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DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY Ainvage and Donors HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY ‘3d TRANSPORTATION BRIGADE Constituted 21 February 1941 in the Organized Reserves as Headquarters, 22d Railway Grand Division; concurrently redesignated as Headquarters, 702d Rafiway Grand Biviston (Engineer), and allotted to Seventh Corps Ares Ordered into active military service 24 September 1942 Organized 15 Octobar 1942 at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 7024 Raflway Grand Division (Engineer) Converted and redesignated 16 Novenber 1942 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 702d Ratlway Grand Division, Transportation Corps Reorganized and redes onated 14 April 1944 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 34 Hil itary Ratlway Service Redes nated 21 duly 1947 ag Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 34 Transportation Military Raflway Service (Organized Reserves redesignated 25 Harch 1943 as Organtzed Reserve Corps) Inactivated 25 January 1950 tn Japan Withdrawn from Organized Reserve Corps 22 August 1950 and allotted to the Regular Army Activated 26 August 1950 in Korea Reorganized and redesignated 27 March 1954 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Transportation Raflway Command Inactivated 15 June 1955 tn Kores Withdrawn from allotment to the Regular Amy and allotted to the Amy Reserve 13 February 1956, assigned to the Fifth Army, and affiliated with Associaton of American RatTroads, Washington, D.C, Activated 9 April 1956 at St. Louts, Missourt (Fifth Army redesignated 1 January 1957 as Fifth United States Army) Redes tonated 1 Novenber 1971 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 34 Transportation Brigade HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY ‘3d TRANSPORTATION BRIGADE WOME AREA: Fifth United States Aray CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT World War 11 ElropainckiFtcan-iddte Eastern Theater, Streamer without tnscription Asiatic-Pacific Theater, Streamer without ‘inscription Korean War jefenstve UN offensive CCF intervention First UN counteroffensive CCF spring offensive UN surmer-fall offensive Second Korean winter Korea, sunmer-fal) 1952 Third Korean winter Korea, summer 1953 DECORATIONS Meritorious Untt Commendation, Streamer enbrotdered IRAN Nerttortous Unit Commendation, Streamer enbrotdered JAPAN Meritorfous Unit Conmendation, Streamer embroidered KOREA 1950-1951 Nerftorfous Unit Commendation, Steramer enbrotdered KOREA 1951-1952 Merttortous Unit Commendation, Steraner enbroidered KOREA 1952-1953 Merttorfous Unit Commendation, Streamer enbroidered KOREA 1953-1954 Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Streamer enbrotdered KOREA 1950-1952 Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Streamer embroidered KOREA 1982-1953 BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: a ben Wibes Gene Majer“ General, USA The Adjutant General . He f nice eight of ‘who er of, ition per oiler haay Baal with Mao ch to ua rife Correspondents Fionexce Mansitata, and Itouenr V. Seuwante Congratulations and hest wishes to Vernon ile, of the machine room and hig new bride, the former ‘iltxbuth Livingston, wh were married on Feb 8 jn, hlltos Beltfoad clerk retired on Match ai, after 48 years ervice Dell was'the resipient of many. wel silts from: his’ fellow employee who Wah Mim many years of teiune’s Norma Perkins is duplaying a very lovely d ‘mond ing 94 the importa? finger a also Mars insey, who bocamt ore to-our own Alber Torte een. Wie ste glad to welcome baek our genial ele ator operator, Henman Wheat who hse been absent bécatae of lines for some time, fla MeWilinme has round {o'the’ ite after having been hewpies ined fora short time. Congratsieions {o.Glre Shreve sade han wh came the proud parents of a teva boy. =. Audrey itesman and Narre Blin were hostesses at the roseat CEE show, “Attied ‘an Hawaiian gris, thes presented n charming appearance ta they Passed oot varceolored Tein to alli 2 fendance.” Toeidentaliy the ‘how was Cumberiand, wast injured in an auto accident. Hest wishes are sent. for a speedy fecovery. It's mice to. see Margarite Teese Gack after a spell of illness, -". Wedding bells rang ‘out for Rose Matie of "ero, when she wae ma forte on Breit ab Nte"Gfwetotheran Chee ‘The happy. couple honeymooned in New York during. the "recent - snowstorm Many happy returns of the day! "= Our retired friend, Henry Tbtner, was ire cently looking fine and: dandy. ‘Two former employees who have many’ friends in the office stopped in on Good Friday. aftemoon—none other “than Roberta Mugnai and Dorothy Vogel, We were glad to see them and hope they return fore too long... While enjoying. stroll during funch hour on one of the ine Frequent wary day roente,we a the pleasure of meating dim Murphy" on the Streets He dooked at though retiree rent was a wonderful experience for him, And was a8 cheerful and witty a8 of old Jin elated how wonder nas to have very" morning in the week begin in an linhurred, happy way, rather than, be following the sérict and. more or less hroctie schedule adhered to hy those of us who still work. "We think’ we know Adams carly 1 siuren, alter 26 years of J BO service, "Prank served aa Ti tenant clone in Word War fe few sn expert on transportation and naturally - ‘was assigned 10 transportation service, Where he vould use his vast knowledge Viewt. Col "Adams was honored with 1 rallitaey funeral. He willbe greatly Inisted.. We extend our semipathy' to his Wife and family. Our Mrs O'Hara is slowly reeavering from the severe shock he suffered in the death of his beloved wife. His many vears of service with the TKO entitled him to early retirement ene Hondo ey ih isl, put “Man proposes and’ God disposes. oe atthiss ew York offices fie humming with activity and looking forward to busy spring sd summer ing of Smiles." Jerry Stile. ler, som of Charles Stiteler, welder, Du Bsc shoe end graninon Bute ler, price clerk, sorekeeper's office, wax ‘quoarded the title “Ring of Synilen™ by the Du Bois, High School during slmevican Dental Week.’ Terry, a senior at the high school, is quite active in sports sehat Jim was really saying and we ho that he hap many more years in whigh {o"enjoy all the various® aspects. of his seinem. ‘Staten Island Lines Ney Tat XY side at dn ae ‘Traffic Departinent Correspondent A. B. Cont We extend our best wishes to Peter W, Nutley, promoted to division freight ‘agent at Indianapolie—our loss is their gain. (Aside to PWN: Show them how (ollowing recent hospital ear, Als, Joe Bloom, purchase clerk in the Store- Koapor's Office, is back on the job, tole lowing a series of eye operations. Well wishes are extended: to. Mrs, Mary Moore and Mes. Agnes Malone, ticket ‘MILITARY NEWS. A.A.R. SPONSORS... Aong th Army sees Rao Uvite Te nel eo ae" Cialis shor pnp aca snd Ot 1 agp eb bates oe ee toad tie fo jo tall Capt 4°. stele serenincarta etme aie, Saele Eiger ceere HE number of Army Reserve Rail ond Units supporting the nation's transportation mobilization program w boosted to 20 with tho sigaing of a afiliation agreement ia Washington, on February 27. William 'T. Fariey, president of the Association of American Railronds, and Major General Paul F, Yount, Army Obief of Transportation, signed an afiia- tion agreement marking reactivation of ‘the famed 3rd Transportation Railway ei St Ba AAR, will be afiliated with the Frisco Railway. ‘That railroad will furnish officers and enlisted porsonnel for the | Baltimore & Ohio Mapazine «+» NEW ARMY RESERVE UNIT reserve unit as well as tech- nical training, necessary cquipment and shops. Clark Hungerford, president of the Frisco as well as presi- dent of the ‘Transportation Association, command the 3rd Trans: portation Railway Command. He is a colonel in the U. 8. Army Reserve. ‘The 3rd TRC, then known as the 3rd Military Railway Service, was activated in the Persian Gulf Command in April, 1944, The 3rd MRS served throughout the Persian Command and the Pacific until January, 1950, when it was inactivated in Japan, ‘The rd Military Railway Serviee was reactivated in Korea on August 25, 1950, to mevt the transportation requirements caused by the outbreak of Korean hos- | May, Nineteon Fists ational Defense W. 1. PARICY. President, A. A. R Railway Command will provide another onportnity in the St, Lavis aren for Alsible individuals wishing to take ade tae of one of the training proms Imovel by the3VdMIRS. availble under the Reserve Forces Act ‘The Set RUNS was rdesige of 1985. nated the 3rd Tranmortation "Twelve raitroad lines are_ presently Railway Commi en March y sponsoring txt afinted nts, The 27, Tot, and inncivated in” opomars "ares Teanayivanin, Railrond Korenndane5, 1965 Opera faut, Uion Pac), Nate tion af Korea's railroad net. Tlroed one), Texas and New Orleana work. was relutned to tho (one), New-York Central (bre), Lawie Korean National Railways. ville and Nase one), New York, Under the afition plan, a part. of NewHlayen and Hartford (ne), St, Luis the United States Army Reserve Pro- snd San Francisco (one), Missouri Paci- gram, AmerisanrilroadsaponeerveserveS¢ (one), Southern Pacific (one), Ch Units for the. Army's ‘Transportation CH, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Corps. The reserve units are maintained (0R#)s and Baltimore a nite pant ceatpntie ‘The Association of American Teilronds Zenoss or mbication or fore ig ‘etivaly apenoring three alate reserve unite: the newly afiiated 3rd railroads will enable tho Army to expand he 14th ‘TRC. of Washington, its capacity for prompt and effective 2RC) th RO of Washing D. C,, and Headquarters, Transporta- ction in time of national erisis, a re tion Railway Serviee, Omaha, Neb. One Activation of the 3rd Transportation reserve unit is not affiliated, tilities. Figures indicate that, 90 per cent of the ammunition and supplies reaching front Tines in Korea were initially Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Transportation Agency Page 1 of 2 HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY 3D TRANSPORTATION AGENCY LINEAGE AND HONORS INFORMATION AS OF 7 AUGUST 2002 Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3d Transportation Agency Lineage Reorganized and redesignated 27 March 1954 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Transportation Railway Command. Inactivated 15 June 1955 in Korea Withdrawn 13 February 1956 from allotment to the Regular Army and allotted to the Army Reserve Activated 9 April 1956 at St. Louis, Missouri Reorganized and redesignated 1 November 1971 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Transportation Brigade Inactivated 31 December 1976 at St. Louis, Missouri Activated 1 October 1978 at Anniston, Alabama Reorganized and redesignated 16 September 1994 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Transportation Agency Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3d Transportation Agency Honors Campaign Participation Credit World War II: European-A frican-Middle Eastern Theater, Streamer without inscription; Asiatic-Pacific Theater, Streamer without inscription http:/www.army.mil/emb/lineage/branches/trans/0003trag.htm 1/6/2005 Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Transportation Agency Page 2 of 2 Korean War: UN Defensive; UN Offensive; CCF Intervention; First UN Counteroffensive; CCF Spring Offensive; UN Summer-Fall Offensive; Second Korean Winter; Korea, Summer-Fall 1952; Third Korean Winter; Korea, Summer 1953 Decorations Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for IRAN, Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for JAPAN Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for KOREA 1950-1951 Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for KOREA 1951-1952 Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for KOREA 1952-1953 Meritorious Unit Commendation (Army) for KOREA 1953-1954 Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for KOREA 1950-1952 Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation for KOREA 1952-1953 Return to Branch Index Return to CMH Online http://www.army.mil/cmb/lineage/branches/trans/0003trag.htm 1/6/2005 0 tile 3rd TMRS in Japan, 1946-50 ‘The U.S. Army Transportation Corps (IC) has the task of moving personnel, equipment and supplies. Members of the corps perform the task by a variety of ‘means. Utilizing rail service is one of the ‘means, and during and after WW II, was a litle publicized but very successful aspect, of the war and during occupation duties. Some of the wartime success was duc to the foresight and planning of the War Department. In 1942, railroad units were transferred to the TC from the Corps of Engincers; railway units had operated in the Quartermaster Comps during WW I. In WW I, the Military Railway Service was born. It consisted of units numbered as Military Railway Service (Ist, 2nd and 3rd); commanded by a Brigadier General, the units’ chief responsibility was in di- recting the activities of Railway Grand Divisions (RGDs). In tum, RGDs directed the activities of four or five Railway Operating Battal- ions (ROBs) and one Railway Shop Bat- talion (RSB). The ROBs operated divi- sions, or lines of track, up to 150 miles long. ‘The RSBs were committed to ma- {jr repairs, overhauls, and manufacture of rolling stock. Both types of battalions ‘were commanded by LTCs. The contribu- tions of the MRS during WW IT have been well-documented on these pages and in ‘many other sources. (1) Numbered MRS unitshad a WW ITO of 22 officers and 186 EM (2). Post-WW Tl, the numbered MRS units were redesig- nated Transportation MRS, and in 1953 the ‘TO was 60 officers, 7 warrant officers, and 139 EMG) Specific duties included be- ing responsible for technical development for military purposes of railways in a given theater of operations; recommendations for the extent of the incorporation of lo- cal railroads and personnel; the disposal of railway troops and their complete unit movements; responsibility for the devel- ‘opment and movement of railway facili- ties; and the well-being and discipline of ‘MRS personnel.