Coming Home from the Korean War on the Gen. John Pope

Aug 6, 2019, 9:24 PM

In early September, 1951, I was with a group of about 20 men near the 38th. Parallel in South Korea. About 2100 one night, the Lt. came to my tent and announced, "Joe21, pack your gear, you're leaving for home in the AM". I had to travel by truck from the 38th. Parallel to Pusan on the Southeast coast and then by the shuttle ship (we called it the "Stinky Maru" from a previous trip) to Sasebo, Japan, where I boarded the troop ship, Gen. John Pope. I remember nothing of the trip from the 38th. Parallel to Sasebo.

The rest of the story is gleaned from a Souvenir Edition by the ships crew given to each one of us as we approached San Francisco. I found this Edition among WW2 and Korean War "stuff" while replacing some shelving in my garage. The Gen. Pope's troop capacity was a little over 4,000 but I believe there were less than 1,000 aboard. It took us 12 days at sea and as best I can remember we had calm seas all the way. This was an entirely different adventure than my return from Europe after WW2.

Here are a few items gleaned from the edition.

3,578 lbs. of turkey on a normal round trip
6,080 lbs. Ground beef, 1,000 lbs. for a normal serving
104,500 lbs. potatoes, using 4,000 lbs. per day
2,400 gal. of milk
15,350 doz. of fresh eggs

The ships mess hall can serve 4,000 troops three meals per day but with fewer troops aboard on this trip only one serving line was open and everyone served within one and one half hours.

The daily news reported North Korean planes flew over Seoul and dropped a couple of bombs at Kempo Airport with virtually no damage and one of the planes was shot down.

There were some sports news, baseball and football. We arrived in San Francisco on a Sunday so we had some football scores but no score for Clemson.
Fordham 34 Missouri 20
North Carolina 21 E. Carolina 0
Ga. Tech 21 SMU 7
Duke 34 South Carolina 6 (I knew everyone would like this one)
Texas 7 Kentucky 6
Wyoming 28 Idaho 0

In the American League the Yankees were the top dog and in the National League the Brooklyn Dodgers were the top dogs.

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Famous for being humiliated at 2nd Manassas, Pope had bragged prior to the battle..."Let us understand each other. I have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs of our enemies. Signed, from my HQ in the saddle." Lee responded "Pope couldn't tell his headquarters from his hind quarters", ordered his army to "Remove those people from my state", and took the wood to him.

Even Pope's own men said "His pompous orders ... greatly disgusted his army from the first. When a general boasts that he will look only on the backs of his enemies, that he takes no care for lines of retreat or bases of supplies; when, in short, from a snug hotel in Washington he issues after-dinner orders to gratify public taste and his own self-esteem. Suffice it to say that more insolence, superciliousness, ignorance, and pretentiousness were never combined in one man. It can with truth be said of him that he had not a friend in his command from the smallest drummer boy to the highest general officer. All hated him."

The guy must have been some kind of connected after being relieved of command to get a ship named after him. I hope your ride on his namesake was more pleasant that he seems to have been in real life!

Coming Home from the Korean War on the Gen. John Pope

Re: Coming Home from the Korean War on the Gen. John Pope

Re: Coming Home from the Korean War on the Gen. John Pope

How many chickens were on board

Oh my John Pope had a ship named after him?

Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees baseball teams all in New York

Re: Joe, Thanks for the memories...

Re: Coming Home from the Korean War on the Gen. John Pope

TigerBoard POTD