Served Our Country

Vernard and Lloyd Wayne both served in Korea together.Memories of the Thunderbirds 245th Division
By: Vernard Holbrook

The Thunderbirds, 245th Division, was called into service in 1950 to provide administrative, mess, organizational maintenance, supply, motor transport, air observation and local security for division headquarters in Korea.
They first arrived at Camp Polk, La. In September 1950 and I believe they stayed there until around March of 1951. The reason I am not so sure of the dates was that Sgt. Ricky and I were sent ahead to get the barracks ready for all the other men in our unit when they arrived. The barracks were in deplorable shape and in much disarray. We cleaned them, got bedding and other things ready. We also had to be sprayed with D.D.T. and so did the barracks because we were covered with live. (Actually a less delicate word used was crabs) - We left for Korea and it took us about thirty one days aboard the ship. I do not know the reason, but, they must have not been ready for us to get there. We would make big around circles out in the ocean, which sometimes lasted for hours and hours. Several of the men were violently seasick, including me. We would only have one meal a day, midday, and sometimes that would be chili or whatever the navy fed us. We went under the Golden Gate Bridge and through the Panama Canal. After such a weakening trip, we arrived, departed the ship and were put in railroad cattle cars which were not heated and we were crammed in like a "can of sardines". This was not half of it for when we arrived where we were to stay, out tents were down and mostly covered in snow. These had to be erected before we could even rest.
Most of the time I was the company Commander’s jeep driver so I was able to go to many locations. There were a few exceptions to driving. One was when every cook in the unit got drunk and was too sick to even cook, I was called in to cook and did so for almost three days until everyone got over their "illness". I drove a tank for a while when I was not driving the jeep.

I Love This Picture Of Vernard
He served in the Army