John Ryff’s Korean War Experience from Inchon to the Chosin Reservoir

Announcer
World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and our other wars and conflicts. America’s fighting men and women strapped on their boots and picked up their guns to fight tyranny and stand for liberty. We must never forget them. Welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson.

These stories will touch your heart, inspire you, and give you courage. We stand on the shoulders of giants. Here’s Kim Monson.

Kim Monson
And welcome to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. This show began because of a trip that I took in 2016 with a group that accompanied four D-Day veterans to Normandy, France for the anniversary of the D-Day landings there. and returned stateside, realizing each story is unique and important. It needs to be heard.

It needs to be recorded. It needs to be archived. And hence, America’s Veteran Stories is our show to do that. I am so honored to have on the line with me John Riff, and he is a veteran, a Marine veteran, and he served during the Korean War.

John, welcome to the show.

John Ryff
I’m pleased to be here.

Kim Monson
So let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up, John? In

John Ryff
northern New Jersey.

Kim Monson
Okay. And what year were you born? 1932. 1932.

So you were a kid during World War II. What do you recall about World War II?

John Ryff
Oh, well, I remember being in the scouts and we would do And during that time, do you remember any rationing or anything like that during the war? No. It’s a candy bar.

Kim Monson
Oh, yeah. Okay. I’m sorry. Yeah, a Mounds bar.

Yes, I do know what that is.

John Ryff
They might as well have been made of gold because you had to have a special storekeeper stock them under the counter and he would help save you one. But sugar products like that and meat, shoes, shoes were cardboard. Gasoline, everything, rubber, very hard to get. He just made do with used stuff.

Kim Monson
My gosh, when we see the plenty that we have in 2021 America, it’s it’s absolutely mind boggling that we don’t just sit down and say thank you for these blessings.

John Ryff
Indeed.

Kim Monson
Okay, so you go through the war, and you join the Marines. Tell us, you know, why you joined the Marines? And when did you join the Marines?

John Ryff
I joined the Marines in late 1950. And the reason I joined was, can I be honest?

Kim Monson
Yes.

John Ryff
To get out of Northern New Jersey.

Kim Monson
We won’t tell anybody in Northern New Jersey that you said that, okay?

John Ryff
Ended up working on a loading dock or something. It was just a small industry, but there was no future. And there was no money for college. So this was a way out.

Kim Monson
Let’s see. And so that was 1950. So you were probably what, 18 years old?

John Ryff
I was 17 actually when I joined, but I did turn 18.

Kim Monson
Did your parents have to sign for you to join at the age of 17? Uh,

John Ryff
I forgot.

Kim Monson
Okay, okay. You

John Ryff
can’t buy drift.

Kim Monson
Okay, I got it. Okay, 17 years old, and you are a Marine. And boot camp was no cakewalk, was it?

John Ryff
No, you’ve heard that story over and over again. You don’t forget that. It’s sort of embedded in the marrow of your bones. And every Marine who has been to boot camp kind of smiles when he meets another one, because they know, they know what it was like.

Kim Monson
I’ve heard that it’s almost breaking down to then rebuild as a Marine. And it takes a tremendous amount of discipline, mental fortitude, and of course, physical stamina as well.

John Ryff
Yes, all of those. If you don’t have it, don’t join. because you’re going to have to put up with a lot of frustrations until they get you straightened out.

Kim Monson
What about being a Marine through your whole life? I’ve got to imagine every day that experience comes into play, correct?

John Ryff
Correct. I have participated and been active in both the American Legion and especially the VFW until I got quite a bit older. I used to help out at the VFW. I had most of the offices at one point or another.

So I tried to do my share.

Kim Monson
Okay, so 1950, the Korean War. Here, we’ve just come through a world war, and I think probably Americans are weary. My understanding is that we were reducing the military. So what about those years between 1945 and 1950?

That was a scandal.

John Ryff
The people who were fired were not fired soon enough. And I hate to say that, but I’ve thought about it and read about it a lot. And there were powerful forces in Washington. And that’s going back before the war, who wanted to fold the Marine Corps into the army and leave the actual Marine Corps just sort of a, what would I call it?

Kim Monson
Maybe a shell?

John Ryff
It’s more like a Sea Duty or Embassy Duty, that’s what I’m thinking.

Speaker 8
Okay.

