Sgt. Major Robert Lance (USMC)
Bob joined Marines when he was 17 years old. He wanted to be a tanker, and was trained at Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C. but was sent to sea school and upon completion of sea school received orders to be on the USS Missouri. He went to Korea 3 years later. He had enlisted for a 3 years term and his 3 years was almost up when Korean War broke out. All the Marines were required to serve another year so he was sent to Korea in 1950, he was 20 years old.
One day at mess hall he heard his buddies talking, “North Korea attacked South Korea”. “Where is it?” “It’s on the other side of Japan”. That was all he knew about Korea. In those days, there were not too many Marines, so many of the reserves were called to go to Korea as well.
From Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, he took a train for 4 days and arrived at Camp Pendleton, California on Aug 17, 1950. Three days later he was on USS Thomas Jefferson troop ship, which took him to Japan. From there he took Japanese LST tank landing ship which brought him to Pusan, Korea, and landed in Inchun on Sept. 15. About a month later, thousands of Marines and soldiers were sent to Wonsan. Wonsan, located on North Korea’s southeastern coast was strategic point since it had a large harbor and airfield. When Bob arrived in Wonsan, US Army was already there as well as ROK (republic of Korean) army. Chinese had joined the North Koreans and there was massive fighting.
On Nov 10, which is US Marine Corps Birthday, the Marines were given parkas. They only had regular army clothes without coats up to then but it started to get real cold. They did not get boots yet. The Chinese only wore tennis shoes and were dressed very poorly suffering more than US men. Bob fought in Hungnam, Chosin Reservoir, Yudam-ni, Sudong-Ni, Koto-ri , Hagaru-ri, Hamhung. In Hamhung, US Marines thought they were chasing the Chinese, but it was a trap.
Nov. 23 was Thanksgiving Day. They were provided with traditional Thanksgiving meal but, there were no plates nor utensils. The men ate out of boxes standing up in their uniforms and parkas.
Nov. 27, they arrived at Yudam-ni area near Chosin Reservoir. The village of Yudam-ni sits on a valley surrounded by 2 steep mountains. There were two hills one was called Hill 1282 and the other Hill 1240. Bob was in the group that was nearest to the reservoir. They were sent out to patrol the Chosin Reservoir. But they found themselves in front of the Chinese and there were too many of them. They had to go back to Yudam-ni.
The Chinese were coming in regiment sizes, whereas the Americans had 4 to 5 companies with 190 men in each company. The Chinese were blowing bugles into loud speakers. The Marines were no match for the Chinese. They had climbed to the top of the hill 1240 to protect their artillery but were told to retreat to the bottom of the hill. There were no dugout holes and they had to crawl flat on their stomach on the ground. The Chinese were so close, he could see their tennis shoes. Bob was too dumb to be scared and had no idea what was going on. Then a bullet hit him on his back. He did not know he had taken a bullet and only felt something warm on his back. He thought it was his sweat. It was 27 below zero, so cold. Then another Marine outfit told them to go back up the hill 1240 to guard artillery. Some guys were hit twice but they had to keep moving. Bob could not go back up and a medic packed some gauze into the bullet hole. There was nothing else they could do. Bob did not feel pain since coldness overshadowed any pain and he could not move his arm. There were 200 men in his company and only 16 to 18 men did not get hit. 40 were killed and more than 100 were wounded.
Around Nov. 28th or 29th, Marines packed up whatever they could onto back of a jeep and along with Bob, they went back up to Yudam-ri. From there, they had to retreat and had to walk back to Hagaru. In Hagaru, Bob met Navy Chaplin, Cravin. There were oil drums which were filled with water and they were heating C rations on top of them. Chaplin Cravin was handing out C rations.
After Bob returned to the States, in 1985 he went to a reunion of The Chosin Few Korea group in New Orleans at the Fairmont Hotel. It was a 4 days event. There, Bob ran into Chaplin Cravin! Bob always wanted to thank the Chaplin for giving him warm c ration and this gave him a chance to do exactly that.
Back to the story in Hagaru. After he met Chaplin Cravin, since Bob was wounded, he was put on a cargo 2 engine plane going to Pohang. The people who could move were put on 4 engine plane to Kobe Japan.
They took him to a hospital in Kobe, Japan. He was still wearing dirty battle clothes. They told him to take off his clothes, and when he took off his clothes, a grenade rolled out. People scattered and were scared but it did not blow up. They put a chair backwards and sat him down so he could lean on it as they hosed him down. No surgery was done there as this was not a hospital which performed surgery; and doctor could not take the bullet out. The doc patched him as best as he could but the bullet stayed in. There was a sign on each bed that said, gunshot wound or body lice. Many men had black frozen feet and gangrene had set in. A doctor would bring around a cart with scissors and snip off the frozen toes. Men could not feel pain because their feet was all frozen. Bob also had frostbites and even now, Bob has no nerves in his leg and feet. He cannot feel anything on the bottom of his feet and uses cane to guide his legs. He stayed in that Japanese hospital from Dec 6th to middle of Feb 1951. When he was a bit better, he was sent back to the front line in Korea.
