April 24, 1971: A Saturday Trip Into Seoul
	April 1-2, 1971: Camp Howze and the Finance Office
	Return to the Index for 1971

I've mentioned that some major changes have been going on within Second Division, and that these changes will impact how my routine has gone here in Korea up until now. The biggest change is that the HQ Second Division is moving- from Camp Howze to Camp Casey, about 25 miles northeast of here.

A Bit of Background and Orientation

Before I get to the photographs I took on my first visit to Camp Casey after the Second Division moved its headquarters there a couple of weeks ago, let me fill you in on where Camp Casey is, what its history has been, and what it looks like today.

At left is a map, approximately 40 miles on a side, that shows the relationship in location between Camp Howze and Camp Casey. I have been to Camp Casey before; that's where the Bob Hope Christmas Show was last year. But now, since Camp Casey is going to figure into my daily life a great deal more, I have investigated a bit of its history.

Camp Casey was established, as you might expect, almost at the very beginning of the Korean Conflict (we are told to try not to call it the Korean "War") in the early 1950s. I don't know what it was called originally, but it was actually renamed to Camp Casey in 1952 in honor of Major Hugh Boyd Casey who died in a plane crash here in 1951. The crash site is marked with a white concrete cross and a plaque that details his display of complete heroism and selflessness.

Several battalions and divisions used Camp Casey as a home during the Korean War. Some notable battalions include: the United States 45th Division; the United States 5th and 7th Marines; the 19th Battalion Combat Team from the Philippines; and the Royal Thai Battalion. It was also the home of the 1st Royal Australian Regiment up until the 1953 (later to be relieved by the 2nd Royal Australian Regiment that same year). Camp Casey was also the site for the training and rehabilitation of the 35th Infantry Division, where they remained in the camp and later returned to Hawaii as part of the 25th Infantry Division where they were to remain as reservists during the remainder of 1953.

Beginning in 1953, the United States 7th Infantry Division used the camp as its main garrison during its stay in-country from 1953 until this year. During that time, the 2nd Division worked with it in first the defense of the northern border of South Korea and later, after the "end" of the conflict, in the monitoring of the border and the continued training of the South Korean forces. Over the years, as the threat of invasion diminished and life north of Seoul became more routine, the need for two division here diminished. Since the beginning of the year, we'd heard rumors that one or the other of the divisions was to be relocated from Korea, and in February it was learned that it would be the 7th Division that would rotate back to the United States. With that decision made, it was also decided that the Headquarters Second Division would move to Camp Casey, as the facilities there were much better than at Howze.

Camp Casey is located in the town of Dongducheon (most Americans spell the name as Tongduchon because that's the way it sounds when Koreans pronounce it. The town is 40 miles north of Seoul- a little farther than Camp Howze.

Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Manchuria. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most of the Korean peninsula, large parts of Manchuria and parts of eastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia.

Along with Baekje and Silla, Goguryeo was one of the "Three Kingdoms". It was an active participant in the power struggle for control of the peninsula and was also associated with the foreign affairs of neighboring polities in China and Japan.

Goguryeo was one of the great powers in East Asia until its defeat by a Silla–Tang alliance in 668. After its fall, its territory was divided among the states of Tang, Silla and Balhae. The name Goryeo (alternatively spelled Koryo) was adopted as the official name in the 5th century, and is the origin of the English name "Korea".

After unification of the peninsula, the capital was moved to Seoul, a burgeoning town on the Han River. Through the centuries, the Kingdom survived huge changes, including incursions from China, Russia, and Japan. From the very beginning (earliest references to the town date to 100-200 AD), Dongducheon has been important for the defense of the capital, and it remains so today.

Now, in 1971, Camp Casey remains an important military base as it changes over from being the Headquarters of the 7th Division to being the Headquarters of the 2nd.

