Pacific Stars and Stripes, December 11, 1950
WITH 1ST MARINES IN KOREA-This is one
of those pleasant stories which sometimes crop up in a war. During
the battle for Seoul, members of the 1st Marine band gained
an ally-11 year old Pong Tong Mah, a fresh faced, English speaking South
Korean lad they promptly dubbed "Butch."
BUTCH WAS everywhere, carrying water,
ammunition and a smile-he was one of the boys, and a younger brother to
look after. And Butch, an orphan, had found a home. It was a dream come
true. But dreams have a way of ending.
AFTER
SEOUL was secured, word came down that the division was moving out.
Butch would have to be left behind. He stood by and watched the division
load on trucks and drive off to an embarkation point. Then he had an
idea. He started off by himself on a journey that was little short
of amazing.
HE WALKED from Seoul to Inchon and persuaded an Army
outfit going aboard ships to take him aboard. They fitted him out with
a cut down Army uniform. Then he and the Army split at the North Korean
town of Iwon. Butch asked around town and heard rumors of a marine
landing further south, in rugged north central Korea. So off he went.
He hopped a train near Iwon and rode for over
100 miles through guerrilla country-still in uniform. At Hungnam, he
got off where familiar heavy, green Marine Corps trucks lumbered through
the streets.
EVERY AMERICAN he saw wore the globe and
anchor insignia. Butch was home. Today he's back with the bandsmen-or
he was when this was written. At night, when the leathernecks huddle
in a foxhole next to a machinegun watching for the Chinese enemy to move,
Butch may be there, laughing quietly and whispering jokes.
If Butch is still alive, he'll keep his home with the bandsmen. "He's
our boy," they asserted proudly, mussing his closely-cropped hair.
SSA-731
