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| "This one is very familiar to me. In July of 1968, I was assigned as Team 37-68 Commander at Kwang-Ju. During my 4 months there I got to the mountain several times and knew MuDong San very well. We had a TRC-24/35 shot to the ROKAF ACW site for the fighters deployed to the AB. As a result, when the decision was made to try and put in the tropo shot and connect Kwang Ju to Taegu, I was put on the site survey team led by Capt Leon Strawn. Others on the team were 1st Lt Larry Chapanar and MSgt Tom Leonard. We went to Korea in early December, not the most hospitable time. Capt Strawn was one of the best officers the Mob ever had, maybe THE best. He was a terrific team leader, smart, enthusiastic, and a great mentor to many of the young Lts in the unit during the 68-69 period. The survey of the site was especially demanding. Technically, it was not supposed to work. Terrain wise it was a daunting location to access, much less to try and set-up a tropo shot. Leon said we HAD to get a solution and he found the site, did the math and the rest is history. Tropo is just magic! When we put it into operation, even the TRC-97 manufacturer couldn't believe the shot worked. That's a tribute to the great engineering survey that Leon did and to the smarts of the install team (they are referred to in the photos) as well as the great maintainers we had, led by Lt Col Shine. On the survey, I got very sick: temperatures well over 100. Leon finally "saved" me with a bottle of scotch in our hootch on the AB. There were many events that happened at this site. The wind blew down the antennas once and we lost a 6X during an ice storm trying to get down the hill. I went back to the site several months later from my Osan "Blue Fortune" team 120-68 tour. When I saw the site months later, it was still humming along, though the guys had gone a bit native and Uncle Harry was coming to visit. Quick shaves and lots of sprucing fixed the site back to Mob standards. Lots of guys served there and served very well. I have some photos of the site and will try to send them in to you soon. As an added note, if my memory is right, SSgt Mike Deeble, shown in one of the MuDong San pictures, later joined me on the the Blue Fortune Team...he was superb, a gifted technician and a great team member. So many great people assembled in one unit...it was incredible to be among them!" - Skip Hardenburg |
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