Chester "Chet" Kesy, a Knowlton, Wisconsin native, discusses his service in the Army at the end of World War II and during the Korean War. Kesy talks about being drafted in 1945, arriving in the Philippines as the war ended, and passing through a typhoon on the way to Japan for the occupation. While in Japan, he discusses boxing with the Japanese boxing team and learning Judo from a Japanese police school. Transferred to the 7th Infantry Division, Kesy talks about the "rude awakening" the U.S. troops got after the Korean War started. He talks about participating in the Inchon invasion, taking prisoners, and moving into North Korea. He details being attacked near a village and, after the battle, finding the bodies of the villagers stacked outside the town. Kesy states the patrolmen who were sent out that night were captured and later found shot dead with their hands tied behind their backs. He talks about building foxholes with rocks dislodged by aerial bombs, combat against the North Koreans during "bonsai attacks", and getting in trouble after his Korean aide kicked a dud hand grenade. Kesy portrays the deadliness of the UN Turkish troops, rumors of going home before Christmas and of Chinese involvement, and casualties caused by vehicle accidents on mountain passes and by booby-trapped straw stacks. He tells of facing comparatively little resistance on his way to Hungnam and seeing the engineers blow up the harbor after the evacuation. Sent to a hospital in Japan due to frozen feet, he tells of his three months of recovery before returning to his unit as a chief of fire and battery. Kesy explains his duty as a forward observer for A Battery and the dangers of the job. He relates several close calls he had during combat. He characterizes his two Korean aides and mentions being able to communicate to them in Japanese. Kesy comments on establishing a base point for artillery, being targeted by the enemy for carrying a radio, terrain in Korea, and briefly crossing the Yalu River against orders so he'd be able to say he'd been in China. He talks about artillery action and eating Thanksgiving Dinner before being pushed out of North Korea. Kesy mentions inadequate equipment for the cold weather, finding men frozen to death, and being attacked primarily at night. He touches on feeling that the Korean War was forgotten by the American public and relates his duties as a first sergeant at a basic training camp at Fort Carson (Colorado). Kesy reflects on planning on a career in the military but changing his mind after the Korean War.