John Ryff
They just show the flag. And that is the main part of the Marine Corps, you’ve probably heard this many times, is the Fleet Marine Force. That sounds strange. Why would we have a different part of the Marine Corps with a different name?

The Fleet Marine Corps is the fighting arm of the Marine Corps. When you send out Marines to fight, they will come from the Fleet Marine Corps, either in North Carolina or California, or even Okinawa. So this was the part that was really taken down very secretively. The Fleet Marine Corps, especially the part that MacArthur wanted for the Korean War.

He asked, tell me if I’m boring you.

Kim Monson
No, I find this fascinating.

John Ryff
MacArthur was called in to Truman’s office, right after the invasion from the North. And Truman asked him what he needed to stem the tide. And MacArthur said, the 1st Marine Division, which would be part of the Fleet Marine Force. And Truman said, You got it.

And that was the biggest canard, I think of the entire five years from 45 to 50. Because Truman spent every waking moment trying to cut the budget for the Marine Corps. And he was when the invasion took place. I don’t have my numbers in front of me.

But the Marine budget for 49, I believe was 13 in So I never forgave any of these people. Truman made a lot of courageous decisions, we all know that. But he had some sort of animosity, really strong, toward the Army and the Marine Corps. And I think it came from World War I.

He was an artillery officer in the Verdun Muse battle, which was very bloody and kind of wasteless, and he saw all this. So I give him some credit that he saw it and he didn’t like what he saw, but he didn’t have to take it out on the Marine Corps. So anyway, he really had no use for the Marine Corps, probably not so much for the Navy either. The only thing that was Pressing and it looked like it would win the day was would be a separate Air Corps That was going along smoothly in the late 40s But a number of Marines Officers Started to testify against this obvious push To fold the Marine Corps into

the army at least the fighting on them and The reason the Marines had no use for this idea, and I will tell you, and I think it’s true, is the Army never, never liked amphibious warfare. And they didn’t train their people. I mean, they trained them for Normandy, but generally they were not in favor of any kind of amphibious assault. And this was the Marines’ bread and butter.

It’s all added up to the hostility against the Marine Corps. Maybe the Coast Guard too? No, probably not. But see, they all get their sources from the Navy, Coast Guard and the Marines.

So they have to go around begging every time the budgets are written.

Kim Monson
Fascinating. And in the Pacific during World War Two, it was the Marines that did do all those amphibious landings, right?

John Ryff
Yes, they had at the end of the war, when the final assault was made on Okinawa, there were three Marine divisions out of what they had built to six Marine divisions. They were very strong at the end of the war.

Kim Monson
And of all the World War II veterans that I’ve interviewed, I’ve never interviewed a Marine that was in the European theater. So it was pretty limited in World War II with the Marines over in Europe. Yes?

John Ryff
Probably just embassy duty and maybe classified work. I don’t know that.

Kim Monson
Okay. Okay. And, boy, I did not know all of this. So I’m certainly learning a lot on this.

John, we have just a couple of minutes left. I think just at the very beginning, when you got into the Marine Corps, is there any story or anything that you’d like to leave with our listeners before we go to break?

John Ryff
nothing I can repeat over the air. Okay, I’ll

Kim Monson
think

John Ryff
about that as we go along.

Kim Monson
Okay. So with that, then I just want to make sure that I get the timeline right. You were born in 1932. You joined the Marines in 1950 at the age of 17.

And where did you go to boot camp at?

John Ryff
Okay. We all went to Parris Island from the New York area, and that was something you had to behold. I’ll tell you why. The drill instructors were all Southerners, and they had been on Guadalcanal and Tarawa.

They were really tough guys.

Speaker 11
Oh, yeah.

John Ryff
And they hated New Yorkers. Oh, dear. Gangsters. Some people slept with their bayonets under their pillows.

They didn’t know what to make of us, but most of us were

Kim Monson
OK. OK. Yeah. And to have those guys, I mean, they had to be really tough guys.

I’ve learned enough about Guadalcanal and Tarawa to know that as well. So we’re going to go to break. This is Kim Monson with America’s Veteran Stories. I’m talking with Korean Marine veteran John Riff.

And before we go to break, though, I have some great sponsors. for both of my shows and one of them is Hooters Restaurants. They have five locations. Let’s see, it’s Loveland, Westminster, Aurora, Lone Tree, and Colorado Springs.

And they have all kinds of specials. And you can go to my website kimmonson.com and click on the sponsors tab. I highly recommend each and every one of them. and click on the Hooters tab and they will get all of their specials.