(4) ‘After the war, the Allies were faced with quickly rebuilding and then operat- ing formerly civilian railroads to provide food, clothe and supply civilian popula- tions. Itwas subsequently determined that ‘TRADING POST Dave Kaufman Unauthorized SSI for the 3rd TMRS. Green and red embroidered silk and bulion. Those are two locomotives atthe 1100 and 1300 positions; “3D "TMS" isharely legiblein the base. the occupying armies would be directing and controlling the civilian railroads, and not operating them. Additionally, both oc- cupation areas had geographical concerns that differed greatly. Germany is contigu- cous, flat in some regions, and with low mountains in others. Japan is composed ‘of many islands, divided into three main ‘groups ~ Hokkaido, in the north; Honshu, inthe center, and Kyushu, in the south; and is exceptionally mountainous. The Japa- nese railway system, government owned and operated, had been partially destroyed in WW II, far less than Germany's had been; some 9,000 freight cars and 900 locomotives were gone, as were 966 miles, of track. These were out of pre-war totals, of 84,000 freight cars, 5,000 locomo- tives, and 1,229 miles of track. (5) ‘The Japanese National Railroad (JNR) hhad some features that were Unique to the ‘world. One stretch is a cog operation, due to the severe mountain grades; the ferry system between islands consisted of en- tire passenger or freight trains, coupled together (minus the locomotives), being pushed onto a ship, and then pulled off at the other end. There were even underwa- ter tunnels. Prior to the Japanese surrender on 2 ‘Sept 45, the MRS sent the following units into Japan — the 737th and 770th Railway Operating Bns and the 793rd Base Depot Company. ‘The 737th had three detach- rents sent to different locations to aid in the repair and operations. The 770th made repairs and operated in the north, ‘The 793rd took up its stores duties. (6) Both battalions were inactivated in Japan in 1946; the 737th on 10 Apr 46 and the 770th on 8 Nov. In WW I, the 3rd MRS had been acti- vated 10 April 44 in Iran, Itwas an integral element of Persian Gulf Command, which had the chief logistical function of mov- ing supplies up from Iran into Russia. The 3rd MRS was inactivated in Iran in early August 1945, It was reconstituted, reacti- vated and redesignated 3rd Transport Railway Service (TMRS) in the Philippines in late August 45. On 25 Oct 45, the HQ of the 3rd TMRS arrived in Japan from its previous location in the Philippines, led by BG Frank Besson.(7) HQ was set up in the NYK Building (NYK Line was an exquisite passenger ship line ‘operated prior to WW II by the Japanese) in downtown Yokohama. Initially, the pri- ‘mary purpose of the 3rd TMRS was in ac- quiring and controlling trains, in order to bring in the first occupation divisions (Ist Cavalry and 11th Airborne.) The 3rd TMRS worked closely with the 2nd Ma- jor Port, which operated under a separate command. Both units coordinated ship's arrivals and departures. One of the first things the 3rd TMRS id was to survey the Japanese rail equip- ‘ment, particularly the passenger cars. Some of the better ears were requisitioned ‘and rehabilitated by the US shop units. The others were in terrible condition. There were broken windows, plumbing was in- operable (and different from American standards), brakes didn’t work, and equip- ‘ment was generally filthy. Many were stil in use, at great risk to Japanese civilian passengers, who hung off the sides, out of the windows, or rode on the roofs. The ‘occupation forces also took over Japa- nese railroad shops. The cars were pretty well stripped down and completely re- painted, windows were replaced, and the plumbing was upgraded. In anticipation of the brutal Japanese winters, the heating systems were restored. ‘As 3rd TMRS HQ was in the NYK Building, some of NYK staff was still in the building. Happenstance was that these former employees were part of a staff of 35 Sa “Jake” Jacoby (2) w HQCo ‘guidon, NYK Bldg, Yokohama (courtesy A. Rankin) caterers, cooks and waiters. They were immediately employed to staff dining cars that attached to US trains. They were pro- vided with US food stocks and provided their own meals, The 3rd MRS completely controlled and coordinated the day to day operation of Japanese trains and rail yard facilities, except in local Army depots and at some of the Army stations, There were numbers of MRS personnel with railroad experi- ence. Their primary job was in operating and maintaining the diesel engines subse- ‘quently brought over to do the switching in the depots. Gls were placed on all ci- Vilian tains, but the trains themselves were ‘operated by the Fapanese. The 3rd MRS coordinated the rail traffic between Army MRS trains and Japanese civilian trains; the ‘goal was for minimum disruption between the two. Army MRS trains included regu- larly scheduled passenger trains. Some of the regular Army passenger trains were ssiven American names: the Yankee Lim- ited between Yokohama and Sapporo, and the Dixie Limited between Hokkaido and Tokyo.(8) ‘The 3rd MRS utilized four divisions in routing trains: the Tokyo Division; the Sendai Division; the Osaka Division; and the Fukuoka Division, Tokyo Division 36 1947 Thanksgiving men, 3rd TMRS. Note the 8th Army SSI attop and itis thought that the small insignia above logically included operations in the To- kyo-Yokohama area west to Niigata, The Sendai Division operated over the north- em region of Honshu Island and Hokkaido Island, Osaka Division handled operations for central and south central Honshu Is- Jand and the island of Shikoku. Fukuoka Division was responsible for southern Honshu Island and the island of Kyushu. When operations were completely re- stored, Tokyo Central Station had approxi- mately 1,370 trains operating daily; ‘Yokohama Station had 1,270. (9) General MacArthur had made it clear, as had did MG Besson, that the Japanese had lost the ‘war, occupation was going to be peaceful and the US Army expected absolute coop- eration. MG Besson told the Japanese gov- ernment and the Japanese railroads, that the 3rd TMRS was an arm of the Occupa- tion Forces and was in charge of that phase of the occupation. Every member of the MRS was in charge of a particular area of 10” may be another unauthorized SI courtesy A. Ranki ‘occupation and whatever he ordered or directed would be followed, Of course, there was some undam- aged first class equipment, Early on, the Emperor's train was located. Having been well cared for, the cars were in almost mint condition. These were requisitioned for General MacArthur and his staff. As more and more occupation forces came in and began to settle, traffic increased between Tokyo and outlying areas. Most everyone is familiar with an old saying “All roads lead to Rome”. In Japan, they lead to Tokyo. The US Army, Japan, wanted to estab- lish a sea link with South Korea, The 3rd ‘TMRS requisitioned and had rehabilitated a couple of ferries that operated between the Island of Kyushu and Korea; the unit then operated the ferries and the train to serve the ferries. é Within each Railroad Division were Rail Transportation Officers (RTO), and JANUARY-MARCH 2007 assistant Rail Transportation Officers Wherever there was @ military element of the Occupational Forces, there was a RTO. He had his own office in the local railroad station, which usually was a piece of space carved out in the Station Master’s office. In some cases, the Japanese were required to build a separate office for our RTOs. ‘The RTO worked with his counterpart, the Station Master of the local station. For the ‘most part, RTOs were lower grade offic- ers, but there were NCOs in the position. ‘They were all identified with a green ‘armband marked with “R.T.0.”. Sgt Art Rankin, HQ Co, 3rd TMR was assigned as a conductor. He said, “I completed my Basic Training at Ft. Eustis, VA, and was sent to Ft. Warren (now War- ren AFB) at Cheyenne, WY, for Signal Maintenance Training. I returned to Ft. Eustis and was transferred to Manila, PI, to work on an Army railroad unit. There ‘was no unit there at the time; they had al- ready been transferred to Japan, so T was sent there. “L was assigned to the 3rd MRS in ‘Yokohama. My first assignment with them wwas as a Baggage/Express agent. I loaded and unloaded baggage on a 36-hour one way trip to Sapporo. ‘The bags were ar- ranged to be off-loaded in coordination with the passengers at each stop. The trains left out of Yokohama at 2100 hours, with several stops. I can recall a few - Tokyo, a USAF base, and the final one at the port of Amori, on the tip of Honshu. A ferry backed up to the rail terminus and then we drove the train up onto the ferry. We lashed several cars down with chains for the six hour trip to the entry port at Hakodate, on the island of Hokkaido. From there, our last stop was at Sapporo, scheduled for 0800. The military train US trains marked with white stripe (courtesy A. Rankin) TRADING POST Former Sgt. Rankln’s "R70." brassard printed red on greensilky numbers are printed in crew was then off for three to five day id a lot of sightseeing. We stayed at very nice Japanese hotels, which where all ‘owned by the railroad, with the Army pick- ing up the tab while we were off. “I did this for two months and then transferred to system conductor. This was an apprentice position until I was a full conductor. There were two conductors per train, and while one rested, the other collected tickets, ensured passengers ex- ited the trains at the proper stops, coordi- nated with the baggage agents, and gene ally acted to keep the peace on the trains. ‘There were no MPs on these trains; we were armed with .45s. We wore our RTO brassards. On one occasion, there was an Ord Maj who was causing problems for some Red Cross girls on one of the trains. OF course, alcohol was involved. I hed to order him off the train, and he was left at a stop not used by the Army trains. He com- plained about my actions, and it went up my chain of command. I provided an ex- planation, and the Maj was sent home. “We had a nice system for assign- ments. The Assistant Chief Conductor ‘wrote our names and our assignments on aboard. Since Yokohama was the second train largest train terminal, trains left ei ther north or south. We were given our preference as to which direction we wanted to go. I preferred northbound trains, but occasionally took southbound trains so I could sightsee. “The Army trains were marked with a distinctive white stripe on each car. Only military personnel, their dependents, and American civilians could ride on these trains; no Japanese were allowed on these yellow courtesy A Rankin) trains. We could ride theirs. Our Army trains were operated by Japanese locomo- tive engineers, firemen and brakemen, and wwe always had a Japanese interpreter with us, We had a total of six Gls on each train. ‘There was a baggage/express agent, two conductors, one mess Sergeant, and two soldiers from an APU in the mail car. The two Gls in the mail car were not allowed off the train; they could walk through it, but not exit. “Lrecall that the trains were all nar- row gauge, too. The INR maintained all the tracks, all the locomotives and rolling stock, and did all the repairs. It was really something to see them repair a storm-dam- aged bridge using ropes, as they had no bolts, no nails, no screws. Trains used the repaired bridges right away. I was amazed at their ability to meet any adversity. Up Sg A. Rankin (courtesy A. Rankin) 37 Float built ona Jeep to appear like 3rd TMRS locomotive (courtesy A. Rankin) at Sapporo, where it starts snowing in late September and doesn’t let up until March, Japanese railroad workers built insulated wooden tops and sides for our Jeeps, re- placing the standard canvas covers. “The US trains ran on Japanese tracks along with Japanese trains. The 3rd MRS ‘worked out schedules with the NYK. but our trains had rail priority. After the war, the only method of transportation in Ja~ pan was via the railroad. There were no air- craft, the roads were in poor condition, there was an extreme civilian gasoline shortage, and hardly any civilian vehicles, most of which ran on charcoal anyway. The 3rd MRS was headquartered in the NYE building; there were Quonset huts Set Kenzie Letchworth, wering his RTO brassard, om loom 38 out back for military personnel as living quarters, They were single bed configura- tion. “A typical Army train layout was like this: a locomotive, 2 mail car, a baggage car, a dining car, one or two compartment cars, and two to three coach cars. Some- times we would run troop trains and added more cars as needed. We transferred the 11th Airborne Division out of Sapporo and brought the 7th Infantry Division in. “The most interesting experience I hhad was in approximately Feb 1948. We were on the ferry from Hokkaido and a typhoon (hurricane) struck us. Thad been asleep when at 2300 hours a series of chains broke and my car bumped up against the side ofthe ship. There is ameter, called a Clinometer, on ships that measures the degree of list before the ship would turn over; it was 38° on our ferry. I saw that meter tip to 37° several times that night. The storm was pushing our ferry every which way; chairs and tables became weap- ons. We had MG Dean, the CO of the 7th TD, on board that night. We were all sweat- ing this one out together. It took us 12 hours to make that journey. “One time, I took a PX train that stopped at every station in Japan, bringing PX items to troops in remote outposts. It was a six month return trip. “The Japanese riding their trains were hanging out the windows and riding wher- ever they could. If a train was going through a particular stop wanted by a