Cadet Joe Kingston entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in July 1945, shortly before the end of World War II. Four years later he graduated with the class of 1949. In the interim, he had suffered through the rigors of plebe year and cheered for Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis as they starred on Army’s powerful college football teams of 1945 and ‘46.

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Military life had presented few problems for the young cadet, but studies had been a different matter, and the ‘49er yearbook remarked that ‘Joe’s graduation climaxes a four-year struggle with the Academic Department.’ It went on to predict, however, that ‘wherever he goes, Joe is certain to make friends and to meet success.’

Upon graduation, Joe Kingston acquired a diploma and a commission as a Regular Army second lieutenant. By that time he had also acquired a value system imbued with the West Point motto of ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’ A year later, while attending the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Ga., he volunteered for parachute training. In June 1950, he received orders assigning him to airborne school, then to Fort Lawton, near Seattle, for shipment to the Far East. Later that same month, the free world was stunned when Communist North Korea invaded its neighbor to the south. Within days, President Harry S. Truman, with the consent of the United Nations Security Council, had authorized the use of American troops to repel the attack. One of those soldiers was Kingston, who shared his experiences with fellow West Pointer and Korean War veteran Colonel Harry J. Maihafer.

Military History: What did you think about your orders to the Far East?

Kingston: At the time, ‘Far East’ meant Japan, and I was looking forward to serving there. However, by the time I got to Fort Lawton, the war in Korea had already started, so I was pretty sure that’s where I was headed. Jump school had delayed my shipment by three weeks, so by August 15, 1950, when I flew out of McCord Air Base, several of my West Point classmates were already in combat, leading platoons along the Naktong River.

MH: What happened when you got to Japan?

Kingston: The Eighth Army Replacement Center sent me to the 32nd Infantry Regiment of the 7th Division, located at Camp McNair on the slopes of Mount Fuji. At McNair, my West Point classmate Jack Madison and I reported to Lt. Col. Don Faith, the 32nd’s acting regimental commander.

MH: Isn’t that the man who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Chosin Reservoir?

Kingston: The same, and I’ll never forget our meeting. When we reported to him, he looked us in the eye and asked, ‘Are you prepared to die?’ We probably said something like ‘only if necessary, sir.’ Anyhow, Jack and I were assigned to I Company of the 32nd, which unfortunately existed only on paper. The 7th Division had been stripped to provide replacements for units already in Korea, so we were starting from scratch.

MH: What were the replacements like?

Kingston: Quite an assortment: a few men fresh from the States, several GIs who had just been released from the Eighth Army stockade, and about 100 KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army) soldiers. The latter were men of military age who had been taken off the streets of Pusan and Taegu and told they were now part of the ROK (Republic of Korea) army, but that their service would be as KATUSAs.

MH: And you had to train them?

Kingston: Yes, we had 12 days to get them ready. Fortunately, we had a few veteran sergeants to help us. The Americans knew no Korean, of course, and only one of the Koreans, Kim Yu Jin, who had worked in an American PX laundry, had a smattering of English.

MH: With all the language problems, how did you keep control?

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