Memories of an Old Man is a series of memoirs written by West of 50 member, Ken Felts.
After the ship was fully provisioned with fuel and other supplies, we set off for the east coast of North Korea. Being a very mountainous country, there are few areas along either coast that lends itself to being accessible for a shore landing of troops. Wonsan Bay on the east coast is perfect. The coastal terrain is smooth, contains the transportation systems, and is an important strategic location.
North Korea, well aware of its vulnerability, made sure the bay and harbor were well supplied with hundreds of mines. Our job was to remove them. We attached the mine cutters to the two paravane cables and let them stretch behind the ship in a “Y” formation. The paravanes were attached to the ship with cables and every 50 feet or so we attached a mine cutter. We started at the edge of the bay and slowly worked our way inward with laps parallel to the beach line, each time moving closer to the shore.
Cutting and then exploding their mines seemed to irritate the North Koreans and they would open fire on our ships each time we neared the coast. While on the Swallow, we were shot at numerous times, some quite near, but we were never hit. Our small ship was prone to roll considerably when a stormy sea disturbed the water around us. And when that happened, I would be hanging over the railing feeding the fishes with my lately consumed dinner. I never really got over being seasick, even during a small storm.
Twenty-six, mostly young, sailors were housed in a small sleeping space. At any one time several were topside on eight-hour watch, the rest sleeping or occupied with duties on deck. If there were any other gay men on board, I was never aware of it.
On the very first day of clearing mines in Wonsan harbor, I was met with my first artillery barrage from shore. I was almost paralyzed at first, not knowing what to do. On a small wooden ship, there is literally no place to hide. We were far enough offshore that none of the attacks struck our ship or the others in our fleet. Being under fire with no hiding place became so routine that we would grab our cameras and take photos of the ongoing action.
Before the war was over, six mine sweepers had been sunk, each losing several personnel. These were the only ships lost during the Korean War. During one sweep at Wonsan, an American pilot’s plane was damaged by ground fire while over North Korea and had to ditch his plane in the harbor near us and was all smiles when we pulled him on deck.
After about six weeks at sea, we returned to our home base in Sasebo, Japan, for several days before we repeated our cycle, often going to the western coast to sweep for mines at the Bay of Inchon. The water was frozen, and we cut a swath as we plowed through. Due to the low temperatures, our lookout time on the bow was cut to 15 minutes. Sometimes at sea we would tie up with a supply ship and had the treat of visiting the ship’s store for chocolates and other treats. But we were most happy when we returned to our home base in Japan. I took the time on those occasions to explore the Japanese countryside, small villages and other points of interest.