pas- senger, on its way to another stop, why, sometimes the Japanese would jump off the moving train, and just roll through the station, with people scattering out of the way. Sometimes the jumper was hurt, and sometimes not.” (10) ‘Another conductor was Cpl. Bemerd Drury. He said, “I enlisted into the Army in March 1947 to join the Ist Cavalry Di- vision in Tokyo. Thad my basic training at FL Ord, CA and was sent to Japan. When | got there in December 1947, it became known that I had worked as a crane hauler for the Seaboard RR, so it was suggested that I go to the 3rd TMRS. 1 initially re- fused, and as I was walking away, another GI caught me in the hall and said that 1 should take it, as the 3rd was the best unit in Japan. “When I first got to the 3rd, T was as- signed to personnel. After a couple of ‘months, I thought that being a conductor ‘was a more exciting life, so I requested a transfer. [had two or three training rans ~ this was strictly OJT, no tests, no schools = so we had three conductors on these runs. [really equated the job of conduc- tor on these Army trains like being a con- ductor on a Pullman car, We just watched over the passengers. We didn’t have to ‘make any decisions like conductors do on civilian RRs - such as determining when a train leaves, or switching cars, things like that. “Now, the Dixie Limited headed south to Fukuoka from Tokyo, leaving at 0900 and arrived the next afternoon at 1500. The ‘Allied Limited left Tokyo at 2100 hours ‘and headed south to Kokura, arriving at 2100 the next night. The Yankee Limited left north from Yokohama to Sapporo and JANUARY-MARCH 2007 ® that was also a night time run, from 2100 hours to 0800 ~ a 36-hour one way trip. Both the Allied and Dixie Limited had to take tunnels to get to Kyushu. I remember that there was a tunnel exit at Moji on Kyushu, ‘One night, we stopped and picked up troop car, loaded with Gls who were re- tuming from training at Mt. Fuji. The car was coupled as the last ear on our train. I noted that the Gls had smuggled a woman on board, which was a violation. I awoke the other conductor and we confronted the Gls. They almost threw us off the train while it was moving; fortunately, some sergeants intervened and the problem was settled, “Another problem we had was with troops who brought alcohol on board, which was another violation, In Tokyo, on the Dixie Limited, we had picked up @ troop car full of Gls from the L1th Air- borne Division, Between Tokyo and Osaka, these drunken paratroopers were really tearing up the car. The other con- ductor and I conferred, and agreed that we would stop the train and we did. We un- coupled the car right there on a side spur and left them all there. We sent a telegram up to 3rd TMRS HQ to advise them. “T got to meet MG Dean, Command- ing General of the 24th ID, on a couple of ‘occasions, When he traveled, he used a spe- cial car that we had hooked up between the ‘mail and the dining cars. Normally, a con- ductor would go through the dining car to the mail car and notify the GI mail guards that chow was ready. Thad to pass through MG Dean's car, and begged his pardon, telling him that I had to bring the mail ‘guards through his car to get to the dining car, He just said ‘sure, e’mon through, conporal.” He was pretty nice about it. Another time, he had traveled up from Kokura to Yokohama for a conference ~ this was right before the Korean War be- ‘gan, and there was a lot more training go- ing on. I saw him talking and joking among, some high-level staff officers, and then he broke away from them and came over di- rectly to me and the other conductor. He thanked us both for the good trip and our service. “Trecall that another typhoon sunk a train-loaded ferry between Hakodate and Amori, and at least two Gils ~ the guys in the mal car, were killed, along with some others. “believe that there were approxi- mately 40 conductors in the 3rd TMRS. 1 ‘TRADING POST was a crew dispatcher for a year, begin- ning in 1949, but went back to being a con- ductor so I could finish high school.” (11) ‘Sgt Kenzie Letchworth was also acon- ductor. He recalled, “I joined the Army in July 1946. I took my basic at Ft. Eustis, and was then sent to Ft, Warren at Chey- enne, WY for Arm RR Signal School. From there, [ went to Tokyo and then Yokohama, was assigned to the HQ Co, 3rd TMRS. “For the first six months, I worked as a baggage express agent or a mail guard. 1 then transferred to being a conductor and remember the tunnels. There was one be- tween Honshu Island and Kyushu; Iremem- beer the route because both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were on the run, Itwas rather dark Ferry for carrying trains at Amori (courtesy K.Letchworth) in the tunnel; when I went outside the train ‘on the back of the last car, I could see wa- ter between the rails. There were pumps in the tunnels, so you never saw any water at the entrance or exit to the tunnel. “Now, because of the extensive incen- diary bombing damage to both Tokyo and Yokohama, you could see only brick smokestacks for as far as you could see. I _g0t to g0 out on inspection tours, tov. One of them went all the way to the extreme north of Hokkaido, as there was a small Army contingent in the town of Moakkani. On a clear day, you could see Russia. On another inspection tour to Hokkaido, the train was stuck in the snow for two days. “Now, we carried a jeep on a special (Cpl Bernerd Drury (L)w/ftiendsat rv TMRS NCO Club (courtesy B. Drury) 39 Difor RTOin3edTMRS flatcar on these tours. We took the jeep out too far, and it too was stuck inthe snow. We talked to some officials from the town, and then the people of the town were called by church bells ringing. The towns- people got their shovels out and shoveled path for the jeep that was three miles Tong. It just goes to show that people will help you out anywhere. “T was a conductor on the northem routes for approximately eight months to one year. I then transferred to Sapporo as Station Master. I lived in a hotel in Sapporo that was within walking distance to the train station. I ate in the hotel din- ing room with the other Gls assigned to the trains. We couldn’t imagine anyone in the Army being treated as well as we were treated “My duties as Station Master included ‘meeting the trains as they came in; meet- ing passengers, making arrangements that the supplies were consistent with the num- ber of passengers on the outgoing train; designating special areas, and working with the I1th Airbome Division Funeral Honor Difor RTO in Kyoto Division, 3rd TMRS Guard and their special funeral car. Nor- mally, we took a break during the day, but wwe had to be back for the 2100 train.” (12) ‘The 3rd TMRS was inactivated in Ja- pan 25 January 50 and following two other redesignations, reappeared again, this time in Korea 26 August 50 as the 3rd TMRS. (10) Following the truce in Korea 27 July 1953, the 3rd TMRS resurfaced back in Japan, ‘The Insignia All three of the men who were inter- viewed for this article recall wearing only the 8th Army SSI. None recall seeing the bullion example nor do any recall seeing either of the two Dis illustrated. They were, for the most part, assigned away from HQ, for days and even months at a time, and all spent their off-duty time frequently sightseeing. Footnotes 1 Kaufman, Dave, “The 725th Railway Op- erating Battalion”, The Trading Post, Jul- Sept 1995 2 Gray Jr., BG (Ret) Carl R., Railroading in Eighteen Countries: The Story of American Railroad Men Serving in the Military Railway Service 1862 — 1953. (New York, Scribner. 1955) page 21 3 ibid, 22 4 ibid, 70 5 Gross, HLH. “Tokyo Expres magazine, 1947 6-7 Gray, page 296 8-9 ibid., 297 10-12 interview with author Railroad Bibliography Gray Jr., BG (Ret) Carl R., Railroading in Eighteen Countries: The Story of American Railroad Men Serving in he Military Raile way Service 1862 - 1953. (New York, Scribner. 1955) Gross, H.H. “Tokyo Express”, Railroad magazine 1947 Kaufman, Dave, “The 725th Railway Op- crating Battalion”, The Trading Post, Jul- Sept 1995 Lyon, A.W. BG (Retd) interview by Cpt ‘Thomas Swarren 22 Apr 85 hutp://www.lic.eustis.army.mil/docu- ments/(OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm Massaro, Jay, “Dis”, The Trading Post, Jan-Mar 1976 US Army Trial Defense Service ‘The Trial Defense Service, the Army's defense attomeys, have their own SSI. The CO of TDS insisted that their new SSI in- corporate their old SSI, which was the Department of the Army Staff Support (DOASS). This was the original WW TI insigne of the Army Service Forces. ‘The shield-shaped SSI represents the nature of TDS attorneys in defending thier clients; the scales of justice represent bal- anced justice, and sword reflects that TDS personnel are soldiers as well as attomeys; the SSI of DOASS completes the design. ‘TDS was activated in 1980, and was an element of DOASS. The CO decided 40 Ammy Times that having their own SSI was a way to show their independence. The current TO of TDS is approximately 300 soldiers. JANUARY-MARCH 2007 ‘THE INSTITUTE OF HERAI2 ‘Bldg. 18, Cameron Saban ‘Alexandria, VA 22504 AGAL-A, 17 JAN 1973 SURJECT: Distinctive Badge for the 3d Transportation Brigade, Allotted to the U. S. Army Reserve Commander jd Transportation trigade Ghoo Stratford Avenue St. Louls, HIssour! 63320 1, A distinctive badge for the 3d Transportation Brigade, U. S. Army Reserve, Is authorized. It Is described as follows: DESCRIPTION. A gold color metal and enamel device 1 3/16 inches in height overall consisting of a scarlet enamel demf~sun with elght rays, the two horizontal rays gold and the six rays In between scarlet, In base on a green fleld a Korean Taegux (red enamel at top and blue enamel below), overall In center horizontally two gold loco- notive wheels with driving bar, superinosed diagonally overall a scimitar blade up of white enamel and Allt gold all hetween two semi-circular red (brick red) enamel scrolls foldad back on each side and terminating at the locomotive wheels, bearing at the top the Inscription "EVERY HOVE" and tn base "A SUCCESS", all In gold letters. SYHSOLISH ‘The elght rays represent the 3d Transportation Srigade's elght decorations, the six scarlet rays referring to the six Heritorlous Unit Commendations and the two gold rays to the two Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citations. The scimitar with the rising sun and the Iranian national colors green, ¢ and red all aljude to Iran where the unit initlaliy served overseas, World Ver 11, The sun also symbol lzes the organization's war service In Japan, World Var 11. The Korean Taeguk refers to the Korean GALA SUBJECT: vistinctive Sade for tin 3¢ Trans, to the U.S. Army Reser Yar, while the locomotive wheels re: portation &rigade's military railway and golden yellow (gold) are colors Transportation Corns. 2. The distinctive dadae will he worn as pri 3. This authorization letter will becone a zation In accordance with File to, Grganizational !iistory files, 2, al 4. This authorization is In accordance with cHlarLes Colonel, Command i 17 JAN 1973 yortation Srigade, Allotted present the 3d Trans- y service, Brick red uscd for the escritied tn permanent file of 3hO-2 ar File No. $ anpltcable, paragraph 14-1 R. Spittler R. SPIT Ace ng ~ 30 TRANSPORTATION BRIGADE NON-COLOR BEARING UNITS U.S. Army RESERVE ao, Actua size J> + 7G je +t METAL coLor: GOLD Finis#——- MIRROR=LIKE POLISH Device ENAMEL, VITREOUS OPAQUE CHARGES————-FLUSH, EXCEPT LOCOMOTIVE WHEELS RECESSED & MODELLED LETTERING-—————-BASE METAL PIERCING——————NONE ,- BACKGROUND RECESSED & TEXTURED cui No. reo%! creen13 atuc*ie waiTe*28 prick REO*s Aeproven /7 JANUARY {973 ARM Guares R. SPr # COLONEL, AGC, COMMANDING . EBADQUARTERS BIGHTH UNITED STATES ARMY KORA (EUSAK) Office of the Commanding General. APO 301 GENERAL ORDERS 9 September 1951 NUMBER: 689 AWARD OF THB MERITORIOUS, UNIT. COMMENDATION By direction of the Secretary of the Army, under the provisions of AR 260-15,, the. Meritorious, Unit, Commendation is avarded to the following ‘units of the United States Army for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the: performance .of outstanding service during the periods indicated. The citation reads as follow: ‘or exceptionally. meritorious conduct in ‘ormance of outstanding services in Korea in support of combat opera— tions ‘during the period 9 July 1950 to 31 March 1951, This company arrived Ain’Korea during the early stages of hostilities with e minimum of person- nel.and equipment aniecquitted itself nobly in the rapid rehabilitation of-the Korean National Railway in order to provide vitally needed rail transportation for the United Nations Forces. The majority of the rail way equipment was abandoned or destroyed during the initial North Korean offensive, but dy determination and spirit, personnel of the company initiated a well-coordinated system for the trensportation of supplies ‘and equipment to combat elements. Performing its mission despite vor- sonal discomforts and hazards, the company overcame ob stacles caused vy the lack of operable equipment, depressing conditions of right of weys, shortages of trained personnel, the rapidly changing tactical situation, and the barriers to be surmounted due to language differences. ‘At times the personnel of the company encountered direct enemy fire and were forced to vacate their railway transportation offices, but, despite these adverse and hazardous conditions, they continued to perform their missions efficiently and expeditiously, HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARIZ!S COMPANY, 3D TRANSPORTATION MILITARY RAILWAY SERVICE, displayed such ont— standing devotion and euperior performance of exceptionally difficult tasks as to set it apart and above other units with similar missions. The high degree of skill and determination with which the nembers of this organizetion performed their duties reflect greet credit on then- selves, the ®rensportation Corps, and the militery service of the United - States. ; BY COMMAND GF GENESAL vaN FIZ oFFICTaL HaNRY I, HODES Wms wy s/ RL Batt Jr jor General, US Army asia | Cp $/ RL BUM? IR Chief of Staff zrvin J ecogtt Lt Col, AGC 2a Lt, TC vj HRADQUARTERS ir EIGHTH UNITED. STATES) ARMY, KOREA (EUSAK) APO 301 aR May sa GENERAL ORDERS %, 30 December 1952 NUMB.ER sl AWARD OF THE MERITORIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION «By direction of the Secretary of the Army, under the provisions of AR 220-3154: the Meritorious init: Commendation: is awarded:to-the follow— ing unit of the United; States Army -for;exceptionally meritéricus: conduct in; the performance. of. quistepting service during, the -period, indicated: HEADQuaRtiRs AND MBADQUATEERS. COMPANY, 3RD. PRANSPORTAPTON MILITARY RAILWAY SERVICE (4th AWARD) is cited for exceptionally meritorious con— duct in the verformance of outstanding eervice in support of combat cp- erations in Xorea;during the. period. 