Bob was sent to Central part of Korea. They were checking house to house in a farm area. He kicked a door of one farm house when a biggest rat he has ever seen jumped out and ran past him. There were bunkers with many rats. Bob hates rats. He and buddy, Goldie Givens they had given nickname as “Dutch”, were walking together looking for North Koreans. They saw a farm house with a stone hedge in the distance. Someone was running from the farm house to the barn several times. They could not make out who it was but Dutch said if he saw the motion one more time, he would shoot. The man came out and Dutch shot one bullet which hit him. They came close to the body and found a 12-year-old boy. Dutch was so sad in killing a boy but he did not know it was a small boy.
Back in the States, Bob and Dutch used to meet every year at the Marines gatherings as the Marines are a very tight group. Dutch is from Kentucky.
Then they were in the battle called Operation Killer which lasted from Feb 20 to March 6, 1951. This was launched by UN forces against Chinese and NK army. Bob was in 1st Marine Division in Seoul area. They had to run up and down the hills. The war was supposed to be finished by Sept 17, 1950, but they were still fighting in March 1951.
Bob returned to the States, and on Sept. 17, 1951 he was discharged from the Marines. He got back pay of $60 per month. He did not even have a wallet to put the money in and shoved money in all pockets. He returned to Illinois but his family had moved to a different neighborhood and he did not know anyone. He stayed out of Marine Corps for 6 months, then in April, 1952 decided to go back as career Marine and stayed for 26 years. 4 years in the Marines and going to Korea made him a career Marine.
Bob says before Korea, “I was a smart-ass kid and Korea made me an adult”. It was a hard road, he saw people die, men cry…. He still thinks about the 40 men in his company that were killed and 100 wounded including himself. Such tragedy.
In Seoul, there were no civilians but fighting was still going on. His friend, Joe was hit and lay in the street for one whole day. Due to all the firing, they could not get to him. But the Marines did not leave him behind and stayed until they could get him out. He recovered and became an accountant in the New York.
“I marvel at Korean people. They come out of farm houses and stone buildings that had no heat. They are rough, tough people. When we were fighting in the hills, it was hard to get drinking water. Using an A-Frame, old Korean men would come up the hill to bring us water in 5 gallon cans. These skinny old Korean farmers would go up and down the hill with heavy 5 gallons of water. I have lots of respect for them. “
“Every day in Korea was excitement, adrenal was pumping. Back in USA, there was no more excitement-kind of miss it although I don’t want to do it again. I was one of the lucky ones. Even now (here in the States), 20 men have passed away already. All the men from Chosin Reservoir have heart problems due to cold they endured. “
Bob served as Presidential Honor Guard for 27 months in Washington DC under Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. He attended inaugural parade for President Kennedy. With the State Dept. Bob traveled to Malaysia and Singapore. He also took an overnight train from Bangkok to Northern Thailand.
Bob married Carol in 1967 and they celebrated 50th anniversary in April 2017.
Bob became a 1st Sergeant and went to Vietnam. Carol was pregnant when he went and his first son was born when Bob was still in Vietnam. That son, Robert Edward Lance, is now 48 years old. He has a 2nd son, Matthew David Lance who is married to Jennifer, and Bob and Carol have 5 grandchildren.
Bob retired from Marines in 1978 with highest pay level of E9 at $18,000 per year.
Bob 36 years old in Vietnam
After Bob returned from Vietnam he was stationed at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Bob and Carol loved to travel but had very little money and they already had one son. Every Friday, they would take their Volkswagen bus filled with ice chest and propane gas cooking stove, and travel to different cities and States.
They used to attend The Chosin Few Korea group meetings every year in different States to meet their friends, but it is physically too hard to travel now.
In 1987 Bob had a bypass surgery and the doctor took X-rays. The surgeon could not believe what he saw. “You know about the bullet in you?” Since the bullet was never removed and it became more embedded in tissues and could not be taken out. The bullet had moved a little bit in his body but it did not cause any problems. When the bullet entered his body, it was with a force which created heat. This sterilized the bullet which embedded into Bob’s almost frozen body. This combination of heat and cold, made Bob live with the bullet all his life without problems.
As told to Sun Kim on July 18, 2017
Bob passed away on July 14, 2018, Sun Kim went to his funeral.
Bob and Carol Lance 2017.
2017