But they have lunch specials, kids eat free on Saturdays, happy hour specials. So be sure and check that out. So this is Kim Monson. I’m talking with John Riff and we’ll be right back.

Speaker 5
REMAX Realtor Karen Levine helps bring to life the individual stories of our servicemen and women. With her sponsorship of America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson, Karen honors the sacrifices of our military and is grateful for our freedom. As a member of the National Association of Realtors Board of Directors, Karen works to protect private property rights for all of us. Karen has a heart for our active duty military and veterans and is honored to help you buy or sell your home.

Call Karen Levine at 303-877-7516 to help you navigate buying or selling your home. That’s 303-877-7516.

Speaker 4
All of Kim’s sponsors are an inclusive partnership with Kim and are not affiliated with or in partnership with KLZ or Crawford Broadcasting. If you would like to support the work of the Kim Monson Show and grow your business, contact Kim at her website, kimmunson.com. That’s Kim Monson, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.

Kim Monson
Welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website. That is AmericasVeteranStories.com. So honored to have on the line with me a Marine veteran, Korean War veteran, and that is John Riff.

John, fascinating, the history that you gave us in the first segment. Let’s talk about you get out of boot camp at Parris Island. What happens after that? Where do you go?

John Ryff
We went about 10 miles from Parris Island to, I guess, Well, we went to, there was an airfield nearby. It might have been part of a marine airfield. But there were lined up about six planes of these, well they were just two engine planes then. They loaded us all on these planes and we went to California that day.

No fooling around. And they more or less said, you’re in the infantry. And when you graduate from, it’s different now I’m sure, When you graduate from boot camp and you do well and behave yourself, you can often get a nice school or something and increase your chances of promotion. But at this time, the drill instructor at the end of training had a list of members of our platoon and he just started reading down Adams, Infantry, Jones, Infantry, Baker, Infantry.

They just went straight down the list. And they finally got to one guy who was, we called him Doc. He’d had three years at Notre Dame in pre-med. I think his name was something like McAvoy.

He got to McAvoy, Infantry. And you could hear the people sucking air.

Kim Monson
That meant everybody was going to Infantry about, right?

John Ryff
Here’s the great part, the great line. The drill instructor said, we need good men in the infantry too.

Kim Monson
That

John Ryff
summed it up.

Kim Monson
We

John Ryff
flew out to an airbase, which is not there anymore, called El Toro, about 40 miles from Camp Pendleton, down near Oceanside, all the way to San Diego. What I laughingly refer to as advanced infantry training. We didn’t have any real equipment to learn on. I mean, you might have an old machine gun that if you did try to fire it, it would jam.

But we walked a lot and we learned a few things. And then one day, Friday afternoon, I don’t know how many weeks we were in. Now that war had started, the commanding officer called us together and said, your training is over. You’re going to Korea right now.

Speaker 11
Oh, my gosh,

John Ryff
we got down to the main side of Camp Pendleton, took care of all our paperwork and so forth. And I guess by Monday, we were loading the ships. So I’d say our training was kind of half baked. Didn’t matter, you’ll find out.

If you make a mistake in combat, you’ll hear about it right away.

Kim Monson
Right. Do you feel your training, your basic training prepared you for Korea?

John Ryff
Paris Island did. Yeah, absolutely. The infantry training was cut short.

Kim Monson
Okay, because they needed to get men over there, huh?

John Ryff
Oh, yeah. Well, I have another story if you’re ready for

Kim Monson
it. Ready for it.

John Ryff
When Truman was trying to collapse the Marine Corps, he first started by what they call hollowing out. The Marine Corps, at least in the World War II, the 50s and 40s, is built on what’s called a triangular system. Three squads to a platoon, three platoons to a company, three companies to a battalion, so on and so on up the line. So that’s how they were designed, and they plan all their tactics with those men.

Well, if you look at the Marine organization in 1950, there was no middle unit. There were two squads in every platoon, two platoons in every company. It had really been cut. And maybe nobody was checking.

Maybe nobody cared. I don’t know. But that’s a fact. Because the number of Marines in World War Two went up to 300,000.

And by the time of Korea, the total number of, well, I’m just talking about the Fleet Marine Corps, total number of fighting Marines was about 27,000. Oh,

Kim Monson
my gosh.

