Frank-Tooley---1-29-14

For a 19 year old barefoot cotton farm worker turned curb hopper from the farm country of Greenville County, the North Korean invasion of South Korea meant only one thing; a trip abroad was inevitable. Frank Tooley, who had already been drafted, knew that it was only a matter of time before Uncle Sam came and asked for his service in the American military intervention. Knowing that if he was drafted the Army would send him where he was needed, Tooley felt that it would be best if he joined on his own free will. Curious about whether he would pass the physical or not, Tooley joined his brother and some friends as they went to visit the doctor. On a summer morning of 1950 Tooley rode with the other young men to the doctor’s office. When they arrived Tooley was reluctant to go in because he didn’t have any shoes. All he could think of is the Greenville News headline the next morning that would read, Hillbilly comes in barefoot, joins Army. After some problem solving by the young men, Tooley borrowed one of his friend’s shoes. He had to take the laces and curl his toes a bit, but they were enough to cover his feet and make Tooley comfortable enough to go inside to talk with the doctor.

At 5’4 and 99 pounds, by the doctor’s chart, Tooley was 11 pounds under weight. The doctor inquired about Tooley’s want to join the Army. Tooley replied that he didn’t want to go, but he had been drafted and didn’t think he’d pass the physical. That is when the doctor informed him that he had passed everything else and they could get his weight up to where it needed to be. Tooley was then instructed to not say anything about his weight and the Army would most likely let him on through.

In a time when jobs were hard to come by, Tooley was making better pay than those that were working eight hours in the cotton mills by curb hopping in Greer for 13 hours a day getting 10 to 15 cents every time he helped someone. He didn’t intend on joining the Army that following Monday morning with the rest of the guys. It was when he got back home that his state of mind changed. When he returned to his community he began to get a hard time by some. They would tell him he was chicken and that he wouldn’t go when the time came, or that he was too little and he was lying about passing the physical. The teasing got to Tooley making him determined to prove the jokesters wrong.

Thinking, like most in that day, that the war would be over in two or three weeks, Tooley joined the other young men Monday morning as they hopped in the car to go and get swore in and leave for boot camp. His mother walked alongside the car telling him to get out as they began to pull away. She told him to stay and wait with his parents on the cotton farm, but by that time Tooley was determined.

When Tooley talked to the recruiting Sergeant it wasn’t his weight that was in question, it was his age. At the time he didn’t shave and didn’t have a whisker of facial hair. With his age in question he was asked about his birth certificate. Tooley didn’t know if he had one. He had never needed one to plow with a mule. After asking around Tooley discovered information about his birth certificate. During that time everyone was born at home. When a baby came out the parents didn’t know if it was going to be a boy or a girl. The doctor wasn’t going to stay around while the parents figured out a name. Tooley’s birth certificate read, Tooley baby, July 4th, 1931. It didn’t even say what gender the baby was.

When Tooley arrived before the recruiting Sergeant he didn’t say anything about the birth certificate and Tooley didn’t mention it. Tooley wasn’t sure if he didn’t care or had forgot. During that time the recruiting Sergeant received five dollars for everyone he recruited. Without resistance Tooley joined the others and rode up to Fort Knox for boot camp. When he arrived at Fort Knox he was once again asked about his age. “When was you born?” He was asked thinking that they would catch him in a lie as he counted the years, but Tooley didn’t miss a beat. “1931,” he replied. When they didn’t stump him on the age the topic of conversation turned to his lack of facial hair. They decided that they would grow him a beard and Tooley was ordered to lather up and shave his bare face every day. A stubborn Tooley disregarded the order and no one was able to tell if he shaved or didn’t.

Training lasted 16 weeks. Tooley received advanced infantry training where he got to shoot the bazooka, rifle, a 50 caliber machine gun, and about every other weapon they had in the book. He had it all thrown at him in training. If he didn’t know it by the end of those 16 weeks it was his own fault. When he was finished at Fort Knox the war was gaining strength and becoming difficult.

Tooley rode the troop train to Chicago on a Greyhound. From there it took three days to get to Seattle, Washington. Tooley was about to go up the gang plank when he was ordered to step aside. As the man continued to call off names he would talked to Tooley during the breaks. “How old are you,” the man asked before he called off another name. Tooley told him and then he was asked what year he was born. Without skipping a beat Tooley responded with his birth date. “I don’t believe it. You got a birth certificate,” the man asked. Tooley then told him that he never did get one because he was born at home. That was when Tooley was informed that he was going to be staying with the Navy for a while.

Tooley stayed with the Navy for two months while he waited for his birth certificate problem to get straightened out. The Red Cross had to go into his home town and find three people that were as old as his parents that remembered when he was born and have them sign a paper. It was two months to the day when Tooley left Seattle, not knowing the horrors that awaited him in Korea.

“A lot of things happened to me and it seemed impossible for me to survive it,” said Tooley.

A determined Frank Tooley kept marching on through every obstacle that confronted him on his way to Korea. He had gone around the weight requirement and was snagged on getting a proper birth certificate that would let everyone know his real age despite the youthful nature of his face. Now with all documents in place he was ready to leave Seattle behind and cross over the Pacific Ocean to a new world for him.