NOTE from 2021:
The aerial view at left, of course, is from the present day. My own photographs and recollections of Camp Casey are of a modern, but much smaller installation that what you see here. Marked on the map are numerous facilities which have been built over the years to accommodate not only the increased usage of the camp (as numerous outlying camps were closed over the years) but also the change in the general situation in Korea. In the years after my departure, the relaxation of tensions (but not without intermittent spikes) between North and South has led to a corresponding relaxation of military life in the South. For example, servicemen are now, generally, allowed to bring their families with them on tours in-country. Many do, even though there is little housing available on post. Korea has advanced so much that modern apartments are now not difficult to find, even in small towns like Dongducheon.

That's because Dongducheon isn't a small town in Korea anymore. And if you doubt that, look at the picture at right of the "town" that appears on its Wikipedia page. For sure, there were no highrises in Dongducheon when I was there; there were precious few paved streets even. That modernistic building houses the main train station for trains to and from Seoul, and expressways connect Dongducheon to Seoul and other suburban cities to the east and west.

In fact, in my investigations for the album pages devoted to my time here, I have found very little that even resembles the way things looked when I was here. I would dearly love to find photographs, for example, of what the little town that was just outside the gates of Camp Howze looks like today. I would imagine that since Camp House was returned to Korean control and perhaps a decade or more ago turned into a public park, that enough people now live in the area to justify having such a large park available to them. I can find articles in Korean publications that talk about the handover and closing of Camp Howze, but it would be nice to have actual photographs of the area.

The Move to Camp Casey

It was in the early Spring that the Second Division moved to Camp Casey. This involved a big change for the Finance Organization and, of course, for me. It also involved big changes in and around Camp Howze. (As I wrote to my Dad at the time, I had my own thoughts about the move and its affect on me.)

Camp Howze in April, 1971

Physially, Camp Howze hasn't changed hardly at all; the buildings are in the same places and they all look the same. But it seemed as if they had changed- because almost all the people I was familiar with were no longer there. Of course, when the Division HQ moved, its major subcommands (G-1, including Finance, through G-4 and the new G-5) moved as well. So the Finance Officer, now Major Henderson moved, and with him went most of the personnel.

In our discussions over the past few months, MAJ Henderson decided that, at least for the time being, the Finance Office should have a presence in this area; the area to the west of Camp Casey and to the north of Seoul is quite large, and there are a number of small posts here. So I will transition from being MAJ Henderson's Deputy FO to become the areas Class B Agent Finance Officer, responsible for the payment of the payrolls in my area, which was as large as the Division area had been before.

You may recall from earlier album pages that I have been a Class B Agent before, so I was sure that being an Agent would be a good job to have. My previous stint in this position had been as a 2LT responsible for the financial affairs at Camp A. P. Hill north of Fort Lee during the summer reservist training season. I had discovered then that "being some distance from the flagpole" means more freedom in running one's affairs, both official and personal. I will be MAJ Henderson's representative, but in control of my own little domain. I will not be alone, but will have a couple of Finance specialists working with me as we run our own little office. When 2nd Division HQ left, Camp Howze became the home of the Third Brigade, who moved in complete with their personnel and their own traditions. And this has had an impact on me. I have begun to feel somewhat the outsider, not a part of the Brigade, but living day to day with them. They are a pretty fine bunch of guys, though, and although the residents of the BOQ have almost entirely been replaced with officers who are less "support" officers and more "combat-oriented", I am enjoying the new faces and new experiences.

But I must say that I have learned first-hand that the various units, stationed all through the Division area, each have their own ways of doing things, and have formed their own, close-knit groups of officers. As an example, the bell in the Officers' Mess that we used to ring to "buy the bar" was taken to Camp Casey, and the new officers don't seem to miss it. The best way I can sum things up is to say that I feel like I have just moved to a new city and have transferred to a new school. I need to start over to make new friends. I will do that, of course, even though I only have another three months or so in-country.

As an example of the changes I am seeing, I want to repeat here a picture that I actually placed on the previous album page. I mentioned there that one afternoon I walked around Camp Howze taking a few pictures, but you may have wondered why I chose to do that, since I've already included so many pictures of Camp Howze.