John Ryff
Plus sea duty, plus whatever. So they were empty. When they filled out the first Marine division, finally, in Korea, it probably took them six months or more, they had stripped the West Coast. There was nobody left.

And that’s the only way they could get Marines, take them out of the offices, take them out of the factory, the truck repairs, whatever, and put them in the infantry. So it was really, and the man, and you can look this up, the man who was responsible for this, aside from Harry Truman, was named Louis Johnson. And he was, he was just so destructive. And the Marines, they were trying to actually get a bill passed to redesign the Defense Department.

And part of that bill was to just eliminate most of the Marine Corps and put it in the Army. And the Marines were trying to get their point across that this is a different type of military, they’re amphibious skills. And it took, I think about three or four I could name, World War Two colonels, The most promising colonels of the Marine Corps coming out of World War II resigned their commissions so they could go to Congress and testify what a bad idea this was. And of course, they ruined their careers.

And one of those was named Carlson. You may have heard of Carlson’s Raiders. I

Kim Monson
have.

John Ryff
Well, he resigned his commission. They wouldn’t accept it, but they finally did. and then he could speak his mind. And somehow because there were enough veterans in Congress, they were able to hold the line and keep the Marine Corps.

That was the sum total of what happened. And Truman fired Louis Johnson finally.

Kim Monson
Now they had to resign their commissions because they were not supposed to make political comments. Is that correct?

John Ryff
I did not know about any of this and all of this is occurring

Kim Monson
At the same time, we have Marines that are going to Korea, putting their lives on the line. Am I getting that timeline correct, John?

John Ryff
Yes. Well, they were going over a ship load or two, a ship load or two every month when they started rotating out. They tried to get everybody rotated out within 12 or 16 months. So they were always new blood coming in.

And that was okay. You had to teach them something, but they were willing to learn. We did the job.

Kim Monson
Okay. And you boarded the ship to go to Korea from the San Diego area? Yes.

John Ryff
Yes. It was a semi-civilian military transport. I think they were old Liberty ships. It was called the USMTS?

Something like that. USMTS? NIGS. NIGS was a big army general.

And they just stuffed us on there. I think there were about 3,000. I’ll tell you, you want an interesting story?

Kim Monson
I do. I tell you what, let’s do, let’s go to break, John. And when we come back, let’s begin with that particular story. This is Kim Monson with America’s Veteran Stories.

I am talking with Marine veteran, Korean War veteran, John Riff. And we’re getting to the point where he’s on his way to Korea. And when we come back, we’ll continue with that story. Before we do that, though, I wanted to have a little conversation with Lorne Levy.

who is another one of our great sponsors of both of the shows. Lauren Levy, welcome to the show. Hey,

Speaker 3
thanks for having me, Kim.

Kim Monson
Each and every one of these stories are different, and Lauren, I so appreciate you in bringing these stories to the air.

Speaker 3
It’s my pleasure. It seems like the least we can do for people that have fought and sometimes served the ultimate sacrifice, but we want to help the ones that have served and are now going back into society, and we want to help them as much as humanly possible.

Kim Monson
Well, and I think, Lorne, knowing our history is so important. That’s why getting these stories, archiving them, broadcasting them, sharing them, it’s history, and we can’t take that for granted, Lorne.

Speaker 3
I agree. I don’t know how they teach this stuff in high school anymore, but we’ve studied it extensively, and if we can help any of these folks, it sure would be good to do it.

Kim Monson
Well, and one of the ways to do that is to know their stories. Now, Lauren Levy, over in your business, in the mortgage arena, there are some special things for veterans and military personnel. And during this time of a really hot real estate market, there’s things that people can do as veterans and military personnel to get into a home. How can you help them?

Speaker 3
Absolutely. So the VA loan is, I’ve said this too many times in the past, the VA loan is one of the best benefits the government offers. They really did it right and it allows active duty or veterans to purchase homes with 0% down, which is huge in this market, especially with the way prices are going. They also can refinance their home at an extremely low rate in Lauren Levy, if people want more information about that, how can they reach you?

The best way is to just call the office at 303-880-8881

Kim Monson
Again, that number is 303-880-8881. And Lorne Levy, you are a valued partner of both America’s Veterans Stories and the Kim Monson Show. Thank you so much.

Speaker 3
My pleasure. Thanks for having me, Kim.