The call came that there was a need for riflemen and Tooley boarded a plane. Tooley caught a civilian DC-6 and flew out of America after refueling in Shemya, Alaska. Shemya was an air force base without a town anywhere around. It was a base with no women and the men there talked about how rough it was. Little did Tooley know, at the time, how easy those men really had it there in Alaska.

Next, Tooley landed in Tokyo and took a Japenese train to Sasebo. In Sasebo he boarded a Japanese ship and went on further to Pusan. Once in Pusan, Tooley and the other men boarded another train that took them into the heart of the war. When the train stopped at its destination the men were split up and sent to their new divisions.

Tooley and four other men were sent to 2nd division. Tooley recollects walking another six or eight miles before he got to the mountain. Upon meeting up with 2nd division Tooley went up to the first Lieutenant he saw. The man’s name was Connelly Clark from Gaffney, SC. The first thing out of Clark’s mouth to Tooley was, “What are you doing up here?” Tooley replied that they had sent him up there. “How old are you,” was Clark’s next question. Tooley thought to himself, “I’ve got to go through this again?”

“19, sir. I’m nearly 20. When 4th of July rolls around I’ll be 20,” replied Tooley.

“I don’t believe it,” said Clark. Looking Tooley dead in the eye he told him to get his butt out of there.

“I’d be glad to leave if you want me to. You sign a paper and I’ll leave. I volunteered for the Army, but I didn’t volunteer for Korea,” said Tooley.

“You ain’t a day over 15. You know you have to be 18 to go into combat,” said Clark.

“I just told you I was 19 when I joined,” said Tooley.

Clark still didn’t believe him. “You don’t even shave do you,” asked Clark.

Here we go again, Tooley thought to himself. “What does my hair have to do with my age? You sign a paper that I can leave and I’ll leave. Momma didn’t raise no fools and if she did it was my brothers,” said Tooley.

Quickly Tooley made another joke and the topic of discussion began to change. Clark told him that he couldn’t send him back at the moment, but he’d get around to it. Later on, while marching, Tooley tumbled down the side of the mountain injuring his foot. Being an old stubborn country boy he just kept pushing on. It wasn’t until the next morning that he developed a serious limp. When Tooley asked to go to sick call they were glad to send him thinking that he had seen the light and was going to get out of the war zone.

Tooley hopped a truck to sick call with others that were wounded or scared. After an X-ray Tooley found out that he had broken his foot. It would take six weeks to heal and they would have to send him to Japan. Tooley rehabbed and it came time for him to be evaluated. The doctor told him that he could have another week or two if he needed it, but Tooley knew the longer he stayed in the hospital, the longer it was going to be before he was allowed to go home. So, Tooley told them he was fine and he was sent back to his division.

One night while in dug bunkers Tooley and the rest of his men were surrounded by the Chinese that came in to assist the North Koreans. While bunkered down Tooley could hear from the darkness, “Banzai! Banzai!” The Chinese would blow a bugle from different locations signaling different times to come in and attack. The Chinese would come running at the men and some of them didn’t even have a weapon. Several of the Chinese would be designated one gun. One man would carry the 25 caliber burp gun, another would carry the ammo and when the first man would die or get injured the next in line would step up.

Tooley got out of the bunker and was called over by Clark. There was a man with a bullet wound to his face. The bullet entered in his cheek taking out part of his tongue and teeth. Clark ordered Tooley to take the man to the aid station. Tooley informed Clark that he would rather stay with the rest of the men but Clark was determined to get Tooley out of there. Another man, a machine gunner with a displaced vertebrae, was also going to accompany Tooley to the aid station.

During the attack, Tooley recollected the tracer rounds that looked like lighting bugs flying over their head as the three men moved down the mountain among the shrubs and dirt. Tooley took the lead making sure that they didn’t set off the trip wires to the flares that would light up the entire location.

At the bottom of the mountain they approached the company commander’s bunker. Tooley had called out to the Company Commander, but there was no answer. Tooley came up with the idea to send a couple of rounds over his head to get him to talk to him but one of the other guys talked him out of it.

Tooley later found out that the Company Commander had run “like a coward” and deserted his bunker. The plan that was made was to take the man with the wound to his face by the arm and assist him toward the bunker. Once they saw that they had a wounded man they wouldn’t fire at them. The whole time that they were concocting their plan, bullet tracers and artillery were flying overhead.

When they began to approach the Company Commander’s bunker out of the darkness someone yelled at them. “Surrender,” shouted from the shadows. “You understand?” Shortly after the sentence was ended the source of the words made their appearance. With his weapon pointed at them a Chinese man walked up, and they knew that they had been captured.

That was the point in time that began a long hard journey of survival for Tooley. Without the will to live it was going to be a hard journey from there on out to make it back to safety. Tooley was now a prisoner of war to the people that despised him.

 

Hits: 8255

No comments

Leave your comment

In reply to Some User