1) April. 1951. to 21 Augnst.1952. This company efficiently, exercised, full operational control over the 5 Korean. National, Railways, successfully coordinating the activities of its. subordinate units,with those, of approximately. thirty. thousand. Korean. employees. .In.order,to;acconplish its. mission with the greatest: possible, effectiveness, the company supervised the rapid rehabilitation of: many» niles.of. trackage, the. reconstruction of innumerable demolished railroad ‘oridges,:end the, constant. maintenance of antiquated rolling equipment. By establishing a system.of grade crossing protection by watchnen, the convany greatly imreased the safety, elnost entirely eliminating grade crossing accidents. Asa result of the ability.and diligence of the com pany's members, up to.250,000 military. personnel were transported monthly ‘vy rail, in addition to vast quantities of badly. needed equipment. and sup- plies, HEADQUARFBRS AND: HEADQUARTERS. COMPANY, 3D. TRANSPOREATI ON: MILITARY RAILWAY. SERVIC displayed such outstanding devotion to duty in the per- formance of exceptionally difficult taske as tovset it apart from and. ¢ above other units with similar missions. ‘The technical proficiency, high degree of skill, and uncompromizing determination of purpose exhibited vy the members of this company throughout this period reflects great credit on themselves and the military service of the United States. KAG— PD 200.6 ND OF GENERAL VAN #L BI BY COMM, lab: PAUL D. ADAMS Major General, Genoral Steff Chief of Staff s/ 3. % Schantz : B. f. SCHAITZ Be Colonel, ag¢ UR eth Adjutent Generel aavIN 3 eA coguE 2d it, TC vepellrent of the Army # Washington 25, D.C., 13 Apr 53 “OF KOREA- a fo Me cksne . L UNEP .CLTARION, firmed: in, accordance with AR 20-31: ta) faect : 54 (2d Togietical Command (C) and attached unit! * * * * ' Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3a Transportetion Military Railway Service** * * * * HEPUBLIC OF KOHEA PRESIDENTIAL UIT CITATIGY awarded by citation dated 31 July 1952, by, Simgman Rhee, President of the Heptblic of Korea, for out- standing and superior performance of duty during the period 19 Septerber 1950 to 31 July 1952, inclusive, with citation as follows: md 2d Togisticdl Command (C) was activated on 19 September 1950 and \ghwenythe inission of receiving and forwarding supplies to the Eighth United States Amy invKorea‘and its attached units. This Army included more than twice the number for which the 24 Logistical Command was orgatiized to sup- port, yet the migsion was accomplished in spite of additional handicaps such as terrain, climate, and lack of proper facilities. Under the direc— tion of the 2d Logistical Command, thousands of civilian refugees were provided with food end clothing after having been evacuated from the Hung- nam area in North Korea, Medicines and medical equipment were supolied the sick and wounded while orphanages vere established for the Korean children “who were afflicted by war's devestation, Additional support for the civi- lian populationwas mde possible by the introduction of electric power barges in Pusan, Masan and Inchon, and by the installation of additional water-mains in the overcrowded city of Pusan, ‘The 7th Transportation Hed— ium Port handled more than twice the amount of cargo which its larger coun- terpart, a Major Fort, is designed to handle, end other subsidiaries of the 2a Logistical Command distributed the cargo throughout Korea. Tne Chinese Communist suring offensive of 1951 was contained by the Highth United States Army in Korea and its attached units from ell nations beceuse it had been adequately supplied by the 2d logistical Command over bridges, highways and railroads which were still being built or revaired, By April 1952 normal rail service had been restored on the Korean National Heilway in the rear areas even though it wes still a combat zone, and yessengers could again travel from Pusan to Seoul in 11 hours. Another monumental accomplishment was the operation of Prisoner-cf-War camps in which 170,000 prisoners ex- perienced a standard of living surpassing the requirements of the Rules of Warfare as adopted by the Geneva Convention, and with security and senita— tion messures of such high caliber as to protect the adjacent civilian pop- ulation. i ith which the zesponsidilities of the 24 Logistical Conned vets ei8emt fed ite fue ts the intivicusl exforte of everyone (cont'd) AR BEMGnedand the resulting service, rendered tovthe nations: of -the , Stee world, ie in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Amy, :: the military service and the United Nations. * ‘This citation carries with'it:the right.to wear the Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon by eech individual member of the 24 Logistical Command (c) andattached units who servéd.in Korea‘during the stated period. eng" anenasa dy'Dépt of: the Army GO.Now 605 Section IV,.Par3 , ‘@™BY ORDER’ OF THR SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: crmicial: ” J LAWTON: COLLINS Yo B, BERCIN Chief of Staff, United States Army ¥ajor General,USA The Adjutant General Lene Ae DEPARTMENT OF HE ARMY Washington 25, D.C vg; GENBRAL ORDERS 12 February 195! Wo, 11 * * a8 * * TI_MBRITORIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION. By dfrection of the Secretary of the ‘Army, under, the provisions of paragraph 1, AR'220-315, the Meritorious : Unit Commendation is awarded! to the folloving units for ‘exceptionally! © meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding service during the period indicated. The citations read as follows: er 1, -ZRADGUARTENS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPOUL, 3rd. TRANSPORTATION MILITARY, RAILWAY, SBRVIOR (fifth award)/is cited! for exceptionally mer— Ltorious conduct in the, performance of outstanding services in Korea in support of combat operations from 22 August’ 1952 to 30 April 1953.” Charged with responsibility for the transportation of vast, quantities of supplies and-equipment, and fhousends of United Nations ani Republic of Korea: Ferson— nel, members of the unit displayed unusual skill ‘and resourcefulness in accomplishing this important.mission, In order to fulfill its task with {ho greatest poscible effectiveness, the Headquarters ant Headquarters Com— pany introduced sound, modern American railway methods and safety prac— tices, and trained and guided the efforts of approximately 30,000 Korean National Railway employees, insuring high standards of operational @ffic- dency. Despite the languagé barrier, antiquated equipuent, severe « coal shortages, andeiverse weather, the moverent of several large combat units was effected with precision and dispatch. Similarly, through skillful coordination and sound planning, the transportation of sick and wounded prisoners of war was expeditiously completed without untovard incident. The high standards of efficiency and tenacity of purpose exhibited by nenbers of the Headquarters and Headquarters Company carned the admira— tion of all those having knowledge of its work end enhanced the effec- tiveness of the logisticel support rendered combat forces, The loyalty, diligence, and esprit de corps manifested by members of the unit reflect great credit on thenselves and the military service. * * * BY ORDBR OF THE SECEBTARY OF THE AR OFFICIAL: HM. Be RIDGWAY, wi. B.S General, United States Any vajor General, United Stetes Any Chief of Staff ‘The Adjutant General seus BliQe( porr: WA! SRV b CO.UB 2a it, TC errr Ao, @ Department of the Army Washington 2, D.C. ,31 Mer54 REPUBLIC OF KOREA PRESIDENTIAL. UNIT CIPATION, Phe Republic’ of, Korea Presidential Unit Citation which was ararded by the Republic of Korea to the following units of the United States Almy is con~ fitmed’ in accordance, with AR 220-915: 2a Logistical Command (C)* and attached units: * # * * * 3rd Transportation Military Railway Service* * » * * * ‘REPUBLIC OF KOREA PHESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION awarded by citation dated 18 Octob er 1953, by Syngman Rhee, President of tle’ Republic of Korea, for exceptionally meritorious service to the evublic of Korea during the period T August 1952 to 30 September 1953, inclusive, with citation as follows: The 24 Logistical Command (C) had the continuing primary mission of furnishing logistical support to the United States, United Nations and Republic of Korea troops operating with, and supporting the Bighth United States Amy. In addition to providing supplies and services for this Army, the 24 Logistical Command (C) furnished supplies, facilities and services to United States and Republic of Korea Air Forces, Marine and Naval Forces. This general support mission wes eccomplished in spite ofalverse conditions of terrain, extremes of climate andweather, anda shortage of prover oper- ating facilities. In addition to the vurely military activities, assistance vas rendered to the civilian population in various forms, Electical power was supplied to auguent civilian pover sources, Militery and civilien fire—fighti . agencies joined forces and worked together to contro! disastrous fires which several tines threatened both military and civilien eupplies and thousands of homes. Extensive communications facilities were made available during ‘this period to the 2evublic of Korea Government officials end agencies vhen the provisionel capitel vee located in Pusan. The ports overated by the 2d Logieticel Command (C) handle well over | 2 million measurenent tens monthly of cargo, which included Commodities for civilian relief en for the rehabilitation of Korean industry and commerce. ‘These tonnages hendled were more than twice the rated capability of the organizations charged with the mission, endvere supplied at a critical time Qere mE Ye 338 cou yO 2a Lt, Te SL TaN GENERAL ORDERS (Cont! a) NO. Boa for the preservation of life and property, especially among the refugee population. The exchange of thousands of sick end wounded prisoners of were in Gune 1953 and the generalexchange of over eighty thousand prisoners of War in Augast and September 1953 placed alditional responsibilities on the ond Logistical Comend, (C). These missions were performed in an exemplary manner. The 2a Logistical Command (C) provided technical training to various Republic of Korea Army tethnical service organizations to assist them in Menonplishing their missions. As a result of this training, the Republic of erea Forces have been able'to assume a great pert of the responsibility for-engineering, medical and other technical service operations. This training in ell the technical services has provided imnediate results in proved efficioacy of Reymblic ef Zorea Army service units. The efficiency with which the reeponsibilities of the Za Logistical Commnd (C) were discharged was due to the individual efforts of everyone Conesrned, The resulting services end assistance, acconplished under dif- fieuit conditions, is an inspiration to all free peoples and is in keeping With the highest traditions of the United States Amy, the militery service and the United Nations. | * Second Award, ‘BY ORDRR OF THE SECHETAHY OF THE ARMY: M, B, RIDGWAY OFFICIAL: General, United States Army Wit B, BERGIN Chief of Staff Major General,United States Army ‘The Adjutant General | PRUE © Desa.) BRVIN J Le coo ay | ga Lt, TC ) prisoners of'war were exch: “hgreonent, todial For sponsible foriths movement! and, "the Koran! “ational Hai Iva; Company. exhibited outstand ins = railroading tacks unsupassed -editiously transported quipment ine ddition to troops’ o: Particularly oakstanding oc" unit during: Operations Little Switeh anc rae themselves and the military service, * * * * BY COMMAND. OF GENERAL HULL: OFFICIAL: s/ C. C. B, Warden . ¢. B. WARDEN Brigadier General, USA Adjutant General L, D, CARTER ¥ajor General, General Staff Chief of Staff Fe Evice' in Kore the: aan Bea ers spor tation Railvay": fuct/ in the performance Support. of combat’ May 1953° to 28) ty’ of. personnel Yo the Headquarters’ “resourcefulness end ability inuilitery railway histo: actices’ and: thorough training ag high level-of operational: ‘an unprecedented tonnage of Jig various United Nations! were the contributions made by’ the a Big Switch when thousands of anged following the signing ofthe Armistice and Operation Reclaim which covered the movement ofthe Cus ees of India from the demilitarized zone. The conscientious’ teamvork,. technical, proficiency and devotion to duty displayed by the > ~ nombers of the unit’ contributed notably to the success of the mission of the 3rd Transportation Railway Command,~reflecting great credit ‘upon, So Does WITH THE 3D TMRS, Korea. — Since the signing of truce in Ko- pea, enrollments for U. S, armed Forces Institute courses through the “College of Usable Knowledge,” name given to the $d Trans- portation Military Railway Service ‘school train, has shown a marked| increase, according to M/Sgt. Ernest G. Peterson, NCO in