Artillery Position and Meeting the Minister
This area was occupied by Mr. McGinn's artillery unit, the 9th Field Artillery Battalion late in the war. Unlike the other three artillery battalions in the 3rd Division, the 9th was equipped with 155mm howitzers instead of 105mm howitzers. Even when the division withdrew, the 9th FA remained to support the ROK troops.
We met a minister who was taking a van full of children to his church. The minister stopped and expressed sincere graditude to the veterans for their service. He lost six family members in the war, two presumably murdered by the communists. He served in a tank unit in Vietnam and later became a minister.
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The minister is on the left.
A panoramic view of the artillery position. The artillerymen slept in tents until they built their own bunkers, usually dug into or at the foot of the ridge. The howitzers were in the valley to hide their position. Some artillery units during the war occupied ridgetops, but this was risky. The left of the picture is looking north. The right is looking east.