My purpose was actually to try to record the "look" of Camp Howze and the area around it after the Third Brigade took over. All of the pictures in that last section of the previous page were taken for the same purpose. As I said, there were very few physical changes within the Camp, and outside the camp there were even fewer.

Inside the camp, the signage had all changed- including that at the Finance Office, only a portion of which I will occupy now. The area around the camp hadn't changed much either. There were the inevitable small groups of homes belonging to some of the Korean workers, along with a contingent of single girls and the bars in which they worked.

I have noted that there seem to be a lot of new faces among the Koreans too; apparently some of the Koreans who had worked in various Second Division HQ offices have moved with the Division to Dongtucheon; Sammy Ko was one of these, as were the two houseboys we had at the BOQ. These have been replaced by similar Korean workers that had previously worked for the Third Brigade followed them to Howze. In addition to all the new officers at Camp Howze, I have a new houseboy at the BOQ- a Mr. Park (one of Korea's most common family names).

My Visit to Camp Casey

As the weather got better, it became more pleasant to take trips through the surrounding countryside, and one Saturday in April I took an opportunity to visit the new home of the Second Division.

The move of the Second Division to Camp Casey was not accomplished overnight. For weeks, individual units and commands, like the Finance Office, had to busy themselves with packing up what they needed and moving it, using a veritable parade of Army trucks, the 40 miles to its new home. Personnel, too, had to go back and forth, and to make this easier, the Army set up a shuttle service that ran continuously between Howze and Casey. I think there were something like six or eight trips a day, and so I hopped on one early Saturday morning to get over to Casey.

About an hour away by bus, Camp Casey had been I Corps HQ, and then Seventh Division HQ. It was quite a large place, with many more facilities than Howze. This was because in the Second Division area, the resources of the Division were spread out among so many small compounds, while at Casey everything was concentrated into one place. The personnel who moved seemed to enjoy it. I had gone to visit Lieutenants (Theron) Lott and (Bob) Cavendish, and we decided to go mountain climbing- the one in the background.

Before we did that, though, we had a little breakfast in the OOM (Officers' Open Mess) and were able to talk about the differences between Howze and Casey. The buildings here were more permanent, many of them, like the BOQ, made if cinder block and of relatively new construction. They told me their accommodations were maybe a bit nicer, but not spectacularly so. The major difference, apparently, was that Casey is laid out in a relatively flat area, without the hills and trees that made Howze a nice place to be. This area of Korea is flat areas like this with areas of mountains all around. Both the US Army and the Korean civilians built in the low-lying areas, leaving the mountains pretty much untouched.

So we walked off to do some hiking, this being one of the nicest days so far this spring. Camp Casey is entirely fenced, but in addition to the main gate, there are smaller manned gates around the perimeter, and we headed off through the North gate to the mountainous area north of the camp.

We have begun climbing the hills behind and to the northeast of Camp Casey, and in this picture you can see part of the base Tong Duc Chon outside its gates. That's a tributary of the Shincheon River.

These are mountains across the east-west valley in which Camp Casey is located. You can see the southern boundary fence. If you could see far enough, Seoul would be in the distance.

NOTE from 2021:
In putting this page together, I have tried hard to compare the pictures I have of Casey from the hills to the north to the aerial views I am able to look at today. Sadly for me, Korea (and Camp Casey) have, in the 50 years since I left, undergone change so dramatic that almost nothing is the same. Even a major bridge over the Shincheon River that runs outside the gate, and the tributary that runs through Camp Casey into it, can't be match to my photos, because in 50 years the bridge that served one lane of vehicles and carts has undoubtedly been replaced by the multi-lane bridge that I can see in today's aerial view. So forgive me if I can't orient you any better to the hike (whose route would also be impossible to reconstruct). I hope that just looking at the pictures I took of Camp Case, the mountains, and each other will be enough.

Here is some of Camp Casey, Korea, new home of the Second Division.

I had Bob take a picture of me and Theron Lott, part way up the hills behind Camp Casey.