charge, and four assistants, _ Advising the GI's on their edu- cational problems is the chief aim of the five enlisted men, who corn- prise the faculty of the schoo! on, wheels. Prior to entering the army, fall the instructors were expert enced teachers in high schools and colleges in the States, 4 ‘Educational adviee by the fac Lully of the school train is not eon fined to the enlisted men of the 3d TMRS, Recently the Marines, ‘Air Forces and all other branches of the Armed Forces have et= rolled, AS FAR as 3d TMRS personnel are concerned, many of them Who. were formerly associated with the ‘major railroads in the States have | applied for air brake and railroad ear and rebuilding courses. Tn other branches of the armed forces, auto mechanics, electronics, commercial art and piumbing are In popular demand. Those desiring to complete thelr high school edu- cation have been applying prin- eipally for courses in mathematics. Having completed its second tour of Korea this year, the “Colleze of Usable Knowledge” is heading | south on the main line and while enroute will make stope al. towns where there are military installa~ tions. Pusan is the end of the line in the south, From there it will head north along the east coast to Wonju and then return to Seoul. ‘After a few days of replenish- ing. its library. with new books, magazines and Army literature, It will then go south along the west coast, terminating in Pusan. Eventually, it will Wind up its trip in Seoul. ‘The complete tour of the coun- try is expected to take about six ‘months, All of the teachers aboard the train omy have about six ‘months to serve in Korea and will, be ready for rotation at the end of the tri =a aaemGReee RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER, http://www lic-eustis.army miV/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm fee RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER Of ARCHIBALD WILLIAM LYON, Brigadier General DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: 15 September 1909, Fort George Wright, Washington YEARS OF ACTIVE SERVICE: Over 33 years DATE OF RETIREMENT: 1 January 1966 MILITARY SCHOOLS ATTENDED ‘The Engineer School, Basic and Advanced Course The Armed Forces Staff College The Army War College EDUCATIONAL DEGREES United States Military Academy - BS Degree - Military Science Carnegie Tech - MS Degree - Civil Engineering MAJOR DUTY ASSIGNMENTS: FROM To ASSIGNMENTS Nov 55 Mar 56 CO, 2"4 Trans, TML CMD, C, AFFE Mar56 —Juls7 CO, Yokohama Army Post, Japan Juns6 = Jul57 CO, Trans TML CMD, AFFE Jul 57 Jun 59 CO, Commandant, Trans School Jung9 - May62_—‘ Trans Officer, HQ USAREUR & USCOMZEUR Jun62 —-Jul62 Asst to Chief of Trans, HQ DA Aug62 Oct 62 Retired, US Army Oct 62 Recalled to Active Duty Octé2 —-Jul'64 Dep Dir for Emerg Trans, Dept of Commerce Jul 64 Jan 66 Dep Dir for Emerg Trans, Dept of Transportation PROMOTIONS DATES OF APPOINTMENT 2LT 10 Jun 1932 Lof 4 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER ttp:/hvww Jie.eustis.army.mil/documents/OCOT_Interviews/Iyon.htm 2of ld aLT 23 Aug 1935 cPT 1 Oct 1940 MAJ 20 Feb 1942 LTC 21 Aug 1942 COL 2 Jan 1946 LTC 6 Jul 1946 COL 7 Sep 1950 BG 8 Aug 1958 US DECORATIONS AND BADGES Legion of Merit w/Oak Leaf Cluster Army Commendation Medal SOURCE OF COMMISSION USMA (Class of 1932) INTERVIEW ABSTRACT Interview with BG (Ret) Archibald Lyon BG (Ret) Archibald W. Lyon, a member of the class of 1932, United States Military Academy, was interviewed by CPT Thomas Swarren on 22 April 1985. After a brief description of his duties as a Combat Aviation Engineer Battalion Commander, BG Lyon detailed a description of tS MARAE RaatWAp Serviee and its mission in Japan after VJ Day. A basic tenant to be followed when implementing a railway system is that host nation civilian are vital to the success of the project. In Japan, the Americans supervised the local nationals S, ies, bi 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hhup:/www.lic.eustis.army.miV/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm 3of 14 efficient operation. BG Lyon covered the initial problem facing the implementation of the 3rd MRS: the organizational layout of the system; and the basic mission of the 3rd MRS. INTERVIEW This is the Oral History Program, and this is an interview by CPT Swarren of BG (Retired) Archibald Lyon on the 22nd of April 1985. CPT Swarren: Sir, I'd like to open by saying, thank you for agreeing to participate in the Oral History Program, and I think we've agreed that the subject matter today will be the occupation of Japan and the railroading during the occupation of Japan. So, let m start by asking if you could explain a little bit of the background of how you got involved with the Third Military Rail Service and how they ended up going to Japan during the Post War Era? BG Lyon: I'm very happy to be a part of this program, and to the best of my recollection I'll fill in. I hope what I have to offer will be of value and assistance to the program. My background before I became associated with the Third Military Railway Service was engineering. Upon graduation from West Point, I went into the Constructing Quartermaster Corps. At the beginning of the War, the engineering function of the Quartermaster Corps was taken over by the Corps of Engineers, and from that point on I became Corps of Engineers. When the War began I was with the Office Chief of Engineers, and had immediately asked for Troop duty. I got it and was assigned to activate, organize, train and deploy overseas an Engineer Aviation Construction Battalion (the 1872d). We ended up in New Guinea and were there about 19 months before moving into the Philippines. We got into the Philippines in, April of 1945, where we were on construction support of GHQ Staff Headquarters in Manila. In early August of 1945, I learned that my friend and classmate, Brigadier General Frank Besson, was in Manila. I went over to make a call, and learned from him that he had been. brought over to Manila to reactivate the Third Military Railway Service in preparation for the invasion of Japan. He had previously commanded the Third Military Railway Service in Persia, providing logistics support to the Russians over the Persian Railroads. At the end of the War in Europe the Third Military Railway Service, among other organizations, was deactivated and its personnel were scattered. Many of the personnel returned to civilian status or were transferred. General Besson was having quite a time getting reorganized in Manila. He was trying to locate as many as he could of his old command and staff, and filling in as best he could from any other source. He was on an active recruitment campaign at that time. We'd been classmates and old friends, so he asked m if I would consider joining him as his Chief Engineer. My response was that I would like to, except I didn't know anything about railroading. He responded that engineering is much the same in whatever field - and that as a good experienced engineer in whom he had a lot of confidence he had no doubt that I could fill the bill. So, I agreed, and accordingly, was transferred from command of the 1872d Engineer Aviation Battalion and became a part of General Besson's staff. Soon thereafter, two atomic bombs were exploded over Japan and the plan for invasion of Japan turned into a plan of occupation for the occupation of Japan. Accordingly, one of the first jobs was to get the occupation troops dispersed in Japan. This was going to be a job carried out very largely by the railroads once the troops were airlifted or sealifted into the Ports of Japan. To make a long story short, plans were made for General Besson and his 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hup:t/www.lic.eustis.army.mil/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm primary assistant to fly into Japan with the advance parties and General MacArthur's staff. It was on the 28th of August, if I remember, that they flew in and made contact with their opposite numbers in Tokyo. I was chosen as the next senior on the staff to lead the advance-working group of Third Military Railway Service by ship into Japan. We would get in there on VJ day and be among the first ashore. The contingent that I had at that time, as I recall, was not over about 15 people; officers and enlisted. We arrived in Tokyo Bay on the morning of 2 September. As the hour approached for the agreement to be signed on the Missouri, we were all ordered below decks as a precaution against any hostile contingency. After the events were over on the Missouri, the all clear was given and we moved onto shore. ‘That afternoon we moved in, found quarters, and were met by General Besson, who told us at that time, that the railroads were basically in good condition and that the Japanese were doing a good job. As far as the engineering side was concerned, the rights of way for the most part were clear, and the damage that had been done by the bombing that had gone [on] had been very quickly repaired. Train service had been restored and our immediate and primary action was to organize train elements, meet the troops on arrival at the seaports and the airports, and disperse them to their occupation sites. Accordingly, General Besson made m the superintendent of the Tokyo-Yokohama Division, to perform that duty. CPT Swarren: Sir, how was the 3d MRS organized? BG Lyon primarily intended to ay operating units, railway maintenance units, right of way units, and other elements actually running and operating a railroad. What we found was the activity in Japan was a little bit different. We were to be primarily an operating Headquarters to administer and supervise the Japanese who were operating at of ld operators, or maintenance people. Their job was primarily to operate and maintain the diesel engines that were ultimately brought over to do the primary switching jobs within the depots. We had very few, rare opportunities to operate with the military on the main lines. Primarily people that were picked up and transferred from many sources staffed us. Hopefully some had railroad experience, but most did not. We were always seeking additional people because our mission was expanding and growing faster than the available personnel would permit. So, we operated primarily through the Japanese. We told them [the Japanese] to go ahead and operate the railroad but their first priority was to the needs of the Occupational Forces. Their response was expedited by the attitude of the Supreme Command of the Allied Powers. General MacArthur made it clear from the very first that the Occupation Forces were in charge, the Japanese had lost the War, the Occupation was going to be peaceful and we expected absolute cooperation. That's important. This went all the way down in our own railroad operations. General Besson made it very clear to his counterparts, in the Japanese Government and the Japanese railroads, that the Third Military Railway Service was an arm of the Occupation Forces and was in charge of that phase of the occupation. Every member of the Military Railway Service, regardless of rank, whether he ‘was commissioned or noncommissioned or a Private would be in charge of his particular area of responsibility and whatever he ordered or directed would be followed. Our soldiers found that their orders were indeed executed and, generally, always in a very effective manner. CPT Swarren: Sir, you said you had very few professional railroaders in your chain of command. Did you have sufficient time to accomplish the training you needed to do before 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CARFER hup://www.lie.eustis.army.mil/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm Sof l4 you went into Japan? BG Lyon: No we did not. There was no time for training. In fact, I think I was on the boat enroute from Manila to Japan before I even had my first look at the Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) of the Third Milita means to an end. TO&E was a means of arriving at that Table of Di to accomplish our mission and we operated from there. We had titles compatible to those in a regular railroad. The Commanding Officer was the Director and General Manager and we had superintendents of the Divisions and Subdivisions. We had departments as you would have in a Headquarters of an operating railroad. CPT Swarren: Did you have any railroad professionals, people who did this for a living? BG Lyon: We had a few. The one that General Besson had as his Chief of Operations, Tom Matson, had been and still was on leave from the Northern Pacific Railroad. He was a Vice-President of the Northern Pacific Railroad. He had been with General Besson in Iran and was one of the few people that General Besson had been able to salvage from the old organization. Probably from our original group for the first few months in Japan, not are than a third were professional railroaders in any sense of the word. The rest moved in and were given a job to do and went on and did it. We learned by doing. We had no formal training, as such, except as given by command channels under the conditions of the work. I learned as much from the Japanese as I've learned from anybody else. My immediate job when I first went in was to get acquainted with my counterparts on the Japanese side, with whom I worked. There were two men from the Imperial Japanese Railroad as it was initially called. Later it became known as a National Japanese Railroad. These men, Mr. Kanematsu and Mr. Yamaguchi, were the ones through whom most of our contacts were made. They represented the Headquarters of the Japanese Railroads out of Tokyo. One or both accompanied me in all my travels. They were involved in most of my contacts with the railroad people, serving as an advisor, as an interpreter, and as an intermediary in passing on directions to the Japanese Railroad. CPT Swarren: Sir, I wonder if you can comment on the attitude of the Japanese