P-51 Mustang fighters with which to help defend their country. Their American instructor told me he was sure that he would have them in the air within another twenty-four hours, even though it might seem a hopeless task to a newcomer, for he had to polish them up on much basic technique. When his translator explained that those of them who spoke no English need not worry about controltower conversations since it was arranged that they would be flashed either a green light for landing or red to turn away, they all burst into delighted laughter. Obviously this was a very high-class and democratic airfield! Just fly! No talk! Red. Green. Very simple! I wondered whether their war would be the same. Just after dawn Wednesday we got our second break. A C-47 was going up another airfield only about thirty minutes away, so we bummed a ride. Once there we learned that a plane had been ordered to Suwon field, Central Korea, with radio jeeps for MacArthur’s field headquarters which had just been established. We piled into the plane and right into the jeeps. The rain lifted enough for the take-off and away we went. Looking through the window I could see nothing but swirling gray clouds and moisture slipping like soft jewels across the glass. About two hours from Japan the clouds suddenly began to break and we could see the ground. The roads were the first things to strike us. They were black with people heading south. Then three trains appeared crawling along the single track, all headed south and completely blanketed with refugees. Landing on the Suwon strip we were greeted by Burton Crane, New York Times' man and an old friend from Tokyo, but now a little difficult to recognize. His head was bandaged covering the cuts he had received the night before when the jeep in which he was riding had its windshield blown out when the Southern Koreans blasted the Han River bridge at Seoul, in their efforts to stop the drive of the invaders from the north. He flew out on our plane but not before telling us that they had just been strafed by a pair of Yaks which hit no one, but peppered the abandoned U.S. fighter and light bomber sitting on the edge of the strip. Both 24 l Ⅲ. Korea 1950 This is War!
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