Thanks for the inputs and welcome to USFK Forums!

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I searched for games on Google....and found this site. Funny how things work,eh?

Right now, I'm stationed at Yongsan Garrison. And as my name implies, I work in G5 which is a part of 8th Army's G3 (OMD) Platoon.

Yahoo search for "Osan" and "Blog"

Hi Folks!
I stumbled onto this neat site quite by accident. You see, I was sent to Korea in 1974 as an AFKN radio/television announcer. It was much like what happened to Robin Williams in the movie "Good Morning Vietnam", only without the shooting. That came later. As an AFKN announcer, my voice was often taped by the English hagwans for classes. When I found this out, I began teaching English. I loved Korea so much that when I got out of the Army in 1976, I returned to Korea as a civilian with $60 in my pocket and no ticket home. Within 3 days I was working for Sam Sung Mulsan in the Dong Bong Building in Namdaemun at $35 an hour. My apartment was only $16 a month! Within a year my girlfriend and I were married and moved to a wonderful little village called Ohyadong. It was across the street from a US airfield the Koreans were improving called K-16. I watched it become the largest airfield in Asia. I can still find it on Google Earth. It is called Seoul Air Base near Seongnam Si. But there is no sign of my beloved little Ohyadong. It was on the way to Seongnam Si in Kyong Ki Do, directly across from the main gate of K-16. We lived there until a year after President Park was killed. Things became dangerous and we went for a visit to my wife's hometown near Kwangju. Yes. We were trapped there in 1980 for the "incident". Basically, I took my yobo by the hand and we literally walked out of the province along the railroad tracks to avoid the carnage. Kindly Koreans (the ONLY kind, right?) had set out kimchi jars of food and water along the tracks for the refugees that streamed out of the Kwangju area. If not for them, we would have starved. Within a few months of reaching Ohyadong, my wife and I were rounded up by the KCIA who had photos of me at a protest in Namdaemun. Actually, I was trying to get home from an English class at Hankook Hyock (Korea Explosives) on my KIA-Honda autobike. I was caught up in a battle between students and the ROK Army. When I finally did get home, the police arrived the next morning to haul us away. They let Seun-hee go within three days but I was sent to Suweon and thrown in a cell the size of a walk-in closet. I smuggled out a letter to my father with the help of a prisoner in the next cell who was due to be released in a month. I wrote the letter on toilet paper and he slipped it into the hem of his personal blanket and mailed it to my father in Kentucky. Dad, being the Kentucky State Govenor's personal photographer splashed my plight all over the media. 47 days later I was released, reunited with my wife and marched to Kimpo Airport, headed for California. This was the day before John Lennon was killed in December 1980. Today, all I have left are my fond memories of my beloved Ohyadong, two journals I kept and about 500 30 year-old still photographs of the happiest years of my life. For the past 4 years I have been writing a book about this adventure. It is a massive work that has required a lot of research because I wish to be nothing but accurate in the telling of this tale. I was trying to find out what ever became of Ohyadong where we lived such a peaceful life in the country when I found this site. I'm not very computer literate and have never joined in a "discussion" like this, so you'll have to bear with me. I want to know what has become of my adopted hometown and the wonderful Korean people I grew so close to. The odd name used here relates to my old radio show I had before I was sent to Korea. It was called "The Weasel's Hour". I really would get a kick out of talking to someone who is living the dream I once lived. I have some fascinating stories to swap. Don daweezel@cox.net

I am also trying to find out what happened to the KIA-Honda motorcycle company. For many years it was the ONLY maker of auotbikes in Korea. Today neither KIA company or Honda will admit such a company ever existed back in the 60's and 70's. What happened?

To Ko74. Dude you and I really need to talk! I too am a Civil War reenactor and was in Korea from 1974-1980. What a time in History.
Don daweezel@cox.net

Welcome all ! Note to Daweezil : I was in Yongsan in 1972-3. I was in the Air Force, working for the Ambassador as the Radar Advisor to the ROKAF HQ in Youngdungpo. It is now at K-16 AB. Did a lot of work on the DMZ building Radar sites. My stories were good, but not as adventurous as yours. I'll work on answering some of your questions, but don't expect a lot, right away, as it is the season to be jolly, and to take vacation. Hopefully we can get some photos for you, better than Google. I taught school, too, during those years, only part time. My early experences were at Osan, 59-62. You can reach me on the Yongsan Forum anytime, but I read all new posts on all forums.

Hello all. Joe, Thank you ever so much for the reply. As I said, I barely know how this method of communication works, so thanking you for any help is a "hit and miss" affair. I hope you see this and accept my gratitude. Am I supposed to go to another part of this site or stick to this part "How did you hear about usfkforums.com...?" Like I said, I'm new to this. You mentioned the Youngsan Forum. Hmm. That's why I boldly threw my email address out there. Emailing I can do. This I have to learn. I bought my first computer 4 years ago specifically to write this book about what happened to me and my buddy in a land that turned back the clock. For me it was like going to a movie theater that presented a story depicting Asia around 1925 and jumping right into the scene! I literally became part of this fascinating story. Lucky me! With my computer, the two diaries I kept and six loose leaf binders full of black and white stills, I am the proud owner of my very own time machine! It only goes to one address and spans just six years but as determined as I am to tell this story, I shall succeed. It is just too big a thing to keep bottled up. Just tonight I finished Chapter 13 of Book Three. Working nights in a nuke plant presents many chances to write and illustrate in between monitoring stuff. The chapter was about the day my traveling buddy Ed and I rode our cobbled together cafe racers into Seoul to teach English. We were turned back by the Army just as we crossed the Han River bridge and passed Ietaewon. The city was turned upside down. Park Chung-hee had been killed. Getting back across the Han and into Kyoung Ki Do was a hell of an adventure. We were almost gunned down by the row of M-113's that blocked the bridge entrance. We just took off our helmets and let our hair fall out to show we were Americans and slowly drove through the roadblocks as the 50 calibers tracked us. But made it we did. I understand about the vacation. I am limited too right now. We are in the middle of a house remodel and since my rental house right next door is going to be vacant until Jan. 1st, we are crammed into it with all our possessions in boxes. I am using my laptop and the weak signal from my router perched on a window sill next door. Even the porta phone reaches here! All my photos and chapters are on my boxed up PC, except for a very few. I trudge on with the book with a simple memory stick. Again, thanks for the mention of K-16. I lived RIGHT across the street from it in Ohyadong. There were less than 80 people in my little piece of heaven back in 1974. Do you recall ANY buildings across from K-16's main gate? If so, that's where I called home. When I turn on my computer and progress the book a little further along, I'm back in 1974 and still call it my home. Don

I was told about a new water park at Camp Humphreys from a fellow worker whos daughter and son in law are stationed at Osan. I typed in Camp Humphreys and hit search and low and behold Forum was a option to visit.