NOTE from 2021:
I have tried to track down people from my time in Korea, and have actually seen two of them- LTC Fuentes and LT Tworek. I have also corresponded with LT Cannon via email. That list expanded by one early this year when I decided that Theron being not so common a name I would search for him. I found references to him online through a VFW Post in Mississippi, and I can now correspond with him. I have just sent him the picture above.

This is Camp Casey, of course. We have gotten rather high in the hills, now. The climbing is not strenuous, and it is a lot of fun.

We are navigating a ridgeline at the moment. These mountains are beautiful, and perfect for clambering around.

I can see that these mountains are one of Casey's attractions; the hills by Howze are rounded and forested- not easy to hike through. If I were stationed here, I would be out here in the hills every chance I got.

This is Tong Duc Chon and part of Camp Casey.

I asked Theron to take this picture of me, sitting in the wind on top of a rocky outcropping most of the way up the hills behind Camp Casey.

Hiking up here in the hills was just about the most fun that I have had since I have been here in Korea. Going into Seoul is interesting, of course, and walking around the city was a real eye-opener. But hiking like this, in mountains like this, is a new experience for me.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

While the mountains around Camp Casey may look forbidding, and it may look as if you could wander up into them and get lost, the topography of the area is such that all the lowlying land is either occupied or is farmland, and from the peak of any given mountain you can usually see your way down and back to civilization.

However, these small ranges of mountains do stretch all the way to the border with North Korea, although you would be stopped by American or Korean patrols long before you got there.

Rather than just put a lot of pictures on this page with little comment, I have taken the pictures we took of the mountains and hills and put them into a slideshow to make it easy for you to flip through large-sized pictures without a lot of scrolling. If you will click on the image at left, I'll open the slideshow in a new window. You can go from picture to picture by clicking on the little arrows in the lower corners of each image, and you can track your progress through the fourteen pictures by referring to the index numbers in the upper left.

There were some other pictures we took that were not just of mountains or of the valleys below, and I want to include those now.

Perhaps influenced by the picture of me atop the rocks earlier, I happened to be below Bob Cavendish when he was standing above me.

These mountains were a potential site of infiltration during the conflict and after, and so the area is dotted with bunkers and observation posts. We were not the only hikers this afternoon.

Finally, we reached the top. These hills lie directly on the old invasion route from the North, and they played an important part in the Korean War. There are still leftovers from that time, one of which are the many bunkers on the top.

This is one of the abandoned bunkers atop the mountains just behind Camp Casey.

There is nothing to prevent you from going inside, although I had not brought my flash with me.

(Picture at left) As I was coming up out of the bunker that we went into to explore, I thought I would take a picture looking up and out of the doorway.       (Picture at right) Here is another nice view of the mountains surrounding Camp Casey.

From inside another bunker, this is the view looking North along the invasion route. I can only imagine that more than a few soldiers saw a lot of duty keeping guard from places just like this one during the Korean War.

We passed this small Korean house on the way down. I don't think it was a farmhouse, since there was no farm around it, but it was occupied and seems to be surrounded by a small garden and some areas that have obviously been maintained. Perhaps it is owned by some person who just wants to get away from it all.

I guess we were up in the hills for almost the entire day, but I must say again that the time spent up hin those hills was some of the best that I've had here in-country. Maybe when I return to the States I can find some similar areas where I can day hike out in the open without getting too far from civilization.

Camp Casey

Back down at ground level, this is part of Camp Casey and, in the background, the mountains that we just climbed.

The climb took us all day, was very strenuous, and lots of fun. I kept thinking that this was one good thing about Casey- the opportunity to do this exploring frequently. It almost made me wish that I could have moved here with the rest of the Finance Office, but I am looking forward to being on my own back in the Second Division area.

I spent a bit of time in the BOQ with Theron and Bob, and saw some of the other officers from Howze. At about six I had dinner with Theron, Bob, and some other guys in the OOM, and then I caught the last military bus back to Camp Howze.

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

	April 24, 1971: A Saturday Trip Into Seoul
	April 1-2, 1971: Camp Howze and the Finance Office
	Return to the Index for 1971