Oral history interview with Robert Graves, [videorecording], 2004.

ArchivalResource

Graves, Robert B., 1927-2011. Oral history interview with Robert Graves, [videorecording], 2004.

Oral history interview with Robert Graves, [videorecording], 2004.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/760886461

Robert B. Graves, a Webster, South Dakota native, discusses his service in a Raider company during the Korean War. After enlisting in 1948 and boot camp in Kentucky, he talks about assignment to occupation duty in Tokyo (Japan). Graves talks about working with a supply company on the waterfront and playing sports like flag football. He addresses growing up near Taliesin, his connection to Frank Lloyd Wright, and his activities in relation to the Imperial Hotel (Tokyo). After hearing about the invasion by North Korea on the radio, Graves states he volunteered for a new Raider company. He details being trained at Camp McGill (Kanagawa) by British ex-commandoes and his amphibious invasion of and retreat from Kunsan. Graves tells of later discovering his unit's role as a sacrificial diversion from the Inchon Invasion and their nonexistence on official paperwork until January of 1951. After some burials at sea, he talks about spending a few days at "Ashcan City" on the outskirts of Kimpo Airport before being sent to North Korea as an anti-guerrilla force attached to the X Army Corps Headquarters. Graves comments on appropriating equipment, advancing towards the Yalu River, getting strafed by friendly fire, and being evacuated from Hamhung. Evacuated to Pusan, he states he got in some of the worst fights during the next northward advance. He talks about burning down a few villages, firefights with North Korean soldiers, and becoming a smoker. Graves states he was on the front line for seven straight months and recalls passing through a beautiful valley that reminded him of home. He discusses a reconnaissance mission with five other men, fishing with grenades, and mutually deciding not to engage in a firefight during an encounter with a North Korean patrol. He reflects on loss of life during the war, differentiating between Chinese and North Korean troops, the Army's inadequate supplies for cold weather, and being cheered up one day by the mention of his hometown on the radio. Graves details the battle during which he earned his silver star: being surrounded, seeing wounded evacuated by helicopter, taking cover in a schoolhouse, and thinking he would not survive the fight. He mentions having difficulty remembering some of his time in Korea and recalls being issued a quart of liquor every week. He touches on living on C-rations, stealing food, and seeing displaced civilians on the roads. He tells of being relieved by a second Raider company, his homecoming, and attending a company reunion. He reflects on the unawareness of the war he encountered in the United States after he returned. In Korea, he talks about getting food packages from his mother and eating them in the woods so he wouldn't have to share. He touches on contact with other United Nations forces and details the food and rum rations he had on a British frigate.

Videorecording : 2 videocassettes (ca. 60 min.); sd., col. ; 1/2 in.Transcript : 16 p.Military papers : 0.1 linear ft. (1 folder)

Wisconsin Veterans Museum Research Center