people. How did the Emperor's actions upon surrender impact upon the Japanese, and how they treated you as Occupation Forces? BG Lyon: | describe this somewhat like turning off a water tap. As we knew the Japanese during the War, they were an absolutely disciplined people. They responded well you might say, blindly and directly, to the orders of the Japanese Government as given, in the name of the Emperor. Up until the end of the War though, the Emperor was deity. He was worshipped, and his word was doctrine as far as the military forces was concerned. Their highest glory was to die in the name of the Emperor, and this led to the latter days of kamikaze actions. When the war was over, before the treaty was signed on the Missouri, General MacArthur ordered the Emperor to go on the radio and personally announce to the nation that the War with the United States, Britain and the other Allies was over. Japan had lost the War and the occupation elements of the opposing armies were coming in to carry out a peaceful occupation of Japan. ‘The Japanese were pledged for total cooperation. As this was assimilated throughout Japan, it was like turning off a faucet. I don't think it could have happened in any of the Western countries, it could happen only in a disciplined country like Japan, particularly, like Japan 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hup://www lic eustis.army.miV/documents’OCOT_Interviews/Iyon.htm Gof 14 was at that time. And, so as a result we had no opposition, at least no hostile opposition or obvious opposition. What was ordered was done. Sometimes I saw a little reluctance, but I got cooperation. When we first went into Japan it was rather interesting, as I said earlier, we landed and were ashore within about two hours after signing the agreement on the Missouri. It was rather eerie coming into Yokohama which was a major port of Japan, and finding the area absolutely devoid of people, except for a few Japanese police and not very many of those scattered around. Primarily, the police where there just to keep the Japanese themselves away. An area had been cleared for about a 10-mile radius around the port. As the days went by, [had occasion to move out through the immediate area and beyond, particularly out to the airport of Atsugi where we met arriving troops. We passed towns and countryside where there were Japanese. The first couple of days as we approached villages, or farms, we could see activity in the distance but as we approached the various areas, nobody was to be seen. But after a day or so, the older people just went around doing whatever they were doing and paid no attention to us. About the same time the curiosity of little children showed, because they were peeking around and out the doors to see what was going on. The Gls in particular were all interested in the children. They were passing out chocolates and chewing gum and the kids were soon running out whenever any Occupation Force vehicles came by with their hands out calling for "chocolato" or "chewing gum.” And, after about a week things began to go back to normal, as far as the Japanese activities were concerned. Bit by bit they began to come back into Yokohama and the Tokyo area, into their regular activities and businesses. Meanwhile, all the fire bombing, around the Tokyo-Yokohama area had absolutely leveled all except for some major fireproof or fire resistant buildings. Everything else was pretty well leveled, and that was quite impressive too. Most of the people had no place to live except holes in the ground. They found tentage and bits of corrugated metal to build them a little shelter and lived that way. Food was hard to come by and the black markets sprung up rather quickly. The railroads were overloaded, the passenger side particularly, with people trying to get out into the country areas to find food and bring the food back to their families in the Cities. The railroads, Japanese passenger cars, and freight cars too as far as that was concerned, were dangerous. The Japanese climbed on anything that moved in order to get where they wanted to go. They were packed like sardines inside and outside hanging on the sides and riding on the roofs. CPT Swarren: Was that type rail movement controlled by the Third Military Railway Service, Sir, or was that still a Japanese operation? BG Lyon: No, no, none of that. We never exercised any direct control over that, except that we were immediately shocked at the absolute lack of safety involved in this. There were some accidents, people would fall, be pushed and so forth. But we looked at this as a Japanese problem. Even our discussions with the Japanese railroads were just to encourage them and urge them to exercise greater cautions to protect human life. One of the first things we did was to make a survey of their rail equipment, particularly the passenger carrying equipment. We immediately requisitioned some of the better units and put them through the shops where we stationed elements of the Third Military Railway Service. They knew something about car construction, car rehabilitation and had the cars cleaned out and in some cases, rebuilt to American standards. The cars were cleaned and had sanitary facilities installed, so that our troops would have something proper to ride in. The passenger equipment that we took over and operated, as the Occupation Forces railroad equipment was all identified with a white stripe along the length of the cars. It was apparent to everybody that this car was for the Occupation Forces. The stripe identified the cars to the members of the Occupation Forces so they knew what part of the train to get on to, and to the Japanese it was just a sign of “off limits.” 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER bhups/www lic eustis.army.mil/documents(OCOT_Interviews/Iyon.htm Tof 14 CPT Swarren: Sir, you mentioned Diesel power. What was the general type equipment that the Japanese were operating: steam, diesel, or diesel electric? BG Lyon: Well, the Japanese equipment was almost exclusively coal fire steam. The equipment basically was in very, very poor condition. Through the extremities of the War, maintenance standards failed and their fuel standards had dropped very, very considerably. During the War the coalmines got relatively little priority as far as manpower was concerned. ‘Asa result, new mines were not opened and the old mines were called upon for so much production that they were running out of good grades of coal and running into a lot of mixture of slate or just plain poor grades. As a result, the motor power was less productive, and schedules were accordingly distrusted, but the Japanese met that particular problem ina rather straightforward manner by just adjusting the schedules. The Japanese were very proud of operating a railroad with an on-time reputation. They set a schedule and they kept the schedule. You could set your watch by the time of arrival. CPT Swarren: Sir, I would like to back up and ask you a question that I neglected earlier. How was the surrender of Japanese soldiers who were on the Island handled when you first arrived? BG Lyon: I never had any direct contact with the surrender operation, of course, being ina support unit. But individuals of the Third Military Railway Service did have some experiences that were rather interesting. Our primary job initially, as I mentioned, was to meet the arriving military units that came into Japan by air and sea. The trains were already made up to move the troops. Consists had been arranged by prior meetings between myself or one of the Officers working with me, and with the representative of the Japanese railroad, the local Division Superintendent, and the G-3 or the G-4 of the arriving units. Depending upon the number of people, and the kind of equipment, we made up trains to accommodate them. Those trains were waiting on the tracks for the arriving troops. Meanwhile, we sent ahead an advance Rail Traffic Officer (RTO) to the destination point, to arrange for the arrival of the train and its disposition once it got there. Sometimes they would go miles away from Tokyo and Yokohama. There were instances when some of these young officers, and in some cases NCO's all designated "Rail Transportation Officer", would be the only American, the first American that had come into that particular town in Japan since the end of the War. Hearing that an American had arrived, the Commander of the local Japanese troops would come or send his representative offering his surrender. The young Officer or NCO, of course, ‘was not charged with that responsibility nor authorized to accept surrender. He would just have to tell the Japanese that the American military would be arriving shortly and at that time they could offer their surrender. As part of the arrangements between the Supreme Commander Allied Powers and the Japanese command, all the troops in homeland Japan were required to stay in place until a proper military unit and commander had arrived to accept their surrender and receive their arms. CPT Swarren: Sir, how were the troops that were brought in for the Occupation actually phased in through the different ports and which units came first? BG Lyon: The first unit was an element of the First Calvary, which had been the first in Manila. Their area was the immediate Tokyo-Yokohama area. They arrived mostly by sealift. ‘The next unit was the 11th Airborne that arrived at Atsugi airfield and their area was designated in the northern part of Honshu in the Sendai area. I don't remember the designations of some of the other units, I know there was one division that, after the 11% Airborne arrived, went up to the Northern Honshu (Aomori) area. Another division was sent 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hup:/www lic eustis.army.mil/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm across to Western Japan to Niigata. Then later another element was sent up to Hakodate and Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido. CPT Swarren: Didn't one Army actually stage a nock invasion, Sir, as part of the occupation? BG Lyon: Yes. Basically, the initial occupation of which we were a part was by the Eighth ‘Army that came in under an administrative landing and effected their operation from September 2nd and the days following. Sixth Army came in about two weeks later into Southern Honshu area. They came in simulating the invasion plan that they would have executed earlier under combat conditions. They came in landing crafts and landing craft type ships. They came ashore and beat their way across through the fields and finally inland to the point where our counterpart, ‘hei army gation on de CTE Rice, had trains in the nearest exchange to receive them. As they came up out of the fields, they were dispersed to their occupation areas. CPT Swarren: What were the results of that invasion, Sir, did it go well for the American troops? BG Lyon: Well, they found that even coming in under unopposed conditions was fairly tough, because it was across rice paddies and undeveloped areas pretty rough area. The area was already honeycombed with all kinds of defense positions. We knew how the Japanese had fought the island campaigns and how they would have fought and resisted invasion troops coming into their homeland. They would have been prepared. Even the saturation pre-bombing probably would have been only partially effective. CPT Swarren: Sir, you mentioned Colonel Rice which leads me to the question: How were the railcars controlled between the regions, so that you kept accountability of yours and your counterparts, Transportation Officers from other units, could keep track of theirs. BG Lyon: Initially when we came in, good railroad equipment was in very short supply. The Occupation Forces coming in demanded good railroad equipment. We needed it to be assured that our mission could be accomplished, both for passenger and for freight. When we moved in, for example, into Northern Japan, we were responsible only for that part of Northern Honshu and Hokkaido. The Japanese railroad with its headquarters and a lot of the best railroad equipment was kept up in the Tokyo-Yokohama area, When Sixth Army moved into the Southern part, they found relatively little first class equipment so they negotiated with the Blghth army element the ad MRS; for some equipment to supplement that which they found. But for the immediate stages of the occupation, each Army was independent of the other in moving out their elements of Occupation Forces. With railroad equipment, particularly, passenger carrying equipment being in such short supply, there was alittle jealousy over who had what equipment. We counted very carefully the cars that moved from one zone to another, almost to the point that some equipment wasn't permitted to cross into the other zone until like equipment was passed to the other direction. That only lasted a few days but it was interesting. Later on ... soon after the Sixth Army moved in and consolidated their positions, which didn't take very long, it became obvious that ultimately the railroad system had to be operated as asingle entity y. The’ Third Military Railway Service was as therefore given the respon: i a was given the responsibility when this transfer did take effect, to travel to Kyoto and there receive the administrative Sof ld 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVI 9 of 14 CAREER hhutp:/www.lie.eustis.army.mil/documents(OCOT_Interviews/Iyon.htm transfer from Tom Rice of the Railroad Fleet and the Railroad System in the Southern part of Honshu. CPT Swarren: Sir, what kind of special modifications did you need to make with the rail equipment to compensate, for say, the steep hills or the poor quality of coal? Did it affect more than the schedules, did you have to actually change or update the equipment? BG Lyor jo, we didn't make any real upgrades or update equipment on that