Speaker 1
In these tumultuous times, it is necessary that we each have a freedom library to know and understand our history. Bury Him! A Memoir of the Vietnam War by Captain Doug Chamberlain is a must for your personal library. In this honest and gripping memoir, Captain Chamberlain recounts the chilling events that took place during his command of a company of young marines at the height of the Vietnam War.

Chamberlain painfully recalls the unspeakable order he and his marines were forced to obey, and the cover-up which followed. Purchase the book at MarineDougChamberlain.com. That’s Marine Doug C-H-A-M-B-E-R-L-A-I-N dot com so that you gain perspective on this time in our history.

Speaker 11
God bless America, land that I love.

Kim Monson
And welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. I am Kim Monson and check out our website. That is americasveteranstories.com. So honored to be talking with John Riff, a Korean War veteran, a Marine veteran.

And we are now he’s headed to Korea. And before we went to break, John, you had a another story to share with us.

John Ryff
Yeah, this one had an effect on my life. because as I told you I just came out of Northern New Jersey factory cut towns and we were loaded on the ship and we were just kind of packed in mostly the fantail the back of the ship the round part that’s where they’d have the movies or we’d go down in the hole which was sweltering and get a meal and I’m thinking Boy, this is really uncomfortable. Some of us would just, you know what a hatch is on a ship?

It’s the black cover.

Kim Monson
Right.

John Ryff
We were sleeping on the hatches just to get out of that heat. And I’m thinking, there’s got to be a better way to do this. You could look down, now the center of the ship had cabins. And those were officers.

And if you look very carefully, kind of tilt your head and look down, you’d see that there were two officers to each cabin with white sheets and pillows. Now, my point is, I asked myself, how do I get there? And I thought, there’s only one answer, you got to go to college. Because education is really holding you up.

So that was a lesson well learned.

Kim Monson
Wow. So when, what time of year then was this that you were headed to Korea where it was so hot?

John Ryff
Korea, that would be the summer, any summer. Okay. It was, they always talk about the cold, but it was sweltering. They lost during the early stages of the fight around what was called the Pusan perimeter.

The heat was knocking out as many soldiers and Marines as the enemy. It was really bad. And there was nothing anybody could do about it. It was do or die.

Kim Monson
And how long did the trip take to get from San Diego to Korea?

John Ryff
Two weeks each way.

Kim Monson
Did you get seasick at all? Where and when did you arrive in Korea then?

John Ryff
First we docked in Japan at a place called Yokosuka. It’s a big naval base. I thought that was a mistake because they gave each of us $20 and told us to come back that night. and I thought, you’re not going to see these guys

Speaker 11
anymore.

John Ryff
But they did come back and we came back and we went around and bought some high-priced liquor that the black market was selling. Then we went from Yokosuka around the bottom and over to Pusan. I don’t think we stopped in Kobe, I don’t remember.

Kim Monson
And so would that be, what, September-ish or so? In, what, 51? Yeah,

John Ryff
it was hot.

Kim Monson
OK. Definitely hot. OK. OK.

You’re at Korea now. You’re at Busan. What happens then?

John Ryff
Oh, then they break us out to our different units. I have a picture I can show you of them. They were flying us up to the front. They needed people so badly.

and they just cut some strips out of the ground and they got together a bunch of planes and they took us right from where we were serviced in Pusan to get assigned. Loaded us on the planes and right up as close, you could hear the artillery where those planes were landing. And they got us to our units in no time. And then we got distributed.

I went to a certain company and most of the infantry went to company A or company B. My company was anti-tank. And we were all part of the 7th Marines, which is an embarrassment too. But it goes back to that, if I can say this, goes back to that earlier period when there was no 7th Marines because they had stripped the Marine Corps of the 7th Marines.

Now, you can say, how can you do that? 7th Marines are an organic part of the Marines. Yes, they are. And every time they count, they count the 7th Marines as part of the Marine Corps.

Now, the dirty secret is, and this would be when they reduced the size of the Marine Corps after World War II, the dirty secret is the 7th Marines became the Marine Reserve in all the little towns around the country. So it was there, but they were not in any fighting shape. And they had to get all those Marines, reserve Marines, back together and back to California to build up the 7th Marines. What do you think of that?

Kim Monson
So these are guys that they thought that they were, were they reserves? Or you said they

John Ryff
were a lot of them World War Two veterans. I’m Oh gosh, I don’t remember. Say September 30th. The 7th Marines didn’t even get to Inchon for two more weeks.

