October 10, 1970: LTC Fuentes Heads Home
	September 26, 1970: A Walking Tour of Seoul
	Return to the Index for 1970

The Second Division is headquartered at Camp Howze, but subordinate and affiliated units are spread out all over the area between Seoul and the DMZ. Howze is a relatively small installation; most of the equipment and soldiers that are assigned to the Division are located elsewhere- with the two largest bases being Camp Casey and Camp Red Cloud.

NOTE from the present:
All of the information about Camp Red Cloud on this page is a reconstruction of the small amount of information I put in my slide narratives in 1970 and information I've been able to find on the Internet in 2022. Camp Red Cloud no longer exists; it was deactivated in 2018 and the last remaining units occupying it transferred to Camp Humphreys, a new, consolidated base built in the 2010s.

I do have information as to the location of the base, at the northwest edge of Uijeonbu, then a relatively quiet town and now a bustling city north of Seoul. The base was located some 15 miles from Camp Howze. The map at left will show you where the base was in relation to Howze itself, but keep in mind that in 1970, much of what is shown on this map as regards roads and other infrastructure did not exist.

For example, I have found that to drive from where Howze was located to where Red Cloud was located is today a 30-minute trip on modern highways; I recall that taking a jeep from Howze (which three of us did today) was more like a 90-minute trip on dusty back roads. That's one reason why MG Matheson, the Division commander from Howze, came here in a helicopter.

Camp Red Cloud is a United States Army camp located in the city of Uijeongbu, between Seoul and the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The installation was renamed after Medal of Honor recipient Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. on Armed Forces Day, May 18, 1957 from its earlier name of Camp Jackson (which continues as the name of another post just south of CRC).

Camp Red Cloud covers over 160 acres of land in the northwestern edge of the city, and there are a number of 2nd Division units stationed there. Howze is the command center, but most of the men and materiel in Second Division is spread out in camps and installations just south of the DMZ.

At the moment, it is the headquarters of I Corps. There are five or six installations in Second Division that are large enough to field teams for football or other sports, and this is one of them.

This trip over to Camp Red Cloud was interesting because just a few weeks ago, the movie "M*A*S*H" was shown in the theatre at Camp Howze, and in it there is a football game between the MASH unit and another command at a camp some distance away- exactly what is happening today. (I think it's interesting that I should see "M*A*S*H", which is about a medical unit during the Korean War, here in Korea. But then I've seen "Patton" here also.)

Anyway, I don't get to other installations in the Second Division area very much, so it was interesting to see Camp Red Cloud, the second or third other installation I've seen here. Red Cloud is a lot different from Howze. It is large and quite flat, rather than hilly like Howze. And there is a sizeable town right next door, again unlike Howze.

The football game was pretty typical; the unit rivalry wasn't particularly intense, and everyone was just trying to have a good time. At half-time in the game the Royal Thai band and a ROK honor guard performed.

The symbol that the girls are carrying is the symbol of the Second Division, known as the Indianhead division. It has had that name for many, many years. The person in the Indian costume walking behind is actually a full-blooded Indian. He is known as the "living symbol." I think it is a bit much, but I am told that there is always one such Indian assigned to the Second Division and that, among his other duties, he serves as the "living symbol." I think that is a bit patronizing, but I suppose it is no worse than having a baseball team named the "Indians" along with an "Indian" mascot.

Note from the present:
The previous paragraph is verbatim from what I wrote home in 1970, but reading it now, in 2022, it sounds prescient. As everyone knows, society has become much more sensitized to cultural stereotypes than it ever has been. While many might think things have gone too far, the fact is that there's been a paroxysm of "political correctness" in recent years, with the result that the Cleveland team referred to in my paragraph above has indeed been renamed, as has just about everything else using Indians (sorry, "Native Americans" or "Indigenous Americans" or "First Peoples") as a mascot or a slogan. Even Aunt Jemima is gone.

While the game was going on, I got up from my seat behind LTC Fuentes and wandered around to take some pictures. One of the first ones I took was of some of the officers watching the football game.

As I might have mentioned earlier, most of us who came over from Howze did so in an Army bus or a jeep. All except MG Matheson, who came, along with a couple of staff colonels, in his helicopter.

Speaking of VIPs, the officer with his hand to his chin is MG Matheson, who at the time was the Division commander, and just beyond him is the newly promoted BG Collins, the Division ADCS (Assistant Division Commander for Supply and Logistics).

I really don't know who many of the other officers are, some of whom are in uniform but some of whom are in civilian dress. I don't recall there being a requirement for uniforms today, although I understand there was going to be some sort of function after the game that many of the field grade (MAJ, LTC) and command (COL and above) officers would be attending, so maybe that's why most of them are in uniform.

As I said, I walked around and took some pictures of the action during the game and at halftime. In these photos, you can see that most of Camp Red Cloud is itself pretty flat, but that there are hills and low mountains nearby. (There really isn't anyplace in South Korea that would remind one of the Great Plains or anything like that.)

In addition to the halftime view at left, you can look at some of the other pictures I took by clicking on the little thumbnail images below. Clicking on one of them will open a large view of that image in a new window, which you should close before going on to another picture.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

It was a neat trip to come over here this afternoon, and I actually got to know some officers and others on the bus- people I hadn't interacted with much before. The Fall weather was pretty nice, so it was a good day all around. On the way back to Howze, I got a good picture out the window of some of the Korean countryside.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	October 10, 1970: LTC Fuentes Heads Home
	September 26, 1970: A Walking Tour of Seoul
	Return to Index for 1970