Korea 1977
Operation Team Spirit was a joint exercise designed to examine and improve the interoperability of ROK and U.S. Armed Forces. We left for Korea from Okinawa on the LST USS Racine in the spring of 1977.
Some of these pictures have people who I am having trouble recalling their names. If you see anyone you recognize and their name isn't shown, let me know.
Be sure to click on these thumbnail photos for larger versions.
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1. LST USS Racine. We took this ship from Okinawa to Korea. |
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2. We set up pre-operations camp on a Korean marine base. |
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3. ROK marines out for a run. |
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6. Is that Filkins on the left? Ken Arnold in the middle and Delio Bustos on the right. |
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7. CH-53. |
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10. Chris Dapson. |
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11. CH-46. |
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12. UH-1N |
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13. ASRT radar antenna. |
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14. Mobile control tower at the helo pad. |
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15. Fuel bladders at the helo pad. |
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16. Mobile control tower and its radar at the helo pad. |
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17. AV-8 hovering over helo pad. |
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18. AV-8 hovering over helo pad. |
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19. Help me out with some names guys. Left to right: 1. ? 2. Hildebran 3. ? 4. Filkins. |
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20. ROK Marines. |
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21. Armored personal carriers. |
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22. Huey. |
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23. ROK Marine parachute division. |
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25. Volleyball match between US and Koreans. |
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26. Volleyball match between US and Koreans. |
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27. Volleyball match between US and Koreans. |
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28. Koreans practice martial arts. |
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29. Koreans practice martial arts. |
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30. Front gate. |
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31. Guard at the front gate. |
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32. Checkpoint. |
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34. This place had a bath house where we could clean up for a small fee. Sure beat the shower tent! |
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35. There was also a cafe in there. |
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38. A street market in Pohang. |
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39. Lots of guys were buying mink blankets to send home. Lots of haggling. We'd alternately write counter offer numbers on a piece of paper. |
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41. Bulguksa Temple tour. |
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42. Bulguksa Temple tour. |
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43. Bulguksa Temple tour. Comfort station. |
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44. Men in uniform are ROK military. |
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45. Men in uniform are ROK military. |
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47. Bulguksa Temple tour. |
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48. Bulguksa Temple tour. |
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49. Bulguksa Temple tour. While I was walking around seeing the sights, a Korean lady suddenly came up to me, speaking frantically about something. Of course I couldn't understand anything she said. Then she showed me her camera. It was just like mine. Ah, now it's making sense. She couldn't get her camera to work and was asking for my help. So I helped her with that. |
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50. Two marines with some local kids at a small village. |
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51. The kids were shy at first but soon overcame that. |
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52. ROK Tank. |
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53. We're on the move to our operations area. |
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54. Rice patties and an irrigation canal. |
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55. At the AOA now. One of our TRC-75 HF radios. |
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56. CH-53 with Cobra escort. |
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57. DASC tent. |
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58. Local kids come to check out what is happening. We typically set up four-hole privies at forward camps like this, and the one at this location was completely open air. That was fine with me, but having a Korean kid watch once was a new experience. |
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60. Breneman is giving away his C-Rats. |
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61. After completion of the operation, the Koreans put on some entertainment for us. I remember one of the songs was "Feerings".  |
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62. Mark Filkins in front and Ken Arnold at Taegu Air Base. Customs inspection before the flight back to Okinawa. Everyone had to lay out all their stuff on the tarmac. |