account. We used basically the Japanese freight equipment as we found it. As long as it was operating, there's not much you can do to a boxcar; it's just a box on wheels. And except to clean it out sometimes, our standards of cleanliness were a little bit different from the Japanese, that was no big problem. The primary upgrading we did was in the passenger equipment, because their equipment basically was in very, very sad condition. Windows were broken, phimbing didn't work, some of their brakes didn't work, and the equipment was dirty. Any of the equipment that was used in the Occupational Forces Service was run through the Japanese shops. We had priority on the use of the shops for this purpose. The cars were pretty well stripped down, windows were replaced, the cars were completely repainted and the plumbing ‘was upgraded. In so far as we could, we put in Western type toilets instead of the Japanese type and we restored the heating system. We came in the early Fall when heat was not a problem, but we were fast approaching Winter when it would be a problem. We tried to identify all first class equipment. One of the first things we did was to locate the Emperor's train. The Emperor had special equipment, special cars set aside. They had been carefully cared for by a Japanese officer and when we found them, they were in almost mint condition. This equipment was immediately set aside and identified for use of General MacArthur and his staff in case they had need for it. Other elements were organized into special trains. As the Occupational Forces came in and were settled, there was also a lot of traffic between Tokyo and the outlying areas. As things settled down everybody wanted to see Tokyo and Yokohama so train units were set up to augment air travel. In accordance with the old saying, "all roads lead to Rome", in Japan, all roads lead to Tokyo. That was the way all trains were identified and structured. You had the "Uptrains" that ran into Tokyo from the South and the North and the "Downtrains" that ran from Tokyo to all points outside. One of the real interesting rail operations we had quite early in occupation was a real challenge. In the latter stage of the War and in the Occupation too, there had been a lot of rivalry between the First ion and the Eleventh Airborne Division. Somebody came up with the idea of a football game between the two Divisions over Christmas 1945 in Tokyo. All the troops from both divisions were to be given an opportunity to come into Mejji Stadium, the big stadium in Tokyo to see this game. As I mentioned before, the Eleventh Airborne was positioned in Northern Japan up around the Sendai area, which was six or eight hours by the rail from Tokyo. The desire was to have everybody except for small housekeeping units that would stay back and provide security for the barracks and post areas, come down and see the game. So, in order to do that, we had to muster a lot of railcars. I don't know how we ever did it, but we certainly upset the Japanese Railroads. ‘We requisitioned passenger equipment and had them spotted where the troops were in the North. I think some of the troops themselves had to go into the railcars and scrub them out, so that they would be clean enough for them. But anyway, we worked with all the railroad people, because we were breaking all the rules about not using tracks for parking passenger equipment in order to get the troops to the stations and as close to the stadium as possible. It was like bringing in the Corps of Cadets and the Brigade of Midshipmen by rail into the 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hup://wvww lie eustis.army.miV/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon-htm 10 of 14 Memorial Station at Philadelphia for the Army/Navy Game in the old days. It was quite an operation, but it all went out quite well. It was well planned and well organized. While the Japanese shook their heads in amazement about the demands that were being placed and the unusual requirements, they cooperated and it worked very well. It was only in a few cases where we had some SNAFU's and that was usually where someone in one of the tactical units would figure he knew more about what was to be done than the people trying to handle the railroad situation. CPT Swarren: Sir, with the extended distances in the areas, how did you handle command and control; did you have Regional Headquarters? BG Lyon: Yes, we did. Almost immediately we had set up separate divisions. In railroad terminology, we had the Tokyo Division, and I guess the next one we set up was Sendai Division in the North to serve the Eleventh Airborne area. We set up another division in Aomori to handle Northern Honshu. We had a Niigata Division and later on we had a Hokkaido Division when the Island of Hokkaido was occupied. Later on in the South we had a Division in Kyoto and we had a Kure Division, Incidentally, later on, we became International. The British had a part in the Occupation and they occupied the Southern part of the Island of Honshu. The main railroad center there was Kure, which is a port, a big port on the Inland Sea. The Fifth Marine Division occupied the Island of Kyushu in the South, and so we had a division set up at Moji. Moji was a port and a major railroad center in the northern part of Kyushu, We set up a division there to handle that Island and the needs of the Corps. We also had a very interesting operation, because we wanted to establish a link with Korea. We requisitioned and had rehabilitated a couple of ferries to operate between the Island of Kyushu and Korea. That was a part of the Third Military Railway Service, operating the ferries and the train to serve the ferries. CPT Swarren: Did each of the Divisions handle operations within their area, in terms of scheduling and prioritizing. BG Lyon: Yes, they did. They worked very closely with the Senior Tactical Commander who was generally a Division Commander. We had a Railroad Division serving an Army Division, n-ore or less. In some cases, like the British, there was a Corps Headquarters. Of course, initially we had an Army Headquarters, Sixth Army Headquarters at Kyoto, and the Eighth Army Headquarters at Yokohama. We actually operated the Third Military Railway Service under the Eighth Army. CPT Swarren: Sir, what kind of special units were you augmented with to assist your mission accomplishment? By that, I mean Signal, or say, Railway Maintenance, those sorts of units that might not traditionally fall under the Military Railway Service, but you needed to accomplish the mission? BG Lyon: We didn't have units or elements, as such, attached to us, but we had detachments, that were assigned to us. They functioned simply as a of our Headquarters. We did have a signal section, ave matenance etn, course, we operated our own ffotor pool, and we controlled and dispatched motor equipment. We assigned motor equipment to each one of our field elements. Within each Railroad Division we had ReilDransportation Offiverg and assistant Rail Transportation officers. Wherever there was a military element of the Occupational Forces, we had a Rail Transportation Officer. He had his own office in the local railroad station, which usually was carved out of a piece of the Station Master's office. In some cases we required the Japanese to build a 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hup://www.lic.custis.army.mil/documentsOCOT_Interviews/lyon.him separate office for our Rail Transportation Officers. The Rail Transportation Officer worked with his counterpart, the Station Master of the local station. He also had contacts with the rest of the railroad structure within whatever territory he was assigned to. The Rail Transportation Officers for the most part were officers: 294 Lieutenants, 1st Lieutenants, sometimes a Captain or sometimes a Non-Commissioned Officer. They were all identified with a green armband marked with "RIO". To the Japanese railroad people in that area, he was boss. In so far as serving the Occupational Forces, whatever he said went. And again, I emphasize that we did have real fine cooperation. Our people went out with very little training, but they went out with a few very simple orders and cautions. One of the cautions was, of course, not to become overbearing. If the Japanese had any objection from an operational point of view, the RTO would listen to those objections, and, if need be, overrule them. If the RTO had a question, then he was to consult the next in the chain of command. Generally, this worked out quite well and these Rail Transportation Officers made alot of local friends among the Japanese. CPT Swarren: Sir, what about motor transportation during the period? Was it available or was transportation strictly limited to rail movement? BG Lyon: It was almost entirely strictly limited to rail movement. This was due to two things: The primary reason was the condition of the roads. The roads in Japan were atrocious. We think we know potholes but the Japanese know potholes by the thousands within limited areas. Just to illustrate, in my own experience, generally within the immediate built-up areas they were not too bad. Once you got outside town, the potholes were terrible. I endeavored to drive from time to time in my vehicle and had a difficult time. Even after the families came, which was about eight months later, the roads were virtually impassable. I wanted to take my family up to see Nikko, which is about 90 miles northwest of Tokyo. Nikko was one of the places, perhaps the place, to see for any tourist in Japan. We decided to go and drive up. It was all right until we got to the city limits of Tokyo. The moment we got to the city limits of Tokyo it was not a road, it was just all potholes. Even if you drove 15 miles an hour, the roads would shake the car apart. How we made it, I really do not know. But we were insistent and persistent and finally made it. When we got to Nikko, we had trouble. My radiator had been shaken apart, and I had to find a garage to get it taken care of, or I couldn't move. The Japanese, for a lack of petroleum converted the automobiles and trucks that they had to operate on charcoal burners. This was something else again. Each one had a charcoal burner on the back that generates gas that was fed into the carburetor system. It was very, very poor, but it did give them mobility. They would only travel a few miles and the driver or the assistant driver would have to get out and stoke the fire and add are charcoal to the burner so they could keep going. This occurred even late in the Occupation on the Japanese side. For the Occupation Forces, fuel was no problem. We had our own fuel that was brought in. Of course, this was distributed in a large part by railroad in tank cars. There was a big Quartermaster Petroleum Depot setup in the Tokyo-Yokohama area. As one of the first priorities, we worked very closely with them distributing fuel and oil throughout Japan for the Occupational Forces on the various bases. As the need developed, priority was given to improving the roads. Bit by bit, the road system was improved so we could move between camps in the major communities and cities. Ultimately, the road system was quite well repaired. Later on, some of the members of the Occupation Forces, when their families came took quite extensive automobile trips. They had to plan the trips for the most part, of course, between military stations so they could get fuel. It was quite some time before there was any reliable system to get fuel from the Japanese. Hof 14 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hutpy//www ic eustis.army.mil/documents/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.him CPT Swarren: Sir, on the subject of families. Was morale a problem with the soldiers who wanted to stack arms and go home? BG Lyon: Yes, it was. The point system was immediately put into effect. If one had points to go home, he got impatient to go. We were moving in troops who were trying to effect an occupation, but at the same time give the troops that had enough points a chance to go home, either for discharge or for Rest and Relaxation (R&R). For the most part, certainly for the first few months, those eligible to go home far exceeded either the capacity of home bound ships and aircraft to take them or for the occupation mission to spare them. That ultimately worked out, but it was quite a problem for a while. This lead to another railroad problem. As units were deactivated, they had to send all their equipment into the depots to be received. But the depots were meeting up with the same power-man situation and they were not in condition to accept anything. The depots were still in process of development and re-organization. The tactical organizations being de-activated were impatient to be gone. So, General Besson devised and proposed a scheme that was in opposition to all professional railroad concepts. He proposed using the railroad cars as a temporary expedient to store all this equipment as an adjunct to the depots. There was a tremendous lot of freight equipment: flatcars, and almost no end of boxcars available. The Japanese economy was flat on its back and there was no great movement, and in that respect, no great demand for the flatcars. So, we requisitioned thousands and thousands of these cars and had them mustered at the stations where the units were being demobilized. The units were told that as soon as they get their equipment loaded on the cars, they were free to accept their orders and go home. So, this is basically what was done. They loaded the equipment onto the freight cars, and hopefully made an inventory that identified with a serial number the cargo on the cars. We kept track of the inventory and sent it to the Depot where that equipment was supposed to ultimately end up. It was our mission, then, to find railroad yards where we could store this equipment and still