Garand Picture of the day for whatever day is available

I'm not sure if this ROK grunt patrolled with the flag attached but they were known to be real tough b******s. With the bayonet attached the rifle is as tall as this ROK soldier.

I was reading a book about a particular guy's tour in Vietnam (was it "Guns Up"?) and recalled an action he was involved in. Their platoon had been told there were some Viet Cong working in the area, actually just over a rise from thern. They were about to saddle up when a squad of ROK soldiers emerged out of the elephant grass. They exchanged bows and scrapes and salutes, no smiles. The ROK sergeant didn't know English but a corporal did, so the sergeant was able to get across that they would like the honor of taking care of this Viet Cong bunch. The U.S. lieutenant in charge of this weary bunch of Marines basically said, "Help yourself" and stood down his squad for a smoke break. The ROKs then quietly worked their way into the foliage. A half-hour later the ROKs emerged from the bush, bowed and scraped and went on their way. They hadn't heard a shot fired. The Marines saddled up and headed into the area that the ROKs had just left. A little way up they found a squad of dead Viet Cong lying around, each having been broken in one way or another by hand. "Tough" was exactly the word the author used to describe the ROKs as well.

Bob

Bob

When stationed at Ft. Ord in 1971 I worked with many veterans (both Army and Marines) and the general consensus of all who had either worked with the ROK's or be on an operation with some was "Don't screw with the ROK's." An old friend of mine (Marines) told me of a 48 hour pass he's had in Da Nang and he was in a bar with a friend. A Marine he didn't know was fooling around with a bar girl when a ROK stepped up, pulled a .45 and shot the Marine for fooling around with "his girl." Another told me how the ROK's would punch and break rocks for exercise. Not people to take lightly.

We had a quarry in Chu Lai where the ROK's would come in and load there 2 1/2 ton trucks by hand, then dump the stone and start all over again.
Ed