They were having such trouble getting everybody over there. So the division only had two regiments for that invasion of Inchon and up to Seoul. And the 7th Marines finally made it. I swear we were behind all the time.

Kim Monson
I’m trying to have your life on the line like that and to be frustrated with the leadership. You’re a young kid. I mean, what was going through your mind at that time, John?

John Ryff
Oh, that’s easy. If you’re a private PFC, your world is 500 meters in every direction. That’s it. You don’t know anything else.

You don’t know where you are. I think MacArthur probably put the odds at 5,000 to 1 because they had these long tides. The tides were way out. And they exposed these mud beaches.

And so they had to get these landing craft into the actual beach to get up on land. Well, if you didn’t go at the right time, all you do is drive your little landing boat into the mud. So they had to wait till evening before landing, the main force. And guess what?

Everybody in the world knew what was going on by then. Luckily, the Koreans didn’t have too much. resistance. But still, it was no surprise.

And then, if they could get their boats in over the mud, then there was what’s called a seawall. And you had to climb that might be 12 or 14 feet. I guess, keep the tides out or something. And the poor guys on those ships, it was bad enough on the troop ships, but they put them to work making ladders out of spare lumber from the ships.

So when they went into the landing mode, not only did they have landing boats, they had these, what would I call them, ladders that were just sort of hastily put together. And they had to use those to get up over the seawall. Well, I think there were a lot of casualties right

Kim Monson
there. Was it heavily fortified? I mean, it was fortified, obviously. But now I’m recalling that the tides were a really big deal.

And there was misjudgment on the tides that created real challenges, correct?

John Ryff
Right. And there was a small island off to the side. I think I had to take that first because you would be looking right down the marine’s throat if you didn’t have that island subdued. So that was a separate unit.

I don’t know who that was, but it wasn’t too hard. And then the invasion went ahead pretty smoothly.

Kim Monson
and what was the purpose and I’m again I’m doing this from memory this was I’m looking at this September 1950 but wasn’t Inchon on the western side of Korea and then once that was accomplished didn’t they bring you back around for Chosin or what happened exactly?

John Ryff
That’s what happened. They used the Marines, they finally got the 7th Marines, and they helped the fighting in Seoul, they took the city. But at that point, they pulled the Marines out, and they were using army troops to push up to the capital of North Korea. And they put these Marines back on ships again, sailed all the way around the bottom and up the top, and landed at a place called Wonsan.

I think that’s right. and then they started their march up to the Chosin. Somewhere in

Kim Monson
the middle. Inchon is on the western coast.

John Ryff
And Wonsan is on the eastern.

Kim Monson
Okay.

John Ryff
All the way around that peninsula and up again to get to Wonsan.

Kim Monson
Okay. I had my directions mixed up then. And so where were you on Inchon? We weren’t there yet.

Okay. Okay. They got there two weeks later then. Okay.

So Inchon, anything else that you want people to know about that?

John Ryff
It was a hard fight. They didn’t give up easily. But they did. They insisted the Marines take Seoul.

Inchon wasn’t too hard. But Seoul was hard. It was house to house. And then finally they got through Seoul and they had to cross a pretty big river right alongside called the Han River.

Had to cross that too. And of course that was all blown up. So had to put in some new bridges. and then they started working their way north and then they took the marines out.

Kim Monson
Right. I don’t remember. I think we had something to do with that island that had to be taken, but it’s kind of vague to me. Okay.

Well, I tell you what, let’s go to break. This is absolutely fascinating. I’m talking with Korean Marine War veteran and that is John Riff and we’re going to go to break. When we come back, we’ll continue on with this very important conversation.

Stay tuned.

Speaker 7
If you’re 62 or older, a reverse mortgage could be a great tool regarding retirement and estate planning. It is essential to understand the process. Lorne Levy with Polygon Financial Group has nearly 20 years in the mortgage industry and has the experience to answer your questions. Lorne understands that each financial transaction is personal.

If you’d like to explore your options on a reverse mortgage, remodel your home, buy a rental property or move, call Lorne Levy at 303-880-8881. Licensed in 49 states, Kim Monson highly recommends Lorne Levy for all your mortgage needs. Call Lorne at

Speaker 2
303-880-8881. You’d like to get in touch with one of the sponsors of the Kim Monson Show, but you can’t remember their phone contact or website information. Find a full list of advertising partners on Kim’s website, KimMonson.com. That’s Kim, M-O-N-S-O-N dot com.

