Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:06 | Robert Weisbrodt thought he would join the Army, serve his time, see the world and get out, but it didn’t work out that way. Before he got to Korea, he proved valuable to his unit using a skill learned growing up, jumping from car to car on a train.
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Hearing tales of adventure and travel from his veteran older brothers, Robert Weisbrodt enlisted for some of the same. But they did not tell him about Agony Hill at boot camp. He goes on to talk about what else he remembers from basic training.
Robert Weisbrodt went right into the fray of battle when he arrived in Korea, moving North from Pusan. Enjoying some rare beer in his rations, he had to take cover under his tank and watched as the beer spilled from the shrapnel pierced cans.
Robert Weisbrodt’s tank crew took part in the landing at Inchon and saw MacArthur land on the beach after the assault. They then saw fierce fighting at Suwon. For the first time, he knew the pain of seeing friends injured before his eyes. Moving as far as the Yalu River, he learned how to advance to the rear when the Chinese attacked.
Robert Weisbrodt says that to get an idea of what it was like in Korea, look at the flimsy clothes on the statues of soldiers in the Korean War Memorial, and imagine having only that to wear in minus forty degrees with a foot of snow and a thirty mile per hour wind. He also discusses providing support for the peace talks and hitting a mine.
Just before his time in Korea was up, Robert Weisbrodt saw the aftermath of the North Korean retreat when his unit came upon a POW camp where they had just massacred the prisoners instead of leaving them. He remembers finding out that he was coming home.
