Ken in Korean War

My uncle Kenneth Herbert Lanouette Jr passed away recently at the age of 91. He had a long and good life.

I have been digitizing photographs and slides from his house.

I discovered many wonderful slides from his service in The Navy during The Korean War.

Ken was born in 1925. He graduated from North Hollywood CA High School in 1943 and joined the Navy.
He tested into Officer Training and the Navy sent him to USC to study Engineering. The war ended as he was finishing his training. He served briefly doing reconstruction in China, then returned to the states where he met and married Jane (Midge) Smith.

He was called back up during the Korean War, and as an officer serving in Japan, he was able to have Midge come over.

My oldest cousin Caron was born in Japan in 1952. They returned to the states in 1953 and Ken remained in the reserves into the 1960s.

That was the part I knew.

I am sharing these slides trying to get a better sense of some of the details of his Korean War duty and beyond.

I had never known the details of the armistice talks until a few weeks ago, and certainly never knew Ken was there and was such a witness to history.
I wish I had known to ask him to share his stories and details.
Ken had two daughters (my cousins) and two grandsons. Hopefully they have some of Ken's recollections I may be able to add in.

This is a work in progress, and a way for me to map out what I've figured out so far. I'm including some background that I found by searching the web as I was (and still am) trying to understand the details.

June 1950, North Korean forces invade South Korea, war begins

July 1951-First round of armistice talks in Kaesong

I do not believe Ken was there, but here is some background.

This pic is from JSAVets.org. It shows the teahouse in Kaesong where the first talks began in Jul and Aug of 1951
I think if Ken had been there, he would have taken a picture of this building. I'm not sure where Ken was in July and Aug of 1951.

Another pic showing the convoy that would travel back and forth from the UN base camp at Munsan-ni to the negotiations at Kaesong.
Lots more great info at this webpage.

Note - Jan 2023

Several broken links above, here are some backups from the Internet Wayback Machine...

JSAVets great history of the area showing geography.

JSAVets Home Page

Could not find replacement link for Honker Pontoon Bridge (below) as yet

The road from Munsan-ni to Kaesong crossed the Imjin River via the Honker Pontoon Bridge.

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This pic shows the convoy using the bridge in July 1951. High waters destroyed the bridge in late August of 1951

First of Ken's slides

This may be Ken's first flight from Japan to Korea

Korean Coast

Rebuilding of Honker Pontoon Bridge over Imjin River. Late Summer or early Fall of 1951.

I assume Ken crossed this bridge numerous times over the next few months.

Munson-ni

I am concocting a timeline from the order Ken had the slides arranged. There is a lot of guessing involved.

The pics labled "Imjin" of the pontoon bridge were first. Next were ones labled "Munsan".

It appears Ken settled into what he referred to as the UN "Peace Camp" at Munson-ni, the base camp for the UN side of the armistice talks when they reconvened at Panmunjom, six miles east of Kaesong, in October of 1951.

Ken at Munsan-ni

This slide is labled "Peace Camp". My guess is it is from one of the helicopters, which I believe are Air Force Sikorsky H-5s

This stock photo found online is labled Panmunjom, Mar 1952, but when compared to Ken's aerial photo, and the one below, I believe it is the Munsan Base Camp.

Labled "V.I.P. Row". Seems to be the area in the lower center of the stock photo above. View appears to be from center left to lower right

Labled "Peace Camp Capt. Briggs" Presumably this is Capt. Harold M. Briggs.

Ken

Down time

Presumably gearing up for a trip to Panmunjom

Additional photos from Peace Camp

Panmunjom

The above picture shows the site of the Panmunjom armistice talks about when Ken was there.
Just about every one of his slides can be positioned in the above picture.
The talks took place in the tents on the left side of the road.
The buildings on the right side of the road are the remains of the village of Panmunjom.

If I understand the geography correctly, the foreground is North Korea. The river that defines the upper third of the photo is the border, and the higher ground at the top is South Korea.

Where the road crosses the river is the famous "Bridge Of No Return", where prisoner exchanges took place. It has been fictionalized in a James Bond movie. It is a very strange and deadly place.

It is hard to imagine today being in the places these pictures were taken.

I believe that the convoy from Munsan-ni would have arrived from the top of the photo.

The helicopter landing area is next to the conference tents. The bigwigs would arrive by helicopter, while the press and staff would arrive by ground.

There was a second hand Ken story told at his service by his brother in law, who had heard it on a recent trip with Ken while they were swapping Korean War stories.

Ken related that The Commies (I'm not sure how he described them recently, but on the slides, that is what he wrote) often arrived in beat up vehicles, while the American brass made a show of using fancy new helicopters.
One day the North Koreans arrived in an very new American jeep with a bullet hole through the windshield at driver's head level. That reined in the showiness.
I'm curious if that story was known elsewhere.

This is labled "Korea Bridge Pan Mun Jom"
It appears to be The Bridge Of No Return.

I believe these are Panmunjom, but possibly one or both are taken at the Munsan end of the trip

There are some newsreel movies of ceremonies at the Munsan helicopter landing field, and the terrain looks different, but I am not sure of the location.

This picture is looking towards the conference site, with The Bridge Of No Return behind the camera.
It makes me wonder if crossing the river was an issue for vehicles.