the beach to ferry personnel and important supplies. When we transferred off the island we flew from the beach in a C-47.

British carriers operated off the West Coast of Korea. The British pilots were told that if they were hit and could not make it back to the carrier to land on the beach on Baengyeongdo. While we were there a British Navy plane, probably a Sea Fury, landed on the beach. The plane had been hit by ground fire and was losing oil pressure. The pilot had enough power remaining to land on the island.

The helicopter crew found and patched an oil line that had been hit by ground fire. We had to use a truck to move the plane above high tide and to turn the plane for takeoff. We managed to dent the leading edge of the wing while using the truck. The plane was on the island at least one night. We used oil and gas from the helicopter supplies to service the British plane and the helicopter APU to start the plane. He took off, circled back and did a very low pass down the beach as thanks. We were hoping the oil line patch would hold until he made it back to the carrier.

About 1 October, we were relieved by another HU-1 unit and left Baengyeongdo. We flew off the beach in a C-47. There was a body wrapped in a blanket and on a stretcher in the C-47. We were told that he was an Air Force pilot that had died trying to crash land on one of the northern islands. The C-47 took us back to Kempo where we caught another flight to an Air Force base near Tokyo and then a bus to Oppoma.

We were at Oppoma about a week to ten days and then left Japan to return to HU-1 in California. We traveled via Tokyo (Haneda), Wake Island, Hawaii, Travis AFB, San Francisco, trains to Los Angeles and San Diego. This took several days. We arrived at Ream Field about the middle of October 1952.