Kim Monson
Welcome back to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure and check out our website that is americasveteranstories.com. This show comes to you because I have great sponsors and one of those great sponsors is Castlegate Knife and Tool. They’re located right here in Sedalia, Colorado.

They are owned by Hal and Linnea Van Hercke. They are entrepreneurs and they offer a 10% discount for our military, our veterans, our first responders. So whether or not you’re a chef or a collector or a sportsman, Castlegate Knife and Tool is the place for you. More information at castlegate.com.

That’s castlegate.com. I am honored to have on the line with me John Riff. He is a Marine Korean War veteran. And we’re now getting to the point of where you’re going to be getting into battle now.

Well, he would be directly under MacArthur.

John Ryff
So he had a core commander normally is responsible for three divisions to coordinate them and so forth. And the winter was coming, as you may remember, and there were signs, intelligence coming down through North Korea that there were Chinese coming across the Yalu River into North Korea, and they were hiding out in these narrow valleys, and they couldn’t be picked up very easily. So I don’t know how good the intelligence was, but it was there. There were people warning, especially this General Almond.

He wanted to polish up his medals, I think. He said, I want to push through to the Yellow River, all the way up to China, and then we’ll win. And he had no idea what he was up against, like 80 or 90,000 Chinese so-called volunteers. And when they hit that November, well, they hit all along the front, but I’m just thinking of the Marines.

It was a good thing the Marine General, his name was Opie Smith, he said, let’s just hold here. Let’s not go any further. and we’ll see what this intelligence looks like. And he was right.

They were able to fortify themselves. And then they realized they were surrounded. There were so many Chinese. So they had to fight in a different direction.

That’s what happened.

Kim Monson
Okay, so when he said we’re gonna stop, was that at the Chosin Reservoir then?

John Ryff
Yes.

Kim Monson
Okay.

John Ryff
He more or less disobeyed that order from the general.

Kim Monson
And the general wanted to push on further to the north, is that correct?

John Ryff
Correct.

Kim Monson
Okay. Now, are you at the Chosen Reservoir, John?

John Ryff
Yes. We were the 7th and the… I think it was the 5th. And then it was a circle.

I can just visualize it. I wasn’t privy to the maps or anything. and the third regiment of our division was outside the circle. And that was the first regiment, the first Marines.

And they were trying to fight back in. And the 7th and 5th were trying to fight back out. Well, they finally succeeded, but it was pretty bad.

Kim Monson
And this is coming into November then, is that right?

John Ryff
more closer to December.

Kim Monson
December, okay. In the circle, so are you, you’re surrounded, is that right, by the North Koreans and the Chinese?

John Ryff
That’s a good way to visualize it. They were up in these mountains and ridges and valleys and all around and there were so many of them that they could actually form a complete circumference.

Kim Monson
How did you guys get supplies?

John Ryff
It could come in by plane. We had a strip, a dirt strip, and two engine planes could make it in. And ammunition was always short. Always short.

One of the things you would find out, I think, quickly if you spoke to a machine gunner, is they have to fire their weapon every day. And not just one or two rounds. And that uses up a lot of ammunition.

Kim Monson
Tell us about the temperatures. Tell us about the cold.

John Ryff
I never felt cold like that. I still remember it. It was, it was awful. Somebody waking you up to pull guard duty and it’s 20 below or something.

Oh, pray that God will take you. I can’t get up. But we did it.

Kim Monson
What kind of equipment did you have to try to stay warm?

John Ryff
It was pretty good. We had parkers, and we had our long johns. And let me think. I’ll probably forget something.

You had to wear a helmet and a cap. That helped. And the shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible.

The shoes were terrible. The shoes were terrible. The and they were kind of a white spongy material and it was an excellent, excellent insulator. But the first window there was a lot of frostbite.

Kim Monson
Did your feet get frostbitten? November 27, 1950, the Chinese forces surprised the Marine Corps. I recall hearing that they were so numerous when they made that attack. Do you recall that?

John Ryff
No, our weapons were a little longer range. They were useful for road blocking. Our main weapon was called a recoilless rifle, 75 millimeter. And we had four of those.

And they were excellent for just blocking roads and causing problems. We also had on loan five tanks. But they were too snooty, they wouldn’t

Kim Monson
let

John Ryff
us around

Kim Monson
their tanks.

