Synopsis of oral history interview with John Denino

              Video Log
John Denino
Korean War
US Army
Born: October 29, 1930
Interview Date: April 9, 2010
Interviewed By: Antonia Palmieri
00:00:03 introduction
00:00:55 describes the 14 weeks spent at Fort Neck New Jersey for basic training
00:01:10 Boot camp training experiences
00:02:13 Fort Hood Texas – assigned to artillery battalion
00:02:18 105 howitzer – gun
00:03:06 Names what war he served in – Korean War
00:03:13 Describes leaving Fort Hood and going overseas – didn’t know where at first;
00:03:41 Pittsburg, California
00:04:38 Going to Japan; ship broke down; had to stay 3 or 4 days; ran out of food, all they had to eat was rice
00:05:12 Talks about being shipped off to Yokohama, Japan
00:05:28 Shipped to Sasebo, Japan
00:05:43 Describes being in Camp Bender; training
00:06:08 Discusses waiting for South Korean troops; ROKS – Republic of Korea
00:06:37 Leaves Camp Bender; back on ship
00:07:19 On ship; informed they were going to Korea
00:07:36 Discusses the invasion of Incheon, South Korea; 1st Marines were going first to Sol Korea, and the 7th Division to follow; Sept 17th he got off the ship to save the Marines
00:08:30 Marching to Sol to “open back door” to get the surrendered Marines out of Sol
00:09:50 Ship to part of North Korea, from Iwan, North Korea
00:10:55 Part of the 105 Artillery, C Battery
00:11:14 Casualties in unit on Chosen Reservoir
00:11:36 Heard about General Macarthur and invasion of Manchuria rumor; heard the war was over; celebrated
00:12:37 Chosen Reservoir Chinese attack; John and his friend Jose hand to hand combat with Chinese troops
00:13:33 WP’s – White Phosphorus artillery; blinds you for a few seconds
00:14:20 Awarded Silver Star for saving his Lieutenant and capturing 8 to 10 Chinese soldiers as prisoners
00:14:50 Staying in touch with family; writing letters when they can but too busy most of the time
00:15:07 Food while in the service; canned corn beef and spaghetti
00:16:40 Jose and John looking for their jeep driver Whitey; looking at all the bodies on the reservoir; found Whitey bayoneted
00:17:49 Regrouping; back down to South Korea to regroup men because they lost so many
00:18:16 Statistic of men lost; United States vs. Chinese
00:18:46 Entertaining themselves while in the service; talked about where they were from and what they did