Equipment Without Operators
Capt. James E. McClure, Heavy Equipment Maintenance and Repair Officer, 76th Engineer Construction Battalion

The 76th Engineer Construction Battalion was on Okinawa when we were alerted to move to Korea. All weak equipment was exchanged and only the most aggressive officers and best-trained men were taken with the unit. In Korea we made a splendid record, but there were some occurrences that we are prone to forget.

From the moment our advance party arrived in Korea, the battalion was given an overload of work. To complete our missions we overworked our men and equipment. I shall not concern myself with the loss of morale and efficiency resulting from the long hours of work, or from assigning men the maintenance responsibility for three or more pieces of heavy equipment. I will only tell how the overload affected the equipment.

In August 1950 Ammunition Supply Point No. 1, near Pusan, had to be relocated to allow the construction of an Air Force runway. The area chosen for the new ASP was in the mountains two miles from the unloading piers. Ammunition bunkers were needed immediately since seven ammunition ships lay at anchor waiting to unload their cargos.

The engineering officer of Pusan Logistical Command assigned the construction of the ammunition bunkers to the 76th. He told our battalion commander (Lt.Col. Thomas K. Fullerton) that twelve additional D7 crawler tractors were available at the engineer depot and must be drawn to increase the battalion's work capacity. He ordered a 20hour schedule until enough bunkers were completed to unload the anchored ships.

A battalion staff conference followed. During the discussion I pointed out that no surplus of trained equipment operators existed, and that the additional tractors would impose a hardship on the battalion without notably increasing production. Without trained operators there would be no preventive maintenance, and without that the tractors would not operate very long. In spite of these arguments, the directive to the battalion was specific and the colonel had no option but to order: "We will have to utilize the cooks and company clerks, if necessary, for operation of the additional equipment."

As equipment operators we selected carpenters and other men who had mechanical skills, and held a class on operation and preventive maintenance. We could only hope that the men would learn enough to get them by. Then the twelve D7 tractors were dispatched to the project site, and three qualified mechanics accompanied the group to support the operation.

After one day's operation the mechanics were swamped with deadlined tractors. The power-control units were all going bad, the grease seals were blowing, and the operating bands were overheating. There was no great showing of completed ammunition bunkers after forty-eight hours of continuous operation. In addition, half the tractors were out of action. The intense pressure from above to complete the project continued. Another battalion staff conference was held and it was decided to work two ten-hour shifts daily, and devote two hours of each shift to instruction and preventive maintenance. This prevented some tractors from deadlining. The work continued slowly but we kept ahead of the ammunition people because they had serious difficulties in their own operation.

On 25 August, Pusan Logistical Command again assigned us a new project with top priority. This was to build a POW inclosure, which involved draining a rice paddy and eliminating its lower areas with ten thousand cubic yards of fill. Unfortunately, the nearest fill obtainable had to be hauled five miles from a burrow pit.

Another meeting of the battalion staff was called to discuss the method of starting this project at a time when all of our battalion's personnel and dump trucks were otherwise engaged. Since we already had eight to ten top-priority projects assigned us, there was no reason to halt one to advance another. Additional dump trucks were available in the ordnance depot but again we had no drivers.

After much discussion, Colonel Fullerton accepted a tentative plan. Forty-three dump trucks would be drawn from the ordnance depot, and Korean civilian personnel would be trained as drivers. These trucks would be divided into two platoons, each to be controlled by a U.S. enlisted man with dump-truck experience. All Korean drivers would be kept in convoy with the enlisted supervisor driving the lead truck and controlling the speed. Finally, motor stables would be held daily, with the supervisor calling out each preventive maintenance point to be checked. Korean interpreters would relay the instructions to the drivers. This would insure daily preventive maintenance service on the Korean operated equipment.

This plan was approved and put into operation. It worked very well for two months, with eighty per cent of the dump trucks serviceable and dispatched. Some time was lost at the excavator while waiting to load, but the control which the convoy plan gave us appeared to me to justify the loss of time. Colonel Fullerton, the S3, and I held several conferences concerning the time lost, but all agreed it was necessary to follow the original plan. 

In October I had to be gone for two days. When I returned I found a new plan was in operation. Now, each Korean driver was individually responsible for his truck, and there was no immediate control by the enlisted supervisors. Trucks moved independently and the supervisors had little control over the forty-three trucks. 

Three weeks after the initiation of this new policy, half the dump trucks were deadlined. These repairs often were necessary because the Koreans had not performed any preventive maintenance. The trucks, moving independently, were driven at excessive speeds and there was a high toll of broken springs and blown-out tires. The Korean drivers visited their homes for hours, and even sold their gasoline. Few of the drivers seemed to have any sense of responsibility.

As the efficiency of the operation declined rapidly and the number of deadlined trucks rose, the S3 came to me to complain about the trucks not operating.

I replied that the original policy of supervised operation and maintenance should be immediately re-established.

The operations officer, thinking only of immediate progress, answered: "It can't be done. We lose too much time that way."

I asked: "What are you accomplishing by your present policy?"

The S3 retorted: "You're the maintenance officer. It's up to you to keep the trucks rolling."