November 7, 1970: Walking the Hillsides above Seoul
	October 21, 1970: A Visit to Panmunjom: The DMZ and the JSA
	Return to the Index for 1970

The Second Division Commander, MG Matheson, is being reassigned and replaced with BG Collins, and today is the departure ceremony for the outgoing commander. As Finance Officer for the Division, I have a place on the Commanding General's Staff, and so I will be going to the ceremony. Due more to my position than to my rank, I'll be in one of the staff helicopters as we fly from Camp Howze up to Blue Lancer Valley.

This will be my third trip to "BLV", as Blue Lancer Valley is colloquially known. On the previous two trips, I'd gotten there by Jeep, but this time I am in high cotton and get to travel by helicopter.

NOTE from the present:
I first thought to just put a map similar to the one on the page for my other visits to Blue Lancer Valley on this page, but then I thought I might repeat a comparison that I made on the page for my last trip here- just in case you haven't seen it. This will illustrate why the trip up here today was only fifteen minutes or so, rather than the hour or more it has taken the past two times.

I currently live in Dallas, Texas, so I have gotten a map of a portion of the city that is centered on my house and which extends just as far north and south as does my map showing the route from Howze to Blue Lancer Valley.

For those of you familiar with Dallas, the trip from Howze to Blue Lancer Valley is almost exactly the same distance as the trip from the point where US Highway 67 and Interstate 35E join as they come up from the south and the intersection of the Dallas North Tollway and Interstate 635 at the Galleria Mall in near north Dallas.

At any time except rush hour, this is a 20-mile trip that takes about 20 minutes, point to point. But that's all expressway, and there were no expressways in my area north of Seoul. If you are on two-lane roads, going through small towns and hamlets, the trip easily takes more than an hour, but it is pretty amazing that the distance is the same. What this means is that you could fit all of the 2nd Division area in Korea (north of Seoul and south of the DMZ) into an area about the size of the city of Dallas! I find this comparison pretty amazing, as the area we covered in my year tour in Korea seemed much, much larger.

But, as I said, today I am flying, and so we can head straight over hills, mountains, rivers, and towns, with the consequence that my trip today took only about a quarter of an hour. Even though MG Matheson's HQ is at Howze, he has decided to hold his ceremony at one of the larger field installations- out among the troops, so to speak. (There is also no flat area around Howze suitable for the parade that often accompanies this kind of high-level change of command.

The trip began at the helicopter pad on the other side of the hills at the back of Camp Howze. I don't get over here much- only if I am flying somewhere, something I will only get to do while I am the Division Finance Officer.

This view of the valley to the North was taken from the helicopter as we traveled to BLV, and shows the rice paddies in various stages of harvest. You see what I mean about the landscape being dotted with piles of harvested rice. An excellent contrast between fields in all stages of harvest, and other fields growing vegetables.

We arrived at BLV and got into some Jeeps to ride over to the parade ground where the ceremony was to be held. (Note from the present: I wish I could show you an aerial view of BLV, but the camp simply isn't there anymore.)

(Note from the present: The section below, describing the very first picture I took at the parade ground, is going to repeat my narrative from 1970, but inserted will be some comments that trace to the "political correctness" that arose in the decades after, and which is, as this is written, perhaps running amuck.)

This is the Second Division "Living Symbol". The Second Division's "nickname" is the "Indianhead Division", and you can see the division's uniform patch at right. By tradition, the Second Division always has a full-blooded Indian assigned to it who serves as the living symbol of the Division at functions like this. I suppose that his regular duties are light, but I don't know. This seems on the surface to be a nice touch, but if I were the Indian assigned, I think I would feel as if I were being used, and particularly if I were proud of my heritage, I don't think I would like it. He is like a token, and I don't think anyone enjoys being in that position.

The 2nd Infantry Division's primary mission is the pre-emptive defense of South Korea in the event of an invasion from North Korea. There are approximately 25,000 soldiers in the 2nd Infantry Division, with 18,000 of them stationed in South Korea, accounting for about 50% of the United States Forces Korea personnel.

The 2nd Infantry Division is unique in that it is the only U.S. Army division that is made up partially of South Korean soldiers, called KATUSAs (Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army). This program began in 1950 by agreement with the first South Korean president, Syngman Rhee. Some 27,000 KATUSAs served with the U.S. forces at the end of the Korean War, but now there are only about half that number.

