Marines took hometown pride to Korean War

The searing 96-degree heat quickly caused sweat to soak through the Marines’ olive-drab fatigue uniforms.

The weight of their combat packs, ammunition belts and the M-1 rifles they carried didn’t help. But what probably was central in the minds of the 154 Leathernecks and five Navy medical officers had little to do with the temperature.

It was July 31, 1950, and the men of E Company, 5th Infantry Battalion of Charlottesville’s Marine Corps reserve unit were leaving for war. On June 25, 1950, communist-ruled North Korea had invaded South Korea.

North Korea’s blitzkrieg-like attack quickly captured territory, and within a month its forces were threatening to push the last defenders off the southern end of the peninsula and into the sea. On June 30, President Harry S. Truman ordered American ground troops into action, and the mobilization of reserve units for deployment started.

Walter Bishop was one of many local Marine reservists who had experienced combat during World War II. He had seen heavy fighting as a machine gunner during the 82-day battle in the spring of 1945 to take the Japanese-held island of Okinawa.

After returning home he got married and started an excavation business. When he learned his reserve unit was headed for battle once again, he took the news stoically.

“There were mixed emotions, but you just accept it,” said Bishop, who celebrated his 83rd birthday on July 22. “I didn’t try to fight it, because you just do what you have to do.

“I felt sorry not so much for myself, but for these youngsters who hadn’t been in war yet. They didn’t know what they were getting into, and there wasn’t any way you could tell them.

“I was a sergeant, and all I could tell them was that they had to look out for the worst.”

In typical hurry-up-and-wait military fashion, the departing Marines had been ordered to report to their headquarters in the Midway Building at 7 a.m., hours before the troop train was scheduled to leave for Camp LeJeune, N.C. At 1 p.m. the men got into their marching formation, and headed toward the Southern Railway Station on West Main Street.

Preceding the marching Marines was a band consisting of members of the Charlottesville Municipal Band and Lane High School Band. According to Bishop, the route of the march took them by the depot and up to the University of Virginia Rotunda.

E Company was the first Marine reserve unit in the area to be called to duty as a result of the growing crisis. Many people apparently didn’t know about the deployment.

“At first, as we marched up the street, people didn’t know we were coming,” said Bishop, who was born and raised in Charlottesville. “Then everybody started coming out of the businesses, restaurants and what have you.

“There was a pretty good crowd that had gathered up by the university. They were applauding, waving, hugging us and shaking our hands. They gave us a big sendoff.

“We turned around and headed back to the train station, where a large crowd had gathered in the parking lot.”

The depot crowd was estimated at more than 1,000 people. One of the well-wishers was Charlottesville Vice Mayor Strother F. Hamm, who bid the departing Marines farewell on behalf of the city.

“I am not without previous experience in saying goodbye to those called to serve their country,” Hamm said. “During the last war, as a member of the draft board of this city, I said goodbye to hundreds of young men who went out from this community - but even so, this is not an experience which can ever become trite or commonplace or one that can be participated in without emotions.

“It is, then, an occasion of mixed emotions. An occasion of intense concern and anxiety to loved ones and friends - but equally an occasion of just pride and confidence. Pride that in any hour of peril our young men are ready to answer, and confidence that they will be equal to any test they are called on to meet.

“Young men, your community is proud of you. You have been good citizens; you will be good soldiers. God speed you on your mission.”

As the 2:30 p.m. departure time neared, the Marines began boarding the train. Emotions that had been largely held in check now became impossible for many to hide any longer.

“A lot of people were crying,” Bishop remembered. “People were holding others up to the train windows and all that kind of stuff.

“I really don’t know how I felt leaving town that day. I’d been in the same situation before, and I kind of took whatever came along.”

Bishop was one of the few Marines of E Company who didn’t get sent to Korea. The Corps figured it needed him more as a truck driver ferrying troops and supplies to Morehead City, N.C., where they were put on transport ships.

Bishop said the only Marine he knows of from the company who was killed in the Korean War was Cpl. Freeman M. Wade. Marine Cpl. Carl L. Cash was one of the more seriously wounded local men who left with the outfit.

In 1975 Bishop was instrumental in bringing together the men of E Company for a 25th-anniversary reunion. As the 60th anniversary of the departure neared, his thoughts again returned to that emotion-filled day, July 31, 1950.

“I just think these other fellows should have some recognition on this anniversary,” Bishop said. “A lot of those guys really fought hard.”