John Ryff
They would tell me, and I can’t guarantee it, they would tell me the best way to kill a tank is with another tank, not with a recoilless rifle.

Kim Monson
Okay, and was the North Koreans well supplied?

John Ryff
Their clothing was pretty good. It was that, I don’t know what you call it, something like ski jackets. They just didn’t have good shoes.

Speaker 11
If you

John Ryff
put them up, they would freeze where they were. And that was that. They were just dead the next day.

Kim Monson
Wow. Okay, well tell us, let’s see, I can’t remember how long the battle was, but it was well over 30 days, wasn’t it? I can’t find that right now.

John Ryff
I think it was more like, the intense part was two weeks.

Kim Monson
Two weeks, okay.

John Ryff
We turned around, and there was only one road out, one road in. That was part of the problem. And there was a I’ll say a power station along that road and a bridge. I guess it was a stream under it or something.

And the bridge was blown. So one of the fantastic engineering accomplishments I’m aware of, I didn’t see it, I saw the bridge, was the Army with helicopters flew in, I think, four big steel plates. You see them on the highways? They dropped these plates right on the right spot, and the engineers adjusted them, and they put it all together, and they took the whole division out over that bridge.

And what I think was kind of interesting historically was that General Almond, the Corps commander, He told the Marine commander, he said, we’ll make sure that strip is open. We’re going to fly your men out. This is not tenable. And General Smith said, no, you’re not going to fly us out.

We’re coming out with everything. And they did. The tanks, the trucks, the jeeps, everything came out.

Kim Monson
I did not know this, John. This is fascinating how you guys got out of there. You were surrounded. And so what was that battle like to try to get out of there?

John Ryff
Hard to see because the first Marines coming up may have made the first breakthrough. Somebody got discouraged and they opened the road. I know that. And then you could move.

And once they got the trucks and everything moving, we could take out the wounded and is

Kim Monson
John, I’ve heard that the three most famous marine battles, I think is Belleau Wood in World War One, and Iwo Jima in World War Two, and the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War. And a lot of people don’t know much about the Chosin Reservoir. We’ve got probably about three minutes left. What is it that you, if you were talking to a young person, which they are listening right now, what would you say to them about that particular battle?

John Ryff
Pay attention to your intelligence. Too many cases in our history that intelligence was ignored rather than follow up. So pay attention to it and assume that maybe it’s right. And maybe you’re in imminent danger.

But here, in this case, they were. They could have easily been overrun. And some of the army units were.

Kim Monson
And what was going through your mind as you were exiting the Chosen Reservoir? What was going through your mind?

John Ryff
Getting a little warmer. Yeah. And down toward the harbor. That’s all I remember.

Kim Monson
And then after that, where did you go? The

John Ryff
division was relocated, well, was left of it. It was all chewed up. relocated to a city about, I’ll guess, 30 miles from Pusan called Mason. And then we had to get resupplied and get new men in and so forth.

We get back to work.

Kim Monson
Okay. And so did you see other battles as well?

John Ryff
Well, we went up to After that mason, they got resupplied, the Marines moved up the east coast and actually crossed the 38th. You’ll see, if you see a map of Korea, you’ll see a little bit of, a little chunk of North Korea we took back and we kept it. And we were in there, it was quite cold there too, it’s mountainous. that the interesting thing, if I may, I found in that part of Korea was our units up on the ridges could see the USS New Jersey firing these 16-inch shells 20 miles inland.

And you never heard anything like that when they go over. Oh, my God. that they could reach into these bunkers very well and I wouldn’t want that ship firing at me.

Speaker 11
That

John Ryff
was in New Jersey and she was close enough to us.

Kim Monson
Wow. Well, John Riff, this has been absolutely fascinating and I find it a little bit ironic that you left New Jersey and then it was the New Jersey then that was helping you out when you were there in Korea. So, John Riff, go ahead. I never thought of that.

Yes. Okay. John Riff, it has been such an honor to get to do this interview. I thank you so much.

John Ryff
Well, thanks for calling and bringing this up, Kim. John Riff, thank you. My friends, we indeed live,

Kim Monson
we stand on the shoulders of giants. So God bless

John Ryff
you and God bless America.

Announcer
Thank you for listening to America’s Veteran Stories with Kim Monson. Be sure to tune in again next Sunday, 3 to 4 p.m. here on KLZ 560 and KLZ 100.7.

Speaker 8
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ Management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.