keep track of it and maintain security. The security problem was turned over to the Japanese. We made the Japanese Government responsible for the security, and we were responsible for keeping the inventory of the cars. This generally turned out pretty good, although initially, we had great opposition from both our own professional railroaders and the Japanese railroaders. We violated the principle that freight cars having wheels were not meant for static storage, but for movement. They were not moving anyway, so they may as well have stayed in one spot with a load on them. This was a tremendous boost to the demobilization process. CPT Swarren: To what extent did pilferage become a problem, with all this equipment sitting on railcars, Sir. BG Lyon: Never a great problem. It was, yes, but only to a degree both from Japanese and from our own people, Sometimes out of curiosity and sometimes out of shear need. People were trying to find something that they needed or wanted, but it was never a major problem. CPT Swarren: Sir, so far we've talked a lot about inland traffic operations. To what extent did the rail interface with the port operations in moving cargo? BG Lyon: Yes. Well, of course, this is always a major part of railroad operation, particularly in a country, that is so oriented to the sea as Japan. As I mentioned, our first mission and the continuing mission was to receive the troops at the airports and at the seaports, and to rove them wherever they might be destined. We had several primary seaports and they were operated under a separate command. The Second Major Port was the designation of the unit that first came into Japan to operate the ports. It was a collateral command with ours. We 1of 14 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER |hutpyvAwww.lic.eustis.army.mil/document/OCOT_Interviews/lyon.htm of 14 worked very cooperatively, coordinating the ship arrival and departure schedules with our ‘own schedules, They would place upon us the requirement for rail equipment, which would be spotted on the piers to met scheduled arrivals. As railroad equipment was loaded or discharged, as the case may be, the equipment was moved out to where ever it belonged. Arriving passengers, initially, did not work out quite that way because the trackage on the piers had been designed for freight purposes and not for passenger. Initially the first troops, who were to be moved by rail, came into Yokohama and were marched about two miles up to the Yokohama Central Railroad Station where the trains were assembled. A few days later we were able to move the trains to a marshalling yard which was considerably closer to the port, but still required about a half-mile march. Ultimately, the question was raised as to why not move the passenger equipment down to the piers? It was understood that the freight equipment having a much smaller wheelbase than the passenger equipment could negotiate sharper curves. The trackage in the port area was laid out accordingly, and there were some very, very sharp turns and curves. These turns would cause a problem for the passenger equipment. But with careful handling, we found that it was not an insurmountable problem. Soon we were able to move passenger equipment right down to the piers alongside the ship so the troops and later the dependents could move from the ship to the railcars. CPT Swarren: Sir, at what point were dependents allowed in country? BG Lyon: The first dependents were authorized to come in about May 1946. Of course, dependents came in according to the points that their sponsor had accrued. I had enough points, and in fact, orders were issued for my family to come in on the first dependent ship. Meanwhile, I had points to go home on R&R. I went hone on R&R at that time. I came back on concurrent travel with my family on a ship between the first and second dependent ships. We got into the port in time to go on the second dependent ship that was scheduled for about June. There had been one troop ship that came into Seattle, (that's where we were departing from), which had been scheduled to be deactivated. Then orders were given for it to make one more trip; I'll never forget the name of it - The Cape Perpetua. It was a troop ship and in no way adapted to handle dependents and families. There were about five families already at the Port of Debarkation awaiting dependent travel. We were told if the sponsor would inspect the ship, sign a waiver of facilities and assume responsibility for his family, particularly children then we could travel. We would use what had been the Marine detachment quarters on the stern of the ship. I had one son who was five years at the time. This was not without its hazards particularly for children, because the quarters were really steel huts built on the stern of the ship. There was an open deck between there and the main body of the ship where the recreation room, the mess hall, and all the rest of the facilities were. There were no good lifelines around the sides of the ship. In some cases, the lines were not all secured. It was necessary that an adult accompany any children when they went from the quarters to the rest of the ship. There were about five of us that went over. I think it was late May when we arrived. We called ourselves one and a half shipment of families. There were only a very, very few ahead of us. In Yokohama there were only two other dependent youngsters near the age of my own son. General's Besson's older son and General Byers’ older son. General Byer was Chief of Staff of the Eighth Army at the tine. They were the three youngsters in the Yokohama area who were first there. CPT Swarren: Sir, let me close by asking you one final question. Do you have any lessons learned that you can pass on to young officers who will be reading this transcript? What should they expect and what sort of things should they do as they move into a foreign country as an Occupation Force, or in a wartime situation, utilizing Host Nations support 6/22/2006 10:59 AM RESUME OF SERVICE CAREER hitp://www.lic.eustis.army.mil/documents/OCOT_Interviows/lyon.him railway equipment? BG Lyon: Well, I would say, the most important thing is to be flexible and adaptable. Meet the situation as you see it, because it's not likely to be as you pre-plan or pre-expect it in your atever facilities and capabilities you find at hant e did ultimately have not only some military personnel with us, but also some civil service personnel. We were very quickly augmented with civil service personnel. Even then, the American mission was very much carried out using the Japanese resources. Another thing we did was to very quickly establish a meal service aboard on the trains. Initially, we just got some cooks and kitchen personnel and equipment from military units and put them aboard as we now do in some our troop trains. The Japanese, before the War, had operated a very, very fine fleet of passenger ships, the NYK Line. They had a superb staff of caterers, cooks and waiters. Our Headquarters was in the NYK building that is almost adjacent to the Customs building that Eighth Army headquartered in. Some of the NYK cadre was still in that building. We immediately called upon them to set up staff dining cars that we attached to our trains. We operated the dining service with the assistance of the Japanese. They ran it, and we provided them with food. ‘They used the Army rations, cooked and served it, particularly, dependent's food. We set up some first class rail service for their convenience and use. We had regularly scheduled trains. ‘Where the traffic justified it, we had full trains on a schedule, complete with coaches, sleeping cars and dining cars. Where the traffic didn't justify it, we just used individual cars or half-cars in some cases. All were kept clean, sanitary and all identified with our white stripes. If we had a half car, then the white stripe was just on the half of the car that was for ‘occupation use. CPT Swarren: Sir, thank you very much, for sparing this time and participating in the interview. BG Lyon: Well, there's just so much to remember, and one thought leads to another. Some of it I have not thought about in a long time. It does go back; the Occupation was forty years ago. You're calling upon a lot of memory. Transportation General Officer Interviews Library Information Center 14 of 14 6/22/2006 10:59 AM narts processed sessing and fill ind crating the shipping point, xis of line items ster, The items ns for the M16 vuld be able to a environment, cpanded, AMSAT tly to Class TP hey go directly / the requisition «requisitions it er cent of them ays that 4 ecuisitions went The 88th boasts \ -ewuently varfous and for part dds that part to) ints for the ins 18 the unit ca i As ee ae stahons the community "Bn. Chicago) al radio stations, oe ke advantage of sed t0 the Board, ‘oar broadcasters station for their, = art Johnson and) Spark are utilize street intervie s on the stati jan does wiring: weavion Serge from the 305¢ ments with | to the Trustees also considering lcometives and care suppied hy. TROSCOM ining sites in Milwauhee, Wis, and Granite! Attend Course \t War College "HE FOLLOWING officers of the Army Reserve atiended the Senior Reserve Component Officers Course (SRCOC) at the US Army War Colley Carlisle Barracks, Pa., 4-16 Feb: Brigadier Generals Robert L. Bradley, Mob, Des as Spee Asst to Surgeon General, Office of Surgeon General, DA; Ogbourne D, Butler, Car, 420th Engr Bde, Bryan, Tex.; James W. Hoerner, Asst Div Cdr, 70th Div (Tng), Livonia, Mich.; Meehael P. Lagana, Cdr, 411th Engr Bde, Ft Til: 6. Nj Edmund W, Montgomery, I, Mob Das Chief Judge, US Army Judiciary, Office of the Judge Advocate General, DA, Drew. L. Redden, Dep Cdr, 12ist ARCOM, Birmingham, Ala; Lawrence B. Rohde, Mob Des as Dep Dir Intern'l and Civil Affairs for Unconventional fare, DCSOPS, DA; Norris E. Sills Dep Car, 31uth FASCOM, Washington, D.C.; Charles J. West, Jr, Mob Des as Dep Dir of Intern'l and Civil Affairs for PYSOPS, DCSOPS, DA: Jon M. Zum. Mob Des as Dep Dental Services Ov of the Surgeon General, DA lonels Charles E, Blaker, Cdr 22st MP Bée, Tose, Calif.: John 8. D. Eisenhower, Dep Cdr h ARCOM, Colmar, Pa.; John D. Jones, Chief Umpire, 87th ‘Maneuver Area Command, Birming- ham, Ala.; John Q. T. King, Mob Des as Special Asst for Minority Affairs, Office Chief of Reserve Asst for Components, DA; and Frederick J. Scheer, Dep Car, 77th ARCOM, Flushing, N.Y. The trend toward Total Force and its gre cooperation between active duty and Rese received a big boost late last year with the igning of an agreement between the Troop Support Command, (TROSCOM), of the Army Materiel Command, and the 3d Transportation Brigade (Rail- Wav’ both located in St. Louis, Mo. T © agreement, signed in November at TROSCOM ve forces heacquarters, was written in accordance with the Army Mutual Support Program (AR 11-22), and links the training role of the id Bde with the sup- Port of TROSCOM, Under the Memorandum of Agreement, p of the 3d Transportation Brigade will ROSCOM will provide the rail equipment # ~epaired along with repair parts and technical The Army Reserve Magasine—February 1974 ‘The agreement was signed by Major General Hugh R. Higgins, Commander of TROSCOM, and Brigadier General L, V. Anderson, then Comman- der of the 3d Bde, Also on hand for the ceremony was Lieutenant General John J. Hennessey, Chief, Oifce Reserve Components, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C. “Go For Broke" Homecoming THE CHANGE OF command for the Bn, 442d Inf, Ft Deruasy, Hawaii a homecoming for members of Broke" unit. Major Donald J. Mack, the outgoing commander, hhad two uncles who served with the unit in World War IL Lieutenant Colonel Frederick A. Holek, the new commander, saw his brother go off to war with the famed battalion in the same conflict. U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye, on hand to speak at the chanue of command ceremony. holds. the Distinuutished Service Cross awarded for gallantry while serving with the same unit in World War IL Colonel Llewellyn N. Farden, representing: Hea quarters IX Corps (Aug) holds the Silver Star won sn the same conflict, Major Mack also received a plaque awarded for being the Outstanding Seudent and General Staff College class. 008k was more like 1e famed "Go For fn his Command Mack ide forewall to mombers of the femed 100%h Bn, 442d Int, during. change, of Ceremonies ot FY DeRussy, Hawai, Attending the was Senater Daniel K. Inouye, Colonel Llewellyn N Te Corps and Lieutenant Colonel 702 KEP 2306 King street Alexandria, VA 22301 . September 12, 1979 William F. strobridge Colonel, MI Chief, Historical Services Division Department of the Amy the Chief of Military History and the Center of Military History Washington, D.c. 20314 Dear Colonel Strobridge, ‘Thank you very much for your letter of September 5 and the praise for, and suggestions about, my paper on the Military Railway Service in Tran during World War II. I am extremely flattered that you are adding the paper to the organizational history files and am enclosing the Notes and Bibliography to go with the paper in the files. I inadvertently neglected to attach the Notes and Bibliography to ‘the copy which I left at your house. I'm sorry that I left you the impression that I had neglected to do Notes and Bibliography. I really appreciate your suggestion to send a copy of my paper to the Editor of TRANSIOG and I am doing so. I have left a copy of the paper at General Besson's home but I haven't heard from him as yet. Professor MacDonald gave me an "A" on the paper and an "A" in the course ~ my first graduate-level course. r'm back in Williamsburg and everything is going really well. 1 will let you know how things go with TRANSLOG and I want to thank you again for your advice and encouragement. Sincerely, Ker Kevin Conley Ruffner Enclosure

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