Before we get to the ceremony itself, I have a few pictures that you might be interested in. For some reason, there is an area at BLV where some US Army equipment is actually on display- as if it were a museum. I can only imagine that thee displays are set up for military and civilian visitors that come to BLV; it is the largest installation that is closest to the DMZ.

The change in a division commander is a big deal, and there is usually at least a ceremony that is witnessed by the troops and attended by the upper echelons of command. I think the occasion of this particular turnover was used as the justification for a full military display- perhaps as much for North Korean consumption as to satisfy the traditions associated with general-officer-level activities.

The ceremony was an opportunity for the commanders within the Division to display some of the equipment that they have. This is all just for show, but without it the departure ceremony would not have much pizazz.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

In any event, this would be the biggest and most elaborate such occasion I would witness in Korea (and, as it would turn out, in my entire Army career). Only overseas or perhaps at major combat military posts in the States would you see this kind of display.

This particular spectacle began with a gun salute, followed by a parade of troops an equipment (all reviewed by the incoming and outgoing commanders as well as Eighth Army staff from Seoul), and followed by a flyby of Second Division and Eighth Army aircraft. It was quite the event and I took lots of pictures.

To make it easy for you to see them all, I have created a slideshow so that you don't have to click on each picture, look at the large image, and then close it again. To view the pictures I took, just click on the image at left and the slideshow will open in a popup window. To look at the pictures, just use the forward and backward arrows in the lower corners of each slide, and you can track your progress through the slides by referring to the index numbers in the upper left corner of each image. Just close the slideshow window when you're finished.

Enjoy watching this military parade with me!

After the ceremony, there was an "at ease" milling about as the incoming General Collins accepted the individual welcome of his staff officers and the other dignitaries and field commanders who were present.

From a technical standpoint, this is one of the best pictures I have taken. I wanted to find some way, when I saw BG Collins at the ceremony, of expressing both the fact that the General is part of the organization, yet apart in his responsibilities. Easy enough; shoot him in the midst of a crowd, but throw everyone else out of focus.

A good many of the officers in attendance spoke to the "Living Symbol". I didn't, but I am pretty sure someone told me that the soldier who holds that position is a staff sergeant.

I suppose we spent a few hours here in BLV; the parade didn't begin until we'd been here for a while and the high-ranking officers had taken their chance to hobnob with the two generals. The parade was an hour and there were some activities afterward, so it was late in the afternoon when we took off for Camp Howze.

BLV is not far from the Imjin River, and soon after we lifted off I got a really nice view of some of the countryside through which the river flows.

Taken with my telephoto lens, this is one of our communications towers on a hill very far in the distance to the north.

We circled around before heading over to Howze, and this is part of Blue Lancer Valley below us.

The chopper lurched a bit just as I snapped this picture of many of the rice paddies and fields in various stages of the harvest.

The rice harvest is really zipping right along, as the men in the lower right of the picture could probably testify. It is a race, of course, to get it all in before the bad winter weather comes.

A not-so-good picture of the view to the northwest towards the DMZ.

A little country village between Howze and BLV. It almost looks like a little suburban enclave.

A View to the Northwest

This would have been a good picture of Howze if I'd kept it in focus.

A View to the Northwest

This would have been a good picture of Howze if I'd kept it in focus.

My last two pictures, taken as the chopper came in and turned for a landing on the Howze helipad were perhaps the best of the flight back.

Here is a good view of the helipad at the rear of Camp Howze as we are coming in from the west. The chopper went a bit south of the helipad before turning and landing into the wind from the north.

This is a view I haven't seen before. That's the BOQ at the top of our hill. The main part of Camp Howze is down the hill beyond the BOQ. You can see how isolated our hooch is- and why it's always so quiet.

This would be the last trip I would make as the Division Finance Officer before my replacement arrived in the middle of November. It was quite an experience, hobnobbing with the General Staff, but while all the field grade officers were great guys and spoke and dealt with me as if I were a couple of grades higher, we all knew that I was really just a placeholder during a not-so-uncommon gap between the departure of one officer and the arrival of his replacement.

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

	November 7, 1970: Walking the Hillsides above Seoul
	October 21, 1970: A Visit to Panmunjom: The DMZ and the JSA
	Return to Index for 1970